Monday, June 20, 2022

Fabia Mantwill Orchestra - Em.Perience

Styles: Saxophone And Vocal Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:31
Size: 136,6 MB
Art: Front

(7:56) 1. Ophelia
(6:48) 2. Pjujeck
(2:45) 3. Sasa Ndio Sasa Opening
(7:15) 4. Sasa Ndio Sasa
(5:54) 5. Erwachen
(7:53) 6. Kumbukumbu
(5:54) 7. Trio.Logy
(8:02) 8. Mélodie De La Rivière
(7:01) 9. Festival At High Noon

Fabia Mantwill is a saxophonist, composer, and vocalist that has become an important part of the German Jazz Scene with a significant international focus. On May 21, 2021, she released her debut album entitled EM.PERIENCE, which features the 23-piece Fabia Mantwill Orchestra and guest soloists Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ben Wendel and Nils Landgren. Mantwill has been writing for the Metropole Orkest (NL) feat. Becca Stevens and has worked with Vince Mendoza. Her orchestra work Sasa ndio Sasa was premiered at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg with the Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie and the Large Ensemble Hamburg, where Mantwill was featured as a composer, conductor, and soloist. She was selected for the International Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music at Banff Centre Canada, curated by Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey.

She will also receive the Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Residency by the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts. Mantwill holds a Master of Music (by the HfMT Hamburg) and a Bachelor of Arts (by the Jazz Institute Berlin & Sibelius Akademie Helsinki), played concerts at the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.) and the Apollo Theater (New York City) and toured in China, India, Brazil, West Africa, Canada, USA, and Europe. Since the beginning of 2019, she curates her own interdisciplinary concert series called ART.IST, where she presents collaborations of international artists and musicians.

Our first experience with the young composer’s writing is the first song, “Ophelia.” The 23-piece orchestra creates a haunting soundscape for Mantwill’s soft singing to dance upon. Her orchestration is balanced, and the various hues and pastels developed within the orchestra are stunning. The through-composed form is rich in string colors that build to the midway point where a groove is established. There is a sense of majesty and building as each section has unique orchestration colors. Mantwill’s compositional style and vision is undoubtedly something special, and even after only hearing the first selection, it is obvious the praise and hype around this artist are well deserved.

“Trio.logy” finds Mantwill on saxophone and is a rhythmically diverse selection that is a real gem. Mantwill leads a stirring performance, capturing the music’s energy and character quite well from the opening motif that is developed throughout the composition. The theme has the right seductive atmosphere, and the various counterpoints and orchestrations work’s to never let the interest drag, keeping the listener engaged and satisfied. Mantwill’s solo is a powerful and virtuosic statement and further displays her many talents.

EM.PERIENCE is a beautiful debut for the very talented Mantwill. The couplings of balanced writing for the 23-piece orchestra, excellent playing and interesting material make the recording ever more appealing. Mantwill’s power as a composer displays a control of section movements, symphonically proportioned orchestrations, and methodical development of themes and motifs. The ensemble performance easily holds its own against any working band out there, and for those reasons, EM.PERIENCE is a very appealing program.~Nolan DeBuke https://thejazzword.com/2021/06/fabia-mantwill-em-perience-review/

Em.Perience

Joey van Leeuwen - Retrospect

Styles: Jazz, Bop
Year: 2021
File: MP3@128K/s
Time: 37:04
Size: 34,6 MB
Art: Front

( 4:09) 1. Jaya
( 7:10) 2. Black Narcissus
( 2:42) 3. Late Bloomer
( 5:52) 4. Time Remembered
( 4:35) 5. Reflection
(12:34) 6. Heyoke

Joey van Leeuwen is a virtuosic and multidimensional drummer and composer. He performs music of a wide variety of improvisational, classical, traditional and contemporary styles, synthesized into his own unique and modern approach.

Born and raised in Rochester, NY, he grew up on jazz music which he learned both in the classroom and in the streets and clubs of New Orleans. Notable performances include the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Fest, and the Xerox-Rochester International Jazz Festival. He has worked in Haitian Voudoun temples with Damas “Fan Fan” Louis and played Fon traditional music for His Majesty Hougan Dada Dagbo Hounan Houna II.

For many years, he has also studied Carnatic music and has learned under Vidwan Umayalpuram Mali and Dr. Rajna Swaminathan. Joey has also performed with Carnatic percussion superstar Dr. S. "Ghatam" Karthick and innovative musician Vishnu R, inventor of the Navtar hybrid guitar. He performed with Brazilian guitar virtuoso Geovane Santos for several years and has toured the US with singer-songwriter Daphne Lee Martin as well as performing in India as a the leader of his own jazz group. Joey holds a Master's in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory and a Bachelor's in Jazz Studies from the University of New Orleans. He officially endorses Saluda Cymbals. https://www.joeyvanleeuwen.com/bio

Retrospect

Johnny Griffin & Eddie Lockjaw Davis - Ow! Live at the Penthouse

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1962/ 2021
File: MP3@320k/s
Time: 58:38
Art: Front

1. Intermission Riff I.Introduction by Jim Wilke (Live)(0:53)
2. Blues Up and Down (Live) (6:48)
3. Ow! (Live) (8:20)
4. Spoken Outro I. (Live) (0:09)
5. Bahia (Live) (8:43)
6. Spoken Introduction I. (Live) (0:05)
7. Blue Lou (Live) (4:11)
8. Second Balcony Jump (Live) (7:14)
9. Spoken Outro II. (Live) (0:09)
10. How Am I to Know? (Live) (10:14)
11. Spoken Introduction II. (Live) (0:09)
12. Sophisticated Lady (Live) (4:03)
13. Spoken Introduction III. (Live) (0:09)
14. Tickle Toe (Live) (6:36)
15. Intermission Riff II. Outro by Jim Wilke (Live)(0:56)

In the 1960s a weekly radio show hosted by Jim Wilke was broadcast live from the Penthouse jazz club in Seattle, Washington. Over 200 performances there were recorded by the radio station KING-FM. In recent years several labels have tapped into this large, rich tape archive. OW! is the second Penthouse release by a new historical label, Reel to Real.

In the culture of hard-bop tenor saxophone, Johnny Griffin and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis were keepers of the flame. From 1960 to 1962 they teamed up as the “Tough Tenors” and made nine LPs on the Prestige and Jazzland labels. The folklore of the “tenor battle” was in the air, and the debut “Tough Tenors” album was called Battle Stations.

But what Griffin and Davis did together was not a competition. It was collaboration, mutual inspiration and a special art form based on similarity and contrast.~ByThomas Conrad https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/johnny-griffin-eddie-lockjaw-davis-quintet-ow-live-at-the-penthouse-reel-to-real/

Featuring: Johnny Griffin & Eddie Lockjaw Davis: tenor saxophones, Horace Parlan piano, Buddy Catlett bass, Art Taylor drums

Retrospect

Oscar Peterson - The Best of the MPS Years

Styles: Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 80:22
Size: 185,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:10) 1. All the Things You Are (Remastered)
(5:21) 2. Triste
(4:43) 3. Day by Day
(5:00) 4. The Windmills of Your Mind (Remastered)
(6:03) 5. Wave (Remastered)
(4:37) 6. Fly Me to the Moon
(5:15) 7. I've Got a Crush On You (Live)
(2:54) 8. Wandering (Remastered)
(4:41) 9. Alice in Wonderland (Live)
(5:05) 10. Sometimes I'm Happy (Live)
(3:58) 11. Give Me the Simple Life (Remastered)
(3:42) 12. A Child Is Born (Remastered)
(3:05) 13. Eleanor Rigby (Remastered)
(4:46) 14. Exactly Like You
(5:11) 15. I Love You (Remastered)
(4:21) 16. On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever) (Live)
(2:40) 17. Ode to Billy Joe (Remastered)
(2:41) 18. Children's Game (Remastered)

When the world-renowned Canadian pianist came to Villingen in 1961, there was a mood of intense excitement all round. Hans-Georg Brunner-Schwer (HGBS), former owner of the hifi dynasty SABA who died in 2004, had just set up the first version of his studio, equipped with the most advanced recording technology of the time, above the living-room in his villa. This was the bait used by the piano enthusiast to attract the famous pianist to the Black Forest. After a guest performance in Zurich, Peterson climbed into a limousine and embarked on a journey across the mountains. As soon as he arrived, along with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen, the international star was led to the Steinway grand in the living-room where a number of excited guests were eagerly waiting.

"I listened to him play 'til four o'clock in the morning and lost the desire to ever hear the Beatles again!", says Matthias Brunner-Schwer, HGBS' son, still starry-eyed half a century later. The legendary pianist himself was equally delighted when he listened to the recording of the nocturnal living-room performance, never before having heard such a direct and pristine piano sound on tape. It sounded to him as if he was still there at the grand piano, undisturbed by distracting nightclub sounds yet surrounded by a wonderfully intimate atmosphere. Peterson's enthusiastic response marked the beginning of a long-term friendship and spiritual kinship with Brunner-Schwer.

In the following years, the Canadian pianist returned again and again to the Black Forest with various line-ups to capture his musical vision on tape. As Peterson was still under contract to Verve, the recordings could not be released before 1968. The legendary "Exclusively For My Friends" series was the first release for Brunner-Schwer's newly-established MPS label. Never before had a recording captured every aspect of Peterson's ground-breaking sound so vividly: the virtuosity and the speed as well as the delicate inspiration he brings to the subtle and reflective moments. The touch of light-hearted wit and the depth of lyrical feeling. Elegance and swing, interspersed with moments of intensity and explosive outbursts. The art of improvisation - simultaneously confident and imaginative - fuelled by harmonic and ornamental inventiveness. These recordings, made over a short period of five years, also reflect the transformation from equal member of a trio to soloist. https://elusivedisc.com/oscar-peterson-the-best-of-the-mps-years-2lp/

The Best of the MPS Years