Manhattan Jazz Orchestra - Swing, Swing, Swing

Styles: Swing, Big Band
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:00
Size: 122,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:18) 1. Ironside
(7:24) 2. Swing, Swing, Swing
(6:37) 3. Jumpin' At The Woodside
(6:38) 4. Moonlight Serenade
(6:54) 5. Take The A Train
(6:50) 6. Ai No Corrida
(6:04) 7. Manteca
(6:11) 8. Stompin' At The Savoy

Manhattan Jazz Orchestra was created by pianist/arranger David Matthews and an accomplished Japanese producer Shigeyuki Kawashima (both GRAMMY winners) in 1989. It is one of the premier and most prolific big bands in the US, having released more than 13 CDs over the years.

For Swing, Swing, Swing, recorded in 2006, Matthews and his big band chose as materials tunes written by and associated with Quincy Jones ("Ironside," "Ai No Corrida") and Glenn Miller ("Moonlight Serenade") for the first time. They also pay tribute to the great big bands led by Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillispie and Benny Goodman. The title tune is Matthews' original that takes a nostalgic look back at the big band era. The all-star band, including star players Lew Soloff, Ryan Kisor, Randy Brecker, Jim Pugh and Chris Hunter, plays Matthews' intricate scores with technical perfection and provide inspired solos. Recommended for fans of the contemporary big band sound!

Produced by Shigeyuki Kawashima and David Matthews. Recorded February 2004, New York. Lew Soloff (trumpet); Ryan Kisor (trumpet); Walter White (trumpet; )Scott Wendholt (trumpet); Randy Brecker (trumpet); Jim Pugh (trombone); John Fedchock (trombone); Larry Farrell (trombone); David Taylor (bass trombone); Fred Griffen (French horn); John Clark (French horn); Tony Price (tuba); Chris Hunter (alto sax,flute); Aaron Heick (soprano sax,tenor sax); Scott Robinson (baritone sax,bass clarinet); Chip Jackson (bass); Terry Silverlight (drums); David Matthews (arranger,conductor,piano).

Swing, Swing, Swing

---

Nicole Zuraitis - Hive Mind

Size: 104,7 MB
Time: 45:05
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Move On (4:45)
02. Out Of My Heart (4:25)
03. The Inscription (4:45)
04. Idle (6:45)
05. Jolene (4:28)
06. Sunny Side (4:46)
07. Failing (4:06)
08. Episodes (3:54)
09. Pure Imagination (4:25)
10. Shirley's Waltz (2:42)

Vocalist and pianist Nicole Zuraitis has made a name for herself internationally as a jazz singer and songwriter. Nicole will release her album “Hive Mind” in September 2017 with Dot Time Records. She is the 2016 winner of the New York City Songwiting Competition Coffee Music Project, 2015 finalist in the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition at NJPAC, a 2014 winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert National Young Jazz Composers award and a semi finalist in the National American Traditions Vocal Competition in winter 2015, taking home both the People’s Choice Award and the Johnny Mercer Award. Her world music folk band EVA tours internationally alongside folk legends Livingston Taylor, Melanie Safka and Tom Chapin. As a sidewoman she fronts the Dan Pugach Nonet, joined The Omar Hakim Experience as a vocalist at the Iridium Jazz Club, sung background vocals for Maz of Snarky Puppy, and had the great pleasure of singing with Bernard Purdie, Kung Fu and Elise Testone recently at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. She is a proud member of the Litchfield Jazz Camp faculty and has lead her band on the MainStage of the Litchfield Jazz Festival twice, as well as appeared as a sideman with the Carmen Staaf Quintet. In August 2017 she will sing with the Litchfield Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Jen Allen on the MainStage of the Litchfield jazz Festival. She holds a residency at the iconic jazz club 55 bar once a month and headlined the Blue Note Jazz Club in March 2016.

In the Key of Monk

---

Jessica Williams - In the Key of Monk

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:05
Size: 144,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:38) 1. Bemsha Swing
(4:31) 2. Just a Gigolo
(6:02) 3. Reflections
(3:01) 4. I Love You Sweetheart of All My Dreams
(5:12) 5. Monk's Mood/Crepuscule With Nellie
(5:09) 6. Monk's Hat
(5:28) 7. San Francisco Holiday
(4:44) 8. I Remember Monk
(5:46) 9. The House That Rouse Built
(5:22) 10. Pannonica
(6:29) 11. Ask Me Now
(6:36) 12. Blues Five Spot

Jessica Williams' career took off during the 1990s with a series of memorable recordings for the Canadian label Jazz Focus, and this solo piano tribute to Thelonious Monk is one of her best live performances. She establishes her own voice right away with a playful approach to "Bemsha Swing," playing part of the introduction while muting the piano's strings with one hand, making use of the full range of the keyboard in the body of the piece. She throws Monk-like twists into her interpretation of one of his favorite standards, "Just a Gigolo."

Not satisfied with just covering Monk's best-known works and songs by others that he enjoyed playing, she delves into the pianist's less-frequently played compositions, such as the discordant "San Francisco Holiday" and his loping "Blues at the Five Spot," while also dedicating pieces of her own to Monk (the reflective ballad "I Remember Monk") and his longest-serving sideman, tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse (the alternately tricky and jaunty "The House That Rouse Built"). Highly recommended. ~ Ken Drydenhttp://www.allmusic.com/album/in-the-key-of-monk-mw0000058695

Personnel: Jessica Williams (piano); Jeanette Williams (piano).

In the Key of Monk

---

Eric Reed - From My Heart

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:09
Size: 119,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:19) 1. Yesterday
(4:45) 2. Goodbye
(4:04) 3. I Should Care
(4:53) 4. Prelude in E minor
(5:39) 5. I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good
(4:20) 6. How Deep Is the Ocean?
(5:46) 7. I'll Never Stop Loving You
(6:31) 8. Flamenco Sketches
(5:21) 9. 'Round Midnight
(4:27) 10. I Fall in Love Too Easily

Reed is an expert at building tension (his formative years with Wynton Marsalis taught him well), and here he works some amazing technical runs up to a delicious release. An intriguing version of Chopin's "Prelude in E Minor" follows, with Reed gently easing Chopin's melody into a rich, increasingly dense solo. Reed gets back to basics with Duke Ellington's 1941 masterpiece "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)," taking several playful choruses in the upper registers even hinting at Donaldson and Kahn's "Makin' Whoopee" at one point. Burno comes in for a nice melodic solo to take the tune out. Reed's take on the Irving Berlin classic "How Deep Is the Ocean" is equally playful, finding the pianist taking his time with the opening melody, using every little bit of space available for embellishment. Reed follows with a moving version of Cahn and Brodszky's "I'll Never Stop Loving You." From My Heart ends with odes to Miles Davis and Monk, with Reed covering Davis' "Flamenco Sketches" and Monk's "'Round Midnight" w with equal luster.

Of particular note is how Reed takes full advantage of the modal basis of "Flamenco Sketches," building lush chord structures, trills, and tremolo effects on top of each other for a heavy six and a half minutes. Reed does a stretching, gorgeous interpretation of "'Round Midnight," combining his own blazing technical prowess with an ode to Monk's quirky style. Brooks and Burno even go into a bossa nova on one of the last choruses. Reed finishes the album with a gentle, intimate version of Cahn and Styne's "I Fall in Love Too Easily," gracefully and subtly easing the melody in and out of his solo, until finally breaking into several more fine, melodic runs and upper structures to take the song out. From My Heart works as both an ode to several great composers and a fabulous exposition of Reed's ability to make even the most demanding ballads his own. While From My Heart may not have the usual Reed lineup of blazing horn players and original songs (Reed is a fine composer by any standard), it gives this talented pianist a chance to show that he is finally coming into his own as a stylist. ~ Alex Arcone http://www.allmusic.com/album/from-my-heart-mw0000214543

Personnel: Eric Reed (piano); Cecil Brooks III (drums).

From My Heart

---

Bob Scobey's Frisco Band - Rompin' And Stompin'

Styles: Trumpet Jazz, Big Band
Year: 1959
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:25
Size: 97,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:33) 1. Colonel Bogey March
(3:13) 2. The Pearls
(3:00) 3. Kansas City Stomp
(3:28) 4. Buddy Bolden's Blues
(3:58) 5. Skit-Dat-De-Dat
(3:49) 6. The Chant
(2:38) 7. Shake It And Break It
(3:45) 8. Canal Street Blues
(3:49) 9. Fidgety Feet
(4:40) 10. Dallas Blues
(3:52) 11. London Blues
(3:36) 12. Black Bottom Stomp

Trumpeter Bob Scobey still had a spirited Dixieland group in 1959, but the addition of pianist Art Hodes for this date clearly uplifted the band. Scobey performs six songs associated with Jelly Roll Morton (including "The Pearls," "Kansas City Stomp" and "The Chant"), plus six other songs dating mostly from the 1920s. A strictly instrumental date (although Clancy Hayes helps out the rhythm section on banjo), clarinetist Brian Shanley, trombonist Jim Beebe and the tuba of Rich Matteson are strong assets, along with Hodes and Scobey. Well worth searching for by Dixieland collectors. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rompin-stompin/id453951910

Rompin'And Stompin'

---