Nicole Henry - Time to Love Again

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2021
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:50
Size: 103,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:02) 1. Feeling good
(4:40) 2. Midnight at the Oasis
(4:10) 3. Your smiling face
(5:41) 4. I didn't know what time it was
(6:52) 5. Is it a crime
(4:50) 6. Until it's time for you to go
(5:46) 7. Wild is the wind
(4:53) 8. Love and affection
(3:50) 9. Overjoyed

Nicole Henry has been making a lot of noise, nicely, with her latest album. It is easy to see why.

While critics compare her to everyone from Natalie Cole to Whitney Houston, she really does sound like herself. She swings elegantly and does not oversing. Her intonation, diction and phrasing are impeccable. Henry is the epitome of good taste. She obviously has chops and range to burn, but keeps both under control. She will neither shatter your nerves nor your windows. One suspects that performance is part of her appeal: better to be in the live audience rather than listening through headphones. But, as the The Rolling Stones reminded us, you can't always get what you want.

Her taste in material is good too, ranging from jazz to rock to soul to pop. None of the tunes are original, but Henry puts a distinctive vocal and rhythmic stamp on them. And her timbre ranges from sultry to sweet, as the tune calls for. "Midnight at the Oasis" is undergoing something of a revival, but Henry's version is just different enough to keep Maria Muldaur at bay, which is not easy. Others have also done "What Time It Was," but there are no intervallic gimmicks here. James Taylor? "Your Smiling Face." Really? Yes, Somehow it works, and works well. "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder is another favorite, with an intimation of what energy Henry keeps under wraps.

It may be premature to compare her to Sarah Vaughan, as some of her fans are wont. Time will tell, but she is in the ballpark.By Richard J Salvucci https://www.allaboutjazz.com/time-to-love-again-nicole-henry-banister-records

Personnel: Nicole Henry: voice / vocals; Pete Wallace: piano; Jean Caze: trumpet; Aaron Lebos: guitar; Troy Roberts: saxophone; Eric England: bass, electric; Camilo Velandia: guitar; Eduardo Rodriguez: percussion; Dan Warner: guitar; John Michalak: saxophone, tenor; Richard Bravo: percussion; David Chiverton: drums; Gregoire Maret: harmonica; Teddy Mulet: trumpet; Jim Hacker: trumpet; Jorge Dorbal, Jr: trombone; Tom McCormick: woodwinds; Doug Emery: keyboards.

Time to Love Again

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Paul Bley Trio - The Nearness Of You

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:25
Size: 149.8 MB
Styles: Piano jazz, Avant Garde jazz
Year: 1989
Art: Front

[ 5:29] 1. This Can't Be Love
[12:50] 2. The Nearness Of You
[ 7:23] 3. What A Difference A Day Makes
[ 4:31] 4. These Foolish Things
[11:26] 5. Blues In The Closet
[ 6:15] 6. Lullaby Of Birdland
[10:39] 7. We'll Be Together Again
[ 6:49] 8. Take The A Train

Bass – Ron McClure; Drums – Billy Hart; Piano – Paul Bley. Recorded November 21, 1989

Recorded in 1989 and issued simultaneously on LP and CD, the digital version features two extra cuts and thus weighs in at about 16 minutes longer than the vinyl. The first question is why an artist of Bley's restlessness and vision would record a batch of tunes like these old nuggets in the first place. Bley's trio on this date is an estimable one: Drummer Billy Hart and bassist Ron McClure join the pianist for eight standards that range from the title track by Hoagy Carmichael to Oscar Pettiford's "Blues in the Closet" to George Shearing's "Lullaby of Birdland." Bley has an interesting way of approaching standards, which is why this hard bop rhythm section is key to the performances here. While he may approach Richard Rodgers' "This Can't Be Love" as a bebop tune with a modal sensibility -- he found the mode inside the tune's architecture -- Bley's sense of phrasing falls out of all the traditional jazz boxes. His bebop style is full of angular spaces and odd half notes and his modal mannerisms suggest tonal maneuvers requiring notes that go by at a clip (16th, even a 32nd in a major seventh chord run!) in counterpoint with McClure. Of course, this is what makes the man one of the bona fide geniuses of the music -- his manner of reworking something so it is something totally different yet still sounds like itself. In a ballad like the title tune, Bley allows Hart plenty of room to explore with his brushes by creating huge spaces in the melody, not merely by syncopation but by extending the chordal reach of the tune itself and allowing the tempo to hover rather than move toward any particular measure or melodic invention (of which there is plenty). Strangely, his reading of the Carmichael number is deeply moving, and played in a manner that suggests Mal Waldron's with a lighter touch and a longer reach for harmonic structures. The trio's performance of "What a Difference a Day Makes" seems rushed at first, as the musicians slip through the melody like a breeze through a screen door -- but it's all smoke and mirrors. Bley is moving the melody around to find room for McClure and Hart to lay back and coast on where he's taking the harmony, which is into a realm that suggests Herbie Nichols and Bill Evans. By the time Bley gets to Shearing's tune and the closer, Billy Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train," he's convinced us all once again that there is something new in everything. While the Strayhorn stalwart may be one of the most recorded jazz tunes in history, it has never sounded like this. Before the melody falls like dominoes and like lightning from Bley's right hand, he moves through a series of Monkish augmented chords that make no apparent sense harmonically until the melody jumps right out of them. As McClure and Hart move to double time, Bley triples and they're off and running, floating back and forth between pitches and key changes, even slipping in a bit of Ornette's chromaticism at the break. The other cool thing is that Bley manages to quote, however minutely, from every other tune on the session in his solo! This date is Bley at his most relaxed and amiable, playing with two veterans who not only handle his sudden shifts in mood and color but, more often than not, texture them in advance of what's coming -- dig McClure's hammer-on run near the end of "'A' Train" and, as Bley follows him and opens the scale up, you'll get a stunning example. This is Bley at his level jamming best. If this had been a cutting session, I'd have hated to be the horn player. ~Thom Jurek

The Nearness Of You

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Akalé Wubé & Manu Dibango - Anbessa

Styles: Jazz Band
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:25
Size: 85,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:52) 1. Ekedi feat. Manu Dibango
(4:13) 2. Gentlemen de Camp Yabassi
(3:43) 3. Anbessa feat. Manu Dibango
(3:13) 4. Otetena Munja
(4:32) 5. Du Bush A Bush
(4:12) 6. African Pop Session feat. Manu Dibango
(5:34) 7. La Colère des Dieux
(3:45) 8. Tinchel
(4:16) 9. Peaceful Homeland

Akalé Wubé is a Parisian band devoted totally to the grooves of 60s and 70s Ethiopian music. Since their beginnings in 2009, Akalé Wubé have been exploring passionately and meticulously the musical goldmine of Swingin' Addis, which they discovered through the “Ethiopiques” compilation curated by Buda Musique. https://www.discogs.com/artist/1984877-Akal%C3%A9-Wub%C3%A9

Members: Etienne de la Sayette: tenor & baritone saxophone, bansuri flute, washint; Paul Bouclier: trumpet, percussions, krar; Loïc Réchard: guitar; Oliver Degabriele: electric bass; David Georgelet: drums

Anbessa

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Stockholm Swing All Stars !!! Vol. 3: Listen

Styles: Swing
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:18
Size: 108,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:20) 1. Pick Yourself Up
(4:50) 2. Poinciana - Where or When
(4:33) 3. Upper Manhattan Medical Group
(3:12) 4. And Clyde
(7:08) 5. The Preacher
(4:13) 6. If I Had You
(2:41) 7. New Shoes
(6:42) 8. The Unpleasantness
(3:32) 9. mr Sven
(6:02) 10. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

The idea was to form a band featuring the top jazz and swing players in Stockholm. The four horn players in the front line play an important role in the band. With cleverly written arrangements, mostly by Klas Lindquist and Fredrik Lindborg, the band can play softly like a small group and seconds later explode in a big band fortissimo. The rhythm section gives the band a bouncing ground for the solos and ensembles.

The members of the Stockholm Swing All Stars are considered among the best in their field in Sweden. The band plays swing and jazz music suitable both for concerts and for dancing. They often play at lindy hop and other dance events as well as in concert halls.

The Stockholm Swing All Stars have released five albums and one DVD. The most recent album, “In The Spirit of Duke Ellington”, was released in September 2018. They tour all over Scandinavia, and sell out the Stockholm Concert Hall and the Gothenburg Concert Hall regularly.
https://www.stockholmswingallstars.com/about/

The Stockholm Swing All Stars are: Karl Olandersson – trumpet and vocals Klas Lindquist – reeds Fredrik Lindborg – reeds Dicken Hedrenius – trombone Daniel Tilling – piano Göran Lind – double Bass Mattias Puttonen – drums

Stockholm Swing All Stars !!! Vol. 3: Listen

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