Jim Rotondi - Excursions

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:31
Size: 142,7 MB
Art: Front

( 6:12) 1. Shortcake
( 7:19) 2. Little B's Poem
( 7:19) 3. Excursions
( 7:53) 4. What Is There To Say
( 7:25) 5. Angel Eyes
( 7:09) 6. Little Karin
( 7:57) 7. Jim's Waltz
(10:14) 8. Fried Pies

One of the next major talents yet to be discovered by the jazz public at large, trumpeter Jim Rotondi is a dynamo full of the kind of bristling trumpet fire that distinguished such predecessors as Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw. Over the course of his first two Criss Cross dates, Introducing Jim Rotondi and Jim’s Bop Rotondi proved that he was a capable mainstream player with great promise in terms of developing his own voice. Now with Excursions he goes to the head of the class with what has to be his finest work to date.

Leading what is essentially the cooperative One For All with drummer Kenny Washington spelling standby Joe Farnsworth at the drums, Rotondi works his way through a few standards and an original from his own pen, in addition to one apiece from Steve Davis and Eric Alexander. The title track is a solid standout, first heard on a Jackie McLean date featuring composer Davis. During the closing vamp, Rotondi quotes from “Pensativa,” further establishing the association with Hubbard. “What Is There To Say” is a mature ballad performance illuminating Rotondi’s burnished tone.

Hazeltine gets to strut his stuff with another one of his totally ingenious revamps. This time around he turns the usually delicate “Angel Eyes” into an active up-tempo romp that makes the most out of his voicings for the three-horn front line. Of course, Alexander is no slouch himself when it comes to the composition department. The sprightly “Jim’s Waltz” is of his invention and it has that beaming quality that marks his most blissful tunes, a repeated four-note vamp cunningly used to separate choruses Consistently stimulating, Excursions is yet another in a long line of significant Criss Cross sides and further testimony that the label indeed has something special in the guise of one Jim Rotondi.
By C.Andrew Hovan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/excursions-jim-rotondi-criss-cross-review-by-c-andrew-hovan#

Personnel: Jim Rotondi: Trumpet.

Excursions

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Bob Thompson - Say What You Want

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1988
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:25
Size: 91,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:30)  1. Say What You Want
(5:05)  2. My Heart Is Dancing
(4:20)  3. Uptown Serenade
(6:17)  4. Someone
(4:25)  5. On The Horizon
(6:24)  6. Is This Love
(7:22)  7. New River Blue

Since 1991 Bob Thompson has been pianist, and regularly featured artist on West Virginia’s NPR syndicated radio show, Mountain Stage. For the past twenty-three years he has also been co-producer and host of Joy to the World, a Holiday jazz show, broadcast on public radio stations nationwide, and heard internationally on the Voice of America. In October 2015, Bob Thompson was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. Bob makes his home in Charleston, West Virginia, and has enjoyed a long and active career as a performer, composer, arranger, and educator. For decades he has played at festivals and venues around the country, and has also taken his music to Europe, Africa, and South America. Bob Thompson’s resume includes guest appearances on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, on National Public Radio, and BET on Jazz with Ramsey Lewis. His recordings on Intima Records, and Ichiban International, received high recognition on the jazz charts, with several reaching the top-ten. His recent recordings, Bob Thompson “Live” on Mountain Stage, and Smile, with the Bob Thompson Unit, are on his own label, Colortones.com. Bob’s current group, The Bob Thompson Band, has a new recording, “Look Beyond The Rain”. It was released January 8th 2016 on Blue Canoe Records. In addition to Bob the band features saxophonist Doug Payne, guitarist Ryan Kennedy, John Inghram on bass, and Tim Courts on drums. “This is my musical family, we all live in Charleston and have been playing together for a long time. We are trying to play music that makes people feel good. We want to spread a little love during these troubled times. Making this record was a lot of fun. It was also great to reunite with my friend, and producer during my years with Ichiban, Buzz Amato.”

After hearing Thompson live or on any of his numerous recordings you might be surprised to learn how hard Thompson tried to avoid the keyboard as a kid. Although there was always a piano in his home in Jamaica, N.Y., Bob had little interest in learning how to play it. “When I was in junior high school, I had a piano teacher who came to my house to give me lessons. He thought I had some talent. So one summer, he told my mom he’d teach me for free, Thompson recalls. “I said I wasn’t interested. I didn’t want to spend the summer taking piano lessons.” Instead, Thompson picked up the trumpet, playing in various school bands. And when he arrived on the campus of West Virginia State College, he wanted to join the student jazz band. Only one problem, they already had a fine trumpet player. “He was great, and the trumpet spot was closed.  So I started playing piano, just so I could be in the band and learn about the music from him,” Thompson says. It was a switch that stuck. And Thompson left the trumpet behind to hone his keyboard skills. While a student at West Virginia State College, Thompson formed the Modern Jazz Interpreters, a piano trio who appeared at the Notre Dame Jazz Festival in 1964. Shortly thereafter, Thompson received a valuable lesson from another performer, Chicago saxophonist Bunky Green, who joined the band on a State Department tour to Algiers. “He’s the person that really inspired me to spend my life playing music,” Thompson says. “He used to tell me, ‘When you sit down to your instrument, play as though it might be the last time.” ‘So don’t fool around, don’t jive. Go ahead and say what you’ve got to say’.”

That’s advice which Thompson has followed throughout his professional career, which began with the Jazz Interpreters, and then later on his own in the 1970s. Through the 80s, Thompson released a series of widely acclaimed solo albums, recording first for his own Rainbow Records and then on Capitol’s Intima jazz label. “Violinist John Blake encouraged me to record my own compositions. He was a big inspiration.” Blake produced the recordings “7 In 7 Out” and “Brother’s Keeper” with guests like bassist Gerald Veasley, guitarist Kevin Eubanks, and drummer Omar Hakim. Hakim also produced Thompson’s 1986 album “Say What You Want.” The albums are tasteful, thoughtful, contemporary jazz. These recordings garnered strong airplay on radio stations nationwide. Meanwhile, Thompson moved to Atlanta-based Ichiban International Records to release the albums Love Dance (1992), The Magic In Your Heart (1993), Ev’ry Time I Feel The Spirit (1996) and Lady First. Ev’ry Time I Feel The Spirit, which is a collection of spirituals performed in Thompson’s unique contemporary jazz style, was re-released in 2003 on DM Records. Bob Thompson has had a long relationship with Mountain Stage, an eclectic, Charleston-based weekly music broadcast on National Public Radio that’s featured everyone from R.E.M. to K.D. Lang, The Neville Brothers, and Joshua Redman. Having been a frequent guest on the show since its inception in 1983, Bob was always a big Mountain Stage fan. In 1991 he was invited to become a regularly featured performer on the show, and pianist in the house band. “I’ve just fallen in love with Mountain Stage,” says Thompson, “It’s also gotten my music out to a more diverse audience.” In between concerts and festival gigs, Thompson can still be found playing clubs in Charleston something he says keeps him close to his musical roots. “When I’m on a big stage, I just treat it like I’m in a bar somewhere,” he says. “The kind of connection with the audience I like happens a lot when we’re playing in a small club, and that carries over when we get into a larger venue.” Music education is also very important to Thompson. He continues teaching a few private students and doing occasional workshops at colleges and public schools. “I love teaching because it gives me an opportunity to pass along the help that so many have given me along the way. I am always thankful for this opportunity to do something in life that I truly love.”http://colortones.com/about-bob-thompson/

Say What You Want

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Lisa Hilton - Paradise Cove

Styles: Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:15
Size: 113,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:13) 1. Birks’ Works
(3:54) 2. Fast Time Blues
(4:58) 3. Blues Vagabond
(6:29) 4. Another Simple Sunday With You
(5:55) 5. Cha Cha Cha A´ La Carte
(3:56) 6. Mercurial Moments
(3:45) 7. Night Cap & A Little Chaos
(4:26) 8. Storybook Sequel
(3:14) 9. Mediterranean Dreams
(3:25) 10. What The World Needs Now Is Love
(4:56) 11. Paradise Cove

At a time in our collective consciousness when it appears nothing is functioning as it once did, or is as reliable as it once was, or gives us purpose and solace as we once knew, along comes the soft sustaining magic of Lisa Hilton's gorgeous new recording, Paradise Cove, and for all of its enchanting forty-five minutes all is right with the world again.

Hilton may not have the wild chops of many of her peers or the instigative approach to the parade of shadows that hound us, but her music offers release into something greater, something less arch and/or demanding. Hilton's sincere compositions are candles in the dark, the sunrise of a better day. They are a true romance of the earth, the sky, and the resolute spirit.

Nothing on Paradise Cove (Hilton's twenty-sixth recording) is rushed or meant to lull you into a false expectancy. With the addition of simpatico trumpeter Igmar Thomas, Hilton introduces a new emotional voice, in turn adding even more depth and resiliency to her tightly-constructed (though the tightness is never felt) musings. Her long-running rapport with bassist Luques Curtis pulses at the heart of Paradise Cove, whose two well chosen covers, the Pink Panther noir-ish blues of Dizzy Gillespie's eternal "Birk's Works" and Burt Bacharach and Hal David's wistful and wishful 1965 pop gem, "What the World Needs Now is Love," serve to amplify and complement Hilton's own endearing work.

It is also enduring work, as the lucid and uncomplicated motifs of "Another Simple Sunday With You" and the majestic uplift of "Storybook Sequel" (a tune that should become a chestnut) instantly reveal. Reminiscent of many reflective moments intuited by such influences as Dave Brubeck, Brad Mehldau, and Bill Evans, these two tracks alone make the album a sure fire favorite. The bright, whispery restraint exhibited on both tracks by drummer Obed Calvaire and Thomas clear, yearning lines are standout performances.

An unabashed fan of the cha cha and other Latin infused rhythms, Hilton and her L.I.L.O. quartet, (Lisa, Igmar, Luques, Obed) sidestep and swing on "Mercurial Moments" and "Cha Cha Cha À La Carte." They cut loose on the many tempo-ed, retro-vibey "Fast Time Blues" and juke joint leaning "Blues Vagabond." Closing on the lush, hopeful cadences of its namesake track, Paradise Cove proves itself a team effort all around. For Hilton, who either willfully or unjustly flies under the broader jazz radar, it is another quietly brave achievement. By Mike Jurkovic
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/paradise-cove-lisa-hilton-ruby-slippers-productions

Personnel: Lisa Hilton: piano; Luques Curtis: bass, acoustic; Igmar Thomas: trumpet; Obed Calvaire: drums.

Paradise Cove

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Emma Pask - Dream Of Life

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:23
Size: 134,0 MB
Art: Front

(6:23) 1. Smack Dab In The Middle
(4:26) 2. If I Were A Bell
(6:46) 3. Here There And Everywhere
(5:23) 4. The Eagle And Me
(3:38) 5. They Say It's Wonderful
(3:01) 6. Caí Dentro
(5:25) 7. Dream Of Life
(4:08) 8. I Just Found Out About Love
(4:40) 9. Rumour Has It
(4:52) 10. If You Never Come To Me
(4:14) 11. Heading In The Right Direction
(5:20) 12. Don't Touch Me

Award winning vocalist Emma Pask has firmly established herself as one of Australia’s favourite voices in Jazz.

Emma will present her new album ‘Dream of Life’ in concert with a collection of beautifully arranged Jazz Standards, a Beatles classic, an Adele pop hit, and some high energy Brazilian magic.

Emma’s effortless and honest stage presence combined with her powerful vocal ability, leaves audiences spellbound and inspired whenever she takes to the stage. Emma has toured extensively throughout Australia and has had some exciting performances abroad. “Having the opportunity to play live so often, there comes a unique rapport, a connection and energy that builds within a band,” Emma says.

“The repertoire has a chance to settle in, and find a place where it all feels so good. That’s the time I like to head into the studio”. Sonically this recording is live, raw, real, and up close, sounding and feeling as though you are right there in the room. While Emma’s voice and style are unique, and individually her own, her performances are reminiscent of the classic era of jazz, when swing was top of the charts.

Her talent was first spotted by internationally renowned Jazz great James Morrison, when she was just 16 years old. She joined his band as the lead vocalist at 16, and went on the spent a solid 20 years touring the world with Morrison. Emma is a ‘Mo’ award winner for Jazz Vocalist of the year, and has received two ARIA award nominations for. Best Jazz Album of the Year in 2014 and 2016.

Emma will be accompanied by Kevin Hunt on piano, Phil Stack on bass and Tim Firth on drums.https://emmapask.com/event/dream-of-life-new-album/

Personnel: Vocals – Emma Pask; Drums – Emma Pask, Tim Firth; Piano – Kevin Hunt; Piano, Drums – Phil Stack

Dream Of Life

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Roland Hanna & George Mraz - Romanesque

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1982
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:49
Size: 99,4 MB
Art: Front

(8:23) 1. Humoreske
(5:44) 2. Serenade
(6:10) 3. Reverie
(4:31) 4. Chant Sans Paroles, Op. 2, No. 3
(6:24) 5. Swan Lake
(8:39) 6. Yours Is My Heart Alone
(2:54) 7. Clair De Lune

Originally made for the Japanese Trio label and released domestically by Black Hawk, this was at least the sixth duet album that pianist Roland Hanna made with bassist George Mraz. Hanna takes seven classical melodies (including "Humoresque," "Reverie," "Swan Lake" and "Yours Is My Heart Alone") and transforms them into swinging and lyrical jazz, respecting the melodies but also coming up with fresh variations. Fine music.By Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/romanesque-mw0000188145

Personnel: Piano – Roland Hanna; Bass – George Mraz

Romanesque

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Iris Ornig - No Restrictions

Styles: Contemporary Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:12
Size: 147,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:18) 1. Autumn Kiss
(6:56) 2. We Shall Meet Beyond the River
(6:37) 3. Venus as a Boy
(4:33) 4. No Restrictions
(6:21) 5. If Anything Goes Wrong
(5:55) 6. The Way You Make Me Feel
(7:27) 7. Gate 29
(5:46) 8. Spark of Light
(7:09) 9. No Restrictions Version II
(8:06) 10. Uptight

Intrepid bassist Iris Ornig's second release follows the thematic structure of her remarkable debut, New Ground (Self Produced, 2009), but is more polished and coherent, hence more engaging. This is a hard goal to achieve, as the first was a thoroughly enjoyable and stimulating album.

If New Ground was a collection of short stories sharing a common thesis then No Restrictions is a novel, exploring a similar leitmotif and expanding on it. The emphasis is more on original compositions, and even the two arranged covers do not come from the jazz canon but are of pop music origin.

On Björk's "Venus as a Boy," Ornig's melodic bass and Marcus Gilmore's percussive drums build a framework with vague rock sensibilities. On this, the inimitable Helen Sung channels a subtler inner Don Pullen with modal and circular piano lines. Kurt Rosenwinkel's psychedelic yet earthy guitar, continuing Sung's train of thought, weaves an absorbing tone poem.

The other arrangement is Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel," that gets a soulful groove with blue tinges and features trumpeter Mike Rodriguez's funky, Kenny Dorham-influenced sound. Ornig's own solo demonstrates her supreme lyricism and ingenuity as an improviser and an instrumentalist. Her complex embellishments not only bring the tune solidly into the jazz realm; they also demonstrate the full potential of an instrument that, even after a century of evolution, too often gets relegated to the role of a timekeeper.

The intricate and multilayered "Gate 29" is a gorgeous composition that features Rodriguez's burnished trumpet with the right amount of vibrato blowing a melancholic song. Like a modern day troubadour Rosenwinkel's romantic yet blistering tones maintains the wistful ambience. Sung's flowing but edgy pianism colors the piece with darker hues. Ornig's tight and deep vamps and Gilmore's keen and assertive polyphonics integrate the individual voices of the band members into a satisfying whole.

Not one to hog the spotlight Ornig relies on the intimate esprit du corps that permeates her quintet's ensemble work. The group creates a bittersweet ambience on the impressionistic ballad "We Shall Meet Beyond The River." Rodriguez's crepuscular and elegiac horn mixes well with Rosenwinkel's bluesy strings like a rain puddle shimmering in the setting sun. Ornig' resonant vibrations and Gilmore's sensitive brushes and sticks create a rhythmic structure that supports this elaborate interaction. Sung's keys sprinkle clusters of earthy notes like a gentle rain shower.

A consummate musician, Ornig demonstrates a combination of sophistication, maturity and originality with No Restrictions that is rarely present so early in someone's career. This unique elegance and worldliness will, hopefully, remain the trademark of her art for years to come.By Hrayr Attarian
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/no-restrictions-iris-ornig-self-produced-review-by-hrayr-attarian

Personnel: Iris Ornig: bass; Kurt Rosenwinkel: guitar; Michael Rodriguez: trumpet; Helen Sung: piano; Marcus Gilmore: drums.

No Restrictions

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Charles Lloyd - Trios: Ocean

Styles: Saxophone And Flute Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:23
Size: 95,2 MB
Art: Front

(12:19) 1. The Lonely One (Live)
( 8:53) 2. Hagar of the Inuits (Live)
(10:03) 3. Jaramillo Blues(Live)
(10:08) 4. Kuan Yin (Live)

Ocean is the second volume in saxophonist Charles Lloyd's 2022 Trios series, all recorded with different personnel. This one finds Anthony Wilson on guitar and Gerald Clayton on piano. Both men are members of his Kindred Spirits ensemble. The set was livestreamed during the pandemic on September 9, 2020 from the stage of the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California sans audience. Lloyd has spent his career integrating jazz, blues, and American styles with the music of other global traditions. One of his qualities is that no matter how far afield he travels, his clear, emotive tone keeps the music, no matter how exotic, readily and honestly accessible.

There are four long tunes here, all originals by Lloyd. Opener "The Lonely One" commences with spectral resonance as the tenor emits long breathy notes, Clayton builds sparse minor shapes as Wilson delivers soft, flamenco-esque arpeggios. After two minutes, Lloyd's horn introduces another theme that winds around the guitar as Clayton flows purposefully and distinctly around them with a deeply inquisitive solo. Moods and dynamics shift, shorter accents and solos emerge and retreat, and the band gels around Lloyd's mysterious, Latin-tinged modal assertions.

The saxophonist pulls out his mostly neglected alto in "Hagar of the Inuits." He improvises solo for a couple of minutes before a call-and-response exchange with Clayton whose knotty chords deliberately draw on Monk before Lloyd quotes briefly from John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Wilson slips in spiky blues runs dictating the pianist's shift to a 21st century take on boogie woogie. "Jaramillo Blues (For Virginia Jaramillo and Danny Johnson)" was composed for two artists she's a painter,he's a sculptor. Lloyd leads this swinging 12-bar blues with the flute. Wilson's chordal vamps bridge Clayton's rhythmic keyboard. It's bright, with lots of subtle movement and tonal shading underneath. The sequential exchanges and turnarounds between pianist and guitarist are canny. Wilson's massive wall of shapes offers abundant textural support for Clayton's punchy, walking chordal solo. He seamlessly shifts to comping as the guitarist offers an elegantly articulated solo that touches on the jazz guitar's history from Charlie Christian to T-Bone Walker to Jim Hall.

Lloyd rejoins for the last few minutes as the conversation becomes sprightly and jovial. Closer "Kuan Yin" is titled for the Chinese goddess of mercy and compassion she is known as Tara in Tibetan Buddhism. Clayton introduces it by playing percussively, dampening the lower strings from inside the piano. He follows by establishing a minor-key rhumba rhythm with Wilson before Lloyd tentatively introduces the melody. Before long, he ratchets its intensity as the pianist cascades single-note runs and illustrative chords with colorful, gorgeously toned rhythmic articulation from the guitarist. Behind Lloyd they build to a dynamic group crescendo before whispering to a fade. Ocean offers a document of spontaneously created music-making of a very high order. A snapshot of a moment in time, the energy, creativity, and surprise offered here are a delight. By Thom Jurek https://www.allmusic.com/album/trios-ocean-mw0003770629

Personnel: Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Alto Flute – Charles Lloyd; Guitar – Anthony Wilson; Piano – Gerald Clayton

Trios: Ocean

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Molly Ryan - Sweepin’ the Blues Away

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:01
Size: 106,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:30) 1. Get Yourself a New Broom (And Sweep the Blues Away)
(5:37) 2. The Folks Who Live on the Hill
(4:31) 3. I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
(3:57) 4. You and I
(4:33) 5. A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
(3:34) 6. I'll Sit Right on the Moon (And Keep My Eyes on You)
(3:09) 7. I Wonder Who's Kissing Him Now
(4:16) 8. You Turned the Tables on Me
(4:15) 9. A Cottage for Sale
(3:16) 10. Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella (On a Rainy Day)
(4:19) 11. If You Want the Rainbow (You Must Have the Rain)

New York City jazz vocalist Molly Ryan knows how to swing with the best of ‘em. Hailed as a “critic’s favorite” by author and Wall Street Journal music writer, Will Friedwald, Ryan announces the release of her fifth solo album, Sweepin’ the Blues Away, on Turtle Bay Records, which features 11 jazz classic songs from the swingin’ ‘30s.

Since arriving in 2003 from Roseville, CA, Ryan has established quite a career on the NYC jazz scene. She has performed at prestigious Manhattan venues such as the Café Carlyle, The Rainbow Room, Joe’s Pub, Symphony Space, Birdland Jazz Club, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Iridium Jazz Club, The Player's Club, the Waldorf Astoria, The Cutting Room, and The Town Hall. She has performed alongside such prominent jazz artists as Randy Reinhart, Jon-Erik Kellso, Bria Skonberg, Dan Barrett, Mark Shane and Rossano Sportiello, as well as with the preeminent 1920s-style orchestra, Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks.

Ryan has appeared at numerous jazz festivals and jazz parties throughout the U.S. and abroad, including the Atlanta Jazz Party, the Central Illinois Jazz Festival, the North Carolina Jazz Festival, the New York Hot Jazz Festival, the Old Jazz Meeting “Zlota Tarka” in Ilawa, Poland and Winter Jazzfest in New York City, among others. In addition, Molly Ryan’s voice can be heard on the Grammy Award-winning HBO television series Boardwalk Empire (Season One). She also has made appearances on the AMAZON PRIME TV series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel(Season Three) and in Take Me Back to Manhattan, the Emmy-nominated musical revue celebrating New York and the great American songbook.

WSJ music critic Will Friedwald says, “Molly swings the melody as well as the words without affectation of any kind. She brings a straight-ahead innocence and total believability to the music…She sounds worldly wise beyond her years, wonderfully gentle and lyrical.” Whether you're feeling blue or not, the new jazz swing album by Molly Ryan Sweepin’ the Blues Away, guarantees to lift your spirits! Available now on CD or vinyl at TurtleBayRecords.com. By EMPKT PR https://www.allaboutjazz.com/news/nyc-jazz-vocalist-molly-ryan-releases-new-album-on-turtle-bay-records/

Personnel: Molly Ryan (Vocal); Dan Levinson (tenor sax/clarinet), Rossano Sportiello (piano), Rob Adkins (bass), Kevin Dorn (drums)

Sweepin’ the Blues Away

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