Kirk Lightsey - Home Piano

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:29
Size: 107,8 MB
Art: Front

(7:50) 1. I Remember Clifford
(5:09) 2. Brother Rudolph
(5:34) 3. Four In One
(4:46) 4. Some Other Time
(6:22) 5. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
(4:41) 6. Blues On the Corner
(6:14) 7. Golden Legacy
(5:50) 8. The Obvious Blues

Kirk Lightsey; Home Piano (RR-22). Grabación inédita de piano solo, que captura al gran músico de Detroit en una tarde de noviembre de 2012, en Buenos Aires. La atmósfera íntima y relajada de la sesión, junto al majestuoso sonido del piano Fazioli F308, generan el marco propicio para que la música surja con agradable espontaneidad.

Kirk Lightsey, uno de los últimos pianistas de una época maravillosa; irrepetible. Ello, tanto por la calidad y cantidad de músicos que la protagonizaron, como por lo que el ambiente del jazz generaba y significaba (particularmente, quizás, para los músicos afroamericanos). Kirk fue integrante estable del cuarteto de Dexter Gordon, y ha tocado con TODOS: Chet Baker, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, Benny Golson, Woody Shaw, Harold Land, Blue Mitchell, Louis Hayes, Clifford Jordan, Don Moye, James Moody, David “Fathead” Newman, Jimmy Raney, David Murray, James Clay, Sonny Fortune, Chico Freeman, Billy Pierce, Ricky Ford, Harold Danko, Attila Zoller, Rufus Reid, Santi Debriano, Marcus Belgrave, Javon Jackson, Mark Whitfield, Steve Nelson……

Kirk Lightsey; Home Piano (RR-22). Previously unreleased solo piano recording, capturing the great Detroit musician on a November 2012 afternoon in Buenos Aires. The intimate and relaxed atmosphere of the session added to the majestic sound of the Fazioli F308 grand piano, generate the right frame for the music to emerge with pleasant spontaneity.

Kirk Lightsey, one of the last pianists of a wonderful, unrepeatable era; due both to the quality and quantity of the musicians involved, and what the jazz environment generated and meant (particularly, perhaps, for African-American musicians). Kirk served as stable member of Dexter Gordon's quartet, and has played with Everyone: Chet Baker, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, Benny Golson, Woody Shaw, Harold Land, Blue Mitchell, Louis Hayes, Clifford Jordan, Don Moye, James Moody, David “Fathead” Newman, Jimmy Raney, David Murray, James Clay, Sonny Fortune, Chico Freeman, Billy Pierce, Ricky Ford, Harold Danko, Attila Zoller, Rufus Reid, Santi Debriano, Marcus Belgrave, Javon Jackson, Mark Whitfield, Steve Nelson……

Personnel: Piano: Kirk Lightsey; Trumpet/Trompeta: Mariano Loiacono (Track 8)

Home Piano

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Adam Rogers - Dice

Styles: Guitar
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:53
Size: 128,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:51) 1. Dice
(8:22) 2. Chronics
(6:30) 3. Sea Miner
(6:06) 4. The Mystic (For Fred McDowell)
(2:20) 5. The Interlude
(5:22) 6. Flava
(4:22) 7. Elephant
(4:53) 8. Crazy
(7:58) 9. Lthe Bruce
(3:05) 10. Seven

At some point in time, fusion lost its way. Some say it never really had a firm enough direction, existing only as a symbol of excess, power, and virtuosity to begin with. But those steeped in '70s and early '80s music of this sort know the truth: A perfect blend of rip-roaring lines, one-step-beyond melodicism, feats of daring, and mind-bending grooves took the music to great heights in its first decade, bringing it to a point that's never been equaled or duplicated since.

Instead of living on as a celebration of stylistic convergence and unity, fusion became a dirty word in the decades that followed, disdained by a growing faction of purists, muddied by those who put complexity and athleticism above accessibility, and muddled by those who never really heard the message the right way in the first place. But all is not lost. Guitarist Adam Rogers has delivered DICE, reminding us about the virtues of this much-maligned music while extending it into a new realm of his own creation.

While the aforementioned setup clearly focuses on a specific style of music, the truth is that it doesn't really matter what you call this. Fusion for modernists, post-modern groove art, and electro-hypno jazz are all perfectly fine descriptors that say enough without really saying anything at all. Words just don't suffice. You simply have to hear this to really get it. Rogers, bassist Fima Ephron, and drummer Nate Smith bring their long history together to bear through aggressive gestures, flowing grooves, trippy asides, and searing solos. If the name "Trio of Doom" wasn't already taken, these guys could've owned it, bar none.

While Rogers' position as one of the finest guitarists in the land was established quite some time ago, DICE makes it clear that he's not one to rest on his laurels. With "L The Bruce" Rogers brings a quirky sensibility in line with tight rhythmic choreography, on "Flava" he assaults the senses, through "Elephant" he combines slick lines and mind-blowing technique, and during a trip through the Patsy Cline-associated "Crazy" he puts the big guns away and focuses on the unvarnished beauty of the song as seen through a glassy prism. On one track Rogers might be delivering the solo to end all solos, but on another he might be boiling down the essence of Mississippi Fred McDowell into a melodically engaging, six-minute spiritual raga. You don't know what you're going to get from Adam Rogers from one moment or song to the next, but you know it's going to be something.

There are many points on the album where production work and overdubs add greatly to the mix the use of samples and loops to thicken the surroundings, a complementary glaze painted atop a trio romp, the underwater additions to "Sea Miner" but those enhancements shouldn't take away from the raw truths surrounding these three. When you look past all of that, what remains is an incredibly sophisticated power-and-pocket trio that's as intelligent as it is muscular. DICE, not surprisingly, delivers on every level. By Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/dice-adam-rogers-self-produced-review-by-dan-bilawsky

Personnel: Adam Rogers: electric guitars, clarinet, bass clarinet, Korg ms 20 synthesizer; Mellotron; Koestler wind organ; Fender Rhodes; percussion; samples, loops; Fima Ephron: electric bass; Nate Smith: drums.

Dice

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Ramsey Lewis - The Beatles Songbook

Styles: Piano Jazz

Year: 2022  
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:04
Size: 85,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:07) 1. Here, There And Everywhere
(4:11) 2. And I Love Her
(3:44) 3. Hey Jude
(1:56) 4. Blackbird
(2:42) 5. Imagine
(4:00) 6. Hard Day's Night
(1:56) 7. Yesterday
(2:10) 8. Rocky Raccoon
(4:03) 9. Michelle
(3:10) 10. Golden Slumbers
(3:22) 11. The Long And Winding Road
(1:38) 12. Let It Be

Ramsey Lewis Celebrates The Music Of The Fab Four With Posthumous CD 'The Beatles Songbook,' His First Solo Piano Recording

The late, legendary pianist Ramsey Lewis offers an intimate, familiar affair with his solo piano recording The Beatles Songbook: The Saturday Salon Series, Volume One, to be released January 6 on Steele Records. This selection of tunes by the iconic songwriting duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, approved for release by Lewis, is also a surprising DIY project, created during livestreamed sessions in Lewis’s own Chicago home.

Lewis, of course, is no stranger to covering of postwar pop music. He had a smash 1965 hit with his cover of Dobie Gray’s “The In Crowd,” which he followed up with a successful version of “Hang on Sloopy.” He has even assayed the Beatles’ catalog before, scoring a minor hit with “A Hard Day’s Night” and even releasing Mother Nature’s Son, an homage to the Beatles’ White Album, in 1968.

He was a latecomer, however, to unaccompanied piano performance. Until recent years, Lewis had almost never performed as a soloist. But the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to perform any other way, and during the lockdowns Lewis initiated a series of monthly webcasts called “The Saturday Salon.” Always an artist with a populist touch, Lewis included the Beatles’ songs in his webcasts because it was music that, like his own, had demonstrated universal appeal.

“They have a catalog of songs that can stand up as standards that are fun to play and fun to solo on,” he said. “Their music has been recorded by symphonies and orchestras, rock bands, jazz bands. I don’t know any other pop act whose music has been recorded across the board like this.”

Even with their exhaustive coverage, Lewis is able to unlock new secrets and breathe new life into the tunes. His “And I Love Her” explores the possibilities of both the song’s harmonies and its famous four-note riff. “Rocky Raccoon” gets a beautiful reharmonization. Lewis plays up the gospel roots of “Hey Jude,” and in the ballads “Blackbird” and “Golden Slumbers” he finds previously unknown reservoirs of the blues.

Lifted directly from the 2020 livestream audio, The Beatles Songbook sounds like the home recording it is. But that sound is a feature, not a bug: It amplifies the intimacy of the performance, as if we were hearing a message from a friend, and reminds us that to the end, Lewis was able to work in any circumstances and create great art.

About Ramsey Lewis

Ramsey Lewis was born May 27, 1935 in Chicago. He began playing piano at the age of four, learning classical from teachers, gospel from the church, and jazz from his father’s record collection. Through Wells High School and into Chicago Musical College he intended to become a concert classical pianist, but fate intervened: While working at a record store, Lewis met bassist Eldee Young and drummer Red Holt, fellow jazz lovers who joined with him to form the Ramsey Lewis Trio.

In 1965, after a decade of working together both on bandstands and on Leonard and Phil Chess’s Argo Records, Lewis and the trio achieved a surprise top 10 pop hit with their version of “The In Crowd,” recorded live in Washington DC. The record made Lewis a star, which he compounded with subsequent hits “Hang on Sloopy,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” and “Wade in the Water.” After the trio disbanded, Lewis carried on with new ensembles and continued pursuing pop-jazz success, surfacing on the pop charts again with members of Earth, Wind & Fire on 1974’s Sun Goddess. His popular success continued into the 1980s and ‘90s, when he formed the popular crossover group Urban Knights.

In the 21st century, Lewis became a revered elder statesman of jazz, finding a career renaissance as a composer, broadcaster, educator, and artistic director of the Ravinia Jazz Festival. Lewis was awarded the NEA Jazz Masters fellowship in 2007. He spent his final year working with journalist Aaron Cohen on his memoir, Gentleman of Jazz (to be published May 2023 by Blackstone Publishing), before passing away at his Chicago home on September 12, 2022.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/news/ramsey-lewis-celebrates-the-music-of-the-fab-four-with-posthumous-cd-the-beatles-songbook-his-first-solo-piano-recording-due-jan-6/

The Beatles Songbook

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Doris Day - Early Day: Rare Songs From The Radio 1939-1950

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:38
Size: 127,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:51) 1. Sentimental Journey
(2:21) 2. Little Sir Echo
(2:13) 3. I'm Happy About The Whole Thing
(2:10) 4. The Joint Is Really Jumpin' Down At Carnegie Hall
(2:10) 5. Salt Water Cowboy (A United States Marine)
(4:16) 6. Take Me In Your Arms
(2:34) 7. Easy Street
(1:46) 8. Wonderful Winter
(4:07) 9. Along The Navajo Trail
(3:28) 10. I Wish I Knew
(1:53) 11. Sunshine Cake (Feat. Bob Hope)
(1:49) 12. Slippin' Around (Feat. Jimmy Wakely)
(2:14) 13. My Darling, My Darling
(2:01) 14. Hair Of Gold, Eyes Of Blue
(2:11) 15. A Little Bird Told Me
(2:25) 16. It's Too Soon To Know
(2:05) 17. Buttons And Bows
(2:31) 18. Havin' A Wonderful Wish (Time You Were Here)
(2:17) 19. Dear Hearts And Gentle People
(1:43) 20. Happy Times
(1:39) 21. Never Again
(1:24) 22. I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine
(0:34) 23. Savings Bond Promotional Spot
(0:44) 24. Ain't Misbehavin'

Wanna know - and wanna hear - how Doris Day became one of the biggest multimedia stars on the planet? This 24-track collection carefully culls Doris' finest and rarest performances from over a decade of appearances on the radio, where her star first really began to shine. First, we begin with a 1944 rendition of one of her signature songs, 'Sentimental Journey,' with the big band that really vaulted her into the stratosphere, The Les Brown Orchestra. Then we double back all the way to her very first radio performances with local Cincinnati bandleader Barney Rapp, who was the man who urged Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff to change her name to Doris Day.

After that, we're off and running with more mid-'40s appearances with Les Brown, 1950 duets on The Bob Hope Show with Bob ('Sunshine Cake') and Jimmy Wakely ('Slippin' Around'), and a lot more songs from The Bob Hope Show that reunited Doris with Les Brown, who served as the show's musical director. We've found period pictures galore for the package'which, by the way, was put together with the full knowledge and consent of the late, great lady herself'and have commissioned liner notes by Joe Marchese that chart the steep trajectory of Doris Day's career through these radio recordings. Remastered, like our other Doris Day rarities collections, by Mike Milchner at SonicVision'a perfect way to celebrate the Doris Day centennial!

Early Day: Rare Songs From The Radio 1939-1950

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