Monday, May 29, 2023

New York Jazz Lounge - Trio Masterpieces, Vol. 4

Styles: Jazz, Swing
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:21
Size: 180,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:57) 1. Round Midnight
(5:12) 2. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
(5:00) 3. Perdido
(7:44) 4. Star Dust
(4:34) 5. Corcovado
(4:02) 6. I Can't Get Started
(4:19) 7. Tea for Two
(5:23) 8. Just the Way You Are
(4:06) 9. One Note Samba
(4:00) 10. Cantaloupe Island
(5:10) 11. The Days of Wine and Roses
(4:27) 12. Michelle
(4:40) 13. The More I See You
(5:28) 14. All Blues
(4:16) 15. Maiden Voyage
(4:55) 16. Mercy, Mercy

Where would jazz be without New York’s “joints’ of the 1920’s – 1950’s? If Ellington hadn’t been hired to play the Cotton Club, what direction would his orchestra have taken? Without the Royal Roost, would Parker play with Miles and Max Roach, and would Miles have had a venue to perform “Birth of the Cool” in? And, where would Monk and Coltrane have played if not at the Five Spot?

I came upon this terrific history today, “Jazz Joints Through the Ages.” Written by noted jazz historian Ashley Kahn and originally published in Jazz Times in 2006, the feature provides short biographies of many of the most important clubs in jazz music’s past. It is an incredibly entertaining read…

Jazz joints come and jazz joints go especially in New York City. From tightly packed bars downtown to spacious dinner clubs uptown, it’s a historic lineage. Much has changed over the years (Birdland’s smoky elegance in the ’50s would be impossible with Mayor Bloomberg’s ban on indoor smoking) and much has not, like set lengths, drink minimums and the apparent majority view that jazz sounds best in New York City one floor below street level (Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola notwithstanding).

One jazz rule seems immutable: Before musicians can reach those grand uptown theaters or the big festival stages, they must first make it in the clubs of New York City. They are still the proving ground. It’s been that way since the ’20s. The nightclubs that follow are celebrated less for being the most popular in their day many were not and more for accurately representing the music and spirit of the time. Often they predicted sounds and societal shifts just around the corner.

It was a challenging process selecting one from each decade. Some eras, like the ’40s when 52nd Street was in full swing, offered far too many choices: Every club on “The Street” (Three Deuces, Onyx Club) and, of course, Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem held the seeds of modern jazz. Also, to which decade does the Village Vanguard belong? It has consistently presented visionary music during its 71-year history. And what about all those great neighborhood bars in Brooklyn? The list was limited to venues with a Manhattan address. Save for one, none remain standing in their original form.
https://jerryjazzmusician.com/short-history-new-yorks-iconic-jazz-clubs/

Trio Masterpieces, Vol. 4

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Greatest Hits

Styles: Trumpet Jazz, Easy Listening
Year: 1970
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 32:01
Size: 76,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:20) 1. Lonely Bull
(2:11) 2. Spanish Flea
(2:15) 3. Getting Sentimental Over You
(3:05) 4. Love Potion #9
(2:45) 5. Never On Sunday
(2:15) 6. Mexican Shuffle
(2:48) 7. Taste Of Honey
(2:10) 8. Tijuana Taxi
(2:13) 9. South Of The Border
(2:52) 10. America
(2:39) 11. Whipped Cream
(4:24) 12. Zorba The Greek

Released in 1970, a bit too late to capitalize on the Tijuana Brass at the peak of their appeal, this early hits collection compounded the error of its tardy timing by only including selections from the TJB's first five albums.

Still, since the CDs of three of the five albums are currently out of print, this can serve as a decent, if brief, overview of the development of Herb Alpert's vehicle from its clever ethnic novelty beginnings into a cosmopolitan septet that could actually bridge the yawning generation gap of the 1960s. But for a more sweeping look at the TJB, there are better, more economical packages around. By Richard S. Ginell
https://www.allmusic.com/album/greatest-hits-mw0000194109

Greatest Hits

Radka Toneff - Butterfly

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:42
Size: 118,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:12) 1. It's Been a Long Long Day
(3:58) 2. Pre-Dawn Imagination
(4:16) 3. Antonio's Song
(3:47) 4. Nature Boy
(5:43) 5. Sometime Ago
(4:37) 6. Like That
(2:11) 7. The Butterfly
(2:53) 8. Before Love Went Out of Style
(4:31) 9. Black Coffee
(5:37) 10. My One and Only Love
(6:18) 11. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
(3:33) 12. Don't Weep for the Indy

Born Ellen Radka Toneff on 25.06.1952, died on 21.10.1982.

Radka was a Norwegian/Bulgarian jazz composer and singer. She was born in Oslo, and was the daughter of the Bulgarian folk singer, Toni Toneff.

From 1975 unto 1980 she played in the group "Radka Toneff Quintet" with, among others, Arild Andersen and Jon Eberson.

Radka leaves us the legacy of three albums; "Winter Poem", "It don't come easy", and "Fairytales" (the last one actually released after her death).

Posthumously: "Live in Hamburg" and "Her finest moments", has been released
.
Her album "Fairytales" was the first Norwegian album to be digitally recorded, it also reached nr 12 in the contest "Best Norwegian album ever made".
https://www.last.fm/music/Radka+Toneff/+wiki

Personnel: Radka Toneff -vocals; Jon Balke / Steve Dobrogosz-Piano; Jon Eberson - Guitar; Arild Andersen - Doublebass; Jon Christensen / Alex Riel - drums

Butterfly

Pardon Me Boys - Pardon Me Boys

Styles: Swing
Year: 1987
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:46
Size: 73,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:08) 1. Beat Me Daddy
(3:08) 2. Shoo Shoo Baby
(2:12) 3. I-Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi
(5:08) 4. Hot Voodoo & Monkey Doodle Doo
(2:41) 5. Embraceable You
(3:58) 6. Lounging At The Waldorf
(2:31) 7. Rhythm Is Our Business
(2:30) 8. Double Trouble
(3:40) 9. Perfidia
(2:46) 10. Choo Choo Ch-Boogie

Pardon Me Boys were a short lived Australian swing jazz-cabaret band. The group released one studio album which peaked at number 63 on the Australian charts in 1988.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon_Me_Boys

Members: Monica Trápaga; Ignatius Jones; William O'Riordan; Backing Vocals – Rocio Trápaga; Saxophone – Jason Breuer, Julian Gough;Trombone – James Greening; Trumpet – Michael Bukowski

Pardon Me Boys

Sunday, May 28, 2023

Sant Andreu Jazz Band & Joan Chamorro - Jazzing 10 Vol.1

Styles: Jazz, Big Band
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:26
Size: 162,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:49) 1. Jim
(6:17) 2. Jordu
(5:49) 3. Laura
(5:45) 4. He's My Guy
(5:19) 5. Lands End
(5:57) 6. You Go to My Head
(7:05) 7. Brown Skins
(5:46) 8. Falling in Love with Love
(4:47) 9. Hymn of the Orient
(4:42) 10. I Remember Clifford
(4:00) 11. Daahoud
(4:50) 12. Can't Help Lovin Dat Man
(5:14) 13. Split Kick

I don't know to what extent the number 10 is significant, but it is a round number and reaching this number of Jazzings (CDs of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band) for me is, at least, a great joy.

JAZZING 10, but 18 CDs, actually, since several of them are double or triple, as is the case of this last one, which consists of three volumes. The first of them (VOL. 1), dedicated to the music of Clifford Brown, with special arrangements for the occasion, of songs that were either originals by Clifford himself or songs that he used to perform.

The other two volumes (VOL. 2 and 3) are also a sample of the different recordings we have made during this 2019, both with the entire Sant Andreu Jazz Band, or in smaller formats, and in two different spaces such as the JAZZ HOUSE (home of the young orchestra) and the JAMBOREE, a regular venue during all these years, where we have also played and recorded on many occasions.

Musicians:

Koldo Munné, Nil Galgo, Alba Esteban, Marçal Perramón, Joan Marti, Joana Casanova, Èlia Bastida, Shanti Ming (Saxophones)

Elsa Armengou, Víctor Carrascosa, Alba Armengou, Joan M. Sauqué, Max Munné, Noa Galgo, Martha Vives, Gerard Peñaranda (Trumpets)

Arnau Sanchez, Joan Codina, Max Tato, Claudia Rostey, Hugo Vlach, Luc Martin, Anastasia Ivanova (Trombones)

Ton Felices, Miquel Casanova (Bass), Pablo Ruiz (drums)

Carla Motis (guitar)

Jan Domenech, Simón Palazi (Piano)

Andrea Motis, Joana Casanova, Èlia Bastida and Alba Armengou (Vocal)

Scott Hamilton, Dick Oatts, Andrea Motis, Joe Magnarelli, Fredrik Norén, Victor Carrascosa, Joan Marti, Jan Domenech, Elsa Armengou, Joan Codina, Ton Felices, Joan Mar Sauqué, Joan Chamorro, Èlia Bastida, Marçal Perramon, Martha You live, Alba Armengou, Carla Motis and Pablo Ruiz (Solos)

Jazzing 10 Vol.1

Gloria Lynne - He Needs Me (Analog Source Remaster 2023)

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1961/2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:01
Size: 78,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:40) 1. He Needs Me
(2:38) 2. Wild Is The Wind
(2:58) 3. I Thought About You
(2:57) 4. You Don't Know What Love Is
(2:50) 5. I've Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
(2:45) 6. I'll Take Romance
(2:45) 7. You're Mine You
(3:03) 8. If You Love Me (Really Love Me)
(2:19) 9. The Lamp Is Low
(2:57) 10. Home
(3:08) 11. Greensleeves
(2:55) 12. Make The Man Love Me

Gloria Lynne recorded many albums for Everest in her early days, slipped away into obscurity and then in the 1990's made a comeback. An excellent singer whose style falls between bop, 1950's middle-of-the-road pop and early soul, Lynne was always capable of putting on a colorful show. Her mother was a gospel singer and Lynne started out singing in church. She had five years of concert training and in 1951 won the legendary amateur competition at the Apollo Theatre.

Lynne sang with some vocal groups, became a single and in 1958 was discovered by Raymond Scott, who at the time was a top A&R man at Everest. During her busy period with Everest (at least ten records were cut between 1958-63), Lynne had hits in "I Wish You Love" (a song she virtually made a standard) and "I'm Glad There Is You." She recorded with both orchestras and jazz combos, becoming quite popular for a period.

However, with the rise of rock and the change in the public's musical tastes, Lynne was forgotten for a time. Only a commercial record in 1975 for ABC broke the silence. But starting in the early 1980's, Gloria Lynne started working regularly again, regained some of her earlier frame and in the early 1990's recorded a couple of CDs for Muse.
https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/gloria-lynne-albums/1574-he-needs-me.html

He Needs Me (Analog Source Remaster 2023)

Jeb Patton - New Strides

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 63:14
Size: 144.8 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[5:07] 1. Billy
[5:59] 2. My Ideal
[5:50] 3. The Music Goes On
[7:50] 4. Sir Roland
[5:21] 5. If Ever I Would Leave You
[8:37] 6. Last Night When We Were Young
[7:00] 7. Cloak And Dagger
[7:28] 8. Estate
[5:09] 9. Street Song
[4:49] 10. Dream Dancing

Though only in his early thirties at the time of these recording sessions, pianist Jeb Patton had already firmly established himself in the jazz world. This former student of the late Sir Roland Hanna and Jimmy Heath recorded as a sideman on CDs with Heath's small groups and big bands, the Heath Brothers, while he has also performed with many other artists. His second CD features two other talented young musicians, bassist David Wong and drummer Pete Van Nostrand, who also appeared on his debut effort. Patton chose a surprising opener, a breezy setting of the neglected pianist Reuben Brown's "Billy," a driving bop piece deserving of wider recognition. The pianist modifies the usually somber bossa nova ballad "Estate" by picking up the tempo, while Van Nostrand switches to brushes for Patton's robust, swinging arrangement of the show tune "If Ever I Would Leave You." Originals include his bluesy tribute to Hanna ("Sir Roland") and the snappy "The Music Goes On." Jimmy Heath plays soprano sax in a touching duo arrangement of "Last Night When We Were Young," while Albert "Tootie" Heath takes over on drums for his brother's playful blues "Cloak and Dagger" and the pianist's sauntering, Latin-flavored "Street Song." Jeb Patton is one of the most promising jazz musicians of his generation and this CD is a fine addition to his discography. ~ Ken Dryden

New Strides

Laila Biali - Your Requests

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:47
Size: 108,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:18) 1. Bye Bye Blackbird
(5:29) 2. Blame It On My Youth
(2:57) 3. But Not for Me
(4:51) 4. My Funny Valentine
(4:28) 5. My Favorite Things
(4:28) 6. Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)
(5:30) 7. Pennies from Heaven
(5:18) 8. Autumn Leaves
(3:24) 9. The Nearness of You
(3:59) 10. All the Things You Are

While the jazz pipeline produces plenty of artists who pay no mind to an audience's interests, those types figures with tunnel vision, in many if not most ways rarely reach their full potential. Instead, it's the musicians who make it a point to communicate who tend to forge the strongest bonds with those on the receiving end. Laila Biali is one such figure. This JUNO-winning gem of a vocalist, pianist, arranger and songwriter always manages to connect.

Biali has a keen awareness that the act of making music does not or should not exist in a vacuum, and that those who create are often best fueled by people who'll be hearing their creations. Her success, be it through covers or finely-crafted originals, has always been linked to the understanding of a need for receptive ears, and that fact is magnified with this listener-friendly project.

Focusing on standards for the first time in a decade, Biali plays right to her people. Having specifically asked social media followers for some requests, they obliged with more than 150 entries. Eager to honor their wishes, Biali went through the list and picked ten classics, put her inimitable arranging stamp on all of them, and then hit the studio. Working with an ace band including saxophonist Kelly Jefferson, bassist George Koller, drummers Larnell Lewis and Ben Wittman, and percussionist Maninho Costa, she found the perfect balance points in both honoring and personalizing the material.

Opening with a take on "Bye Bye Blackbird" that vacillates between straight time in seven and a driving 4/4 swing, all while showcasing the vocal melody's malleable place in time and spotlighting Jefferson's tenor and Lewis' handiwork, it's immediately obvious that this is not your basic standards session. Add to that an evocative take on "Blame It On My Youth" with textural enhancements from organist Sam Yahel and it's clear that stylistic variety within the greater whole is another early selling point for the program.

As Biali moves toward the center of the album she welcomes a variety of high-profile guests into her music. Not surprisingly, each and every one of them brings their own brand of magic to bear on her artful arrangements. Anat Cohen's clarinet makes a winning appearance on an effervescent, Brazilian-bound take on "But Not For Me." Gregoire Maret's harmonica obbligato and soloing helps to accentuate the gentle charms of "Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)." And three singers of note each make an appearance alongside the leader: Kurt Elling takes notable melodic liberties during an emotionally on-point rendition of "My Funny Valentine"; Emilie-Claire Barlow meshes beautifully with Biali for an energized "My Favorite Things"; and breakout vocal sensation Caity Gyorgy drops by for a gliding "Pennies from Heaven" buoyed by a "Poinciana"-esque groove.

Leaving those visitors behind for the back end of the set, Biali continues to dazzle while sharing space with some core collaborators. The wonderful marriage between her pure-toned pipes and piano work is key at the outset of a stirring "Autumn Leaves," which later spotlights Jefferson's fiery soprano. Biali engages in a winning pas de deux with Koller on an absorbing "The Nearness of You." And then, throwing a real curveball as a closer, she gives her voice a rest and offers the keys her full attention for a smartly-shaped instrumental take on "All the Things You Are." An outing that's both in tune with Laila Biali's fanbase and musical mindset,Your Requests is a real gift to one and all. By Dan Bilawsky
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/your-requests-laila-biali-act-music

Personnel: Laila Biali: piano and vocals; Kelly Jefferson: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophones; George Koller: bass; Larnell Lewis: drums; Ben Wittman: drums, percussion; Maninho Costa: percussion; Sam Yahel: Hammond B3 (2); Anat Cohen: clarinet (3); Kurt Elling: vocals (4); Emilie-Claire Barlow: vocals (5); Grégoire Maret: harmonica (6); Caity Gyorgy: vocals (7).

Your Requests

Friday, May 26, 2023

Sant Andreu Jazz Band - Jazzing 8 Vol.3

Styles: Jazz, Big Band
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:28
Size: 182,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:08) 1. Groove Marchant
(4:01) 2. I Let a Song Go out My Heart
(4:29) 3. Cool Blues
(4:27) 4. Grey Flannel
(3:59) 5. My Blue Heaven
(4:04) 6. Joy Spring
(2:38) 7. Prity Trix
(4:21) 8. Polka Dots and Moonbeams
(5:50) 9. Three and One
(3:24) 10. Black and Tan Fantasy
(3:01) 11. Minor Swing
(3:57) 12. Easy Living
(4:18) 13. Whisper Not
(4:57) 14. Spaceman Twist
(3:12) 15. Tishomingo Blues
(3:34) 16. Baby, You've Got What It Takes
(5:45) 17. Poor Butterfly
(7:14) 18. Moanin

Sant Andreu Jazz Band is a project arising from a music class. Conducted by Joan Chamorro, the big band brings together children between 6 and 21 years old, around a classic jazz repertoire with lots of swing, which gained the public and sold-out some of the most important music auditoriums in Spain.

Jazzing 8 Vol.3

Chet Baker - Blue Room: The 1979 Vara Studio Sessions In Holland Disc 1, Disc 2

Album: Blue Room: The 1979 Vara Studio Sessions In Holland Disc 1
Styles: Trumpet And Vocal Jazz
Year: 1979
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:57
Size: 112,6 MB
Art: Front

( 9:13) 1. Beautiful Black Eyes
(10:02) 2. Oh, You Crazy Moon
( 6:10) 3. The Best Thing For You
(16:09) 4. Blue Room
( 7:21) 5. Down

Album: Blue Room: The 1979 Vara Studio Sessions In Holland Disc 2
Time: 42:50
Size: 98,8 MB

(10:51) 1. Blue Gilles
( 8:36) 2. Nardis
( 5:39) 3. Candy
( 6:55) 4. Luscious Lou
( 5:34) 5. My Ideal
( 5:13) 6. Old Devil Moon

Let us bring sexy back to jazz. Not that it has been misplaced but, in a world where a teenager with a horn can flawlessly navigate "Giant Steps," what seems to be the missing is the seductive element of jazz. We are undoubtedly reminded of the sensuous experience of the music which has always been reflected in the music of Chet Baker as evidenced by these newly discovered sessions from Holland in 1979. Jazz detective Zev Feldman has unearthed more unreleased music from Baker, just as he did with the Chet Baker Trio Live In Paris: The Radio France Recordings 1983-1984 (Elemental Music, 2022).

These sessions were studio-recorded for the Dutch radio program Nine O'Clock Jazz, and unheard until now. They comprise two sessions. The first from April 10th features Baker with his regular pianist Phil Markowitz, Belgian bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse, and American drummer Charlie Rice. The second outing from November 9th finds the trumpeter with a pick-up band of Dutch musicians, pianist Frans Elsen, bassist Victor Kaihatu, and drummer Eric Ineke.

Baker's music always had a sense of fragility about it. Like the music (and life) of Billie Holiday there was a delicacy and vulnerability with his expression of sound. That sensitivity is on display in his singing and playing. The April 10th session opens with Wayne Shorter's "Beautiful Black Eyes" performed as a luscious bossa-nova. Baker's tone is tender and unblemished here and throughout.

Yes, there had been and would be sessions where Baker falters. Just not here. He sets his horn aside on three tunes, giving us his delicate vocals along with irresistible scatting. A master of the unhurried pace, he takes Miles Davis' "Nardis" at a crawl, but then dashes through "The Best Thing For You" with unexpected speed. The same is true of a brisk take on "Old Devil Moon," where he seems a bit sideways with his pick-up band. Nonetheless, the playing is beyond competent and the sound captured here is outstanding.By Mark Corroto
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/blue-room-the-1979-vara-studio-sessions-in-holland-chet-baker-jazz-detective-deep-digs-elemental-music

Personnel: Chet Baker: trumpet and vocals; Jean-Louis Rassinfosse: bass, acoustic; Victor Kaihatu: bass, acoustic; Charlie Rice: drums; Eric Ineke: drums

Blue Room: The 1979 Vara Studio Sessions In Holland Disc 1, Disc 2

Julie Budd - Child of Plenty

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1968
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 30:04
Size: 69,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:07) 1. All's Quiet on West 23rd Street
(2:51) 2. Black is Black
(2:32) 3. Child of Plenty
(2:12) 4. People Are Strange
(2:16) 5. New Hope
(2:23) 6. Yesterday's Sunshine
(3:05) 7. Little Toy Store
(3:05) 8. Whistle A Tune
(2:54) 9. Georgie Porgie
(3:05) 10. Fly, Little Bird
(2:32) 11. Follow Your Dream

This one might already be known to many people on here but it wasn’t known to me. Another blind buy (based on seeing there was a cover of “People Are Strange” and the totally cool photo of Julie on the back) and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The cover of People Are Strange is, well, strange.

 Sort of slightly psych but also to me it also sounds sort of disjointed-Broadway as well. It’s hard to describe so take a listen for yourselves. My favorite track on here is the first one: “All’s Quiet on West 23rd street”. The intro is banging, and when her voice comes in it’s just right to my ears. I suppose this could be considered pop, but to me it seems that there is something else going on.

Apparently Budd was a child prodigy sort of singer cut her first album when she was 14 or so. She still seems to be around and has a website, but truthfully she seems to have gone the diva singer route which I find much less interesting than what’s on here. Oh, and here’s that photo of her from the back cover. http://waxidermy.com/blog/julie-budd-child-of-plenty/

Child of Plenty

Conte Candoli & Lou Levy - West Coast Wailers

Styles: Trumpet And Piano Jazz
Year: 1955
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:04
Size: 94,9 MB
Art: Front

(8:19) 1. Love Come Back To Me
(4:19) 2. Comes Love
(3:39) 3. Lover Man
(3:29) 4. Pete's Alibi
(5:54) 5. Cheremoya
(5:00) 6. Jordu
(5:28) 7. Flamingo
(4:52) 8. Marcia Lee

Trumpeter Conte Candoli and pianist Lou Levy had only occasional opportunities to work as leaders before this 1955 session they recorded together for Atlantic Records. Both made the most of the chance, fronting a quintet that also included tenor saxophonist Bill Holman, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Lawrence Marable.

The group got out of the gate quickly (following a contemplative piano intro, that is) on a quickstep bop reading of the Sigmund Romberg operetta tune "Lover Come Back to Me," which quickly established that a commonplace of jazz ensembles would hold no matter whose name is in large print on the cover, it's the group that's performing, and other people will get their chance to shine, too.

While the rhythm section contented itself with supporting (though Marable often made his drums noticeable), Holman got more solo time than his sideman credit would indicate, at least on this track. Levy and Candoli got to make their statements up front, of course, but this was really a five-headed beast and, from the sound of forceful bop compositions like Candoli's "Pete's Alibi," it's one that should have been given more of a hearing than just one album. By William Ruhlmann
https://www.allmusic.com/album/west-coast-wailers-mw0000558663

Personnel: Conte Candoli - trumpet; Lou Levy - piano; Bill Holman - tenor saxophone; Leroy Vinnegar - bass; Lawrence Marable - drums

West Coast Wailers

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Dave Douglas - Sanctuary Disc 1, Disc 2

Album: Sanctuary Disc 1
Styles: Avant-Garde Jazz, Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:25
Size: 124,9 MB
Art: Front

( 9:07) 1. Apparition
( 6:27) 2. Three Beasts
( 6:57) 3. Swoon
( 3:48) 4. The Lethe
( 5:20) 5. Dark Wood
( 6:35) 6. The Dome
(11:44) 7. Heavenly Messenger
( 4:23) 8. Among Frogs

Album: Sanctuary Disc 2
Time: 58:14
Size: 133,6 MB

( 6:36) 1. Limbo
( 4:43) 2. The Great Cliff
(11:52) 3. The Lantern
( 7:39) 4. Mad Dog
( 9:13) 5. The Flower
(5:50) 6. Contemplation
( 9:34) 7. Coins
( 2:44) 8. Among Stars

Although Dave Douglas is credited as leader, Sanctuary is not just an album of him supported by a backing band. Instead, Douglas plays as equal member in a project of standout musicians. Team work is the theme; live performance is the key. Each CD is a nonstop recording of a different August 1996 show at N.Y.C.'s Knitting Factory. Heard is the great interplay between Douglas, Cuong Vu, and Chris Speed as their horn conversations intermittently get animated and peak, then settle back within the band.

The sampling provided by Anthony Coleman and Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda playfully interacts with the rest of the music on disc one. Throughout "The Lethe" and "Dark Wood," for example, the sampling provide humor and thrills, interjecting into the music like zoo animals spontaneously joining in visitors' conversations! During "Dome" and "Heavenly Messenger," the basses of Mark Dresser and Hillard Greene sound simultaneously like a creaking ship, a mournful violin, and a dress slowly zipped by another.

They then follow a stair-tumbling drum solo by teaming with the samplers. At other times, the drums and basses form a simply steady rhythm section. Disc one's concert closes with sampled electronic beats running beneath slow swells and statements made by the group, sounding like a dance track played at too slow of a speed. The concert heard on disc two opens cacophonous and splurty, and stays relatively crazy until "Lantern"'s spookhouse quiet suspense.

"Mad Dog" includes a terrific drum solo from Dougie Bowne. Again, the horns play tight and exciting throughout, and the samplers provide more ambience, with backwards voices and organ sounds, later adding groove-oriented beat tracks. Never guilty of carrying any style or approach for too long, the musicians keep mixing it up, yielding two excellent, well-rounded shows' worth of recordings.

Part abstract space shooting, part late-night dance party, all mixed with the scratching and balladry of outside jazz, Sanctuary is a definite strong addition to any collection that values these musicians, and a good introduction to them for all adventurous listeners ready to jump right in.By Joslyn Layne
https://www.allmusic.com/album/sanctuary-mw0000032272

Personnel: Dave Douglas: trumpet; Cuong Vu: trumpet; Yuka Honda: sampler; Anthony Coleman: sampler; Mark Dresser: bass; Hilliard Greene: bass; Chris Speed: tenor saxophone, clarinet; Dougie Bowne: drums

Sanctuary Disc 1,Disc 2

Various Artists - Colin Curtis Presents Jazz Dance Fusion Volume 2

Styles: Fusion, Latin Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:42
Size: 176,7 MB
Art: Front

1. Paoli Mejias - Revelation (5:16)
2. Leslie Lewis And Gerard Hagen Trio - Keeper Of The Flame (5:24)
3. Curtis Lundy - Never Gonna Let You Go (4:21)
4. 8VB - Gengis (6:37)
5. Marita Albán Juárez Quartet - Upa Neguinho (4:37)
6. JD Walter - Golden Lady (5:51)
7. Steven Kroon - Tombo 7/4 (5:52)
8. Hajime Yoshizawa Feat. Navasha Daya - Celebration (5:14)
9. Raffaela Renzulli Ensemble - Brasilia (6:31)
10. Carmen Lundy - So This Is Love (3:36)
11. Tino Gonzales - Latin Gypsy (7:23)
12. Grady Tate - Little Black Samba (9:14)
13. Jam Session Goes Latino - Manteca (6:39)

“Welcome to the second instalment of my ‘Jazz Dance Fusion’ compilation series for Dave Lee’s Z Records. I continue to look back into the story & history of the UK jazz dance and jazz music scene; a movement that started for me back in the 70’s. The sounds of funk & soul mixed with jazz, influences from Brazil, Africa, Europe and all over the globe, textures of instrumental sounds & voices, fuse to create the much-loved ‘jazz fusion’ sound that we love.

Here we are in 2020 when interest in all forms of Jazz is growing fast as DJ pioneers such as Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge, Perry Louis, Snowboy, Nick Hosier, Alan Mckinnon, Jim Bernardi, Kev Beadle, Harv Nagi, Shuya Okino and David Patterson continue to push all aspects of Jazz to converted and new audiences. So, to this compilation where I am showcasing unreleased material and offering tracks up for the first time ever on vinyl and CD. The track listing covers my addiction to dance-floor jazz, coupled with my passion for vocal and percussive jazz, with my usual trademark latin touches.
https://www.zrecords.ltd.uk/product/colin-curtis-presents-jazz-dance-fusion-volume-2/

Jazz Dance Fusion Volume 2

Steve Davis & Larry Willis - Alone Together

Styles: Trombone And Piano Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:42
Size: 157,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:32) 1. Milestones
(4:13) 2. My Foolish Heart
(9:50) 3. Surrey with the Fringe on Top
(8:54) 4. Alone Together
(5:24) 5. The Day You Said Goodbye
(8:22) 6. United
(8:30) 7. We'll Be Together Again
(7:44) 8. UMMG
(9:10) 9. Short Cake

Trombonist Steve Davis has been a veteran of the New York scene for many years. Hailing from Binghamton, New York, he quickly established a presence as one of the best trombonists in the area as a teenager. Upon his arrival in New York City in the mid-1980s, Davis' talents were noticed by such luminaries as drummer Art Blakey and saxophonist Jackie McLean. Davis' quartet release on Mapleshade, Alone Together , is a tip of the hat to his former boss a wonderful quartet featuring pianist Larry Willis, bassist Nat Reeves and drummer Eric McPherson, all McLean alumni.

The fact that all these men are veterans of McLean's combo gives this session the feeling of a working band, and everyone plays at a high level. Davis and Willis have a great rapport together, with Willis' voicings adding depth to Davis' lines. Larry Willis may perhaps be best known as the pianist in trumpeter Woody Shaw's classic group, and as one of the most sensitive and nuanced disciples of Herbie Hancock.

Willis begins the quartet's take on "Milestones with a lovely introduction before Davis enters with the familiar Miles Davis (by way of John Lewis) melody. The rhythmic feel throughout the piece is refreshingly buoyant as McPherson molds and shapes the time at the bridge, a la a young Tony Williams, allowing for strong statements from Willis and Davis. Willis also creates rhythmic interest behind the trombone solo by often going against the time for tension and release.

The next cut, the classic standard "My Foolish Heart, is taken as a duet. Willis' warm chords frame Davis' dark, burnished tone as he stays close to the melody. The title track is taken with a quasi-Latin/boogaloo eighth note feel. Davis bleeds soul out of his horn with Curtis Fuller-like intensity, while McPherson provides strong commentary on the skins throughout. Fuller's influence is further felt on "United, taken from Art Blakey's book. Davis provides slashing phrasing reminiscent of the elder trombonist on classic Blakey albums such as Free For All (Blue Note, 1964), as McPherson keeps a strong swinging pulse on this fairly straightforward Wayne Shorter composition.

As fine as the music is, the recording quality of this release, which is superb, deserves to be mentioned. The sound is dynamic and very much like a session at Rudy Van Gelder's original Hackensack living room studio combined with the intimacy of the many studio dates on Pablo. The recording is direct to two-track analog tape and minimally miked, capturing the nuances of Willis' piano, the woodiness of the bass, and all of the air control flowing through the trombone. Free of compression and other tweaks, this is how every new acoustic jazz album should sound. Overall, Steve Davis and his quartet have made an excellent album that is creative and soulful, sure to delight fans of the hard bop tradition. By CJ Shearn
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/alone-together-steve-davis-mapleshade-recordings-review-by-cj-shearn

Personnel: Steve Davis: trombone; Larry Willis: piano; Nat Reeves: bass; Eric McPherson: drums.

Alone Together

Marion Montgomery & Mart Rodger Manchester Jazz - Makin' Whoopee

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:19
Size: 171,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:29) 1. Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
(4:35) 2. You Took Advantage Of Me
(4:50) 3. Mean to Me
(3:51) 4. Shake It & Break It
(3:37) 5. Kansas City Man Blues
(2:48) 6. If I Ever Cease To Love
(4:26) 7. I Get the Blues When It Rains
(5:50) 8. Sobbin' Blues
(3:54) 9. Dinah
(3:11) 10. After You've Gone
(4:10) 11. Then It Changed
(3:16) 12. Canal Street Blues
(4:52) 13. My Meloncholy Baby
(4:25) 14. I'm Crazy About My Baby
(4:42) 15. Makin' Whoopee
(3:53) 16. Froggie Moorev
(3:48) 17. Love Me Or Leave Me
(4:31) 18. Riverboat Shuffle

Marion Montgomery (November 17, 1934 – July 22, 2002) was an American jazz singer, who lived for the majority of her life in the United Kingdom.

Born Marian Maud Runnells (she later changed the spelling of Marian to Marion) in Natchez, Mississippi, she began her career in Atlanta working clubs, and then in Chicago, where singer Peggy Lee heard her on an audition tape and suggested she should be signed up by Capitol Records, releasing three albums for them in the early and mid-1960s. During this early part of her career, she became Marian Montgomery, having previously gone by the nickname of Pepe. In 1963, she released the original version of the song "That's Life", made famous after its 1966 release by Frank Sinatra.

In 1965, she came to Britain to play a season with John Dankworth, and met and married English pianist and musical director Laurie Holloway, thus beginning a long and productive association in which they both became well known to British jazz, cabaret and television audiences. She numbered amongst her admirers Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and British chat show host Michael Parkinson, on whose show she became resident singer in the 1970s. In 1976, she sang in a comedy musical sketch with Morecambe & Wise. She also famously collaborated with composer and conductor Richard Rodney Bennett for a series of concerts and albums in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, her recording of the song "Maybe the Morning" (contained on her 1972 album Marion in the Morning) was used by Radio Luxembourg each evening to close the station, and again as the final song to be heard on the station when it closed in 1992.[citation needed] Her final studio recording was That Lady from Natchez, released in 1999. She continued to perform until just before her death, including a sell-out three week season at London's "Pizza on the Park" in April 2002.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Marion_Montgomery

Personnel: Marion Montgomery - Vocals; Mart Roger - Clarinet; Allan Dent - Trumpet; Terry Brunt - Trombone; Alec Collins - Piano; Tim Roberts - Banjo; Colin Smith - Bass; Pete Staples - Drums

Makin' Whoopee

Maria Schneider Orchestra - Sky Blue

Styles: Big Band
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:09
Size: 144,8 MB
Art: Front

(13:28) 1. The 'Pretty' Road
(10:00) 2. Aires de Lando
( 9:34) 3. Rich's Place
(21:57) 4. Cerulean Skies
( 8:08) 5. Sky Blue

There's a reason that composer/bandleader Maria Schneider calls her large ensemble an orchestra. The term "big band suggests a number of inherent expectations relating to historical tradition. Schneider's group may be configured like a big band five reeds, four trumpets, four trombones with an expanded rhythm section but the music she writes delves into territories considerably farther afield. Sky Blue is a logical follow-up to her Grammy Award-winning Concert in the Garden (ArtistShare, 2004), but there's been significant evolution as well.

Even more ambitious than its predecessor, Sky Blue doesn't completely leave behind the South American influences heard on Concert. The Peruvian-informed "Aires de Landro manages to mask its rhythmic complexity beneath a lush lyricism that's explored fully by clarinetist Scott Robinson. Robinson may be the primary soloist, but here as on the rest of Sky Blue the ensemble players manage to interpret Schneider's detailed arrangements while bringing their own personalities to every chart.

That's an important differentiator for Schneider's orchestra, made all the more significant considering that only seven members of an ensemble ranging from seventeen to twenty-one pieces are afforded delineated solos. Guitarist Ben Monder's subtle presence is often something more felt than heard, but it adds unmistakably to the ambience of pieces like the Americana-rich "The 'Pretty' Road, the closest thing to a conventional song form that Schneider's written, yet possessed of an orchestral depth made all the more vivid by Ingrid Jensen's remarkable trumpet and flugelhorn solo.

"Rich's Piece is, not surprisingly, a solo vehicle for tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, but this nine-minute tone poem is bolstered by pianist Frank Kimbrough's intuitive colors and Jay Anderson's fluid and sensitive bass work. Schneider's voicings and her choice of instruments to layer them seamlessly ebb and flow alongside Perry, sometimes becoming dramatically dominant, elsewhere underpinning Perry with sublime understatement.

But it's the episodic, 22-minute centerpiece "Cerulean Skies that elevates Blue Sky to masterpiece. Awash with complex colors and shifting ambiences, it begins in rich abstraction with a variety of bird sounds almost all created by members of the orchestrabefore settling into a sumptuous mix of counterpoint, polyrhythm and evocative melodism, setting the stage for a lengthy tenor solo from Donny McCaslin, who builds to near fever-pitch. Dissolving again into the ethereal, Gary Versace's accordion solo is as much texture as it is melody, with Kimbrough gradually shifting towards another folkloric Americana section initially rubato but finally propulsive for altoist Charles Pillow's vivid closing solo.

Like Vince Mendoza quite possibly the only other artist writing for large ensembles today with as distinctive a voice Schneider's not without precedent. But while past innovators like Gil Evans and Bob Brookmeyer figure in who Schneider is, she's long since transcended those and other influences. Sky Blue is an album of remarkable depth and beauty an expansive, imagery laden experience, from an artist who's ready to be considered in the same breath as those who've been so important to her own development. By John Kelman
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sky-blue-maria-schneider-artistshare-review-by-john-kelman

Personnel: Steve Wilson, Charles Pillow, Rich Perry, Donny McCaslin, Scott Robinson (sax, flauti e clarinetti); Tony Kadleck, Jason Carder, Laurie Frink, Ingrid Jensen (trombe e flicorni); Keith O'Quinn, Ryan Keberle, Marshall Gilkes (trombone); George Flynn (trombone basso); Ben Monder (chitarra); Frank Kimbrough (piano); Jay Anderson (basso); Clarence Penn (batteria); Gonzalo Grau, Jon Wikan (cajon e percussioni); Gary Versace (fisarmonica); Luciana Sousa (voce).

Sky Blue

Stanley Clarke - Time Exposure (Expanded Edition)

Size: 136,6 MB
Time: 59:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1984/2014
Styles: Jazz: Contemporary Jazz
Art: Front

01. Play The Bass 10 (0:45)
02. Are You Ready (For The Future) (3:15)
03. Speedball (3:09)
04. Heaven Sent You (5:56)
05. Time Exposure (4:45)
06. Future Shock (4:31)
07. Future (4:03)
08. Spacerunner (3:14)
09. I Know Just How You Feel (5:55)
10. Heaven Sent You (12'' Mix) (5:59)
11. Heaven Sent You (7'' Mix) (3:28)
12. Are You Ready (For The Future) (12'' Mix) (4:28)
13. Speedball (12'' Mix) (3:13)
14. Future (12'' Mix) (6:14)

While still deeply into the R&B/funk thing, Clarke's Time Exposure is a cut or two above its immediate neighbors in quality, thanks mostly to some superior tunesmithing on Clarke's part. The title track is the prize of the set and one of the best funk numbers of Clarke's career, an ingratiating fusion of a riff and a tune that won't quit the memory, set to a vigorous groove and hammered out by rock guitarist Jeff Beck. Even the obviously radio-minded ballad "Heaven Sent You" (a number 21 R&B hit) is a better-than-average bit of R&B writing -- and here and elsewhere, Clarke wisely leaves the lead vocals mostly to others. The sheer speed and power of Clarke's electric and piccolo bass work is astonishing throughout the album, and the CD as a whole has a techno sound and edge reflecting a period of time just before analog synthesizers were swept away by digital instruments. Ernie Watts and perennial co-conspirator George Duke make cameo appearances on one track apiece. ~Review by Richard S. Ginell

Time Exposure

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Mike Gibbs With The NDR Big Band Feat. Norma Winstone - Here's A Song For You

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:23
Size: 113,4 MB
Art: Front


(4:12) 1. Blue
(3:33) 2. So In Love
(3:01) 3. Soldier’s Things
(5:31) 4. Riverman
(3:03) 5. I Think It’s Going To Rain Today
(3:33) 6. Jitterbug Waltz
(6:04) 7. A Thousand Years
(4:47) 8. Caravan
(4:04) 9. Daydream
(3:04) 10. Here Comes The Honeyman
(4:39) 11. Some Shadows
(3:47) 12. You Go To My Head

The great British jazz singer Norma Winstone has just passed her 70th. Having spent much of her career working with composers who've used her range and precision as a texture, she has blossomed in recent years, with the superb Grammy-nominated 2008 album Distances. Winstone takes on classic pop songs here – including Joni Mitchell's Blue, Tom Waits's Soldier's Things, and Nick Drake's Riverman – with arrangements by Mike Gibbs for Hamburg's NDR Big Band, and Mark Mondesir on drums. Gibbs's low brass parts, riffy sideswipes and Latin grooves transform Cole Porter's So in Love. Soldier's Things has a film noir feel, and Winstone is quietly soulful against the musicians' roar on Riverman. She doesn't quite manage to be playful, raunchy and emotional all at once on Jitterbug Waltz, but Sting's A Thousand Years is perfect for her. A spooky, echo-laden Caravan is startling, and Here Comes the Honeyman balefully bluesy. The reworking of Gibbs's 1970s theme Some Shadows – with a brass/reeds arrangement of Kenny Wheeler's original improvised solo is a bonus.By John Fordham
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/oct/27/mike-gibbs-norma-winstone-review


Personnel: Arranged By, Directed By [Musical Director], Conductor – Mike Gibbs; Bass – Dave Whitford; Cello – Vytantas Sondeckis (tracks: 11); Drums [Drum] – Mark Mondesir; Guitar – Stephan Diez Percussion – Marcio Doctor; Piano – Mischa Schumann (tracks: 10), Vladislav Sendecki; Saxophone [Saxophones], Woodwind – Christof Lauer, Fiete Felsch, Frank Delle, Lutz Büchner, Matthias Erlewein (tracks: 10), Peter Bolte; Trombone – Dan Gottshall, Klaus Heidenreich, Steve Trop; Trombone [Bass Trombone], Tuba – Ingo Lahme; Trumpet – Claus Stötter, Ingolf Burkhardt, Michael Leuschner, Reiner Winterschladen, Thorsten Benkenstein; Voice – Norma Winstone

Here's A Song For You

Radka Toneff - Live in Hamburg

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:36
Size: 151,6 MB
Art: Front

(8:06) 1. Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most
(5:20) 2. Never Letting Go
(7:32) 3. Lonely Woman
(6:01) 4. A Certain Peace
(5:00) 5. Antonio's Song
(4:33) 6. Set It Free
(5:28) 7. Just Like a Woman
(5:12) 8. Rest Enough
(9:35) 9. Bulgarian Folksong - Fire
(3:33) 10. Havana Candy
(5:11) 11. We'll Be Together

'Live in Hamburg' by vocalist/composer Radka Toneff (alongside ECM legend Arild Andersen) must be one of the finest Norwegian concert albums ever made - regardless of genre. Now this classic is being released on vinyl for the first time, in a 180g 2LP edition with a gatefold cover.

At the same time a new CD edition with an updated cover is being released. 'Live in Hamburg' was released over ten years after Radka Toneff passed away, and shows a side of her that had never before been documented on a recording. The album won a Spellemannspris, the Norwegian Grammy award, in 1993. The material on the album comes from a concert the Radka Toneff Quartet held at the legendary jazz club Onkel Pös Carnegie Hall in Hamburg on 10 March 1981.

The German radio station NDR broadcast an hour of the concert live, and an edited version of the recording became this album, a modern classic. Arild Andersen and sound technician Jan Erik Kongshaug went through the tapes from NDR and edited the record, which was released in 1993 as the fourth recording released under Radka Toneff's name. The album provides a welcome and unsentimental snapshot of a unique artist's voice that became silent too soon, but that had a profound impact on Norwegian music history.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Live-Hamburg-Radka-Toneff/dp/B01EWZ0WQK

Personnel: Vocals [Vocal] – Radka Toneff; Piano – Steve Dobrogosz; Drums – Alex Riel; Bass – Arild Andersen

Live in Hamburg

Sant Andreu Jazz Band, Joan Chamorro - Jazzing 8 Vol. 2

Styles: Jazz, Big Band
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:54
Size: 177,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:50) 1. Portrait of Louis Amstrong
(4:41) 2. Mood Indigo
(5:40) 3. I've Never Been In Love Before
(3:55) 4. Que Reste Till De Nos Amours
(5:11) 5. After You've Gone
(5:12) 6. Vivo Sonhando
(4:15) 7. Bunny
(4:30) 8. One More Once
(4:53) 9. Egyptian Fantasy
(5:24) 10. Lover Come Back To Me
(2:37) 11. If I Had You
(4:49) 12. Jazz Goes to Siwash
(4:49) 13. Embraceable You
(4:00) 14. Theme from Picnic
(5:32) 15. Nap's Dream
(8:27) 16. Blues Generation

Sant Andreu Jazz Band is a project arising from a music class. Conducted by Joan Chamorro, the big band brings together children between 6 and 18 years old, around a classic jazz repertoire with lots of swing, which gained the public and sold-out some of the most important music auditoriums in Spain.
http://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/sant-andreu-jazz-band

Jazzing 8 Vol. 2

Lee Konitz meets Antonio Zambrini Trio - Comencini

Styles: Saxophone And Piano Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:02
Size: 135,5 MB
Art: Front

(5:17) 1. Substitutions
(7:23) 2. Small Ballad
(5:44) 3. Bluesness
(3:00) 4. Giovedì
(5:12) 5. Minor Sequence
(7:06) 6. Arrivederci
(7:31) 7. Melampo
(4:56) 8. Antonia
(5:56) 9. Ritorno
(2:34) 10. Comencini intro
(4:17) 11. Bluesness (Duo Version)

Konitz is sometimes regarded as the preeminent cool jazz saxophonist, because he performed and recorded with Claude Thornhill, Lennie Tristano (both often cited as important cool jazz proponents of the mid 1940s), and with Miles Davis on his epochal Birth of the Cool, which gave the form its name.

Konitz has also been repeatedly noted as one of the few jazz saxophonists of the late 1940s and 1950s who did not seem imitative of the massively influential Charlie Parker. In the early 1950s, Konitz recorded and toured with Stan Kenton's orchestra.

In 1961, he recorded Motion with Elvin Jones on drums and Sonny Dallas on bass. This spontaneous session, widely regarded as a classic in the cool genre, consisted entirely of standards. The loose trio format aptly featured Konitz's unorthodox phrasing and chromaticism.

In 1967, Konitz recorded The Lee Konitz Duets, a series of duets with various musicians. The duo configurations were often unusual for the period (saxophone and trombone, two saxophones). The recordings drew on very nearly the entire history of jazz, from a Louis Armstrong dixieland number with valve trombonist Marshall Brown to two completely free duos: one with a Duke Ellington associate, violinist Ray Nance, and one with guitarist Jim Hall.

Konitz has been quite prolific, recording dozens of albums as a band leader. He has also recorded or performed with Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Elvin Jones and others.
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/lee-konitz

Personnel: Lee Konitz - Alto Saxophone; Antonio Zambrini - Piano; Ares Tavolazzi - Double Bass (1-9); Massimo Manzi - Drums (1-9)

Comencini

Ron Blake - Shayari

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:21
Size: 159,5 MB
Art: Front

(5:39)  1. Waltz For Gwen
(8:41)  2. Atonement
(6:03)  3. Come Sun
(5:54)  4. Hanuman
(4:30)  5. What Is Your Prayer For?
(6:45)  6. Of Kindred Souls
(6:04)  7. Please Be Kind
(7:15)  8. 76
(2:00)  9. Remember The Rain
(7:23) 10. The Island
(4:52) 11. Teddy
(1:01) 12. Abhaari (Pt. I)
(3:08) 13. Abhaari (Pt. II)

There's an attention to sonic detail and aural space on tenor saxophonist Ron Blake's Shayari that would be more expected from the ECM label than from Detroit's Mack Avenue Records. But Mack Avenue, through Blake and his producer/pianist Michael Cain, has given us a CD strong on tone and mood, intimate and introverted without being lightweight or insubstantial. The intimacy flows from the instrumentation: All the tracks are trios save for three duos, and all but one scant-minute track feature tenor sax and piano. There is a lived-in feel about this record as well, as Blake revisits some of his earlier compositions in a more ruminative frame of mind, such as "Waltz for Gwen," with hand percussion (Jack DeJohnette or Gilmar Gomes) shading the leader's dry, urbane sax tone.

"Of Kindred Souls," originally recorded with Roy Hargrove's band, becomes a conversational trio with Regina Carter's violin joining tenor sax and piano. A heavier spiritual vibe informs "Atonement," tenor soloing over a fraught piano ostinato and DeJohnette's bundled sticks on cymbals, and "Hanuman," where Blake's tenor becomes surprisingly staccato over toms and rumbling piano. But for the most part, Blake's tenor is dry and airy, with a yearning tone akin to polite Coltrane. Emotions here are definitely subdued. Ivan Lins' "The Island," with Gomes punctuating on frame drum, is breezily seductive; Christian McBride's bass brings smooth swing to Bobby Hutcherson's "Teddy and the tenor/piano duet on "Please Be Kind the only American pop standard is a model of easy grace.By George Kanzler
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/shayari-ron-blake-mack-avenue-records-review-by-george-kanzler.php


Personnel: Ron Blake: tenor saxophone; Michael Cain: piano; Regina Carter: violin (6); Jack DeJohnette: drums (2, 4, 8, 12, 13); Gilmar Gomes: percussion (1, 3, 10); Christian McBride: bass (5, 11).

Shayari

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Laura Dickinson - One for My Baby (To Frank Sinatra With Love)

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:19
Size: 129,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:33)  1. Come Fly With Me
(3:06)  2. Learnin' the Blues
(2:32)  3. (Love Is) The Tender Trap
(4:33)  4. Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry
(3:13)  5. You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me
(2:44)  6. Here's to the Losers
(3:35)  7. Indian Summer
(5:07)  8. You Go to My Head
(3:08)  9. How About You
(3:15) 10. The Best Is Yet to Come
(3:56) 11. I Only Have Eyes for You
(5:09) 12. My Funny Valentine
(2:52) 13. I'm Gonna Live 'Til I Die
(4:04) 14. All the Way
(4:27) 15. One for My Baby

Paying homage to the Chairman of the Board is never quite an easy thing to do, but vocalist Laura Dickinson takes on this challenge and delivers one of the best tributes to the crooner on her astonishing debut album One for My Baby, To Frank Sinatra with Love. Influenced by the sound early on in her life as a teenager and falling in love with Sinatra every time her parents played his music, the native Southern California songstress vowed to do her part in keeping his legacy alive. An in-demand performer in Hollywood, her voice is heard in the sound track of the hit movie Pitch Perfect, in various commercials and other Disney Channel projects. On this remarkable debut, Dickinson offers some of Sinatra's favorite songs in a fifteen-piece repertoire performed by many of Los Angeles area's jazz masters presenting the music with classic arrangements by such designers as Sammy Nestico, Gordon Goodwin, Marty Paich and Alan Steinberger. Supported by a big band, the vocalist begins this blast from the past with the Sinatra staple "Come Fly with Me" then, belting the melody with crisp powerful vocals, turns the tables on the familiar "Learnin' the Blues."

The band and singer swing on the delicious "(Love Is) the Tender Trap" providing a rousing rendition of the classic. Bringing the sound down a few notches, Dickinson shows her softer side on the delicate "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry" and the beautiful ballad of "Indian Summer." Her impeccable vocals seem the perfect fit on the familiar "You Go to My Head," while Burton Lane's immortal "How About You" is clearly one of the memorable tunes of the disc. The music gets a bit intimate and tender with duets featuring guitarist Danny Jacob on "I Only Have Eyes for You" and electric bassist Neil Stubenhaus on the introspective "My Funny Valentine." The big band sound returns with Dickinson reaching on age old standard Sinatra loved to voice, "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die" and begins to wind down the project with two of the most associated Sinatra songs, "All The Way" and "One for My Baby" featuring pianist Vince di Mura on the piano. 

Laura Dickinson introduces herself in the best way, paying tribute to one of the best singers in the world and surely, putting a smile on Sinatra's face as he fronts that big band in the sky, for One for My Baby, To Frank Sinatra with Love, is one impressive performance by a superior vocalist in one of the finest debut recordings around.By Edward Blanco
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/one-for-my-baby-to-frank-sinatra-with-love-laura-dickinson-blujazz-productions-review-by-edward-blanco.php

Personnel: Laura Dickinson: vocals; Chuck Findley: trumpet; Wayne Bergeron: trumpet; Kye Palmer: trumpet; John Fumo: trumpet; Larry Hall: trumpet; Rob Schaer: trumpet; Dan Higgins, Brian Scanlon, Greg Huckins, Tom Luer, John Yoakum, Vince Trombetta Jr., Doug Webb, John Mitchell, Chad Smith: woodwinds; Bob McChesney: trombone; Ira Nepus: trombone; Steve Holtman: trombone; Steve Trapani: trombone; Danny Jacob: guitar; Andrew Synowiec: guitar; Alan Steinberger: piano, keyboards; Neil Stubenhaus: electric bass; Trey Henry: acoustic bass; Ray Brinker: drums; Robert F. Peterson: violin; Ken Yerke: violin; Kevin Connolly: violin; Gerardo Hilera: violin; Steve Richards: cello; Maurice Grants: cello; Randy Kerber: piano (7); Dan Lutz: bass (7); Bernie Dresel: drums (7); Vince di Mura: piano (15).

One for My Baby (To Frank Sinatra With Love)

Chaka Khan - Hello Happiness

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 27:13
Size: 62,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:56) 1. Hello Happiness
(4:59) 2. Like A Lady
(3:18) 3. Don't Cha Know
(3:43) 4. Too Hot
(3:59) 5. Like Sugar
(3:31) 6. Isn't That Enough
(3:45) 7. Ladylike

On August 31, 2018, a magenta-haired, fan-carrying Chaka Khan stepped onto the stage of Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple to honor her friend and mentor Aretha Franklin. I’ve watched the video of her performance a good 20 times, mainly because of how remarkable Chaka Khan’s transformation is, how powerful she grows. She begins with “Good evening” before correcting herself and saying, “Good afternoon”; the music comes in, and her voice famously elastic and raw slips out, warbly and tentative. She glances a few times at the back of her fan, where the lyrics to the hymn she is singing, “Going Up Yonder,” are conspicuously pasted. There’s a good 30 seconds, the first time you see the video, where you begin to silently pray to yourself, Please don’t let this be a disaster. Several bishops sit behind her, nodding respectfully.

Then the choir starts to sway and a smile breaks out on her face. She paces the stage, a bit dazed, but in full control. Around the 2:30 mark, you can tell that Chaka Khan’s got the hang of it she just had to warm up. The choir swells like a tidal wave and the band is locked in. Going into the third chorus, it finally happens: The Chaka Khan cry is unleashed. Pained and piercing, she summons it from somewhere deep in her stomach. It’s the same cry that punctuated the last choruses of “Ain’t Nobody” and “Through the Fire.” The respectful bishops stand up instantly, the choir sings at the top of its lungs, and Chaka Khan has risen. The performance, complete with an encore, lasts over nine minutes. She smiles as she surrenders the mic at the end, as if to remind us: She might not remember all the words or hit all the notes, but, at 65 years old, she remains the undisputed Queen of Funk.

Hello Happiness, Chaka Khan’s first album of new music in 12 years, unfortunately frames her as a novelty past her prime. Released as the first project on Diary Records, the vanity imprint of Switch better known as an original member of Major Lazer and the man half-responsible for “Bubble Butt” it’s an album shockingly devoid of the expert musicianship that has defined Chaka Khan’s career. Instead of emphasizing the live instrumentation, hair-raising harmonies, and goosebump-inducing modulations of Funk This, the 2007 album anchored by longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis that maximized her talents, Hello Happiness is a messy, overproduced, anonymous set of hotel-lobby beats that makes woeful use of one of the greatest voices of all time.

Single “Hello Happiness,” featuring deconstructed disco violins and a thumping bassline from Sam Wilkes, could conceivably make for a good time on the dancefloor. But Switch and Ruba Taylor’s mind-numbing, budget-Jamiroquai instrumental is shockingly bland; if anything, the production here, as on the rest of Hello Happiness, makes it feel like Switch and Ruba Taylor in drastic comparison to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis’s careful work on Funk This have never before listened to a single Chaka Khan song. Of course, Chaka Khan isn’t free from blame she’s spoken of how inspired she was meeting Switch and Ruba Taylor in the studio, and she has co-writes or production credits on every song. But no matter who's at fault, having Chaka Khan and Switch together on wax feels like washing down a $40 ribeye with a Four Loko.

There’s a moment when Hello Happiness works. On the sensual and affirming closing track, “Ladylike,” Chaka Khan finally breaks free of vocal effects, and, accompanied by feel-good guitar by funk legend Ricky Rouse and backup vocals from her daughter Indira, the contours of her voice, worked like cracked leather, are allowed to emerge. But that’s about it.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Chaka Khan is clearly in a better place than she was a few years ago: The album has been touted as marking a new chapter in her life, following a dark moment when she returned to rehab in the aftermath of the death of her close friend and collaborator Prince. If Chaka Khan’s found the happiness she’s so doggedly searched for and deserved over the course of a life plagued with difficulty, then we should celebrate that, despite the album’s soul-starved production. As she sings on the title track, “Love is what I’m here for/So don’t give me no bad news.”

Still, that happiness doesn’t feel truly genuine across the album. In Chaka Khan’s life and music, happiness has always been accompanied by bad news. It’s what’s made her who she is. There’s a reason she chose to sing “Going Up Yonder” at Aretha’s funeral and sang it the way she did. “I can take the pain/The heartaches they bring,” the song goes. “The comfort in knowing/I’ll soon be gone.” Now that sounds like Chaka Khan. And when she sang those words on that church stage in Detroit, the smile she unleashed one of relief, and knowing, and strength said it all.
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/chaka-khan-hello-happiness/

Hello Happiness

Terry Gibbs, Bob Cooper, Conte Candoli, Lou Levy - Now's the Time to Groove

Styles: Vibraphone Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:21
Size: 113,6 MB
Art: Front

(7:29) 1. Little Girls - Live
(6:36) 2. Tippe - Live
(6:12) 3. The Austin Mood - Live
(5:22) 4. No name theme - Live
(4:57) 5. The beautiful people - Live
(6:18) 6. Havin fun - Live
(6:24) 7. Now's the time to groove - Live
(5:59) 8. That Chumley feeling - Live

Terry Gibbs is one of the most legendary musicians in the world. He has seen and done it all. He has played with some of the greatest musicians in jazz history such as: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Mel Torme, Buddy DeFranco, Tiny Kahn and many more. He also conducted tv shows for Steve Allen and Regis Philbin.

The Dream Sextet features some of the finest musicians from the West Coast. Conte Candoli was one of the best trumpet players and long time member of the Dream Band. He was one of Terry’s top 5 favorite trumpet players. Lou Levy was also a former member of the Dream Band and was one of the most in demand piano players. Bob Cooper was a heavy weight tenor player at the time who was widely regarded in the same league as Al Cohn or Sal Nistico.

The ensemble is backed up by the swinging rhythm section consisting of Bob Magnusson and Jimmie Smith. All these gentlemen were high in demand musicians at the time, so it was the first time that night that they all shared the stage together. The Dream Sextet recordings are all recorded live at Lord Chumley’s on July 30th 1978 in Playa Del Rey, California.

Terry has a talent of bringing out the best from his musicians. A live recording such as this one is the perfect proof of what happened in that moment.

The other aspect that is so special about these recordings is that all of the tunes are originals written by Terry. Terry’s originals are very melodic and lyrical such as Townhouse 3 or Tippie. You can sing along after hearing the tune only once. Terry wrote these tunes in such a way that the chord changes are fun to play over. You can clearly hear this, because of the way how the musicians are digging into these tunes. https://monsrecords.de/en/terry-gibbs-dream-sextet-nows-the-time-to-groove/

Personnel: Terry Gibbs, vibraphone; Bob Cooper, tenor saxophone; Conte Candoli, trumpet; Lou Levy, piano

Now's the Time to Groove

Conte Candoli & Max Roach - Jazz Structures

Styles: Trumpet, Cool Jazz, Bop
Year: 1960
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 72:43
Size: 169,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:45) 1. Facts About Max
(4:56) 2. Milano Blues
(3:48) 3. Swingin' The Blues
(4:36) 4. Bread Line Blues
(4:09) 5. Bye Bye Blues
(5:21) 6. Blues In The Night
(3:50) 7. Royal Garden Blues
(5:08) 8. The Count's Blues
(4:08) 9. Genesis, Part 2
(2:12) 10. Architectonics
(5:27) 11. Directional Suite: Impulse
(1:53) 12. Directional Suite: Automatons
(4:40) 13. Directional Suite: Impulsion, Parts 1 & 2
(3:49) 14. Directional Suite: Complexus
(5:11) 15. The Worker: Rain Blues
(2:10) 16. The Worker: In The Morning
(4:20) 17. The Worker: Quittin' Time
(2:11) 18. Edifice

The inclusion of Max Roach's name on the cover of Jazz Structures is somewhat disingenuous. Upon opening the CD insert, we're informed that Max Roach appears on only four out of eighteen tracks. This information was conspicuously absent from the back cover, where a potential buyer would look to see if a disc's worth spending hard-earned cash on.

Jazz Structures is a reissue of two of Howard Rumsey's "Light House All Stars discs. The first, 1957's Drummin' the Blues, featured Roach on four tracks. Stan Levey is the drummer on the other fourteen.

When present, Roach does what he always does: he knocks it out of the park. The Lighthouse All Stars were the kings of West Coast-style bop and Roach had worked with them as early as 1954. In 1956 alone, Roach played on some of the most important records ever made, like Monk's Brilliant Corners and Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus and several sides with Clifford Brown. By 1957, he was worlds beyond Rumsey and Co. and ready to re-shape the music yet again this time with Booker Little.
The second album tacked on here, the original Jazz Structures (1960), has little in common with the upbeat swing of Drummin' the Blues aside from boasting much of the same lineup. This was the soundtrack to a documentary by filmmaker Les Novros about the construction of LA's Union Oil building. And it feels like a building being constructed: in places it's laborious, rigid, tedious. In others, it's decorous and light. Jazz Structures came just three years after Miles Davis had revolutionized the film soundtrack with his work for L'Ascenseur Pour l'Echafaud. Structures doesn't compare, but Bob Cooper, who scored the work, did a good job, considering the subject matter.

There's some interesting work here by Bud Shank (alto and flutes), Conte Candoli (trumpet), and Red Callender (bass). A playful, circuitous riff pops up on "Architectronics and resurfaces again in the "Directional Suite, where it's reconfigured as "Automatons. Refreshingly untampered-with production helps; it sounds a bit like one of those old quarter-inch-think vinyl jobs. The slightly lo-fi analog production adds a stark, concrete edge. Jazz Structures is a good soundtrack, probably better than the film that inspired it but it's not a Max Roach album.
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/jazz-structures-conte-candoli-lonehill-jazz-review-by-rico-cleffi

Personnel: Conte Candoli: trumpet; Howard Rumsey (leader) with Max Roach: drums (four tracks); Bob Cooper: conductor, tenor saxophone; Bud Shank: alto saxophone, flute; Buddy Collette: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet; Frank Rosilino: trombone; Victor Feldman: piano, vibraphone, conga; Monty Budwig: bass; Stan Levey: drums; Joe Castro: piano; Larry Bunker: vibraphone; Red Callender: bass.

Jazz Structures

Saturday, May 20, 2023

Conte Candoli - Modern Sounds From The West

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1956
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:34
Size: 141,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:29) 1. The Blindfold Test No. 1
(3:42) 2. Culver City
(2:54) 3. Van Nuys Indeed
(3:56) 4. Burbank Bounce
(4:47) 5. Santa Monica
(4:07) 6. The Blindfold Test No. 2
(4:03) 7. Here's Pete
(3:59) 8. No Love, No Nothin'
(3:17) 9. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
(2:42) 10. Come Love
(2:55) 11. T.N.T.
(3:31) 12. Thank You, Judge
(4:32) 13. Santa Anita
(3:34) 14. Hooray For Hollywood
(4:30) 15. The Blindfold Test No. 3
(4:27) 16. Arcadia

Best-known as the trumpet section leader in Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show Band, Conte Candoli was a fine all-around jazz stylist most at home in the worlds of bop and West Coast cool jazz. Younger by four years than his similarly accomplished trumpet-playing brother Pete, Conte was born Secondo Candoli in Mishawaka, IN, on July 12, 1927. He first patterned himself after players like Harry James, Roy Eldridge, and Dizzy Gillespie, later discovering Miles Davis and Clifford Brown.

His first job came at age 16, when brother Pete recommended him for a summer gig with Woody Herman's Thundering Herd; after graduating high school, he joined full-time. He went on to play with several other bands, including Stan Kenton, whom he left in 1954 to form his own band. After leading some recording dates, he soon found a more comfortable existence, moving to Los Angeles and taking session jobs in between gigs with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars.

After about four years, he left in 1960 to work with drummer Shelly Manne, while he and Pete both enjoyed top-dog status in the L.A. session community. In 1968, Candoli took a part-time gig with the Tonight Show Band and joined permanently in 1972, when the show officially moved to Burbank.

During the '70s, he was also a member of Supersax, among other L.A. all-star outfits, and also continued his periodic collaborations with his brother. Candoli retired from the Tonight Show along with Johnny Carson in 1992, and continued to play until a battle with cancer slowed his activities. Candoli died in a convalescent home on December 14, 2001.By Steve Huey https://www.allmusic.com/artist/conte-candoli-mn0000100990/biography

Personnel: Conte Candoli / trumpet; John Graas / flute; Charlie Mariano / alto sax; Marty Paich / piano; Monty Budwig / bass; Stan Levey / drums; Buddy Collette / alto sax, flute; Jimmy Giuffre / clarinet, tenor sax,bass sax; Gerald Wiggins / piano; Howard Roberts / guitar; Curtis Counce / bass; Hank Jones / piano; Barry Galbraith / guitar; Milt Hinton / bass; Osie Johnson / drums; Harry Edison / trumpet; Herb Geller / alto sax; Bob Enevoldsen / valve trombone, tenor sax; Lorraine Geller / piano; Joe Mondragon / bass

Modern Sounds From The West