Thursday, January 5, 2023

Andrea Motis & Joan Chamorro Quintet - Live At Jamboree Barcelona (Feat. Scott Hamilton)

Styles: Vocal,Trumpet And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:20
Size: 175,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:24) 1. Exactly Like You
(6:45) 2. Meditaçao
(6:33) 3. I Fall In Love Too Easily
(4:33) 4. Sun Showers
(7:41) 5. Someday My Prince Will Come
(5:45) 6. Moody's Mood For Love
(6:19) 7. Chega De Saudhade
(7:42) 8. Summertime
(6:25) 9. Lullaby Of Birdland
(5:18) 10. Corcovado
(5:16) 11. All Too Soon
(5:27) 12. My Baby Just Cares For Me
(3:06) 13. This Year's Kisses (Bonus Track)

"A friend recommended Andrea to me, and she's definitely a "comer," someone worth a lot of encouragement. I'm frankly tired of guitar-strumming singer-songwriters who do all "original material" because the harmonies of standards (like "Body and Soul" or "All the Things You Are") are totally beyond their reach. Andrea is taking a far more sophisticated path, reminiscent of Chet Baker -in both her singing and trumpet work- than any other musician.

She was in her early teens when this album was made. Her voice lacks mature body and firm, sustaining breath support both her singing and trumpet- but is nonetheless most pleasant, with clear elocution and precise intonation. And her trumpet work sparkles with note choices that are melodic and "hip." You can only hope she has the right teachers and influences to nurture her undeniable talent. Also, one might hope that she doesn't overdo the guitars. I'm not hearing the support of a firm walking bass or of a drummer with a strong hi-hat clap and ringing ride cymbal. Pianos are on the verge of extinction the reason I go back to Bill Evans and Duke Ellington for the majority of my listening. The presence of Scott Hamilton makes this album a no-brainer.
By Samuel Chell https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/joan-chamorro-andrea-motis-albums/6061-live-at-jamboree-barcelona-cd-dvd-featuring-scott-hamilton.html

Personnel: Andrea Motis (vocal, trumpet & Alto sax), Scott Hamilton (tenor sax), Joan Chamorro (bass), Ignasi Terraza (piano & Hammond organ), Josep Traver (guitar), and Esteve Pi (drums).

Live At Jamboree Barcelona (Feat. Scott Hamilton)

Dave McKenna - Hear Me Now

Styles: Piano Jazz 
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 132:50
Size: 305,9 MB
Art: Front

( 6:39)  1. Lady Be Good
( 5:28)  2. Chinatown, My Chinatown
( 9:10)  3. Once I Loved
( 8:11)  4. I'll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her
(12:02)  5. Comes Love
( 7:18)  6. Fred
( 5:34)  7. September Song
( 9:23)  8. O Grande Amor
( 8:46)  9. The Touch of Your Lips
( 5:44) 10. Life Is Better
(10:34) 11. Holiday in the Sun
( 9:50) 12. Just You, Just Me
( 8:44) 13. Emily
(13:46) 14. It's Alright with Me
( 9:44) 15. On the Alamo
( 1:50) 16. Good Night, Travel Well

One of the top swing-based pianists of the past 25 years, Dave McKenna's hard-driving basslines give momentum to uptempo pieces, and his vast knowledge of superior songs from the 1930s has resulted in many rewarding albums of traditional but fresh music. Although talented from the start, McKenna did not achieve that much recognition until he was already in his forties. He joined the Musicians' Union when he was 15 and picked up early experience playing with Boots Mussulli (1947), Charlie Ventura (1949), and Woody Herman's Orchestra (1950-1951). After two years in the military, McKenna had a second stint with Ventura (1953-1954) and then worked with a variety of top swing and Dixieland players including Gene Krupa, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Eddie Condon, Bobby Hackett, and Bob Wilber (in the late '70s), and was a soloist at piano bars in Massachusetts. 

McKenna had recorded for ABC-Paramount (1956), Epic (1958), Bethlehem (a two-piano date shared with Hall Overton in 1960), and Realm (1963), but in 1973, McKenna's talents finally began to be more fully documented. He led sets for Halycon, Shiah, Famous Door, Inner City (with vocalist Teddi King), and four for Chiaroscuro. And then in 1979 with No Bass Hit (a trio date with Scott Hamilton and Jake Hanna), McKenna debuted with Concord, finding his home. He has made many sessions for Concord ever since, some as a sideman or with small groups, but the best ones being unaccompanied recitals. In the mid-'90s Dave McKenna was at the top of his field. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dave-mckenna-mn0000687586/biography

Hear Me Now

Charlie Byrd - Forever Cool [feat. Keter Betts & Bill Reichenbach]

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:08
Size: 150,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:27) 1. Don't Explain
(2:43) 2. Makin' Whoopee
(1:47) 3. Nice Work If You Can Get It
(3:39) 4. My Funny Valentine
(4:42) 5. Satin Doll
(1:30) 6. Interlude
(3:45) 7. Speak Low
(4:15) 8. What's New
(3:24) 9. Django
(1:57) 10. Taking A Chance On Love
(9:41) 11. Taboo
(3:18) 12. My Heart Stood Still
(5:25) 13. Ginny
(3:01) 14. Nuages
(2:22) 15. Um Abraço No Bonfa´.mp3
(2:52) 16. Moonlight In Vermont
(5:45) 17. Four O'clock Funk
(2:05) 18. Cancio´n Di Argentina.mp3
(3:51) 19. Ring Them Harmonics

Charles L. Byrd (September 16, 1925 - November 30, 1999), better known as Charlie Byrd, was a famous jazz guitarist, born in Suffolk, Virginia. He was the only jazz guitarist of that era whose primary instrument was the classical guitar which gave him his uniquely identifiable sound.

Byrd primarily looked up to Django Reinhardt. He moved to Washington, D.C., to study classical guitar with the renowned Sophocles Papas. He later moved to Italy where he studied with Andrés Segovia. In the early 1960's he was on a State Department tour in South America where he was introduced to a new music, the bossa nova, which was the musical passion of Brazil beginning in the late 50's. Jazz saxophonist Stan Getz had been in Brazil about six months earlier than Byrd, also on a State Department tour, where he, too, was exposed to the bossa nova. A short time later Getz called Byrd in D.C. and suggested the idea that they collaborate on a bossa nova album. That album was the introduction of bossa nova to North America.

He is perhaps most well known as a collaborator with Stan Getz on the Jazz Samba album, which featured many themes of bossa nova, and of course, samba.
https://www.last.fm/music/Charlie+Byrd/+wiki

Forever Cool

Aubrey Johnson & Randy Ingram - Play Favorites

Styles: Vocal And Piano
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:58
Size: 126,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:09) 1. My Future
(4:58) 2. If Ever I Would Leave You
(1:37) 3. Prelude
(5:32) 4. If I Should Lose You
(4:23) 5. Conversation
(5:38) 6. Olha Maria
(2:34) 7. Didn’t We
(4:57) 8. Chovendo Na Roseira
(4:53) 9. Quem É Você (Close To Home)
(3:58) 10. I’ll Remember April / April
(4:32) 11. Born To Be Blue
(3:51) 12. Bons Amigos
(3:50) 13. My Ideal

Before her 2019 debut album Unraveled introduced her as a songwriter with a keen ear as an arranger and composer, Aubrey Johnson had already earned widespread notice with her bright, crystalline tone and creative versatility via her work supporting fellow vocal explorers such as Bobby McFerrin, Sara Serpa, and Sofia Rei and contributions to recordings by Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra, Joe Phillips’ Numinous Ensemble, and Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble. Her follow-up, Play Favorites, offers a very different glimpse at an artist who’s still stretching her wings.

Partnering with Randy Ingram, a pianist with a gift for distilling harmonic essentials, the duo project features a ballad-centric program sifted from a wide array of sources, starting with a beguiling take on Billie Eilish/Finneas O’Connell’s “My Future” that accentuates the melody’s gentle contours so that it could have come from the pen of Sara Gazarek. Equally arresting on standards like “If I Should Lose You” and “Born to Be Blue,” Johnson is particularly striking on Joni Mitchell’s “Conversation,” navigating the upper register leaps with the liquid grace.

The brightest thread running through the project is their deep love of the Brazilian Songbook. Singing in Portuguese, Johnson renders Chico Buarque, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes’ abject lament “Olha Maria” in luminous pastels. Ingram’s love of classical music shines through on their setting of Toninho Horto and Ronaldo Bastos’s “Bons Amigos.” Another standout is Johnson’s take on her uncle Lyle Mays’ “Quem é Você,” which was introduced as Pat Metheny Group instrumental “Close to Home” and recorded most memorably with Luiz Avellar’s lyric by Milton Nascimento. It’s another sublime bloom in a garden, lovingly tended since the mid-20th century, where jazz and Brazilian hybrids proliferate. Johnson’s harvest with Ingram is bountiful indeed.
By Andrew Gilbert https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/aubrey-johnson-randy-ingram-play-favorites-sunnyside/

Personnel: Aubrey Johnson - vocals; Randy Ingram - piano

Play Favorites