Maria Mendes, Metropole Orkest & John Beasley - Saudade, Colour of Love

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:48
Size: 137,4 MB
Art: Front

(8:43) 1. Com Que Voz
(6:58) 2. Tudo Isto É Fado
(7:49) 3. Verdes Anos
(5:24) 4. Foi Deus
(5:43) 5. Hermeto's Fado for Maria
(4:30) 6. E Se Nâo for Fado
(6:59) 7. Dança Do Amor
(8:06) 8. Quando Eu Era Pequenina
(5:32) 9. Meu Pobre Capitão

Saudade, Colour of Love isn’t so much a follow-up to Netherlands-based vocalist Maria Mendes’ 2019 album Close to Me, which won the Dutch equivalent of a jazz vocal Grammy Award. Rather, it’s a captivating elaboration featuring much the same material and the same cast of characters.

Like Close to Me, her third album, Saudade is a sumptuous collaboration with pianist John Beasley conducting the Metropole Orkest, a mainstay of the Dutch music scene since the end of World War II. But whereas the former release was a studio project, the new album is a concert recording that offers Mendes and some orchestra members a little more leeway to stretch out on a fado-centric program. Trained as an opera singer, the Portuguese-born Mendes veered off the conservatory path with her discovery of jazz, attaining real authority in the tradition after years of study.

Working with Beasley, who produced and orchestrated the Saudade arrangements they wrote together (part of a most impressive run for Beasley, with Saudade arriving the same year as his spectacular work on Chucho Valdés’ late-career masterwork La Creación), Mendes takes another step into a largely uncharted realm where jazz inflects the ritualistic laments of fado, a blues-like song form that evolved on Lisbon’s hard-scrabble waterfront. By Andrew Gilbert https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/maria-mendes-saudade-colour-of-love-challenge/

Saudade, Colour of Love

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Alexis Cole - Zingaro

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:19
Size: 109,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:39) 1. Stompin' At The Savoy
(6:00) 2. God Bless The Child
(2:00) 3. Morning With You
(5:57) 4. Over The Rainbow
(3:31) 5. Sweet Lorraine
(5:01) 6. Body And Soul
(3:50) 7. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You
(6:57) 8. Zingaro
(7:22) 9. I Thought About You
(1:57) 10. Walkin'

On this Toronto-based (but New York-born) vocalist's second release, she takes on several familiar standards with a personal signature, enhanced by a sparse instrumentation: here, she is accompanied solely by guitarist Ron Affif and bassist Jeffry Eckels, who play on all the tracks but the two Cole originals, the upbeat "Walkin' and "Morning With You, both of which feature fine work by Saul Rubin (guitar) and John Roche (bass).

The album's title, which means "gypsy, is taken from a classic tune by Brazilian composers Chico Buarque de Hollanda and Antonio Carlos Jobim, with new English lyrics by Roger Schore, who was on hand at the jam-packed CD release concert at New York's Zinc Bar in July, 2007, where Cole showcased material from the disc with Affif and Eckels. The tune, originally called "Portrait in Black and White (the only one played from a bossa nova point of view), reflects the singer's peripatetic lifestyle in the past few years, she has traveled extensively through South America on a music program with the Berklee College of Music, and has barely kept a permanent mailing address.

One of the disc's highlights is "Stompin' At The Savoy, which Cole cleverly chose to open her set with at the Zinc Bar. The Benny Goodman swing, originally for big band, becomes something much subtler in her hands. On "Baby Ain't I Good To You she takes advantage of the song's simple bluesy structure to suit her own interests. "Over The Rainbow might be a little overplayed, but Cole sings it from the heart, drawing from an earlier experience with the tune while she was working with special education students in North Carolina, as was explained during the concert.

Zingaro is a fine opportunity to discover this singer and 2007 Jazzmobile Vocal Competition winner, who sets herself apart from your average jazz vocalist by taking on various sonic influences without veering too far from jazz. The sparse instrumentation allows the listener to focus on the individual talents of the musicians without distractions. It is a disc that will please purists and more adventurous listeners alike.By Ernest Barteldes https://www.allaboutjazz.com/zingaro-alexis-cole-canopy-jazz-review-by-ernest-barteldes

Personnel: Alexis Cole: vocal; Ron Affif: guitar; Jeffry Eckels: bass; Saul Rubin: guitar; Jon Roche: bass.

Zingaro

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Eric Reed - Everybody Gets the Blues

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:35
Size: 137,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:49) 1. Everybody Gets the Blues
(8:23) 2. Cedar Waltzin' ~ Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing
(5:28) 3. Naima
(7:49) 4. Martha's Prize
(6:07) 5. Yesterday ~ Yesterdays
(8:49) 6. Up Jumped Spring
(5:00) 7. Dear Bud
(9:30) 8. New Morning
(4:36) 9. Road Life

The title of Eric Reed’s new album has a double meaning as in, everybody understands the blues, and everybody feels down from time to time. “Your blues may not be my blues, but everybody gets them,” he writes in the liner notes. True enough, but this album is too joyful for that to be the parting message. After having listened to it, you’ll understand intuitively if you don’t already why Eric Reed is one of the most reliably good pianists in the gospel-jazz tradition. Reed grew up in the church his father was a Baptist preacher in Philadelphia and here, accompanied by saxophonist Tim Green, drummer McClenty Hunter, and bassist Mike Gurrola, he filters pop medleys, jazz standards, and original compositions through the gospel prism.

That comes through most clearly on his own “New Morning,” whose lovely solo piano introduction, with lush blues-inflected chord voicings, recalls Oscar Peterson’s “Night Train.” There’s a Coltrane cover (“Naima”), a hat tip to Freddie Hubbard (“Up Jumped Spring”), and snippets of two mainstream pop tunes the Beatles’ “Yesterday,” in a medley with Jerome Kern’s “Yesterdays,” and Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ’Bout a Thing,” which appears as a tag at the end of “Cedar Waltzin,’” Reed’s nod to Cedar Walton. An actual Walton composition, “Martha’s Prize,” is recast here as a funk number. Near the end, Reed plays a phrase from the buoyant Roy Hargrove earworm “Strasbourg/St. Denis,” an upbeat line that’s in keeping with this album’s optimistic spirit, its title notwithstanding. ~ Matthew Kassel is a freelance writer whose work has been published by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, and The Columbia Journalism Review, among other publications.
https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/eric-reed-everybody-gets-the-blues-smoke-sessions/

Personnel: Organ – Eric Reed; Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Tim Greene; Bass – Mike Gurrola; Drums – McClenty Hunter Jr.

Everybody Gets the Blues

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Tommy Dorsey - Music Maestro Please!

Styles: Swing, Big Band
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 28:53
Size: 66,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:53) 1. Music Maestro Please
(2:33) 2. A Tisket A Tasket
(3:09) 3. Boogie Woogie
(3:17) 4. Symphony In Riffs
(2:26) 5. Sheik Of Araby
(2:37) 6. I'll See You In My Dreams
(2:37) 7. Shine On Harvest Moon
(3:02) 8. Chinatown My Chinatown
(2:52) 9. Sweet Sue Just You
(3:22) 10. Washboard Blues

Though he might have been ranked second at any given moment to Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, or Harry James, Tommy Dorsey was overall the most popular bandleader of the swing era that lasted from 1935 to 1945. His remarkably melodic trombone playing was the signature sound of his orchestra, but he successfully straddled the hot and sweet styles of swing with a mix of ballads and novelty songs. He provided showcases to vocalists like Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Jo Stafford, and he employed inventive arrangers such as Sy Oliver and Bill Finegan. He was the biggest-selling artist in the history of RCA Victor Records, one of the major labels, until the arrival of Elvis Presley, who was first given national exposure on the 1950s television show he hosted with his brother Jimmy.

Dorsey was 21 months younger than Jimmy and thus the second son of Thomas Francis Dorsey, Sr., a music teacher and band director, and Theresa Langton Dorsey. Both brothers received musical instruction from their father. Tommy focused on the trombone, though he also played trumpet, especially early in his career. The brothers played in local groups, then formed their own band, Dorsey's Novelty Six, in 1920. By 1922, when they played an engagement at a Baltimore amusement park and made their radio debut, they were calling the group Dorsey's Wild Canaries. During the early and mid-'20s, they played in a series of bands including the Scranton Sirens, the California Ramblers, and orchestras led by Jean Goldkette and Paul Whiteman, sometimes apart, but usually together. Eventually, they settled in New York and worked as session musicians. In 1927, they began recording as the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra for OKeh Records, using pickup bands, and they first reached the charts with "Coquette" in June 1928. In the spring of 1929, they scored a Top Ten hit with "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)," which featured Bing Crosby on vocals.

The Dorseys finally organized a full-time band and signed to Decca Records in 1934. Hiring Bing Crosby's younger brother Bob Crosby as their vocalist, they scored a Top Ten hit with "I Believe in Miracles" in the late winter of 1935, quickly followed by "Tiny Little Fingerprints" (vocal by Kay Weber) and "Night Wind" (vocal by Bob Crosby). They then enjoyed successive number one hits with "Lullaby of Broadway" (vocal by Bob Crosby) and "Chasing Shadows" (vocal by Bob Eberly, Bob Crosby's replacement). The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra was poised to become the biggest band in the country in the spring of 1935 and might have been remembered for launching the swing era, but at the end of May the brothers, whose relationship was always volatile, disagreed, and Tommy left the band (which nevertheless scored another Top Ten hit with "Every Little Movement" that summer). Jimmy Dorsey continued to lead the band, which eventually was billed as Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra and went on to considerable success. But while the Dorseys stumbled, Benny Goodman achieved national success and was dubbed "the King of Swing."

Tommy Dorsey took over the remnants of the Joe Haymes band in founding his own orchestra in the fall of 1935. Signing to RCA Victor Records, he scored an immediate success with "On Treasure Island" (vocal by Edythe Wright), which topped the charts in December 1935, one of four Dorsey records to peak in the Top Ten before the end of the year. Dorsey was back at number one in January 1936 with "The Music Goes Round and Round" (vocal by Edythe Wright) and topped the charts again in February with "Alone" (vocal by Cliff Weston). "You" (vocal by Edythe Wright) gave him his third number one in 1936, to which can be added eight other Top Ten hits during the year. Dorsey was even more successful in 1937, a year in which he scored 18 Top Ten hits, among them the chart-toppers "Marie" (vocal by Jack Leonard), "Satan Takes a Holiday" (an instrumental), "The Big Apple," "Once in a While," and "The Dipsy Doodle" (vocal by Edythe Wright). Dorsey earned his own radio series, which ran for nearly three years. His 15 Top Ten hits in 1938 included the number one "Music, Maestro, Please" (vocal by Edythe Wright), and he had another 11 Top Ten hits in 1939, among them "Our Love" (vocal by Jack Leonard), which hit number one.
More....By William Ruhlmann https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tommy-dorsey-mn0000934072/biography

Music Maestro Please!

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Ibrahim Maalouf - Capacity to Love

Styles: Mainstream Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:59
Size: 125,0 MB
Art: Front

(1:23) 1. Intro
(5:00) 2. Speechless
(3:27) 3. El Mundo
(2:41) 4. Better On My Own
(2:53) 5. The Pope
(4:39) 6. Quiet Culture (Feat. Pos Of De La Soul)
(3:20) 7. Todo Colores
(3:19) 8. Money
(2:31) 9. Back Home
(3:34) 10. Tout S'illumine
(3:54) 11. Right Time
(3:13) 12. Feeling Good
(4:25) 13. Capacity To Love
(6:10) 14. Our Flag
(3:22) 15. Humble

Ibrahim Maalouf's 15th studio album is a hymn to inclusion, sharing and identity in a world where claiming one's difference has become divisive. A new album under the sign of hope and tolerance sublimated by a guest list as bluffing as unexpected.

CAPACITY TO LOVE is an album that lives up to the ambitions of Ibrahim Maalouf. The famous trumpet player has invited artists such as crooner Gregory Porter, Pos of De La Soul the legendary American rap group, English pop icon JP Cooper, Erick the Architect the charismatic leader of the group Flatbush Zombies or the new Mozart of US rap, winner of "Rhythm + Flow" D Smoke. The album also features French singer and guitarist -M-, Cuban phenomenon Cimafunk, new New Orleans sensation Tank and the Bangas, Quincy Jones' protégé Sheléa Frazier and new talent Alemeda, recently signed to TDE, Kendrick Lamar's historic label. Finally, Ibrahim Maalouf has invited pop culture icons such as Sharon Stone and Charlie Chaplin.

Ibrahim Maalouf is embarking on a new adventure that already promises to be historic. With CAPACITY TO LOVE, he seeks to honor the art of urban music with class and humility, while developing an aspect of his work that nobody would have imagined a few years ago. A true festival in the colors of the artist's dreams.

For the first time, Ibrahim Maalouf decided to produce an album in collaboration with two production geniuses, NuTone and Henry Was. https://www.ibrahimmaalouf.com/en/music/capacity-to-love/

Capacity to Love

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