Agneta Baumann - I Am an Illusion

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1981/2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:11
Size: 97,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:46) 1. I Am An Illusion
(4:09) 2. Unlucky In Love
(4:10) 3. Our Love
(3:40) 4. The Queen Of Hearts
(3:25) 5. You Stopped Loving Me
(3:18) 6. Just The Two Of Us
(3:06) 7. Time Will Tell
(4:14) 8. Once Again
(4:25) 9. Everything Or Nothing
(4:08) 10. Hooray For Love
(3:44) 11. När Du Tar Mig I Din Famn

Born 1944, Kalmar, Sweden. As a child Baumann sang at school in both the choir and jazz band. After leaving school, she sang in hotels and restaurants, developing a reputation as a popular entertainer. Although her early musical interests were mainly centred on pop, she began playing close attention to singers from the jazz world, notably Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Anita O’Day and Sarah Vaughan. For a while, Baumann was obliged to work outside music but from the mid-60s gained some success with the Golden Girls, a Copenhagen-based Motown Records -style group. In 1968, she went out as a solo singer and band leader in her own right and by the end of the decade was in demand in Sweden and other countries in Scandinavia and northern Europe. A spell in the late 70s with pianist Knud Jørgensen and bass player Bengt Hanson strengthened her jazz singing credentials.

Following the death of her husband in 1986, Baumann stepped out of the spotlight for some years but returned to the stage in 1995. Now committed to jazz, she quickly established a following in Stockholm and was soon becoming very popular in the same areas she had conquered 30 years earlier as a contemporary pop singer. She made her jazz recording debut in 1996, and the following year received a scholarship from Laila and Charles Gavatin’s Foundation for Jazz Music.

In the late 90s and early 00s, Baumann made appearances at jazz festivals in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Krakow, Moscow and Warsaw, while continuing to strengthen her Stockholm base. Among other instrumentalists with whom she has worked are bass players Hans Backenroth and Palle Danielsson, pianists Gösta Rundqvist and Lasse Bagge, trumpeter Bosse Broberg, tenor saxophonist Anders Lindskog, and drummer Johan Löfcrantz. Baumann’s liquid vocal sound and elegant and sometimes stately delivery are particularly well suited to ballads and her interpretation of lyrics is both fluid and deep. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/agneta-baumann-mn0001400868/biography

I Am an Illusion

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Victor Goines - Love Dance

Styles: Clarinet And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:14
Size: 157,3 MB
Art: Front

(7:02) 1. Wonderful, Wonderful
(8:56) 2. Love Dance
(6:51) 3. New Arrival
(5:11) 4. Cootie
(9:48) 5. Sunrise
(6:30) 6. Confirmation
(9:08) 7. Midnight
(7:23) 8. Out The Box
(7:20) 9. Home

On Love Dance, the excellent follow-up to New Adventures (Crisss1274CD) Victor Goines is joined by pianist Peter Martin, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson, each an A-lister of modern swing. Goines focuses more on the clarinet, which he plays with assured virtuosity and creative flair - he developed an international reputation on the instrument during his tenure with the Wynton Marsalis Septet - but also uncorks a series of authoritative tenor improvisations.
https://www.prestomusic.com/jazz/products/8054512--love-dance

Personnel: Greg Hutchinson - Drums; Peter Martin - Piano; Reuben Rogers - Bass; Victor Goines - Clarinet, Saxophone

Love Dance

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Charlie Hunter [feat. John Ellis & Derrek Phillips] - Friends Seen and Unseen (Remastered)

Styles: Jazz fusion, Post-Bop
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:52
Size: 130,6 MB
Art: Front

(6:31) 1. One For The Kelpers
(5:40) 2. Freedom Tickler
(6:41) 3. Lulu's Crawl
(6:56) 4. Darkly
(6:22) 5. Soweto's Where It's At
(3:42) 6. Running In Fear From Imaginary Assailants
(6:58) 7. Eleven Bars For Gandhi
(3:56) 8. Bonus Round
(4:42) 9. My Son The Hurricane
(5:20) 10. Moore's Alphabet

The prolific and ever interesting Charlie Hunter continues to change musical colors. For over ten years the unique guitarist has continued to produce releases that prove his talent and popularity. Some have hailed Hunter as the new crossover jazz prince who has attracted younger audiences with recordings such as last years Right Now Move and 2001‘s Songs from the Analog Playground which featured guest singers Kurt Elling, Mos Def, Theryl de Clouet, and pop sensation Norah Jones.

With music that is clearly open to the masses be it jazz or otherwise the guitarist is in a class by himself when it comes to technique. His claim to guitar fame lies in his ability to simultaneously play both bass and guitar parts on his specially designed eight-string guitar, which results in most of us asking, “How in the world is he doing that?”- A technique primarily used by Hammond B-3 players in which Hunter also produces organ-like sounds on his guitar. But his success lies not only in his ability but also in his choice of musicians that have been featured with the guitarist in various groups from duo to quintet formats.

The new recording Friends Seen and Unseen finds the guitarist going back to his roots in a trio setting. His last trio release was the landmark Bing, Bing, Bing released in 1995 which put the guitarist on map. Hunter’s new trio features the dynamic skills of saxophonist John Ellis and drummer Derek Phillips both from Right Now Move. The trio setting is naturally more intimate and allows the musicians to interact with a tight yet free style with music that should appeal to both long time and newer fans.

The new material is a well-rounded mix of styles that prove Hunter is more than just a jam-band guitarist. Hunter’s music has always been and continues to be about the groove. The opening piece “One For The Kelpers” features a funky vibe with Hunter’s bass strings laying down the slow cooked groove while “Freedom Tickler” introduces a freer melody allowing the trio to stretch things out musically with open solos. Never one to take himself too seriously Hunter adds both depth and humor on “Lulu’s Crawl” which could be the theme song for a sleazy Vegas strip tease show, with honking saxophone, guitar effects, and vivid drumming.

The trio members are up for the challenge and bring their own diverse styles to the music. Ellis is not only a fine saxophonist but also adds some nice touches with baritone sax and also strong flute work on “Darkly”. Derek Phillips also shines on “Darkly” with crisp drum work that is the glue to the recording as he provides expert timing and energetic kit work on every selection.

If Hunter is about the essence of the groove, he is also knows something about the blues. His unique take on “Running In Fear From Imaginary Assailants” has a delta blues feel as he incorporates wah-wah-slide effects and other touches as Ellis and Phillips join in on the fun. The very next selection “Eleven Bars For Ghandhi” seems to pay homage to guitar greats such as BB King and Buddy Guy with wailing notes and soulful phrasing.

With loose comparisons to other recordings there are familiar selections such the reggae themed “Soweto's Where It's At” which recalls 1997’s Bob Marley themed Natty Dread and “Moore’s Theme” which brings to mind 1996’s odd but special Ready...Set...Shango!. With a debatable marketing statement that states that this is Hunter’s best recording ever, the new recording clearly stands on its own and proves that the maturing guitarist still has that special something that keeps the music fresh, vibrant, and enjoyable.By Mark F. Turner
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/charlie-hunter-trio-friends-seen-and-unseen-by-mark-f-turner

Personnel: Charlie Hunter - 8-string guitar, John Ellis – Saxophones, Derrek Phillips - Percussion

Friends Seen and Unseen

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Fletcher Henderson - Smack is Back!

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:47
Size: 87,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:25) 1. I Want To
(3:19) 2. Gulf Coast Blues
(3:02) 3. My Oriental Rose
(3:18) 4. Midnight Blues
(3:33) 5. Chime Blues
(3:07) 6. Fancies
(2:56) 7. Love Days
(3:12) 8. Beale Street Mama
(2:54) 9. Trot Along
(2:46) 10. Unknown Blues
(3:02) 11. Bamboo Isle
(3:07) 12. Down By The River

Fletcher Henderson was very important to early jazz as leader of the first great jazz big band, as an arranger and composer in the 1930s, and as a masterful talent scout. Between 1923-1939, quite an all-star cast of top young Black jazz musicians passed through his orchestra, including trumpeters Louis Armstrong, Joe Smith, Tommy Ladnier, Rex Stewart, Bobby Stark, Cootie Williams, Red Allen, and Roy Eldridge; trombonists Charlie Green, Benny Morton, Jimmy Harrison, Sandy Williams, J.C. Higginbottham, and Dickie Wells; clarinetist Buster Bailey; tenors Coleman Hawkins (1924-1934), Ben Webster, Lester Young (whose brief stint was not recorded), and Chu Berry; altoists Benny Carter, Russell Procope, and Hilton Jefferson; bassists John Kirby and Israel Crosby; drummers Kaiser Marshall, Walter Johnson, and Sid Catlett; guest pianist Fats Waller; and such arrangers as Don Redman, Benny Carter, Edgar Sampson, and Fletcher's younger brother Horace Henderson. And yet, at the height of the swing era, Henderson's band was little-known.

Fletcher Henderson had a degree in chemistry and mathematics, but when he came to New York in 1920 with hopes of becoming a chemist, the only job he could find (due to the racism of the times) was as a song demonstrator with the Pace-Handy music company. Harry Pace soon founded the Black Swan label, and Henderson, a versatile but fairly basic pianist, became an important contributor behind the scenes, organizing bands and backing blues vocalists. Although he started recording as a leader in 1921, it was not until January 1924 that he put together his first permanent big band.

Using Don Redman's innovative arrangements, he was soon at the top of his field. His early recordings (Henderson made many records during 1923-1924) tend to be both futuristic and awkward, with strong musicianship but staccato phrasing. However, after Louis Armstrong joined up in late 1924 and Don Redman started contributing more swinging arrangements, the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra had no close competitors artistically until the rise of Duke Ellington in 1927. By then, Henderson's band (after a period at the Club Alabam) was playing regularly at The Roseland Ballroom but, due to the bandleader being a very indifferent businessman, the all-star outfit recorded relatively little during its peak (1927 to 1930).

With the departure of Redman in 1927, and the end of interim periods when Benny Carter and Horace Henderson wrote the bulk of the arrangements, Fletcher himself developed into a top arranger by the early '30s. However, the Depression took its toll on the band, and the increased competition from other orchestras (along with some bad business decisions and the loss of Coleman Hawkins) resulted in Henderson breaking up the big band in early 1935. Starting in 1934, he began contributing versions of his better arrangements to Benny Goodman's new orchestra (including "King Porter Stomp," "Sometimes I'm Happy," and "Down South Camp Meeting"), and ironically Goodman's recordings were huge hits at a time when Fletcher Henderson's name was not known to the general public. In 1936, he put together a new orchestra and immediately had a hit in "Christopher Columbus," but after three years he had to disband again in 1939.

Henderson worked as a staff arranger for Goodman and even played in B.G.'s Sextet for a few months (although his skills on the piano never did develop much). He struggled through the 1940s, leading occasional bands (including one in the mid-'40s that utilized some arrangements by the young Sun Ra). In 1950, Henderson had a fine sextet with Lucky Thompson, but a stroke ended his career and led to his death in 1952. Virtually all of Fletcher Henderson's recordings as a leader (and many are quite exciting) are currently available on the Classics label and in more piecemeal fashion domestically. By Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fletcher-henderson-mn0000152490/biography

Smack is Back!

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