Maria Kim - Stellive Vol.16 Two for the Road

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:40
Size: 137,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:19) 1. Basin Street Blues
(5:55) 2. Better Than Anything
(6:25) 3. Walkin’ After Midnight
(6:43) 4. Two For The Road
(4:58) 5. Centerpiece
(2:59) 6. Bitter With The Sweet
(6:44) 7. So Many Stars
(4:37) 8. Got To Get You Into My Life
(8:31) 9. Home (When Shadows Fall)
(8:23) 10. Lost In The Stars

Maria Kim is steadily consolidating her position in many ways. She has been active since 2010, and at the beginning of this year, her album was selected as the best jazz vocal album at the 19th Korean Popular Music Awards, which must have gained momentum internally. , released this time as her driving force, is a live performance performed as a simple duo with her bassist Kim Dae-ho.

Maria Kim is basically a vocalist with a minor voice. She also has a subtle soft vibrato (especially her 9th song 'Home') and impressive stable piano playing (especially her 10th song 'Lost in the stars') . Because she has a soft voice, her early bossa nova works were well embedded in her voice. Her previous work, , was also a wise choice, as the string sound in the background complemented Maria Kim's voice in the background, bringing out a rich overall sound.

Judging from his career, he is well aware of his strengths and weaknesses, and thinks he has produced results accordingly, but the partner he chose for this work is bassist Daeho Kim. She may have her long-standing partnership with him, but I think her round and stable walking base that he has puts her in a very comfortable state. In November 2020, this piece contains sound sources recorded live by Stellive, a professional live performance agency, Miles Davis' famous performance 'Basin Street Blues', Henry Mancini's 'Two for the Road', Serge Mendes' 'So Many Stars' ', Carol King's 'Bitter with the Sweet', and The Beatles' 'Got to Get You Into My Life'.

Above all, what was particularly impressive in this work was that the sensitivity and interpretation of the songs buried in her songs were more intimate and resonant than I thought. Her selected standard numbers are by no means sung by taking common and easy songs, and she tries her musical challenge by presenting a deeper and more meaningful interpretation than her previous works in both her arrangement and improvisation. do. However, from a vocalist's point of view, it is a bit regrettable that her vocalization is not as rich and elegant as the song's interpretation idea and scat's approach, but even taking that into account, in terms of musical content I think that this work is rather better than the last string album, and there is a glimpse of sincere depth.
Translate By Google https://www.genie.co.kr/magazine/subMain?ctid=6&mgz_seq=12750

Personnel: Piano/Vocal : Maria Kim; Acoustic Bass: Daeho Kim

Stellive Vol.16 Two for the Road

---

Clark Tracey & Dominic Galea - The Legacy

Styles: Bop, Piano Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:26
Size: 106,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:31) 1. Rainbow At The Five Mile Road
(5:41) 2. November The 15th
(5:40) 3. The Scorpion (F.r.t.s.)
(7:05) 4. Sweet Used To Be
(6:13) 5. At Sunset
(6:13) 6. Baby Blue
(5:24) 7. Birds
(4:33) 8. Cuddly

The legacy referred to in the title of this wonderful release harks back to the friendship between Maltese pianist, Sammy Galea and the UK’s own Stan Tracey, who were both highly respected jazz musicians in their home countries. Through coincidence or fate their sons also became firm friends, and both followed their father’s profession in becoming first class jazz musicians in their own right.

This collaborative album captures both Dominic and Clark at their best in a programme comprising of compositions written by Galea and Tracey Snr. Assembling a top drawer band using the reliable and inventive Arnie Somogyi on bass and the front-line horns of Alan Barnes and Mark Armstrong. All members of the quintet are of the same generation and have played extensively together in various line up over the years. This familiarity with each other’s playing lends an air of maturity and experience to proceeding that shine through in each and every number.

The compositions are all exceptional and delivered with an authority that is immediately attention grabbing and does not let up until the last note fades. That the band mean business is evident from the opening bars of ‘Rainbow At The Five Mile Road’ by Stan Tracey.

After the full steam ahead approach to ‘Rainbow’, Galea follows with ‘November The 15th. Far more relaxed with a controlled vibrancy that yields a lovely solo from Dominic Galea and very different solos from Alan Barnes on alto and the trumpet of Mark Armstrong.

This relaxed state of mind is picked up again on Stan’s wonderful ballad ‘Sweet Used To Be’. Galea’s opening piano is exquisite prior to Alan Barnes’s plangent alto and the burnished sound of Armstrong’s open horn in his finest solo of the set. Lovely stuff!

Sammy Galea had a knack of writing catchy and memorable tunes that swing hard, and a couple such compositions appear here. First up is ‘The Scorpion(F.R.T.S.)’ that has an exuberant and melodic solo from the pianist which is supported unobtrusively by Clark and Arnie Somogyi. ‘At Sunset ‘is another delightful swinger with an unforgettable melodic hook. The tempo and feel of the piece suits Armstrong down to the ground and he gets in a cracking solo. Galea is up next with a brief and concise offering before Barnes gets in on the action, getting in a Parker quotation while trading fours with the drummer.

The saxophonist switches to baritone saxophone for a couple of Stan Tracey compositions ‘Baby Blue’ has a relaxed and nonchalant air about it, and Barnes takes this as his cue to deliver a suitably laconic solo on the larger horn.

The second baritone feature is on Stan’s ‘Cuddly’ that closes the set. Anything but cuddly, this is a hard swinging number producing excellent solos from all and a fitting way to conclude this fine album.By Nick Lea https://jazzviews.net/clark-tracey-dominic-galea-the-legacy/

Personnel: Dominic Galea (piano); Clark Tracey (drums); Alan Barnes (alto & baritone saxophones); Mark Armstrong (trumpet & flugelhorn); Arnie Somogyi (bass)

The Legacy

---

Mike Moreno - Standards from Film

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:33
Size: 153,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:30) 1. Beautiful Love
(5:30) 2. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
(6:55) 3. There Will Never Be Another You
(6:39) 4. Stella By Starlight
(8:17) 5. Laura
(7:31) 6. I Fall In Love Too Easily
(7:00) 7. On Green Dolphin Street
(4:16) 8. My Foolish Heart
(8:06) 9. Invitation
(9:44) 10. Days Of Wine And Roses

At last. An enjoyable alternative to the ghastly albums of "jazzed up" hymns and Christmas carols which spew forth every holiday season. There is nothing overtly Christmassy about guitarist Mike Moreno's Standards From Film, but it is appropriate that the album, recorded in New York in December 2021, was released in the UK in early December 2022 and came out in the US a month or so earlier. It nails the seasonal nostalgia spike and then some.

Moreno, always a lyrical player and never more so than on this occasion, has chosen ten of his favourite evergreens, each of which was either commissioned for a movie soundtrack or included in one within a year or so of being published. They are Wayne King, Victor Young and Egbert Van Alstyne's "Beautiful Love," Herb Brown's "You Stepped Out Of A Dream," Harry Warren's "There Will Never Be Another You," Victor Young's "Stella By Starlight" and "My Foolish Heart," David Raksin's "Laura," Jule Styne's "I Fall In Love Too Easily," Bronislau Caper and Ned Washington's "On Green Dolphin Street," Kaper's "Invitation" and Henry Mancini's "Days Of Wine And Roses." Happily, Moreno does not reinvent, reimagine, recalibrate or otherwise re-screwup any of the tunes; "My Foolish Heart" is given a novel rhythmic foundation, but it works.

After the brief, unaccompanied guitar reading of "Beautiful Love" which opens the album, the remaining tracks have average playing times of just over seven minutes, plenty of time for bookending theme statements and solos that unfold without rush in between. Moreno is the chief soloist, but pianist Sullivan Fortner and bassist Matt Brewer each get turns in the spotlight; Brewer delivers a particular gem on "There Will Never Be Another You."

Moreno, the producer, has inserted brief dialogue soundbites from the source movies at the start or finish of most tracks. This could have been tacky but, if one lightens up and goes with the flow, it works. Check the clip of "Stella By Starlight" below for an example. Less successful is the microphone placement. The piano is close mic'd within an inch of its life and there are occasions, especially when Fortner uses the sustain pedal, that the bass register of the instrument threatens to overwhelm everything else that is going on. But the 4-star rating stands.By Chris May https://www.allaboutjazz.com/standards-from-film-mike-moreno-criss-cross

Personnel: Mike Moreno: guitar; Sullivan Fortner: piano; Matt Brewer: bass; Obed Calvaire: drums.

Standards from Film

---

Harry Allen & Martin Sasse - Live At Bird's Eye

Styles: Bop, Swing
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:33
Size: 116,1 MB
Art: Front

( 5:19) 1. When October Goes
(10:11) 2. Swing, Swing, Swing
( 5:02) 3. Tea For You
( 7:08) 4. Telling A Little Story
( 6:38) 5. Blue Skies
( 4:46) 6. Step Right Up
( 5:20) 7. There's No Place For Me
( 6:05) 8. See You At The Fair

Now, the brilliant playing of the two can be followed and enjoyed on their first joint album "Live at Bird's Eye". Together with Markus Schieferdecker and Joost van Schalk as an exquisite rhythm section, they fill the space with compositions from their own pens that are as subtly as they are complexly interpreted, but also with a clever selection of the very finest standards. What unites the four is their deep affection for the melodies of the swing era as well as the mainstream jazz of the 1950s and 1960s. Together they immerse themselves in relaxed, yet highly intense moods, sometimes rhythmically furious, sometimes in pure balladic beauty.

It is anything but a matter of course to start an album right away with an atmospheric ballad: But here it happens, and Barry Manilow's classic "When October Goes" makes an impressive statement. Nancy Wilson, Carmen McRae, Rosemary Clooney, Kevin Mahogany or Inger Maria Gundersen each interpreted Johnny Mercer's lines in their own personal way, now Harry Allen finds his very own language on the saxophone, at first almost whispered, then more and more urgent and powerful, while Sasse on the piano evokes a lyrical fantasy world of rain-soaked city streets and autumn-colored rows of trees.

No less powerful in imagery and association, the cheerfully spotted Ben Webster classic "See You at the Fair" from 1964 and the rather rarely played "Step Right Up," with which Oliver Nelson, as composer, arranger and conductor, opened the Count Basie album "Afrique" in 1971, glow. A special place is given to "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin: The standard from the 1920s, famous thanks to singers such as Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald and decades later Cassandra Wilson, rises here elegantly from broom accompanied cautiousness to cheerful, occasionally "weird" intensity. Involuntarily, one would like to sing along with the lyrics: "Blue Skies/Smiling at me/Nothing but blue skies/Do I See..."

Organically grown, the original compositions of Martin Sasse and Harry Allen fit into the album, shifting tempos, moods and atmospheres again and again in a new and sophisticated way, swinging and grooving, straight and cool, soulful and sensitive a captivating mixture of blues and swing-saturated floating matter! https://harryallen-martinsasse.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-bird-s-eye

Live At Bird's Eye

---