Thursday, February 23, 2023

Dominick Farinacci - Sounds in My Life

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:34
Size: 154,8 MB
Art: Front

(7:05) 1. The Thing to Do
(6:15) 2. Flamenco Sketches
(6:12) 3. What Is This Thing Called Love
(6:59) 4. The Pursuit
(5:53) 5. I Can't Get Started
(8:58) 6. Visions
(5:47) 7. Peyote
(9:01) 8. My Funny Valentine
(6:00) 9. Memories
(5:19) 10. Mona's Mood

Trumpeter Dominick Farinacci was named the very first Global Ambassador to Jazz at Lincoln Center by Wynton Marsalis, working to further integrate music into communities around the world in culturally collaborative ways. He graduated from The Juilliard School in 2005 launching his career in Japan with a prolific run of eight albums, later releasing four more globally. He has performed in more than 120 cities in 14 countries around the world, was a featured guest on ABC’s Good Morning America, and is a TED Speaker. Music icon Quincy Jones says of Dominick’s accomplishments in performance, recording, education & advocacy, “This kid is 360 degrees!”

Dominick has been successful in his personal endeavors on bringing music into the community through Arts and Wellness & Education. He was invited by TED to be a TED Speaker at the 2014 TED MED conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He is a featured performer for the Cleveland Clinic in both Ohio and Abu Dhabi, and organized the very first jazz performance for patients in Abu Dhabi in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic and the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation. For Dominick, music and health go hand in hand, most recently organizing panel discussions around patient-doctor communication through music with Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.

Dominick has been a leading advocate in music education development, most recently featured at the Community College Association of America in D.C. He served as Music Consultant to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, and is Artist in Residence at the Gill and Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. His educational reach recently expanded to the GCC, in schools such as Weill Cornell Medical College, Qatar Music Academy, the American School of Doha among others.

His most recent recording “Short Stories” is produced by four-time Grammy Award winning producer Tommy LiPuma. This was Tommy & Dominick’s first collaboration, and was recorded in their hometown of Cleveland at the Gill and Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts. Dominick is signed to Mack Avenue Records.https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/dominick-farinacci

Personnel: Trumpet – Dominick Farinacci; Tenor Saxophone – Stacy Dillard; Bass – Yasushi Nakamura (2); Drums – Carmen Intorre; Piano – Miyako Katakur

Sounds in My Life

Yvonne Walter - Libra

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:10
Size: 122,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:18) 1. My Houseboat
(4:06) 2. Ocean Island
(4:25) 3. Libra
(4:12) 4. Autumn Tells
(5:23) 5. Snowflakes
(5:37) 6. Arches De Paris
(3:47) 7. To Be Good to Be Thru
(3:59) 8. If Only We Could
(2:47) 9. Sherry Flowers
(6:13) 10. Take Care
(4:42) 11. Dawn
(1:35) 12. Trois Musiciens

Yvonne Walter was born as Yvonne de Kok in Eindhoven, a town in the southern part of the Netherlands. She started studying piano at the age of seven and in her teens, she performed as a singer in high school bands. At that time she started to compose songs. Yvonne lived twenty years in Antwerp, Belgium. Since 2020 she lives in Malaga, Andalusia, Spain. http://yvonnewalter.com/about/

Personnel: Yvonne Walter vocal; Arturo Serra vibraphone; José Carra piano; Bori Albero bass; Miguel Benito drums

Libra

Joe Locke - Makram

Styles: Vibes Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:16
Size: 142,9 MB
Art: Front

(7:04) 1. Love For Sale
(7:35) 2. Raise Heaven (for Roy)
(7:31) 3. Makram
(3:40) 4. Elegy For Us All
(6:45) 5. Tushkin
(9:06) 6. Shifting Moon
(7:57) 7. Song For Vic Juris
(7:35) 8. Interwoven Hues
(5:00) 9. Lush Life

While 10,000 hours of practice remains a popular adage for attaining a level of mastery in music, it does little to unpack the complexity of being a Jazz musician. Beyond any accounting of time or quality of dedication is the persistent and often mercurial quest for kinship. Whether that takes the form of mastering an instrument, nurturing an affinity for improvisation, or building intimacy within bands and the audiences they engage, kinship, and the connection it fosters, is indispensable to a life-long journey of refining an authentic musical identity.

After decades (past 100,000 hours in case you’re counting) as one of the most impactful vibraphonists in Jazz, with countless awards, critically acclaimed albums, and a remarkably diverse array of musical associations to his credit, Joe Locke brings us Makram; a recording glistening with the spirit, ingenuity, musicianship and inquisitiveness of an artist joyously embracing kinship as the foundation for making music entirely on his own terms. Locke’s quartet, (pianist Jim Ridl, bassist Lorin Cohen, and drummer Samvel Sarkisyan) is a unique musical fraternity, a group perfectly suited to the quality of compositions that make this recording so special.

Named after the talented Lebanese bassist Makram Aboul Hosn, the album opens with an uptempo arrangement of Cole Porter’s Love for Sale, a buoyant, tight, swinging base for crisp solos by Locke, Ridl and Sarkisyan. Soulful and melancholic, Raise Heaven is a lyrical homage to the late Roy Hargrove, reflecting the reverence with which the trumpeter approached ballads while at the same time giving a nod to his love of R&B, as evidenced by his work with the RH Factor. The song is buoyed by the delicate brass arrangement from trombonist and album co-producer, Doug Beavers.

Pivoting to a minor blues laced with an addictive Middle-Eastern melody managed in 5/4 time, the album’s title track Makram glides gracefully while maintaining a spirited rock-like energy. Sarkisyan expertly guides the song through searching solos by Ridl and Locke, accented wonderfully by Samir Nasr Eddine on oud and Bahaa Daou on riq, a smaller version of the tambourine. Delicate, somber and representative of our nation’s growing political vulnerability, Elegy For Us All speaks to Locke’s deep sadness for the growing dark influences he sees threatening democracy in the United States. Locke’s sweeping melody does well to describe the grief in watching ongoing attempts to roll back decades of gains made since the country’s Civil Rights era.

Penned in honor of his grandfather, Tushkin was composed by Samvel Sarkisyan, with a vibes/piano introduction written by Locke. The song features the gifted multi-instrumentalist Tim Garland on soprano saxophone, bass clarinet and flute. Stemming from the genius of John Coltrane’s Satellite, Shifting Moon has Locke deftly slaloming complex chord changes, while Sarkisyan’s percolating drumming shifts between a heavy 4/4 rock groove and 7/4 time. Guitarist, former collaborator, and friend Vic Juris is lovingly remembered by Jim Ridl with his Song For Vic Juris, a shimmering ballad that speaks to the legacy of Juris’ musical career.

Reminiscent of hardbop’s heyday, Lorin Cohen’s Interwoven Hues takes us home with a wonderful collaborative effort. By song’s end, everyone has soloed in ways that would make Horace Silver or Cedar Walton smile. A fitting epilogue, the set ends with Locke playing solo on Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life. Dancing alone with his instrument, Locke delivers a signature performance that elegantly intertwines Strayhorn’s legacy with his own.

Within the galaxy of contemporary Jazz, albums often come with expectations that artists present their music in ways listeners can easily appreciate or readily understand. Makram’s orbit revolves around a slightly different sensibility, one where a gorgeous collage of music speaks to the meticulous preparation, world-class artistry and personal chemistry which Joe Locke is advancing at this point in his career. Challenging, complex, familiar but with a contemporary and international flare, this recording incorporates a dynamic quartet, effortless arranging spiced with just the right blend of instrumentation, curious meters, honorable sentiments and kinship - music that exemplifies Joe Locke’s intimate connection to his band, his audience, and most importantly himself. By Michael Ambrosino
https://joelocke.bandcamp.com/album/makram

Personnel: Joe Locke - vibes and additional keyboards; Jim Ridl - piano and keyboards; Lorin Cohen - acoustic and electric bass; Samvel Sarkisyan - drums and cymbals

Special Guests: Doug Beavers - trombone (2,4); Eric C. Davis - french horn (2,4); Jennifer Wharton - bass trombone and tuba (2,4); Samir Nasr Eddine - oud (3) Bahaa Daou - riq (3); Tim Garland - soprano saxophone, bass clarinet and flute (5)

Makram

Ali Ryerson - I'll Be Back

Styles: Flute Jazz
Year: 1993
File: MP3@128K/s
Time: 49:58
Size: 46,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:41) 1. Bobby's Minor
(4:33) 2. L'Ode A' Muse
(5:28) 3. I'll Be Back
(7:51) 4. Peace
(6:24) 5. Thinking of You
(7:29) 6. Nobody Knows
(4:59) 7. Song For Myself
(4:59) 8. Samba De Gago
(3:33) 9. That's All

It is a testament to flutist Ali Ryerson that on her second release she is not overshadowed by her all-star rhythm section (pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Danny Gottlieb) and that her sidemen sound happy to be playing with her. The music on this CD ranges from Bobby Jaspar's blues "Bobby's Minor" to a memorable version of Horace Silver's "Peace" and an emotional "That's All." Nothing that innovative occurs, but Ryerson's very pleasing flute sounds perfectly at home in this modern mainstream setting. Recommended for straight-ahead jazz fans.By Scott Yanow
https://www.allmusic.com/album/ill-be-back-mw0000104451

Personnel: Alto Flute, Flute – Ali Ryerson; Bass – Cecil McBee; Drums – Danny Gottlieb; Piano – Kenny Barron

I'll Be Back