Friday, June 9, 2023

Lee Konitz meets Antonio Zambrini Trio - Standardslee, Chapter 2

Styles: Saxophone And Piano Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:42
Size: 176,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:59) 1. Diane
(6:04) 2. Get out of Town
(8:35) 3. For All We Know
(9:57) 4. Don't Explain
(6:54) 5. Just in Time
(5:42) 6. For Heaven's Sake
(7:06) 7. A Ghost of a Chace
(7:43) 8. Sil-Lee
(5:37) 9. Check Lee
(6:43) 10. Diane (Alternate)
(7:16) 11. Darn that Dream (Take 1)

Jazz pianist and composer from Milan, Zambrini, has drawn the attention of critics and musicians, especially with his “songs,” published his several trios and quartet recordings, as well as reprised and played by various musicians in the jazz area.

Trumpeter and composer Ron Horton had Zambrini guest in his Cd “It’s a gadget world,” recorded in New York in 2006, including some of Zambrini’s songs. Pianist Stefano Bollani opens with a tune by Zambrini, his solo album produced by ECM, the famous label in Germany, issued in 2006.

Mr. Lee Konitz recorded a series of Zambrini’s tunes in a sequence of three CDs they realized together for the label “Philology” in 2008. English pianist John Law dedicated to Zambrini’s music his cd “The moment” in 2002. Zambrini was a guest in several broadcastings by National Radio and he was for 7 years partner of Cineteca Italiana, Milan, improvising live piano soundtracks of silent movies.

More recent projects are regarding young guitarist Filippo Cosentino, with an out coming cd along with Jesper Bodilsen and Andrea Marcelli, a new trio with bass player Paolino Dalla Porta and French drummer Manhu Roche, a cd entitled "Dois Lugares," with the great Samba composer and performer Moacyr Luz. Several concerts in the last two years with this "Dois Lugares " project, led by Italian vocalist Francesca Ajmar and with Moacyr Luz himself, who wrote most of the music for this project.

Also, about Brasil, a long collaboration with the choir director from Sao Paulo, Martinho L. Galati De Olivera, Kept Zambrini through several concerts, finally in Sao Paulo in 2014, playing with some great names of that scene's music like Teco Cardoso, Lea Frerie, and Fabiana Cozza.

Among others, Zambrini performed with Lee Konitz, Mark Murphy, William Parker, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Enrico Rava, Ron Horton, Nenna Frenlone, Hamid Drake, Claudio Fasoli, Tiziano Tononi, Ben Allison, Gabriele Mirabassi, Kyle Gregory, Rita Marcotulli, Javier Girotto, Eliot Zigmund, Jesper Bodilsen, Maria Pia De Vito, Pietro Tonolo, Manhu Roche, Paolino Dalla Porta, Andrea Marcelli, Fabrizio Bosso.
https://www.antoniozambrini.com/album

Personnel: Alto Saxophone – Lee Konitz; Piano, Liner Notes – Antonio Zambrini; Double Bass – Ares Tavolazzi; Drums – Massimo Manz

Standardslee, Chapter 2

Aretha Franklin - Unforgettable: A Tribute To Dinah Washington

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1964
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:15
Size: 90,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:40) 1. Unforgettable
(4:34) 2. Cold, Cold Heart
(3:29) 3. What A Difference A Day Made
(3:27) 4. Drinking Again
(5:09) 5. Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning
(2:39) 6. Evil Gal Blues
(2:44) 7. Don't Say You're Sorry Again
(4:32) 8. This Bitter Earth
(3:35) 9. If I Should Lose You
(2:18) 10. Soulville
(3:02) 11. Lee Cross

Since her youth Franklin had admired Dinah Washington, and it's a safe bet that the level of emotional commitment Washington brought to her work was a major influence on the blossoming style of Aretha, not to mention Washington's effortless sense of swing. Shortly before she died, Washington took appreciate notice of her acolyte as well. So Aretha's tribute to Washington is as logical as it is satisfying.

Recorded when Aretha was just 21, UNFORGETTABLE is somewhat of a departure from her more R&B-oriented early work. However, the string arrangements of Johnny Mersey adn the jazzy bass work of George Duvivier mesh perfectly with Franklin's high-flying vocal fireworks. From the slow, subtle caress of "What a Difference a Day Made" to the organ-led blues of "Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning," the young Aretha is in total command of the material here, simultaneously paying homage to and progressing from the influence of Washington. By AllMusic
https://www.allmusic.com/album/unforgettable-a-tribute-to-dinah-washington-mw0000123999

Unforgettable: A Tribute To Dinah Washington

Astrud Gilberto - The Collection

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:30
Size: 95.0 MB
Styles: Bossa Nova, Latin jazz vocals
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[2:51] 1. Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)
[2:11] 2. Once I Loved
[6:31] 3. The Girl From Ipanema
[1:49] 4. Bim Bom
[2:45] 5. How Insensitive
[2:44] 6. Felicidade
[1:55] 7. Manha De Carnaval
[2:22] 8. Fly Me To The Moon
[1:59] 9. Dreamer
[2:53] 10. Light My Fire
[2:55] 11. O Morro
[2:39] 12. Meditation (Meditação)
[2:39] 13. Dindi
[2:49] 14. Beach Samba
[2:21] 15. Berimbau

The honey-toned chanteuse on the surprise Brazilian crossover hit "The Girl From Ipanema," Astrud Gilberto parlayed her previously unscheduled appearance (and professional singing debut) on the song into a lengthy career that resulted in nearly a dozen albums for Verve and a successful performing career that lasted into the '90s. Though her appearance at the studio to record "The Girl From Ipanema" was due only to her husband João, one of the most famed Brazilian artists of the century, Gilberto's singular, quavery tone and undisguised naïveté propelled the song into the charts and influenced a variety of sources in worldwide pop music.

Born in Bahia, Gilberto moved to Rio de Janeiro at an early age. She'd had no professional musical experience of any kind until 1963, the year of her visit to New York with her husband, João Gilberto, in a recording session headed by Stan Getz. Getz had already recorded several albums influenced by Brazilian rhythms, and Verve teamed him with the cream of Brazilian music, Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto, for his next album. Producer Creed Taylor wanted a few English vocals for maximum crossover potential, and as it turned out, Astrud was the only Brazilian present with any grasp of the language. After her husband laid down his Portuguese vocals for the first verse of his and Jobim's composition, "The Girl From Ipanema," Astrud provided a hesitant, heavily accented second verse in English.

Not even credited on the resulting LP, Getz/Gilberto, Astrud finally gained fame over a year later, when "The Girl From Ipanema" became a number five hit in mid-1964. The album became the best-selling jazz album up to that point, and made Gilberto a star across America. Before the end of the year, Verve capitalized on the smash with the release of Getz Au Go Go, featuring a Getz live date with Gilberto's vocals added later. Her first actual solo album, The Astrud Gilberto Album, was released in May 1965. Though it barely missed the Top 40, the LP's blend of Brazilian classics and ballad standards proving quite infectious with easy listening audiences.

Though she never returned to the pop charts in America, Verve proved to be quite understanding for Astrud Gilberto's career, pairing her with ace arranger Gil Evans for 1966's Look to the Rainbow and Brazilian organist/arranger Walter Wanderley for the dreamy A Certain Smile, a Certain Sadness, released later that year. She remained a huge pop star in Brazil for the rest of the 1960s and '70s, but gradually disappeared in America after her final album for Verve in 1969. In 1971, she released a lone album for CTI (with Stanley Turrentine) but was mostly forgotten in the U.S. until 1984, when "Girl From Ipanema" recharted in Britain on the tails of a neo-bossa craze. Gilberto gained worldwide distribution for 1987's Astrud Gilberto Plus the James Last Orchestra and 2002's Jungle. ~bio by John Bush

The Collection

Buster Williams & Kenny Barron - The Complete Two as One

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 95:04
Size: 218,0 MB
Art: Front

(11:05) 1. All of You
(11:27) 2. This Time the Dream's on Me
( 3:49) 3. Some Day My Prince Will Come
(15:51) 4. I Love You
( 8:28) 5. My Funny Valentine
(11:03) 6. Will You Still Be Mine?
( 9:57) 7. Some Day My Prince Will Come (Take 2)
(12:43) 8. On a Green Dolphin Street
(10:36) 9. There Is No Greater Love

A wonderful little date from pianist Kenny Barron one that has him working in drumless duo mode, with only the bass of Buster Williams for accompaniment! The tunes are often quite long, and it's beautiful to hear the way Kenny stretches out on the keys buoyed up warmly by Williams' trademark tone basslines that are soft on bite, and round on sound drenched with soul throughout, and creating a subtle pulse that the presence of a drum would only ruin! Barron has a wonderful way of being pensive at points, while still moving things forward strongly and titles include "All Of You", "This Time The Dream's On Me", "I Love You", and "My Funny Valentine". © 1996-2023, Dusty Groove, Inc.
https://www.dustygroove.com/item/148032/Kenny-Barron-Buster-Williams:Complete-Two-As-One-180-gram-pressing

Personnel: Kenny Barron - (piano); Buster Williams - (bass)

The Complete Two as One