Tony Bennett - Here's To The Ladies

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1995
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:35
Size: 153,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:41) 1. People
(3:50) 2. I'm In Love Again
(3:56) 3. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
(5:10) 4. My Love Went To London
(5:40) 5. Poor Butterfly
(3:27) 6. Sentimental Journey
(4:42) 7. Cloudy Morning
(3:45) 8. Tenderly
(2:09) 9. Down In The Depths
(2:52) 10. Moonlight In Vermont
(4:04) 11. Tangerine
(2:49) 12. God Bless The Child
(3:42) 13. Daybreak
(5:29) 14. You Showed Me The Way
(2:55) 15. Honeysuckle Rose
(3:24) 16. Maybe This Time
(1:58) 17. I Got Rhythm
(1:55) 18. My Ideal

For years, it was rumored that Frank Sinatra was going to record an album called Here's to the Ladies, but the Chairman of the Board never got around to actually making the record. However, Tony Bennett did and his record covers a wider range of artists and styles than Sinatra's scheduled record. Naturally, Bennett turns in a thoroughly entertaining, professional performance. It's a solid contribution to his impressively assured and diverse comeback. By Stephen Thomas Erlewine
https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/heres-to-the-ladies-mr0000372200

Personnel: Tony Bennett – vocals; Ralph Sharon – piano; Clayton Cameron – drums; Doug Richeson – double bass; Lew Soloff – trumpet solos; unidentified session orchestra and big band (except for tracks 8, 10, 12, 16, 17 & 18); Jorge Calandrelli – arranger, conductor of the orchestral charts (tracks 2, 4–7, 13–15); Bill Holman – arranger, conductor of the Big Band charts (tracks 1, 3, 9, 11)

R.I.P.

Born: August 3, 1926, Long Island City, New York, United States
Died: July 21, 2023, New York, New York, United States

Here's To The Ladies

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Alex Mendham and His Orchestra - On With the Show

Styles: Big Band
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:48
Size: 99,0 MB
Art: Front

(2:50) 1. Shall We Dance
(2:25) 2. Let Yourself Go
(3:44) 3. Cheek to Cheek
(2:44) 4. Night and Day
(2:30) 5. Caravan
(2:58) 6. I'm No Angel
(2:32) 7. Jeepers Creepers
(3:20) 8. What Is This Thing Called Love?
(2:54) 9. Anything Goes
(2:54) 10. Nobody Cares If I'm Blue
(3:06) 11. Broken Record
(2:23) 12. Hot Lips
(2:39) 13. The Way You Look Tonight
(3:09) 14. Blue Moments
(2:33) 15. Prelude in C# Minor

Mesmerised from a young age by the music of a forgotten time, Essex-born musician, singer, and lyricist Alex Mendham made a name for himself, having burst onto the scene by forming his own orchestra at the tender age of just 20 (and refusing to slow down ever since!). Alex Mendham spent his youth studying the saxophone and meeting the last surviving dance band musicians from the golden era, living links to the past, including the virtuoso Al Gallodoro, a star of 1920s Paul Whiteman fame. He also spent several years as protégé to Bob Wilber, himself a student of Sidney Bechet. After the initial performances with his Orchestra, Alex soon realised what was needed was an authentic vocalist and frontman. He exchanged the saxophone for a conductor's baton and the rest as they say is history.

Alex Mendham and His Orchestra was founded by the debonair, white-tie-and-tails wearing bandleader, to sweep audiences away with the high style and musical glory of the 20’s and 30’s. He and his Orchestra have turned the music of a golden age into a worldwide concert touring show. Initially, Alex Mendham pitched his wild idea to the owners of London's Savoy Hotel, and the Orchestra embarked a long-standing residency in the hotel's hallowed ballroom. Request performances soon followed at many iconic venues around the capital, including the world-famous Ritz Hotel. This vital early period allowed the Orchestra to hone it’s signature style and sound, playing together each night. Soon, the allure of taking their music to the world-stage became too great for Alex and His Orchestra to resist. Beginning with the now legendary sell out show at the Kursaal Concert Hall in Belgium, Alex Mendham has taken his orchestra to new heights internationally performing everywhere from the lush art-deco Cicada Club of Downtown L.A to open-air concerts in the gothic palaces of Russia, via grand scale events upon the romantic canals of Venice. Outside of their live performances, the Orchestra is a mainstay of BBC Radio, and has lent it's talents to productions for film and television. https://www.alexmendham.com/biography

On With the Show

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Champian Fulton - Birdsong

Styles: Vocal, Piano Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:39
Size: 152,8 MB
Art: Front

(7:13) 1. Just friends
(6:36) 2. Yardbird suite
(5:32) 3. This is always
(5:40) 4. Star eyes
(5:07) 5. Quasimodo
(4:49) 6. All God's chillun got rhythm
(4:46) 7. Dearly beloved
(5:06) 8. Out of nowhere
(7:21) 9. If I should lose you
(5:00) 10. My old flame
(9:25) 11. Bluebird

Champian Fulton was introduced to alto saxophonist Charlie Parker during her stay in the womb. The New York-based pianist/vocalist's father, Stephen Fulton held a high opinion ("The most beautiful music that ever was") of Charlie Parker With Strings (Verve, 1950), so he made a cassette tape of the recording and played it during his wife Susan's pregnancy: The sound waves of Charlie Parker and Orchestra traversing maternal flesh to burst into the domain of amniotic fluid to find their way to tiny ear canals, the tympanic membranes, to the ultimate destination the pleasure centers of the growing brain, bringing (we can guess) a bright pre-birth smile that hasn't (no guessing here) faded to this day.

There may or may not have been a method to Stephen Fulton's madness. But if there was a strategy, it must have worked. Thirty some years later, Champian Fulton offers Bird Songs, a joyful celebration of Charlie Parker's centennial. Champian and Company open with "Just Friends," a tune that also sat in the introductory cut position on Parker's With Strings session. A better choice couldn't have been made. The Champian Fulton-led ensemble has a relaxed and fluid swing. Fulton's vocals feature syllables stretched like warm bread dough interspersed with interludes of a horn like sassiness. Saxophonist Scott Hamilton blows a supple and swingingly elegant solo. Fulton covers tunes written by Parker "Yardbird Suite," "Quasimodo," "Bluebird" as well as numbers that Parker made his own...

Making them her own something that Fulton is doing here in her own sweet way, whether it's "Star Eyes," its bounce coming out of the understated, old school style rhythm team, with bassist Hide Tanaka and drummer Fukushi Tainaka, or "Dearly Beloved," with Fulton comping straight up behind Hamilton's sax solo, sounding a bit like Jutta Hipp. "Out of Nowhere" features rumba rhythm and gorgeous, soft-around-the-edges flugelhorn solo from Stephen Fulton (the guy with that cassette tape), while "Bluebird" one of Bird's most recognizable melodies, closes the show with an authentic 1940s, early 1950's atmosphere.Marvelous!By Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/birdsong-champian-fulton-self-produced

Personnel: Champian Fulton: piano, Vocal; Fukushi Tainaka: drums; Hide Tanaka: bass; Stephen Fulton: flugelhorn; Scott Hamilton: saxophone, tenor.

Birdsong

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Queen Latifah - The Dana Owens Album

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:48
Size: 104.9 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2004
Art: Front

[3:42] 1. Baby, Get Lost
[3:08] 2. I Put A Spell On You
[4:11] 3. Simply Beautiful
[3:52] 4. The Same Love That Made Me Laugh
[3:59] 5. Moody's Mood For Love
[2:55] 6. Close Your Eyes
[3:42] 7. California Dreamin'
[5:21] 8. Hard Times
[3:27] 9. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
[3:00] 10. Hello Stranger
[4:04] 11. If I Had You
[4:24] 12. Lush Life

Queen Latifah, vocals; Featuring Herbie Hancock, piano on "I Put A Spell On You"; Featuring Al Green, vocals on "Simply Beautiful"; Featuring James Moody, alto sax on "Mood for Love"; Featuring Mervyn Warren, solo vocal on "Close Your Eyes"; Featuring David "Fathead" Newman, alto sax on "If I Had You"; Produced by Ron Fair, co-produced by Tal Herzberg, except for tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 11 Produced by Arif Mardin, co-produced by Joe Mardin. Track 12 produced by Mervyn Warren.

With this opus Queen Latifah sets aside her rap "crown" for a jewel-encrusted jazz-pop tiara. Tiara?! Yes, a tiara she deserves for the melodic, nostalgic opus she decided to label with her given name: The Dana Owens Album. The artist is notorious for feminist controversy, but the only thing controversial about this album is Latifah's hard departure from the rap genre. But jazz fans can rejoice. She spans a continuum from standards to R&B to the blues and more, but jazz this is, at heart—all selections are done in her own fresh style. The lush orchestral arrangements behind Latifah don't impose; much as Shirley Horn came alive for listeners in such a magnificent way when backed by an orchestra in Here's To Life, Latifah raises eyebrows by keeping chill and jazzy throughout—not a bit of cheese to be found here!

The most serious eyebrow-raiser is "California Dreamin',"? arranged with a focus on Latifah's beautiful voice. The gorgeous guitar work by Raul Midon works very well to evoke, respectfully, a bit of the era from which the tune comes. Between the castanets and the smooth string backgrounds, "Dreamin'"? is easily the most laid back of all the selections on this eclectic journey through what ostensibly are the favorite musical memories of Newark, New Jersey-born Dana Owens.

Standards are represented here: "If I Had You"? is done sweetly, without cloying—and swings nicely, thank you. Fathead Newman adds excitement with a breezy solo. On "Lush Life"? Latifah's voice strains ever so slightly, violating the admonition she gives earlier in the album (on the cut "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy") that one should "never let 'em see you sweat."? Given, however, the difficulty for any singer to bulls-eye that tune, she comes close. "Moody's Mood for Love,"? featuring the composer on sax, is performed here lovingly, like putting on a favorite cardigan. It's apparently a nod not only to the song but to the source: the late "Chief Rocker"? Frankie Crocker on WBLS radio during the 1970s and '80s in the metro NYC area. Some Arthur Prysock fans may be surprised that credit for the arrangement to "Close Your Eyes,"? performed ever-so-soulfully with a fillip of jazz, thanks to a scat solo from Mervyn Warren, is given to a Peggy Lee recording. "Hello Stranger"? replete with electric organ effects and "shoo-bop"? vocal backgrounds is sung by Latifah in a manner so heartfelt and fresh it prevents the song from becoming a caricature of itself.

Rap fans may be dismayed by this release, but fans of soulful jazz have reason to rejoice and will find themselves playing this very approachable disc over and over again. ~Paul Lewis

The Dana Owens Album

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Dave Brubeck & Tony Bennett - The White House Sessions, Live 1962

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:50
Size: 145,3 MB
Art: Front

( 0:52)  1. Introduction Of Dave Brubeck Quartet
( 5:27)  2. Take Five
( 1:19)  3. Band Introduction
(11:09)  4. Nomad
( 8:25)  5. Thank You (Dziekuje)
( 8:49)  6. Castilian Blues
( 0:34)  7. Introduction
( 1:59)  8. Just In Time
( 3:00)  9. Small World
( 2:31) 10. Make Someone Happy
( 1:17) 11. Rags To Riches
( 2:45) 12. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)
( 3:37) 13. I Left My Heart In San Francisco
( 1:59) 14. Lullaby Of Broadway
( 2:10) 15. Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)
( 3:20) 16. That Old Black Magic
( 3:29) 17. There Will Never Be Another You

Since both were performing their own sets at the White House Seminar American Jazz Concert on the Sylvan Theater grounds on August 28, 1962, Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck decided to perform an impromptu collaborative set together that day, and although one song from it was eventually released, a version of "That Old Black Magic," the rest of the hour-or-so-long tape ended up lost in the vast Sony catalog vault, filed, as it turned out, with several classical tapes, until it surfaced again shortly after Brubeck's death in 2012. Now finally available, it reveals two master performers at the very top of their respective games. Bennett's signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," had been released only a couple of weeks before the concert, while Brubeck's "Take Five" had just begun to take on its iconic significance. 

Brubeck and his quartet, Paul Desmond on alto sax, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on drums, played a four-song set, followed by a six-song set from Bennett and his band, with Ralph Sharon on piano, Hal Gaylor on bass, and Billy Exiner on drums. Then came an unrehearsed and impromptu four-song set from Bennett and Brubeck, with Wright on bass and Morello on drums (alto saxophonist Desmond sat out) that included versions of "That Old Black Magic" (the only track previously released before this), "Lullaby of Broadway," "Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)," and "There Will Never Be Another You," each of which purveys a loose, fun elegance that makes this archival find a true treasure. Bennett and Brubeck would not perform together again until both appeared and briefly reunited on-stage at the 2009 Newport Jazz Festival. By Steve Leggett  http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-white-house-sessions-live-1962-mw0002529832