Céline Rudolph, Lionel Loueke - Obsession

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:00
Size: 111,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:32) 1. C'est un Love Song
(5:30) 2. New Day
(6:56) 3. Veuve Malienne
(5:02) 4. Archaic
(5:33) 5. Here Comes the Rain
(3:55) 6. O Leãozinho
(5:22) 7. Morning Blues
(3:51) 8. Le Vent du Nord
(3:31) 9. Fábula
(3:44) 10. Rêve Obsession

A singer playing the guitar. A guitarist who sings. An album on which these two exceptional musicians show that in music, too, the whole can be bigger than the sum of its parts. Their common "obsession" opens up musical horizons, sounds like Jazz and singer-songwriter-elegance, like Cotonou, Rio, Memphis and Berlin.

It is music that speaks of the passion that loves, of deep moments, life, pleasure and the Blues. This duo, which most often sounds like a band, sometimes even like an orchestra, sings ten glorious, spontaneous songs, sometimes in English, sometimes French, sometimes in Celinish or Lionelish.

You may think, after just one listen, that you ve known these songs all your life, but there is really only one cover among them (Caetano Velosos "O Leãozinho"), while the rest of the songs were written by either Céline Rudolph or Lionel Loueke or both of them. Make no mistake: this is a complex, diverse album, while at the same time homogeneous and subtle, aptly titled Obsession. By Editorial Reviews
https://www.amazon.com/Obsession-C%C3%A9line-Rudolph-Lionel-Loueke/dp/B075GBJ6MH

Obsession

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Bob Cunningham - Walking Bass

Styles: Jazz, Bop
Year: 2003
File: MP3@128K/s
Time: 41:28
Size: 40,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:04) 1. Walkin' Bass
(5:04) 2. Manteca
(4:50) 3. Blues for Basie
(4:05) 4. Mama's House
(7:49) 5. D'Andrea
(3:51) 6. Lover's Theme
(4:30) 7. Rainy Afternoon
(5:11) 8. Night in Tunisia

Didja hear? Bobby C's back in town! Actually, bassist Bob Cunningham has always been around, but his first and only album as a leader, Walking Bass , has been released for the first time on CD. Originally recorded in 1985, it features the late, great Bross Townsend on piano and Melvin Sparks (Hassan) on guitar, with Alvin Queen and Bernard Purdie sharing drumming duties.

The title cut opens the disc and is Cunningham's spin on a humorous jazz poem written by Keeter Betts. While Cunningham's amplified singing voice is average, his plucking is authoritative and spry, producing deep, round tones. If "Walking Bass" flirts with rap, Cunningham's arrangement of mentor Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" goes there headlong.

This version of the Afro-Cuban classic, featuring excellent piano playing by Townsend and a blistering arco solo by Cunningham, includes a tongue-in-cheek rap homage to Diz, especially fitting since Gillespie was one of the founding fathers of bebop, a musical genre which, like rap, profoundly changed the landscape of world music and culture.

"Blues for Basie" is a juke joint delight, with Cunningham wailing over sparkling riffs by Townsend and solid drumming by Queen. Cunningham's bow sings like a horn on "Mama's House," and "D'Andrea" finds Cunningham overdubbed on synthesizer and bass, with Townsend contributing an absolutely brilliant solo.

"Lover's Theme" features Cunningham wailing on arco like a free jazz saxophonist as Townsend and Queen function as dual timekeepers, and the group gives "A Night In Tunisia" an R&B/funk groove. Whether he's playing originals or covering classics, going pizzicato or bowing like a buzzsaw, Bob Cunningham and his band hit all the right notes. Let's hope that we don't have to wait another 19 years for his next release.By Terrell Kent Holmes
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/walking-bass-bob-cunningham-nilva-review-by-terrell-kent-holmes

Personnel: Bob Cunningham: bass; Bross Townsend: piano; Melvin Sparks Hassan on guitar; Alvin Queen and Bernard Purdie: drums

Walking Bass

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Benny Bailey & Phil Woods - Big Brass / Rights Of Swing

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:43
Size: 180.2 MB
Styles: Hard bop
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[ 5:49] 1. Hard Sock Dance
[ 6:51] 2. Alison
[ 7:03] 3. Tipsy
[ 5:31] 4. Please Say Yes
[ 8:10] 5. A Kiss To Build The Dream On
[ 6:35] 6. Maud's Wood
[ 6:35] 7. Rights Of Swing: Prelude And Part 1
[ 7:42] 8. Rights Of Swing: Pt. 2 Ballad
[ 5:43] 9. Rights Of Swing Part 3 Waltz
[11:24] 10. Rights Of Swing Part 4 Scherzo
[ 7:16] 11. Rights Of Swing Part 5 Presto

Benny Bailey (tp), Curtis Fuller (tb), Julius Watkins (frh), Phil Woods (as, b-cl), Sahib Shihab (bs), Tommy Flanagan (p), Les Spann (fl, g), Buddy Catlett (b), Art Taylor, Osie Johnson (d). Tracks #1-6, from the album “Benny Bailey – Big Brass” (Candid CJS9011). Tracks #7-11, from the album “Phil Woods – Rights of Swing” (Candid CJS9016). Stereo · 24-Bit Digitally Remastered.

This memorable pairing of trumpeter Benny Bailey’s Big Brass and altoist Phil Woods’ Rights of Swing unites two albums which illustrate the virtues and the possibilities of the hard bop idiom. Made within months of each other at the start of the 1960s, they share largely the same brilliant players, but use them somewhat differently to achieve outstanding results.

For Big Brass Bailey had a blowing septet that included Woods, pianist Tommy Flanagan and French hornist Julius Watkins, and a programme mostly of originals, including pieces by Quincy Jones and Oliver Nelson. Simple arrangements gave the soloists a chance to shine and they took it, with Bailey, Woods, Flanagan and Watkins outstanding on the blues “Hard Sock Dance” and “Maud’s Mood” (with Woods on bass clarinet), and on “Tipsy” and “Please Say Yes” in particular.

Rights of Swing is even better, an ambitious, unfailingly inventive, five-part suite composed and arranged by Woods, with the same group, with minor changes, expanded to an octet that included trombonists Curtis Fuller or Willie Dennis, and baritonist Sahib Shihab. Imaginatively conceived and deftly crafted writing lends the octet a huge sound, while the soloists respond magnificently to the opportunities it offers, notably on “Part III (Ballad)”, the contrapuntal “Part IV (Scherzo)” and a marvellous “Part V (Presto)”. Its success makes it surprising that Woods didn’t attempt this kind of project more often.

Big Brass / Rights Of Swing

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Adi Braun - Delishious

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:23
Size: 129.1 MB
Styles: Cabaret, Jazz vocals
Year: 2003
Art: Front

[3:26] 1. Crazy From The Heat
[4:08] 2. Delishious
[5:17] 3. Lover Man
[3:52] 4. Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed
[5:29] 5. Miss Celie's Blues
[6:40] 6. More Than You Know
[5:51] 7. That Old Black Magic
[5:13] 8. The Nearness Of You
[2:57] 9. When In Rome
[3:43] 10. Cry Me A River
[5:24] 11. Girl From Ipanema
[4:19] 12. Mister Sandman

Born in Toronto, Adi Braun grew up in Europe surrounded by music and musicians. Her parents were opera singers, and her father, Victor Braun, was one of Canada's leading baritones. Her first instrument was piano, which she began studying at the age of six. With no formal voice lessons, she made her first pop/jazz recording at age 19. Following family tradition, Adi trained classically at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music. She began her singing career as a classical recitalist, a soloist with orchestra, and on-stage in operas and operettas alongside her brother, baritone Russell Braun.

Adi started "singing sideways" in the late 90's and returned to the music she loved, which she calls "cabarazz", drawing on aspects from both cabaret and jazz. After winning a local competition in 2001, she was catapulted to centre-stage as one of Canada's leading jazz vocalists. In 2007, Adi was nominated as "Best Major Jazz Vocalist of the Year" by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC).

Her sophisticated style and subtle delivery evokes such vocal greats as Sarah Vaughan, Lotte Lenya, Judy Garland and Rosemary Clooney. Elizabeth Ahlfors of New York's Cabaret Scenes describes Adi as "A tad Dinah Washington, a hint of Lena Horne, the enveloping warmth of Doris Day, all gift-wrapped up in a unique sound that is singular Adi Braun!" Adi's repertoire ranges from the Great American songbook, to European cabaret, to contemporary songs by Canada legend's Shirley Eikhard and Gordon Lightfoot as well as her own originals. Whether she is singing in English, French, Spanish or German, Adi Braun is "a power-frau who gives jazz standards a unique touch, telling stories that are miniature life moments" (Rheinische Post, Düsseldorf, Germany).

Delishious

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Joshua Redman & Gabrielle Cavassa - Where Are We

Styles: Saxofone Jazz, Vocal, Post Bop
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:38
Size: 142,2 MB
Art: Front

(7:43) 1. After Minneapolis (face toward mo[u]rning)
(5:20) 2. Streets Of Philadelphia
(4:54) 3. Chicago Blues
(5:37) 4. Baltimore
(4:41) 5. By The Time I Get To Phoenix
(5:05) 6. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?
(3:55) 7. Manhattan
(3:13) 8. My Heart In San Francisco (Holiday)
(4:47) 9. That’s New England
(0:16) 10. Alabama (intro)
(1:55) 11. Stars Fell On Alabama
(7:54) 12. Alabama
(5:10) 13. Where Are You?

After graduating from Berkeley High School in 1986, Joshua Redman (son of jazz legend Dewey Redman) won a full scholarship to Harvard, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1991. He was accepted at Yale Law School to become a lawyer. Instead, he embarked on a musical career which quickly turned luminous. He won the Thelonious Monk Institute's prestigious jazz saxophone competition in 1991, before moving to Brooklyn, becoming part of the thriving scene there. His debut album, Joshua Redman (Warner Brothers, 1993) was shortly followed by Wish (Warner Brothers, 1993), the latter with a band comprising Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins. Since then he has released over twenty albums in many different settings and is acknowledged as one of jazz's leading figures on tenor sax.

Where We Are is his debut on the Blue Note label. It is a thematic musical journey across the USA. Every track (except the title track which closes the record) references a city or geographic location. It also features vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa on nine of the album's twelve tracks.

The first stop is "After Minneapolis (face toward mo[u]rning)." On it, Redman begins by quoting the melody of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" before beginning a short exploration of the tune and ending with a long, sustained note which leads into the piano playing single chords on the downbeat. Cavassa starts singing the lyrics written by Redman which reference the George Floyd killing over a dirge-like melody. Three minutes in, the band explodes onto the scene and Redman explores the pain and chaos of that tragedy before returning to the melody.

The next destination is Bruce Springsteen's Oscar Award-winning lament "Streets Of Philadelphia" Guest Kurt Rosenwinkel adds his unique sound which introduces the song before Cavassa enters. The interplay between Redmond and Rosenwinkel is very effective as the tune later turns more bluesy.

At this point, the album turns problematic. The remaining seven vocal tracks continue to have a slow, sameness to them. They are all ballads sung in a similar, lilting manner. Cavassa sings them all in a style reminiscent of Melody Gardot with her rich, sultry tone. "Chicago Blues" adds the vibes of Joel Ross which only increases the softening effect. The band is always empathetic, trying to create the space for Cavassa's vocals. "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" is done even more slowly than the original. "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans" is also taken at a languid pace. Guest Nicholas Payton on trumpet, along with Redman, plays a coda where they jam together in a New Orleans style, adding a welcome change of pace.

"My Heart In San Francisco (Holiday)" is a mash-up of the Thelonious Monk tune and the standard Tony Bennett made famous. The twist with the Monk tune is very clever and works well but, once again, it is sung in the same manner as the others. "That's New England," "Stars Fell On Alabama" and "Where We Are" are more of the same. There is some differentiation in the arrangements of course, but not enough to change the overall vibe.

The saving grace of this album is the three instrumentals. "Baltimore" is a beautiful arrangement where Redman and pianist Aaron Parks get a chance to expound on the haunting melody in a post-bop manner. "Manhattan" by Rogers & Hart, is the swinging mid-tempo song on the album. Guest guitarist Peter Bernstein shows his bluesy skills before Redman turns it up a notch. It is the rare fun piece on the record. John Coltrane's classic "Alabama" is the album's standout track. Redman channels Coltrane by going inside out. He solos through the entire track, showing off his deep tone and intricate ideas.

In the liner notes, Redman explains, "On one level, this is an album 'about' America at once a celebration and a critique but it is also, to varying degrees, a ballads album, a standards album, an album of romantic longing, an album of social reflection, an album of melodic invention, an album of improvisational adventure, an album of mash-ups, perhaps even a tribute album of sorts."

The ironic thing is while all the titles refer to many of the various and diverse parts of the country, the songs selected for the vocals, along with Cavassa's singing style, are anything but. Taken individually, they are all lovely, well-sung and well-played performances. The contributions of the four guest stars add some sizzle to their respective tracks and Redman with his core quartet is always solid but, taken as a whole, this album is less than the sum of its parts. It could have been so much more. By Dave Linn
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/where-are-we-joshua-redman-blue-note-records

Personnel: Joshua Redman: saxophone; Gabrielle Cavassa: voice / vocals; Aaron Parks: piano; Joe Sanders: bass; Brian Blade: drums.

Additional Instrumentation: Kurt Rosenwinkel: guitar (2); Peter Bernstein: guitar (7); Nicholas Payton: trumpet (6); Joel Ross: vibes: (3); Gabrielle Cavassa: guitar (13).

Where Are We

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