The New Couriers - Brazilian Thoroughfare

Styles: Brazilian Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:57
Size: 156,1 MB
Art: Front

(13:24) 1. The Chant
(14:21) 2. New Delhi
(11:45) 3. Falling in Love
(15:14) 4. Brazilian Thoroughfare
(13:11) 5. You and the Night and the Music

Since the original late-50s Jazz Couriers, led by the sax duo of Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott, would regularly mix Latin dance-shuffles with insane-tempo bebop, this new title from the Couriers' devoted tribute band was a bit worrying. But New Couriers regulars need have no fear, right from the opening outburst of the late Victor Feldman's hard-boppish.

The Chant, with the precise, bluesy bluster of the excellent Mornington Lockett's tenor solo hurtling upwards over the propulsion of drummer-leader Martin Drew's irresistible hi-hat snaps. Vibraphonist Jim Hart's limpid lines make a fine solo contrast, and the whole band is marshalled and cajoled by the thoughtful Steve Melling on piano and the steady purr of Paul Morgan's immaculate bass-playing.

Three of the tunes are Feldman's (along with Dave Holland and John McLaughlin, he was one of the Englishmen who caught Miles Davis's ear), and if Steve Melling's Latin title track doesn't really sustain either the Feldman incisiveness or his own pianistic inventiveness, the closing You and the Night and the Music is right in the old Couriers' hyper bop ball park.
By John Fordham https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/30/new-couriers-brazilian-thoroughfare-review

Personnel: Vibraphone – Jim Hart; Double Bass – Paul Morgan; Drums – Martin Drew; Piano – Steve Melling; Saxophone – Mornington Locket

Brazilian Thoroughfare

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Michael Dease - Out To Dinner - Different Flavors

Styles: Trombone Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:55
Size: 125,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:18) 1. Day Zero
(3:54) 2. Magic Square
(5:44) 3. Blue Sojourn
(3:34) 4. Skittles
(6:25) 5. Night Glow
(5:05) 6. Pay The Piper
(5:58) 7. Rio
(7:53) 8. Spun Around
(4:24) 9. Grave Concerns
(5:35) 10. Two Down

Listeners everywhere are invited to join the fun with the Out To Dinner band and audition a variety of their “Different Flavors.” Our trusty producer Marc Free continues on an ambitious course of cooking up a visionary series of demand building releases. This latest project features a musical menu of inspired presentations from a curated group with unique instrumentation.

It also prompts listeners to expand their sonic palettes to include this adventurous exploration of the jazz genre. This engagingly enjoyable album is a stellar quintet date featuring front line performances from vibraphonist Behn Gillece, trombonist Michael Dease and saxophonist Tim Green moving freely over the solid harmonic foundation of bassist Boris Kozlov and the explosive metrics of drummer Rudy Royston. With the menu full of “Different Flavors,” we are confident that the collaborative journey of Out To Dinner will bring delight to the ears of every jazz fan and hopefully encourage navigation steadily away from the known and familiar and towards the uncharted depths of modern collective improvisation.
https://www.posi-tone.com/otd/otd.html

Personnel: Michael Dease - trombone; Behn Gillece - vibraphone; Tim Green - alto saxophone; Boris Kozlov - bass; Rudy Royston - drums

Different Flavors

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Linda Woodson - Proper Companion

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:42
Size: 73,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:41) 1. Proper Companion
(4:26) 2. Stay
(3:52) 3. Feeling Coy
(4:49) 4. New Day
(3:29) 5. Take You There
(3:38) 6. Tell Me What's on Your Mind
(2:27) 7. I'm In
(4:17) 8. Everybody Wants the Same Thing

Linda Woodson is a singer/songwriter/actor. She has completed 3 cd projects featuring many of her original songs as well as jazz standards which can be found on digital downloading sites.

Linda has performed around town at venues such as The Gatsby Supper Club, the Italian American Club and The Nevada Room. In her spare time she’s a dermatologist with a private practice in Las Vegas and Henderson.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uCpuwAhqGU

Proper Companion

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The Barbara Carroll Trio - Why Not?

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 32:15
Size: 74,3 MB
Art: Front

(2:59)  1. Later
(2:08)  2. You're Here Again
(2:00)  3. The Black Cat
(2:16)  4. Theme for a Starlet
(2:48)  5. Champagne Velvet
(3:00)  6. B's Flat Blues
(3:06)  7. Why Not?
(3:05)  8. Misty Morning
(2:50)  9. Dark Noon
(2:53) 10. Would It Be the Same
(3:16) 11. Lonely Night
(1:49) 12. Chevy's Chase

In the year 2005, Barbara Carroll could boast that she has began playing piano for a grand total of 75 years. Not without a pause to sleep and eat, obviously, but with a determination that might suggest such extremes. Born Barbara Carole Coppersmith, she began the instrument at only five-years-old and went on to classical training three years later, eventually graduating from the New England Conservatory. In terms of professional stagecraft, her initial training ground was a USO tour during the second World War in which she was part of an all-girl trio. This was quickly followed by leading her own trio on New York City's famous lane of jazz, 52nd Street, where she adopted her middle name of Carole as a stage name. The pianist was associated with such fine players as guitarist Chuck Wayne and bassist Clyde Lombardi, but what would develop into an extensive discography began in 1949 with a recording session backing up multi-instrumentalist Eddie Shu for the Rainbow label.

Among female piano players, Carroll is known as the first to venture into the progressive bebop style that was especially associated with Bud Powell.

Unlike the infamous Billy Tipton, Carroll also did not think it was necessary to hide the fact that she was a woman in jazz but this was New York City, not Oklahoma or Washington state. Not that Carroll had an easy time in a genre dominated by men. "People tended to put you down before they ever heard you," she has commented in interviews. "If you were a girl piano player, the tendency was to say: 'Oh, how could she possibly play?' You never even got a chance to present what you could do. But then, if you did prove yourself, it almost became a commercial asset, in a sense; you were regarded as unique."

One audience that found Carroll to their liking was the high society crowd, becoming enamored with her during an extended run at the ultra-chic Embers supper club. Her group at the latter venue included the bassist Joe Shulman, whom she married in 1954. Carroll did not ignore the pop styles of subsequent decades, yet always managed to keep a strong jazz flavor present in whatever material she performed. If swing was a bay leaf, it would be said that Carroll has a large bush growing right outside her kitchen window. She has recorded for many of the best labels in the genre including Verve and Atlantic and continues to be in demand at clubs and cabarets. Carroll works as an actress on occasion, such as the Broadway play entitled Me and Juliet. ~ Eugene Chadbourne  http://www.allmusic.com/artist/barbara-carroll-mn0000788256/biography

Why Not?

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Nina Simone - Emergency Ward

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 1972
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:05
Size: 78,2 MB
Art: Front

(18:43) 1. My Sweet Lord/Today Is a Killer
( 4:12) 2. Poppies
(11:09) 3. Isn't It A Pity

This unusual record from 1972 is Nina Simone's statement on the Vietnam War. The cover is a collage of news clippings from the conflict, and the song selection and arrangement, though dealing with matters more spiritual than political, reflect the events of the day. The entire first side consists of a powerhouse medley of George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and a poem by David Nelson called "Today Is a Killer," set to music by Simone. The Harrison song is transformed into a sweaty gospel workout that takes its rhythm from the Capitols' "Cool Jerk" and its call-and-response vocal arrangement from the Reverend James Cleveland. Simone artfully alternates the celebratory romp with slow, somber passages featuring her improvised lyrics and passages from the Nelson poem. Even as it passes the 18-minute mark, the medley never loses power, and it remains one of Simone's finest moments. 

After the triumph of the first side, the flip is only a slight letdown. "Poppies" is melodically vague, but Simone's strong delivery sells it, while George Harrison's "Isn't It a Pity" gets an intense, drawn-out treatment, mostly featuring just Simone's piano and voice. The cover of Emergency Ward! claims it was recorded in concert, but only the first side appears to be live, and even that is riddled with sloppy edits. Though it is one of the stranger records in the Simone oeuvre, Emergency Ward! is consistently thrilling. 

By Mark Richardson; http://www.allmusic.com/album/emergency-ward!-mw0000371066

Emergency Ward

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