Camille Thurman - Waiting for the Sunrise

Styles: Vocal And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:01
Size: 117,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:26)  1. I Just Found out About Love
(6:32)  2. Some of These Days
(3:24)  3. Tarde
(7:42)  4. After You've Gone
(4:45)  5. September in the Rain
(5:04)  6. The Nearness of You
(3:04)  7. Easy to Love
(5:43)  8. I'm on Your Side
(7:22)  9. World Waiting for the Sunrise
(3:59) 10. If You Love Me (Really Love Me)

Saxophonist, flutist, and vocalist Camille Thurman is a soulful performer with a warm sound that she applies to both acoustic jazz standards or more contemporary R&B-influenced songs. A native of Queens, New York, Thurman began playing music at a young age and honed her skills while attending Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts. However, after high school she earned a degree in Geological & Environmental Science from Binghamton University before returning to pursue her music career in New York City. In 2013, she caught the public's attention after placing third in the Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition. That same year, she released her debut album, Spirit Child, on Hot Tone Music. A year later, she returned with Origins. An in-demand performer, Thurman has shared the stage with such luminaries as Chaka Khan, Benny Golson, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Alicia Keys, Nicholas Payton, Russell Malone, and many others. She is a 2015 Martin E. Segal Award recipient recognizing Young Outstanding Artists and a two-time recipient of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award. In 2017, she made her Chesky Records debut with Inside the Moment. ~ Matt Collar https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/waiting-for-the-sunrise/1402200392

Personnel:  Camille Thurman: Voice and Tenor Saxophone;  Cecil McBee: Bass;  Jack Wilkins: Guitar;  Steve Williams: Drums;  Jeremy Pelt: Trumpet

Waiting for the Sunrise

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Daniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra - Open Spaces

Styles: Trumpet, Big Band
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:33
Size: 171,5 MB
Art: Front

( 4:21) 1. The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald
( 6:54) 2. How Many Roads
( 4:52) 3. Ahead By A Century
( 8:12) 4. Shenandoah
(11:07) 5. I Hear
( 8:27) 6. Jib Set
( 9:35) 7. Canadian Folk Song
( 9:42) 8. Rentrer
( 5:44) 9. Sarracenia Purpurea
( 5:36) 10. Red River Valley

Locked down and socially distanced during the pandemic, composer-arranger Daniel Hersog had an interesting idea: rearrange some well-known and well-loved folk songs, most with Canadian roots, for jazz orchestra and throw in a handful of his own original compositions with a folk-tune ambience. The result is Open Spaces: Folk Songs Reimagined, the sophomore album by Hersog's Vancouver-based ensemble.

As on his debut recording, Night Devoid of Stars (Cellar Music, 2020), Hersog welcomes a number of talented guest artists to sit in: trumpeter Brad Turner, saxophonists Scott Robinson and Noah Preminger, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, pianist Frank Carlberg. With an orchestra and guests of that caliber, it would seem a sure bet to number Open Spaces among the more persuasive big-band albums of the year.

As you can't, however, judge a book by its cover, so you can't appraise an album by its pedigree. In spite of presumably having every element in place to allow it to soar, Open Spaces seldom makes it off the ground. While the words "ponderous" and "overblown" spring to mind, the reasons are several, and Hersog's generally unimpressive charts account for only one of them. Soloists pose another problem. Although there is ample room for improvisation on most numbers, no one has much of interest to say—not even the usually dependable Robinson, whose unassuming baritone solo on "Shenandoah," Hersog writes, "had [him] in tears."

Truth be told, there is a reason why folk songs always have been and remain so popular among the masses: they tell persusasive stories that are usually upbeat and hopeful, making listeners feel good about themselves and humanity in general. There is little of that optimism or cheerfulness here. Indeed, the opposite is far too often true, as everyone seems intent not only to "reimagine" folk songs but to make them as somber and tedious as possible. Everything, it seems, plods glumly along, from Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" to the traditional "Red River Valley," which brings the largely austere session to a suitable close.

So what can be done to spruce up a dismal album such as this and make it shine? The answer, dear friend, may be "blowin' in the wind," but you won't find it here. By Jack Bowers
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/open-spaces-daniel-hersog-cellar-music

Personnel: Daniel Hersog. trumpet.; Kurt Rosenwinkel. guitar.; Scott Robinson. saxophone, tenor.; Noah Preminger. saxophone, tenor.; Frank Carlberg. piano.; Ben Kono. saxophone.;Brad Turner. trumpet.;Kim Cass. bass, acoustic.

Open Spaces (Folk Songs Reimagined)

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Eleonora Kouneni - If You Just...

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 17:36
Size: 40,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:17) 1. No Winners Here
(4:57) 2. Effortlessly
(5:19) 3. Pieces
(4:42) 4. For Granted
(3:01) 5. Stay

Originally from Greece, Eleonora Kouneni is a London-based singer-songwriter and jazz vocalist. At the age of 16, she started writing and regularly performing her own songs at bars in Athens and Greek islands. She also participated in concerts and festivals in Greece, the most prominent of which was the 16th Anti-Racism Festival (Athens, Greece, 2012), where she opened for legendary greek vocalists Maria Farantouri and Savina Yannatou.

She moved to London in her early twenties to pursue a career in music, where she fell in love with jazz. Since 2018, Eleonora has been establishing herself in the London jazz scene, performing in various London bars and venues, including the Vortex Jazz Club and the Green Note.In 2022 she released her first two singles, "Stay" and “Effortlessly”, both of which were commended in the UK songwriting competition. Her debut EP "If You Just..." will be released in spring 2023.
https://encoremusicians.com/Eleonora-Kouneni

If You Just...

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