Friday, April 26, 2024

Brian Bromberg - Hands: Solo Acoustic Bass

Styles: Post Bop
Year: 2009
Time: 54:16
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 124,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:49) 1. Stella By Starlight
(2:05) 2. Cute
(2:57) 3. Solar
(5:58) 4. Beatles Medley: Day Tripper / Yesterday / Eleanor Rigby
(4:48) 5. Manha De Carnival
(5:35) 6. In A Sentimental Mood
(3:54) 7. King Of Pain
(3:36) 8. Teen Town
(5:16) 9. Susumu's Blues
(4:50) 10. Use Me
(3:05) 11. Black Dog
(3:20) 12. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life
(3:56) 13. Yeah

Bromberg was born on December 5, 1960, in Tucson, Arizona. His father and brother both played drums, which influenced him to take up the instrument, and at the age of 13 he began seriously pursuing a career as a drummer. Around this time, the leader of his school orchestra steered him towards the upright bass. From then on, he committed himself to a strict practice regimen and even "tested out of high school early" because of the rigorous schedule he set for himself.

Bromberg felt it was essential to gain experience playing live and he accepted virtually every gig he could get. He often played "five to seven nights a week with several different bands." In 1979, Marc Johnson, the bassist working with jazz pianist Bill Evans, heard Bromberg's playing and recommended him to saxophonist Stan Getz, who needed a new bass player. Getz auditioned Bromberg and hired him, and at the age of 19, with only six years of experience on the bass, he found himself touring internationally. Bromberg later worked with other big names in the music business, and become a producer for artists in his genre.

In March 2011, Bromberg partnered with Carvin Guitars to produce a signature model electric bass. The B24 and B25 were based on his own design, which had previously been manufactured by Peavey and Dean. In 2014, Carvin rebranded to Kiesel for most new instruments, and the Brian Bromberg model followed suit in 2015.More.......https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Bromberg

Hands: Solo Acoustic Bass

Ingrid James - Pangaea The Global Collective

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:44
Size: 150.5 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[5:48] 1. Fame
[5:12] 2. Caramel
[4:08] 3. Dust In The Wind
[5:37] 4. Don't Fear The Reaper
[3:56] 5. God Only Knows
[7:16] 6. San Antonio Rose
[7:34] 7. At Seventeen
[5:23] 8. Mr.Bojangles
[7:03] 9. Close To You
[5:34] 10. Don't Dream It's Over
[8:09] 11. Fame Remix

"This collection of covers of material from the 1970s and 80s by Ingrid James and The Global Collective is no nostalgic, sound-alike trip down memory lane. Nor is it an attempt to cash in on the musical flavour-of-the-month with squeaky adolescent vocals or rapping. It is a set of musically intelligent arrangements by trumpeter Paul Armstrong and multi-instrumentalist Todd Harrison performed by artists from quite literally around the world. The music draws together influences from South and Central America, jazz, bluegrass, folk and popular music. Such a project is only made possible (with a budget in the hundreds of thousands) through the advent of 21st century digital technology, and we are the luckier for it....Ingrid James' extraordinary range is showcased as her voice is variously warm and engaged, cool or contemplative, clear, or soft and hushed. Her diction is flawless... "The outstanding musicians in the Global Collective have asked themselves what these classic songs are really about and approached their material with fresh ears. The result is a refreshing new perspective on our musical past which points us towards a healthy musical future." ~Louise Denson

Pangaea The Global Collective

Laurence Hobgood, Charlie Haden, Kurt Elling - When The Heart Dances

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:36
Size: 155,6 MB
Art: Front

(6:41)  1. Que sera sera
(4:49)  2. When The Heart Dances
(6:11)  3. First Song
(7:34)  4. Sanctuary
(5:17)  5. Chickoree
(5:26)  6. Stairway To The Stars
(5:39)  7. New Orleans
(6:44)  8. Why Did I Choose You
(5:52)  9. Leatherwood
(4:45) 10. Daydream
(5:33) 11. The Cost Of Living

Man, this is a beautiful album. How could it be otherwise? An intimate, unhurried conversation between Laurence Hobgood, since 1994 vocalist Kurt Elling's musical director, and one of the finest jazz pianists out there, and the magisterial Charlie Haden, featured bassist in bands led by saxophonist Ornette Coleman, pianist Keith Jarrett and guitarist Pat Metheny, among a truck load of other distinctions. The inimitable Elling guests on three tracks  In his liner notes, describing the genesis of When The Heart Dances, Hobgood relates how, at a convention of the IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators), he was chatting with Haden. Commenting on the mayhem and confusion that is the recording industry in the 2000s, Haden said something like, "I don't know about you, but the crazier things get, the more I think how nice it is to make records where we can just play music.  And just play music is what they do gorgeous, transporting music unalloyed by artifice, gimmickry or any notion to be style jockeys. Within 30 seconds or so of the start of the opening track, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans' lovely "Que Sera Sera," Hobgood and Haden have woven a spell which doesn't let up until the final whispers of Don Grolnick's "The Cost Of Living," and lingers in the memory long after. If music can soothe the savage beast, the medicine doesn't get any more efficacious than that on When The Heart Dances  The pace is measured and moderate even Hoagy Carmichael's "New Orleans" is here more hymn-like than a dancehall romp the interaction deep and easy. Hobgood and Haden get straight to the heart of their source material, five originals and six standards, with a gentle intensity that is utterly beguiling. It's hard to think of many parallels, but the imagination with which the duo explore the hidden corners of the standards is on par with that of pianist Al Haig's The Al Haig Trio (Esoteric, 1954) or 55 years later, pianist Liam Noble and drummer Paul Clarvis's Starry Starry Night (Village Life, 2009). Exquisitely poised, it's music of shimmering beauty. Elling's three tracks slot right into the ambiance, his performance of Haden's rhapsodic "First Song" a masterpiece among masterpieces.  A mention has to made of sound engineer Ken Christianson, who has turned in what is in effect an audiophile recording, perfectly capturing the spectrum of resonances of both Hobgood's Steinway D and Haden's bass, made some 250 years ago by the French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, and sounding never more like an instrument of the gods than it does here. Elling's warm caress is similarly ennobled. Were it recorded on a mobile phone, When The Heart Dances would be magical enough. By way of Christianson, it's simply irresistible. ~ Chris May https://www.allaboutjazz.com/when-the-heart-dances-kurt-elling-naim-label-review-by-chris-may.php

Personnel: Laurence Hobgood: piano; Charlie Haden: bass (1-3, 5-8, 10, 11); Kurt Elling: vocals (3, 6, 10).

When The Heart Dances

Jim Snidero - For All We Know

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 53:27
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 123,0 MB
Art: Front

(7:56) 1. For All We Know
(5:14) 2. Naima
(6:21) 3. Love For Sale
(6:32) 4. Blackberry Winter
(5:19) 5. Parker's Mood
(6:33) 6. Willow Weep For Me
(7:58) 7. My Funny Valentine
(7:32) 8. You Go To My Head

The cover photo on Jim Snidero's For All We Know features the saxophonist holding his horn out in front of his body as if he is offering it to us as a holy relic. Holy it is when he plays it; a relic it is not.

The album is Snidero's first recorded offering in a trio setting sax, bass and drums. No chording instrument. His partners in chordlessness, Peter Washington and Joe Farnsworth bass and drums, respectively are a perfect choice, guys who have played with everybody from Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner, Tommy Flanagan, Cedar Walton and so many more. They were also Snidero's bandmates on the masterful Live At the Deer Head Inn (Savant, 2021). Some called that disc a masterpiece. They may have been right.

Snidero's tone is strikingly pure, showcased all the more in the spare trio setting. Tonal beauty stood out in his previous masterpiece, Strings (Milestone Records), released originally in 2002 and re-released in a slightly buffed-up form in 2021 on the Savant label. It is even more apparent on For All We Know, with the altoist playing the familiar standards, from the title tune opener through John Coltrane's "Naima" to Charlie Parker's (there has to be a Bird song here) "Parker's Mood." Throw in Cole Porter's "Love For Sale," Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine," and the old war horse "Willow Weep For Me" and you have a classic set, played with reverence and an unmatchable feel for melodic beauty.

2024's release of For All We Know sees Jim Snidero entering his fifth decade of jazz artistry. Excellent sounds from start to finish, especially his Savant Records output that began in 2007 with Tippin'. His sound like Charlie Parkers,' Art Peppers' and Lee Konitz's is something special, like that holy relic he is holding out is made of gold, the twenty-four-carat type.By Dan McClenaghan
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/for-all-we-know-jim-snidero-savant-records

Line-up/Musicians: Jim Snidero (alto saxophone); Peter Washington (bass); Joe Farnsworth (drums)

For All We Know