Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Hal Singer - Paris Soul Food

Styles: Saxophone Jazz 
Year: 1969
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:12
Size: 78,9 MB
Art: Front

(2:40)  1. Paris Soul Food
(2:22)  2. Brother, I'm With You
(3:36)  3. Malcolm X
(2:52)  4. Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa
(4:51)  5. Saturday Night In Watts, Act One
(2:26)  6. Green Onions
(3:33)  7. Jumpin' Jack Flash
(2:25)  8. Good To Me
(2:10)  9. Son Of A Preacher Man
(3:01) 10. Kansas City
(4:12) 11. Hey Jude

Equally at home blowing scorching R&B or tasty jazz, Hal "Cornbread" Singer has played and recorded both over a career spanning more than half a century. Singer picked up his early experience as a hornman with various Southwestern territory bands, including the outfits of Ernie Fields, Lloyd Hunter, and Nat Towles. He made it to Kansas City in 1939, working with pianist Jay McShann (whose sax section also included Charlie Parker), before venturing to New York, in 1941, and playing with Hot Lips Page, Earl Bostic, Don Byas, and Roy Eldridge (with whom he first recorded in 1944). After the close of the war, Singer signed on with Lucky Millinder's orchestra. Singer had just fulfilled his life's ambition  a chair in Duke Ellington's prestigious reed section in 1948, when a honking R&B instrumental called "Cornbread" that he'd recently waxed for Savoy as a leader began to take off. That presented a wrenching dilemma for the young saxist, but in the end, his decision to go out on his own paid off; "Cornbread" paced the R&B charts for four weeks and gave him his enduring nickname. Another of his Savoy instrumentals, "Beef Stew," also cracked the R&B lists.

Singer recorded rocking R&B workouts for Savoy into 1956 (the cuisine motif resulting in helpings of "Neck Bones," "Rice and Red Beans," and "Hot Bread"), working with sidemen including pianists Wynton Kelly and George Rhodes, guitarist Mickey Baker, bassist Walter Page, and drummer Panama Francis. One of his last dates for the firm produced the torrid "Rock 'n' Roll," which may have featured Singer as vocalist as well as saxist. By the late '50s, Singer had abandoned rock & roll for a life as a jazz saxist. He recorded for Prestige in a more restrained manner in 1959, and stayed in that general groove. Singer relocated to Paris in 1965, winning over European audiences with his hearty blowing and engaging in quite a bit of session work with visiting blues and jazz luminaries. The old R&B fire flared up temporarily in 1990, when he cut Royal Blue for Black Top with boogie piano specialist Al Copley. ~ Bill Sahl https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hal-singer-mn0000949042/biography

Featuring : Hal Singer (saxophone), Manu Dibango (saxophone), Bernard Estardy, Slim Pezin (banjo), Lucien Dobat, Jeannot Karl, Mam (Group Leader)

Paris Soul Food

Willie Jones III - My Point Is...

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:55
Size: 127,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:43)  1. Manhattan Melodies
(7:47)  2. The Wind Of An Immortal Soul
(5:31)  3. Christina
(8:45)  4. My Point Is
(7:18)  5. The Maze
(5:43)  6. Early Morning
(4:30)  7. Peace
(7:34)  8. Blues For Dat Taz

Over the years, the name of Willie Jones III has really become one that makes us want to stop and check out a record and this time around, not only does the set feature Jones' name on the front but the quintet also includes great performances from Ralph Moore on tenor, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Eric Reed on piano, and Buster Williams on bass! With a lineup like that, Reed just can't miss and the record takes us back to the kind of instant classics we were hearing from Henderson, Moore, and Reed twenty years back but given that sort of special vision that makes Willie both a great drummer and leader, one who's evolving into a one-man powerhouse of jazz given that he also produces and releases his records himself. And yet there's nothing smalltime about this set especially with Henderson and Moore in the lead, the latter of whom is always a treat to our ears. Titles include "Manhattan Melodies", "My Point Is", "The Wind Of An Immortal Soul", "The Maze", "Blues For Dat Taz", and "Early Morning".  © 1996-2018, Dusty Groove, Inc. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/859299/Willie-Jones-III:My-Point-Is

Personnel:  Willie Jomes III, drums;  Eric Reed, piano;  Buster Williams, bass;  Eddie Henderson, trumpet;  Ralph Moore, tenor sax

My Point Is...

Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia - Live In Concert 1980 CD 1 (80th Birthday Edition)

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 74:31
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 171,2 MB
Art: Front

( 6:48) 1. Summer Madness (Live)
(10:33) 2. Frilly Bolero (Live)
( 9:06) 3. From Nowhere (Live)
( 8:27) 4. Scrummage (Live)
( 6:28) 5. Little Annie-Ooh (Live)
( 8:55) 6. Blues For Adolphe Sax (Live)
( 5:53) 7. Sunset (Live)
(18:17) 8. Aliyah (Live)

Live In Concert 1980 CD 1

Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia - Bonus Disc: The Flute Collection (Compilation CD) CD 2

Styles: Flute Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 59:30
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 137,0 MB
Art: Front

( 4:51) 1. Fields of Flowers
( 6:50) 2. Castles in the Air
( 3:33) 3. Bad Blues
( 7:14) 4. Head in the Sand
( 3:45) 5. Goodtyme Mr. Sam
( 4:51) 6. Tibetan Sunrise
(10:01) 7. Eastern Western Promise Part I
( 9:24) 8. Eastern Western Promise Part II
( 5:50) 9. La Tranquilite D'Ame
( 3:07) 10. Elysian Fields

Barbara Thompson MBE would have celebrated her 80th Birthday on 27th July 2024. In response to fan requests, Repertoire Records will be marking the occasion with the release of classic Paraphernalia album “Live In Concert” 1980 as a deluxe package with bonus CD compilation “The Flute Collection”.
Reissue of Paraphernalia’s classic album Live In Concert 1980 mastered by Jon Hiseman. Limited edition 2CD deluxe package

10 track bonus CD “The Flute Collection” compiled by Barbara herself before her death, with material spanning 20 years performed by several seminal Paraphernalia line-ups
Despite being a fan favourite and receiving many accolades, the album has never been released on CD or digital platforms…until now.
https://barbara-thompson.co.uk/product/live-in-concert-barbara-thompsons-paraphernalia-80th-birthday-edition/

Bonus Disc: The Flute Collection (Compilation CD) CD 2

Esperanza Spalding & Milton Nascimento - Milton + esperanza

Styles: Brazilian Jazz
Size: 145,2 MB
Time: 60:59
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2024
Art: Front

1. The Music Was There (0:58)
2. Cais (3:41)
3. Late September (1:26)
4. Outubro (5:17)
5. A Day in the Life (4:36)
6. Interlude for Saci (1:41)
7. Saci (3:29)
8. Wings for the Thought Bird (3:07)
9. The Way You Are (0:43)
10. Earth Song (6:42)
11. Morro Velho (5:15)
12. Saudade Dos Aviões Da Panair (Conversando No Bar) (5:24)
13. Um Vento Passou (para Paul Simon) (4:37)
14. Get It By Now (2:24)
15. Outro Planeta (2:06)
16. When You Dream (9:26)

Sometimes the semiology around an album can tell you more about it than any amount of words attempting to describe the music itself. And the semiology around Milton + esperanza is eloquent. It begins with the overlap with another summer 2024 release, Wayne Shorter's magical double-album Celebration Volume 1 (Blue Note), a previously unreleased recording of Shorter's Quartet in concert in 2014, with liner notes written by Shorter's wife Carolina.

Now consider the overlap. Wayne Shorter recorded with Milton Nascimento on the 1975 album Native Dancer (CBS), and the relationship continued until Shorter passed in 2023. Towards the end of his life, Shorter was a mentor and champion of Esperanza Spalding. Shorter's "When You Dream" (from his 1985 CBS album Atlantis) closes Milton + esperanza. Carolina Shorter is a guest vocalist on the track, singing alongside Nascimento and Spalding. She is heard on another track, too, "Wings For The Thought Bird," chanting a Nichiren Buddhist mantra. Nascimento and Spalding were introduced to each other by the Shorters' friend Herbie Hancock, and they first collaborated on Spalding's Chamber Music Society (Heads Up, 2010).

Enough semiology. The smoke signals should be in clear sight. They promise beauty and depth, and both are delivered in generous quantities. Check the YouTube below.

The music on Shorter's Celebration Volume 1 is superficially different from that on Milton + esperanza. But there are profound similarities. (Shorter's album is scheduled for release on August 23, 2024, a month ahead at the time of writing this review.) Listening to Celebration Volume 1, one feels like one is cruising through space on Starship Shorter, watching an unfolding panorama of quasars, suns, star systems and new life forms pass by. Another metaphor might be one of those deep-sea explorations where strange but beautiful sea creatures drift in and out of the submersible's spotlight. It is a trip alright.

So is Milton + esperanza, but the voyage is closer to home. A recurring theme in the song lyrics seems most of the lyrics are in Portuguese and no English translations are provided, so it is hard to be certain to concern the health of planet Earth and how it can be secured. The music is in the same elevated ballpark as the Shorter album, although Spalding and Nascimento have more instrumental resources at hand than did the Quartet, including a full-sized string orchestra and plenty of guest artists. The latter include Shabaka Hutchings on tenor saxophone and flute on three tracks, the great Guinga on guitar and vocals on two tracks, and Lianne La Havas, Paul Simon and Dianne Reeves helping out on vocals on one track each.

The sixteen tracks include new arrangements of five Nascimento classics, newly written originals by Spalding and an out-of-its-tree reading of The Beatles' "A Day In The Life" (though, it should be said, no further out than the Fab Four managed in 1967 with two four-track tape machines and the zeitgeist). The core band is Spalding's touring group: Matthew Stevens (guitar), Justin Tyson and Eric Doob (drums), Leo Genovese (piano) and Corey D. King (vocals, synth). Most of the album was recorded in Rio de Janeiro in 2023, with Spalding producing, and arranging all but the string orchestra.An utterly enchanting album which at times possesses something approaching a sacred vibe.By Chris May https://www.allaboutjazz.com/milton-esperanza-milton-nascimento-esperanza-spalding-concord-music-group

Milton + esperanza