Monday, August 19, 2024

Love Suggestions - Guitar Night

Styles: Smooth Jazz
Year: 2014
Time: 53:49
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 123,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:47) 1. It's Our Time
(4:39) 2. Stay
(4:45) 3. Life Is Love
(5:02) 4. Little Talks
(4:33) 5. Put You To Bed
(4:00) 6. Can't Hold Us
(4:12) 7. I Need Your Love
(5:11) 8. Counting Stars
(6:38) 9. Wake Me Up
(4:46) 10. The Next Morning
(4:13) 11. The Way

The Love Suggestions series are entitled Piano Night and Guitar Night. This year Konstantin Klashtorni will probably release Sax Night. That sounds like one instrument on each album in the lead.

Konstantin comments꞉ “True, that was my idea, it's like a piano, guitar and sax player each recorded an album in the same vein. By the way, those are 3 instruments I like to feature on all my releases, I like the combination of different instruments a lot, depending on mood and kind of arrangement. I find it quite boring when only one instrument is playing hole song long, no matter how good it is.

I believe people like a variety very much, by the way in the mean of time I've learned a bit to listen music with "normal" people's ears, just a bit! Wish I could do it much better to understand what Jazz music people like most and why.″

The starter It's Our Time invites the audience with a full-bodied ear catcher. The rhythm has the charm of Dr. Hook's Sexy Eyes and the melody is based on the duet principle. The lovely ballad Stay shares the attractive melody between acoustic and electric guitar and a warm pulsing flute.

Carriers of the musical message on Life Is Love are guitar and piano with a gentle approach to your soul. The romantic element is the common denominator on the instrumental union of Little Talks. Overdubbed sax, acoustic guitar and sassy synth lines are melting in an digestible amalgam. The sweet lullaby Put You to Bed creates a cozy atmosphere.

The blazing Can't Hold Us smiles with seductive tasteful guitar sounds while the piano forms a lively counterweight to these riffs. With I Need Your Love the album reaches a first summit of loveliness. Soprano sax, guitar and synth sounds mingles to an infectious brew.

What kind of instruments Konstantin elects, doesn't matter. The result is always an astounding melody like on Counting Stars, where he perfectly pairs sax and acoustic guitar. The steady Wake Me Up is surprising with different music groups especially with a phenomenal horn arrangement. More than six minutes entertainment are passing with ease.

On The Next Morning Konstantin is swelling crystal clear notes fine tempered for the listeners pleasure. The album closes with the sexy charmer The Way balanced between sax and guitar.

Konstantin Klashtorni tirelessly establishes with Guitar Night the ideal audible environment for the best moment with the admitted lover by using carefully selected melodies and instruments to reach this mission.
http://www.smooth-jazz.de/flashback/LoveSuggestions/GuitarNight.htm

Guitar Night

Cyrus Chestnut - You Are My Sunshine

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:25
Size: 161,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:31)  1. God Has Smiled On Me
(6:41)  2. It's All Right With Me
(6:56)  3. For The Saints
(7:14)  4. Precious Lord
(4:07)  5. You Are My Sunshine
(5:51)  6. Erroling
(2:45)  7. Total Praise
(3:51)  8. Lighthearted Intelligence
(4:15)  9. Sweet Hour Of Prayer
(5:22) 10. Hope Song
(4:39) 11. Flipper
(5:26) 12. What A Fellowship
(7:41) 13. Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior

Tough times make simple music cathartic, and Cyrus Chestnut’s You Are My Sunshine combines tradition with innovation to attractively articulate this 70-minute collection of modern jazz trio music. Chestnut clearly doesn’t expect this record to change your life, but it does successfully brighten our mood. The record’s opening, “God Smiled On Me,” clearly establishes the comfort of acoustic subtlety within a groove that nicely unites Chestnut with band mates Michael Hawkins on bass and Neal Smith on drums. The pianist brings his gospel leanings to five original compositions and standards such as Dorsey’s “Precious Lord.” “...I borrowed a little Stevie Wonder feeling and added it to the mix to create a wholly different sound,” says Chestnut. He subsumes his hard bop and post bop past in the gospel and blues immersion of the record’s first original song, “For the Saints.” It takes Chestnut back to soul as we have experienced it in the domains of churches and small jazz clubs (how often one does feel like the other). The resonant nature of Chestnut’s playing doesn’t give way to rhythm-driven ensemble groove until the 22nd minute, when Hawkins embarks on a lovely solo on bass. This follows with the kind of sterling piano work that defines a great club gig. We revisit the groove stew on “Flipper.” 

By this point, I was recalling so many nights watching the great Oscar Peterson. You Are My Sunshine is a well-paced record. Phrases, explorations, solos and ensemble combine in a time that spaces out this music. Chestnut moves us from one idea to the next with seamless expertise. Great players learn how to immerse the listener in a stew of musical flavor on the bandstand, at home and, in Chestnut’s case, at Berklee. The experience is very positive. “Errolling,” an original dedicated to Erroll Garner, reflects Chestnut’s embrace of the tradition and the new demand for re-examination. Songs of quietude are best left to resonate. This happens in transcendent simplicity with “Total Praise,” one of the highest moments on this record. Jazz lovers often dismiss songs like this, ideas stated in three minutes or less, as “ditties.” Bill Evans turned such dismissal into legend. Chestnut hints at the brilliance of that here. ”Light Hearted Intelligence” pulls us back to Chestnut’s original groove of ensemble dance. His tickling solo work makes way for one of several short drum solos by Neal Smith, a tasteful assembly of accentuated decisions. This may be the only song on the record that is negatively abbreviated, but Chestnut can forever extend it in concert. You Are My Sunshine is a nice release; it retrospectively values a time when the new seems to pale by comparison to the aged. This record will warm traditional jazz lovers like a good memory. It is refreshing to see this kind of jazz emerge from an artist under 40.By AAJ Staff https://www.allaboutjazz.com/you-are-my-sunshine-cyrus-chestnut-warner-bros-review-by-aaj-staff.php

Personnel: Cyrus Chestnut, piano; Michael Hawkins, bass; Neal Smith, drums.

You Are My Sunshine

Bill Charlap Trio - And Then Again

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 46:41
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 106,9 MB
Art: Front

(7:01) 1. And Then Again
(5:01) 2. All The Things You Are
(5:27) 3. 'Round Midnight
(6:22) 4. In Your Own Sweet Way
(6:05) 5. Darn That Dream
(7:23) 6. Sometimes I'm Happy
(4:03) 7. The Man I Love
(5:15) 8. (I Don't Stand) a Ghost of a Chance (With You)

Listening to pianist Bill Charlap is akin to hearing acoustic jazz in its purest form, and that's the overriding feeling you have while listening to his 2024 concert album And Then Again. Recorded live at the famed Village Vanguard in New York, the album features Charlap and his long-running trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington.

Together on and off since the '90s, they play with a swinging, urbane sophistication marked by a warm camaraderie and dancerly interplay. As a soloist, Charlap displays his deep grasp of straight-ahead jazz traditions, tackling a handful of gorgeous jazz standards. We get sparkling, brawny renditions of "All the Things You Are," "In Your Own Sweet Way," and "Darn that Dream." He also delves into Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight," evoking Monk's angular, cubist bop style but in his own nuanced way. In fact, what is so compelling about Charlap's playing is just how balanced it is.

He's clearly imbibed an array of influences, from Earl Hines and Teddy Wilson to Bud Powell and Bill Evans, yet he always sounds like himself and is never too indebted to any one performer. The album even opens with his title-track original, a spritely blues in the modern jazz tradition that finds him tumbling through a string of bebop and modal harmonies. Charlap closes out the evening with a dusky, harmonically lush take on "(I Don't Stand) a Ghost of a Chance with You," sinking into the song with a hushed reverie that clings to you long after the album ends.By Matt Collar
https://www.allmusic.com/album/and-then-again-mw0004313755#review

Personnel: Bill Charlap - piano, Peter Washington - bass, Kenny Washington - drums

And Then Again

Natalie Jacob - Sooner or Later

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 45:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 104,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:43) 1. Exactly Like You
(4:57) 2. Wave
(4:47) 3. I Could Write A Book
(4:11) 4. Smile
(4:12) 5. East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)
(3:25) 6. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
(5:42) 7. Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)
(5:14) 8. I've Got You Under My Skin
(4:01) 9. Sooner or Later
(4:53) 10. No More Blues (Chega De Saudade)

Sooner Or Later is jazz vocalist Natalie Jacob's debut release. It is a refreshing addition to the jazz landscape, blending classic Great American Songbook tunes and bossa nova standards. Produced by Grammy Award winner Scotty Barnhart, the album benefits from the contributions of an outstanding ensemble, including Barnhart on trumpet, pianist Tamir Hendelman, guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Carlitos del Puerto, drummer Clayton Cameron and percussionist Kevin Winard. This all-star lineup created a rich backdrop for Jacob's compelling vocal interpretations.

Using songs from her live performances gave Jacob an easy familiarity with the material, and it shows from the opening number, "Exactly Like You." With an arrangement by the swinging and sensitive pianist Hendelman, Jacob delivers the lyrics in an attentive hand-in-glove fashion. Both Barnhart and Hendelman offer clear and definitive solos. The first of the Antonio Carlos Jobim numbers is "Wave," on which the percussionist Winard lays down the soothing boss nova rhythm on which Jacob covers the lyrics with a sunny and gently sailing delivery.

Brooks Bowman's classic "East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon) has an ingenious charm driven by the Del Puerto opening bass line that leads into the rhythm section's groove. Jacob uses her voice as an instrument of empathy and intimacy, delivering the lyrics with composure. Jacob, who has French-Canadian heritage and has spent time in Montreal, Canada, brings her bilingual skills to bear on Jobim's "Corcovado," singing in English and French with her nuanced phrasing shining through. The collaboration with percussionist Kevin Winard and guitarist Anthony Wilson is particularly noteworthy as their expressive playing complements Jacob's vocals perfectly.

The irrepressible Cole Porter wrote the swinging gem "I've Got You Under My Skin." The rhythm section of Hendelman, Del Puerto and Cameron lays a harmonic foundation and flexible groove which supports Jacob's vibrant vocal lines.

The title track, "Sooner Or Later," is a Stephen Sondheim creation done in a bluesy style. With Barnhart's muted trumpet in the background, Jacob shows she has an emotional connection to the lyrics, infusing them with a contemporary freshness. Jobim's "No More Blues" (Chega De Saudade) closes the session joyfully. Backed by the full ensemble's stellar contribution, Jacob's vocals have an unerring sense of swing and bustling with vital energy. By Pierre Giroux
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sooner-or-later-natalie-jacob-self-produced

Personnel: Natalie Jacob on vocal, Scotty Barnhart on Trumpet, pianist Tamir Hendelman, guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Carlitos Del Puerto, drummer Clayton Cameron, and percussionist Kevin Winard.

Sooner or Later