Saturday, October 12, 2024

Eliane Elias - Mirror Mirror

Styles: Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:16
Size: 84,7 MB
Art: Front

( 6:07) 1. Armando's Rhumba
( 6:27) 2. Esta Tarde Vi Llover
( 5:47) 3. Blue Bossa
(11:33) 4. Corazo´n Parti´o.mp3
( 4:53) 5. Mirror Mirror
( 6:45) 6. Sabor A Mi
( 6:15) 7. There Will Never Be Another You

Multi GRAMMY® winning pianist/singer/composer Eliane Elias’ latest album MIRROR MIRROR on Candid Records is a lifelong musical dream come true an extraordinary piano duet recording of Eliane with the late legendary jazz great Chick Corea, and famed Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés. While her highly successful recordings have predominantly featured her alluring voice and piano mastery, the piano has always been her first love and working with these two incredible icons was a rare opportunity to record in a two-piano setting, something she hasn’t done in many years. For the world-renowned performer, this organically created collection represents more than simply a culmination of an illustrious career that includes nearly 30 recordings, over 2.3 million albums sold, nine total GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominations, a GRAMMY win for Best Latin Jazz Album (Made in Brazil, 2016) and a Latin GRAMMY win for Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album (Dance of Time, 2017). MIRROR MIRROR marks the classically trained pianist’s first piano-only recording since 1995’s Solos and Duets, a set of piano solos and six duets with pianist Herbie Hancock.

The recordings took place in NYC at Yamaha’s Artist Services in Manhattan with Corea and Brooklyn’s Bunker Studios with Valdés. It features Chick on four tracks, Chucho on three and was produced by Elias with her award-winning team of co-producers Marc Johnson and Steve Rodby, and mixed and mastered by Rich Breen. Though Corea and Valdés alternate in the track list with the opening Corea duet “Armando’s Rhumba” followed by the Valdés duet “Esta Tarde Vi Llover” before the next Corea duo “Blue Bossa,” etc., the flow is remarkably seamless – but the story behind the recording of the album is best told in two distinct segments.Having always counted Corea as one of her chief influences, Eliane first met him in 1978 in Brazil. Meeting on occasion over the years on the road they spoke of someday playing or recording together. Having at last set aside a date to do so, by design the two’s sole literal preparation was about song suggestions. In Eliane’s view, she and Chick had been getting ready for their session with lifetimes dedicated to their craft, their instruments and the art of improvisation.

“Despite him being a generation older, our influences were similar; Bud Powell, Bill Evans, in fact, we had both done tributes to Evans. We also played with many of the same bassists and drummers and, of course both were rooted in classical training. He played Mozart and Scarlatti, I played Bach and Ravel. Those shared influences poured out as we played and one can feel our affinities through the inventiveness of the rhythms and harmonies, how we felt time with each other and how we treated the songs.” When he passed unexpectedly in February 2021, Elias, devastated, was deep in the mixing process with four improvisational duets she had recorded with him. Revisiting the music for release reminded her just how effortlessly they communicated and of the instant rapport they shared.You can discern the duo’s chemistry from the elegant opening of “Armando’s Rhumba”. Ditto the opening sensitive lyrical approach and hypnotic intertwining of notes that drives “Blue Bossa”. The other tracks are the title track “Mirror Mirror” and “There Will Never Be Another You,” the title of which captures what words are insufficient to describe; the beautiful moments Eliane and Chick created in tandem.

In contemplating who she would like to work with to complete a piano duets album, the idea of playing with Valdés came quickly to mind, and Eliane describes the sessions as spontaneous, full of heart, passion, and energy and just as importantly, another dream fulfilled. She and Valdés ran into each other at festivals and other venues over the years, and have a deep affection for each other’s playing. Before they started recording at their Model D Steinway and Sons pianos, they had a brief meeting in Miami to go over song choices. Valdés was enthusiastic about her unique suggestions of tunes by Mexican and Spanish composers. He knew the songs but was surprised she did – until Eliane told him about her mother Lucy, the daughter of a Spanish Basque who exposed her to countless Spanish language and Latin songs in addition to her extensive jazz collection. They looked over Eliane’s charts in a fun afternoon of playing together, so that when they arrived at the studio a few days later, the only question was, “Do you solo first or do I? Eliane and Chucho create an intoxicating mix of Cuban and Brazilian rhythms throughout their three tunes, from the elegantly romantic “Esta Tarde Vi Llover” to the mood-swinging ”Corazon Partío” and “Sabor a Mi,” a sensual bolero which begins introspectively, then evolves into a percussive jam. “The give and take, the way I accompanied him and he accompanied me, and how we answered each other reflects how completely connected we were,” Eliane says.

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Eliane began her classical piano studies at age seven and at twelve was transcribing solos from the great jazz masters. By 15, she was teaching piano and improvisation at one of Brazil’s most prestigious schools of music. Her performing career began two years later, working with Brazilian singer/songwriter Toquinho and the great poet Vinicius de Moraes, who was also Antonio Carlos Jobim’s co-writer/lyricist. Later in NYC, after performing for several years with Steps Ahead and recording on their self-titled second album (also featuring Michael Brecker, Michael Mainieri, Peter Erskine and Eddie Gomez), she launched her solo career in 1984 with a collaboration album with Randy Brecker titled Amanda.

Eliane’s first official album under her own name, Illusions, featured Stanley Clarke, Steve Gadd, Lenny White, Eddie Gomez and Toots Thielemans and hit #1 on the Radio & Records Contemporary Jazz chart. Voted Best New Talent in the Jazziz magazine critics’ poll in 1988, Eliane is a four-time Gold Disc Award recipient, a three-time Best Vocal Album winner in Japan and winner of the 2018 Edison Lifetime Achievement Award in Holland. Her 2019 album Love Stories, as most of her previous releases, hit #1 on the jazz charts worldwide.

“The title MIRROR MIRROR wasn’t chosen simply because it was one of the songs Chick and I recorded,” says Eliane. “It was all about the two pianos facing each other like a beautiful mirror image, and how in each duet we reflected each other’s thoughts and ideas back and forth. To me, the piano is an extension of my body, heart and soul and is at the center of everything I do. I will always be proud and grateful for the opportunity to have registered these special musical encounters with these two master musicians.” http://news.theurbanmusicscene.com/2021/07/eliane-elias-to-release-new-album-mirror-mirror/

Mirror Mirror

Tatiana Eva-Marie, Avalon Jazz Band - April in Paris

Styles: Vocal, Jazz Band
Year: 2021
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:35
Size: 126,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:54) 1. C’est magnifique
(4:17) 2. La Vie en rose
(3:07) 3. J’attendrai
(2:57) 4. Y’a d’la joie
(3:26) 5. La Mer
(3:48) 6. April in Paris
(4:16) 7. Sous le ciel de Paris
(3:44) 8. C'est le printemps
(3:29) 9. Fleur Bleue
(2:50) 10. L’Automne à Paris
(3:46) 11. Comment allez-vous?
(4:08) 12. A Paris
(3:15) 13. Parlez-moi d’amour
(3:18) 14. La Foule
(4:12) 15. Douce France

Tatiana Eva-Marie was born in a musical family, in Switzerland, to renowned film composer Louis Crelier and solo violinist Anca Maria. She grew up surrounded by classical music on one side and jazz and music from the seventies on the other. Tatiana Eva-Marie calls herself a “recording studio rat”, and she started her career as a singer at age 4 when she recorded a duo album with famous children’s performer Henri Des. Two years later, she recorded her first solo album and featured in her first professional theatre play. She fell in love with the stage and has been performing ever since.

During her childhood, Tatiana Eva-Marie performed regularly in various stage productions and sang as a guest star in her father’s New Orleans style band The Cotton Club Jazz Orchestra for the closing ceremony of the Vevey Comedy Film Festival. At age 12, she started her professional training at the Theatre Populaire Romand acting school in Switzerland, and then a few years later, at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

Tatiana Eva-Marie was accepted in a special high school for young artists and athletes and graduated at only 16 years old. She then moved to Paris, where she studied medieval literature at the Sorbonne University during the day, and performed as a Gypsy singer and dancer at night in cabarets across the city, barefoot on tables with the Eastern mafia drinking vodka out of her shoes.

She performed as a singer and actress in some of the most renowned theaters in France, including the Comedie Francaise and the Theatre du Rond Point. Tatiana Eva-Marie wrote and directed two musical theater plays, Rhapsodia and The Magic Violin, which had a lot of success at the Avignon Theater Festival. Tatiana Eva-Marie now lives in New York City, where she is continuing her artistic career. She is the lead singer of Avalon Jazz Band and collaborates with many talented artists on film, music and theater projects. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/tatiana-eva-marie

April in Paris

Avalon Jazz Band - Je Suis Swing

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:44
Size: 127.6 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[3:37] 1. Ménilmontant
[3:21] 2. Coquette
[3:40] 3. Je Suis Swing
[3:43] 4. La Complainte De La Butte
[4:02] 5. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
[2:53] 6. Stompin' At Decca
[3:24] 7. Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
[3:17] 8. C'est Si Bon
[3:32] 9. Songe D'automne
[2:32] 10. Le Soleil Et La Lune
[3:21] 11. Sweet Sue, Just You
[4:20] 12. Seule Ce Soir
[3:43] 13. J'ai Ta Main
[2:57] 14. Rosetta
[3:56] 15. Clair De Lune
[3:18] 16. Q'est-Ce-Qu'on Attend Pour être Heureux

Vocals – Tatiana Eva-Marie; Violin – Adrien Chevalier; Guitars – Olli Soikkeli & Vinny Raniolo; Clarinet – Evan Arntzen; Bass – Brandi Disterheft; Accordion – Albert Behar.

The world ambassadors of French hot jazz are presenting their highly anticipated first full-length CD “Je Suis Swing”, a tribute to the Zazou youth of 1930s and 40s Paris, with a mix of American and French jazz standards, sprinkled with hidden gems. They have traveled the globe from New York to Fiji, from hidden speakeasies to Lincoln Center, spreading France’s proverbial joie de vivre, led by singer Tatiana Eva-Marie, named one of her generation’s “finest rising vocalists” by magazine Vanity Fair. She will be joined by violin virtuoso Adrien Chevalier and young guitar wizard Olli Soikkeli, complementing her vocals with the iconic sound of the Hot Club De France. Their repertoire will include the music made famous by Charles Trenet, Yves Montand, Django & Grappelli, Jean Sablon and more, with original arrangements that reflect the innocent decadence of the Parisian jazz age.

Je Suis Swing

Bobby Wellins Sextet - Homage To Caledonia

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 74:11
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 70,3 MB
Art: Front

( 9:06) 1. What is the truth?
( 7:53) 2. Conundrums
( 3:18) 3. Aura best
(12:16) 4. Piano solo
( 2:25) 5. Introduction / Gathering
(10:23) 6. March
( 5:07) 7. Battle
( 6:05) 8. Aftermath
(17:33) 9. Dizzy's blues (including St. Thomas)

Bobby Wellins said about the composition of "The Culloden Moor Suite:" "It was something that came to me after reading John Prebble's book about the Battle of Culloden and the way he described events leading up to it and the dreadful aftermath... I wanted to capture, not just the terrible sadness that must have resulted from what was a pretty horrific event, but also the sense of expectancy and celebration, even if it turned out to be misplaced, in the gathering of the Jacobite army."

This is the only complete small ensemble recording of the suite released up to 2024. The booklet, largely written by drummer Spike Wells, is a memoir of the time in 1979 when the group toured the country under the aegis of Jazz Services and the Arts Council. Wells describes the early versions of the suite with the New Departures quintet and the version with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra with Tommy Smith. On the album, the quartet becomes a sextet with the addition of Lol Coxhill and Bryan Spring.

Producer Pete Woodman outlines the background to the Battle of Culloden which took place in 1746 . It was an attempt for Charles Edward Stewart to restore his father James to the British throne. The battle is crucial to Scottish/English history but it is a pity that Woodman does not mention the excellent Peter Watkins film about the battle.

In many ways, the Pete Jacobsen piano solo which is not part of the suite, is a wonderful addition to the performance. Jacobsen is a lost hero of British jazz music. Anyone who wonders why Jacobsen's work is still cherished has only to listen to this twelve-minute, untitled piano solo. Jacobsen plays freely, ranges widely and as a maverick let loose he is lyrical, inventive and creative. The playing could have been recorded yesterday.

The suite is not "Under Milk Wood." It is hard-edged, craggy, horny, bristling with defiance and Scottish sadness,,,, a validation. The non-Culloden pieces are valuable additions to the Wellins discography.. "Aura" is short, too short, because it is haunting in the way that only a Wellins solo can be. For moments, it is all there, the plaintive tone, the endemic sadness and beauty and a completely compatible accompaniment from Jacobsen.

Although the sound quality of Jazz in Britain albums, taken from musicians' archives, is not always pristine, the presentation is always first-rate.. Here, the images of Culloden Moor and the grave markers on the moor have definition, clarity and colour. There are photos and publicity from the time. Above all, this is a valuable historical document documenting the playing of an important composition.By Jack Kenny
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/homage-to-caledonia-bobby-wellins-sextet-jazz-in-britain

Homage To Caledonia