Dan Moretti - Brazilia Live at the Pump House: Celebrating Wayne Shorter

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 51:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 117,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:51) 1. Black Nile (Live)
(5:52) 2. Fee Fi Fo Fum (Live)
(6:34) 3. Night Dreamer (Live)
(5:58) 4. Speak No Evil (Live)
(6:51) 5. Witch Hunt (Live)
(5:57) 6. Yes or No (Live)
(7:09) 7. Oriental Folk Song (Live)
(6:55) 8. Footprints (Live)

While everyone has ideas, some ideas are admittedly better than others. Saxophonist Dan Moretti and Brazilia's notion to salute the music of Wayne Shorter by reshaping and Latinizing eight of the legendary saxophonist's splendid compositions was a good idea. Doubters need only survey the finished product, recorded in front of an enthusiastic audience in December 2024 at The Pump House Music Works in Wakefield, Rhode Island. Shorter's unique and engaging melodies, several of which are now enshrined in the jazz canon, lend themselves readily to Brazilia's fresh interpretations, wherein the core elements are preserved even as they are enriched by Latin rhythms that add spirit and fire to an already handsome image. Moretti's razor-sharp and focused ensemble is clearly enjoying the moment and leaving no rhythmic stone unturned as it digs hard into every theme with awareness and gusto.

Moretti's partners in Brazilia are pianist Maxim Lubarsky, bassist Oscar Stagnaro, drummer Steve Langone and percussionist Ernesto Diaz, each of whom punches above his weight to enhance what is truly a group endeavor. There is solo room for all, with Lubarsky especially impressive whenever his number is called. As for Moretti, he is eloquent on tenor sax (six numbers) or soprano ("Speak No Evil," "Yes or No)," while Diaz' heavy-duty percussion is an indispensable part of the equation.

The swaying "Black Nile" is first up, read here as a mambo, followed by a cha-cha version of "Fee Fi Fo Fum" and the reggae-infused "Night Dreamer." The ensemble slips easily into a samba-style rendition of "Speak No Evil," followed by the mambo "Witch Hunt," a rhythmically intense "Yes or No" and sauntering "Oriental Folk Song" before bowing out with one of Shorter's best-known and most-often covered compositions, "Footprints."

This is a very good concert by any measure, enfolding an ample reservoir of upbeat and pleasurable music while shedding new light on the impressive compositional skills of the renowned saxophonist Wayne Shorter.
By Jack Bowers https://www.allaboutjazz.com/live-at-the-pump-house-celebrating-wayne-shorter-dan-moretti-and-brazilia-self-produced

Brazilia Live at the Pump House: Celebrating Wayne Shorter

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Ute Lemper - Pirate Jenny

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2025
Time: 41:05
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 94,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:48) 1. Mack the Knife
(5:44) 2. Speak Low
(4:22) 3. Surabaya Johnny
(4:16) 4. My Ship
(5:53) 5. Pirate Jenny
(5:04) 6. Le Grand Lustucru
(6:05) 7. Die Ballade vom ertrunkenen Mädchen
(4:50) 8. Salomon Song

Germany's optimistic yet fragile Weimar Republic period was wedged between two brutal wars during the early 20th century. Extending from 1918 to 1933, it was proudly called the Jazz Age and the Golden Twenties and offered an abundance of free-flowing entertainment choices. It was also a time of inflation, chaos and conflict dominated by economic instability and political extremism.

Although German cabaret had its origins at the beginning of the century, its true glory days reigned during those heady years between the wars. A bawdy combination of music, dance, theater and comedy was originally presented in opulent venues but also migrated to seedy grottos and decadent clubs. Flashing from the marquees were the names of producers and composers, including Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Performers such as Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife) helped personify the characters. Other chanteuses included Marlene Dietrich, Germany's original queen of seduction, who got her start in clubs and went onto worldwide fame via song and cinema.

The mantra of the masses was grab a bottle of champagne and embrace the morbid humor, cynicism and sarcasm of the day. Although the republic was short lived, the sounds and stories successfully moved from sewers to streets to stages and endures to this day. The last few decades of the 20th century saw Marianne Faithfull, the 'Brit It' girl, fall under the spell of Weill and Brecht and an aging Lenya blessing the up-and-coming operatic soprano and actress Teresa Stratas.

Then there was German born Ute Lemper. She flirted with a jazz combo in the very late 1970s and embraced theater and dance in the 1980s and used her long, lean statuesque physique to its utmost advantage. She could be wide-eyed and animated like Fanny Brice or vamp things up like a regal Norma Desmond. There was always a sly nod and wink from Lemper to her audience. She eventually shimmied and sashayed her way through performances in Cats, Cabaret, Chicago and more. People noticed.

Marlene Dietrich befriended Lemper upon hearing about a Dietrich inspired Lemper performance soon followed by her full-length recording debut in the late 1980s. In keeping with the bittersweet lyrics of the 1920s and beyond, she wearily sang "I'm a poor relation," "I work my fingers to the bone," and "that's not living, that's just frustration" on the very first song of her first album. Two songs later, Lemper cooly mesmerized the listener with the macabre tale of "Mack the Knife" and revealed "there's a dead man lying on the shore," that "Jenny Towler was found with a knife in her chest" and concluded with "those in the dark cannot be seen."

With Dietrich's blessing of Lemper's presentations, the torch had passed. Although five of Lemper's first seven albums focused on Weill, she eventually recorded music affiliated with Edith Piaf plus works by Jacques Brel, Stephen Sondheim and more contemporary artists, such as Tom Waits. Lemper even began writing and recording her own material. Her 2025 release, Pirate Jenny, confirms that the addictive pull of Weill continues.

This disc is a 21st-century interpretation of Weill pieces sans a retro 1920s sound and style. The collection is a celebration of Weill's birth in 1900 and further confirms his enduring staying power. Although the black-and-white cover photo of Lemper with blood-red lipstick is as alluring as ever, a 2025 Lemper video draws us into a concrete quicksand of a decadent underground. She prowls through the streets as a slightly deranged back-alley Joker, complete with garishly smeared lipstick and a weary cat like swagger and sway. As for the album, it is a collection of only eight pieces (six sung in English plus one each in German and French) with Weill-Brecht collaborations featured on five selections, all from the 1920s.

It may only be eight songs but you will still meet a menagerie of nefarious characters. A decidedly eerie and cautious "Mack the Knife," opens the show. This hypnotic missive is more a dreary Bladerunner 2049 than a vibrant Berlin 1928 and it sets the tone for the evening. There is a pair of Weill songs from the early war years of the 1940s. "Speak Low" (lyrics by Ogden Nash) drifts on ethereal clouds of sound while "My Ship" (lyrics by Ira Gershwin) floats on understated ribbons of sound. Both are complemented by the brief appearance of a muted trumpet which returns during several other songs as well. Both "Speak Low" and "My Ship" went on to become jazz standards recorded by a seemingly endless A-list of top artists.

Then "Pirate Jenny" takes center stage at the album's midpoint. Whether pickpocket, prostitute or a tart combination of both, she commands our attention with a cynical growl that is more spoken than sung. The final track, the Weill-Brecht penned "Solomon Song," is a tortuous tale that maintains the same atmospheric aural drone that dominates the album from start to finish.

If you are in search of new interpretation with subtle twists and turns, welcome to tonight's cabaret since the liner notes remind the listener this is "Kurt Weill reimagined... " If you are seeking more traditional versions of these songs, rewind to any number of earlier Lemper releases and cherry-pick a collection of your choice. It ultimately comes down to 'different' instead of 'better or worse.' There are no garish klieg lights or bombastic orchestra at this venue, just low-key sounds with swirls of smoke lingeringand then dissipating into thin air. By Scott Gudell
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/pirate-jenny-ute-lemper-the-audiophile-society

Pirate Jenny

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Darius Brubeck & Dan Brubeck - Gathering Forces

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1992
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:17
Size: 99,2 MB
Art: Front

(10:14)  1. Earthrise
( 5:52)  2. Three Mile Island
( 6:09)  3. Kearsage Strut
( 2:49)  4. Just Think About WHat Happens
( 6:33)  5. Tugela Rail
( 4:55)  6. The Parrot
( 6:44)  7. I Say There's Hope

Brubeck majored in ethnomusicology and the history of religion at Wesleyan University, graduating cum laude. Brubeck holds an MPhil from Nottingham University. "He was awarded a Bellagio Project Residency (Rockefeller Foundation) as Composer in 2005 and received 'Outstanding Service to Jazz Education' awards in 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2005 and 2006." Darius performed (with all three of his brothers) at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors Gala when his father received a medal for his lifetime contribution to American culture. President Barack Obama and Mrs Michelle Obama were in the audience. Brubeck currently lives in the south of England in East Sussex.

During the 1970s and early '80s, pianist Brubeck led his own groups, played with Don McLean, Larry Coryell and toured the world with Two Generations of Brubeck and The New Brubeck Quartet (Dave, Darius, Chris and Dan Brubeck). Several albums were recorded along the way. Brubeck's focus changed to South Africa in 1983, when he initiated the first degree course in Jazz Studies offered by an African university. He taught at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa, and was later appointed Director of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music, where he remained until 2006. 

After leaving full-time teaching, he was made a Senior Research Associate of the School of Music. While based in London, he taught courses at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Brunel University. He has an M.Phil Degree from Nottingham University, where he also taught jazz history for a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_Brubeck

Personnel: Darius Brubeck (piano, keyboards); Chris Bishop (vocals); Nelson Bogart (guitar, trumpet, background vocals); Bob Hanlon (flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, background vocals); Dan Brubeck (drums, percussion); Dave Weckl (drums).

Gathering Forces

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