Monday, July 21, 2025

Gene Bertoncini & Jack Wilkins - Just The Two Of Us

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2000
Time: 72:00
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 164,8 MB
Art: Front

(9:16) 1. Lover Man
(9:37) 2. How Deep Is The Ocean
(8:39) 3. Cry Me A River
(6:40) 4. Gone With The Wind
(3:35) 5. Spring Is Here
(8:11) 6. Manha De Carnival
(7:24) 7. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
(5:51) 8. Here's That Rainy Day
(6:33) 9. Embraceable You
(6:10) 10. The Shadow Of Your Smile

Chiaroscuro Records continues please jazz fans by recording and releasing live performances from the annual Floating Jazz Festival. This session brings together two of the more accomplished contemporary jazz guitar players. Gene Bertoncini is comfortable in the duo setting having made several well-known recordings with long time associate bassist Michael Moore. Jack Wilkins who may not be as well known, is no stranger to the duo guitar arrangement, having worked with Jimmy Bruno in a twosome guitar setting.

The program is made up of familiar, romantic standards. But the major role these tunes have is to provide the harmonic, chordal structure for these two pros to do some very imaginative improvisation. It could have been any set of musical pieces and the results and they are excellent would not have been all that different. These artists feed off each other's ideas and those ideas never get stale. They return to the melody line from time to time just to remind the listener what they're playing. Hear them on the old war-horse "Cry Me a River" where they offer mutual challenges to better than what went on before.

The playing is, as one would expect, intimate. But the word "intimate" is used more in the sense of comradely rather than soft and personal. While some cuts are delicate, others are boldly performed, such as the up tempo version of "Gone with the Wind." There's a bit of cleverness here as "A Night in Tunisia" in worked in to "The Shadow of Your Smile.".strange musical bed fellows indeed, but pulled off with aplomb. On the aforementioned gentle side, "Here's That Rainy Day" starts as a lovely baroque like sonata before it seques into a flowing conversation between the two.

Chiaroscuro shows its usual generosity by extending the playing time beyond 70 minutes. Kudos must also go to the audience who were obviously quietly attentive throughout the set making no extraneous noises. This is a good album by two of the best in the business and is recommended. By Dave Nathan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/just-the-two-of-us-gene-bertoncini-chiaroscuro-records-review-by-dave-nathan

Personnel: Gene Bertoncini: guitar; Jack Wilkins: guitar.

Just The Two Of Us

Babbba - Cabaret Conversation (Vol 2)

Styles: Jazz Fusion
Year: 2024
Time: 50:47
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 120,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:22) 1. Heart's Confess
(3:14) 2. I Found My Place
(2:26) 3. J Manouche
(3:57) 4. Jazzy Arpy Waves
(2:24) 5. Jazzy Trip
(3:30) 6. Kitty
(2:15) 7. Late Night Rendezvous
(2:57) 8. Late Night
(2:42) 9. Little Bit Confused
(3:15) 10. Local Surprise
(3:01) 11. Lost In The Shuffle
(2:09) 12. Magical Dance
(3:58) 13. Masquarade
(2:35) 14. Melting The Night
(3:31) 15. Midnight Stroll
(2:58) 16. Mistery, a piece of History
(2:26) 17. Moonlit Funky

Experience the smooth jazz vocal stylings of Babbba in Cabaret Canvas Part 2. Get ready for a syncopated groove that will leave you wanting more!

Cabaret Conversation (Vol 2)

Myra Melford's Be Bread - The Whole Tree Gone

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2010
Time: 65:25
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 149,8 MB
Art: Front

( 6:27) 1. Through The Same Gate
(11:01) 2. Moon Bird
( 8:41) 3. Night
( 8:39) 4. The Whole Tree Gone
( 8:34) 5. A Generation Comes And Another
( 6:13) 6. I See A Horizon
( 7:28) 7. On The Lip Of Insanity
( 8:20) 8. Knocking From The Inside

It's been too long since pianist Myra Melford's last release as bandleader, especially as we can now hear what we've been missing. For the second outing by her Be Bread ensemble, the pianist has assembled an all star cast of frequent collaborators. Bassist Stomu Takeishi, guitarist Brandon Ross and trumpeter Cuong Vu are holdovers from the debut disc, here joined by clarinetist Ben Goldberg and Matt Wilson at the traps. Melford herself concentrates solely on piano. Electronics are set aside for an all-acoustic palette, resulting in a high level of cohesiveness across the 65-minute program.

Most of the eight original pieces were written as part of a suite in the fall of 2004, with support of a Chamber Music America grant. All have been performed many times over the last five years in a variety of settings. Such familiarity makes for a committed and potent ensemble performance of music which satisfies both the head and the heart with its switchback arrangements, well integrated solo space and emotionally ambiguous themes. Melford's rhythmic acumen and barreling blues inflections together with Wilson's crisply propulsive drive and resourceful percussive textures banish any thought of the salon: this is chamber music with attitude.

Melford is well served by her band. Goldberg's poised mellifluous clarinet and Vu's casually expressive trumpet make for an engaging pairing, combining well in unison, but shining apart, with Goldberg's popping percolating contra-alto clarinet introduction to "Knocking from the Inside" and Vu's spluttering breathy excursion on "Moon Bird" which is especially noteworthy. Not to be outdone, the leader contributes a dazzling opening cadenza to the same track, almost Taylor-esque in its fragmentation and percussive attack. Ross' spiky picking, particularly on soprano guitar, adds a voice incisive in phrasing but unconventional in timbre, meshing attractively with Takeishi's pliant acoustic bass guitar for a kinetic rhythmic latticework.

Whether breaking out of the soaring klezmer waltz of "Through the Same Gate" with an unfettered piano solo, navigating the knotty staccato title track only to frame duets for first bass and guitar, then rippling piano and clarinet or pressing the get-up-an- go urgency of "I See a Horizon" into a swirling ensemble mash up, Melford's taut arrangements blur the distinction between front line and support, group and solo. Each richly voiced cut is different in construction and mood, drawing on a wide range of world music influences, yet the outcome remains distinctive and unclassifiable. The Whole Tree Gone is yet another outstanding release from Firehouse 12, and a triumph for Melford.
By John Sharpe https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-whole-tree-gone-myra-melford-firehouse-12-records-review-by-john-sharpe

Personnel: Myra Melford: piano; Cuong Vu: trumpet; Ben Goldberg: clarinet and contra-alto clarinet; Brandon Ross: guitar and soprano guitar; Stomu Takeishi: acoustic bass guitar; Matt Wilson: drums.

The Whole Tree Gone

Gary Bartz - Music Is My Sanctuary

Styles: Jazz Funk
Year: 1977
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:02
Size: 83,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:22) 1. Music Is My Sanctuary
(5:57) 2. Carnaval De L'Esprit
(4:11) 3. Love Ballad
(6:53) 4. Swing Thing
(5:55) 5. Oo Baby Baby
(6:42) 6. Macaroni

Surrounding himself with a world-class ensemble of disco-jazz-fusion musicians and armed with the Mizell brothers at the production console (who were near the peak of their careers around this time), Gary Bartz took the route of Donald Byrd and brought new elements of funk, soul, and a foreshadowing of the soon-to-be-commercial disco craze all into a 40-minute workout on Music Is My Sanctuary. While purists shook their heads in disapproval and disdain at Bartz's new direction (one emulated by several jazz pioneers at the time), those who could take off their traditional jazz mufflers would find Bartz and the Mizells making some highly infectious, soulful music. Further accentuated by the addition of Syreeta Wright on vocals, the Mizells took Bartz into nearly uncharted territories for jazz musicians. The results of this experimentation more than paid off, with the dividends being Bartz's most polished, focused releases.~ Rob Theakston https://www.allmusic.com/album/music-is-my-sanctuary-mw0000027322

Personnel: Gary Bartz - Saxophone (Alto, Soprano), Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesizer, Vocals; Larry Mizell - Keyboards, Vocals; George Cables - Piano; David T. Walker, John Rowin, Juewett Bostick, Wah-Wah Watson - Guitar; Curtis Robinson, Jr., Welton Gite - Bass; Howard King, James Gadson, Nate Neblett - Drums; Bill Summers, James Mtume - Percussion; Eddie Henderson, Ray Brown - Trumpet; Sigidi, Syreeta Wright - Vocals

Music Is My Sanctuary