Sunday, July 27, 2025

Konstantin Klashtorni - Smoothing

Styles: Smooth Jazz
Year: 2008
Time: 52:36
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 120,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:44) 1. Stylish Walk
(5:12) 2. Smoothing
(4:34) 3. Autum's Edge
(4:20) 4. Walking Away
(4:37) 5. Chica Timida
(5:05) 6. Spinning Along
(4:58) 7. Silky Way
(4:57) 8. Words Of Love
(3:48) 9. Fresh Feeling
(4:49) 10. Drive Me Home
(5:29) 11. Let's Chill

The name of Konstantin Klashtorni has already received excellent reviews from critics in the smooth jazz genre. Both hisbut and his second album were a critically acclaimed by radio programmers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Kostantin is maturing very quickly as a producer and writer, while his already strong skills as a saxophone player are continuing to improve and diversify. "Smoothing" is an attractive collection of commercial smooth jazz, where all sides of this type of music are presented in the best possible way.

Keep an eye on Konstantin's music in the near future as well, since it is quickly becoming a standard to write and play by the smooth jazz format. Musicians: Konstantin - saxophones,flute,keys,programming Adir Kochavi - trumpet-flugel Yerman Aponte - bass guitar 'Gibi' Hubert Lourens - drums Alex Yarosh - guitars Arienne Groenewoud - expect backing vocals Ivo Stuivenberg - vocals - very previous reviews: I've been shot. You need to go no further than Konstantin's website to find out about the man and his music and buy this CD.

I've run out of superlatives to use about this album. I don't believe it - you won't believe it - you have to hear it. -Chris Mann - Smooth-Jazz.de- Listening to this CD (Downtown) still gives me goose bumps. I get such an awesome feeling listening to all the tracks. He's bound for greatness on this side of the Atlantic. By Mike James - Smoothjazzandmore.com

Smoothing

Lara Louise - Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2025
Time: 39:58
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 40,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:53) 1. Speak Low
(3:43) 2. Fever
(3:51) 3. Blue Velvet
(3:08) 4. Mon amant de St. Jean
(2:37) 5. It Could Happen To You
(2:50) 6. You Better Go Now
(2:14) 7. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
(2:50) 8. My Romance
(3:40) 9. The Very Thought Of You
(2:43) 10. J'ai le coeur aussi grand
(2:42) 11. But Beautiful
(2:44) 12. Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)
(2:57) 13. Moonlight Becomes You

Lara Louise’s sultry voice has been heard all over the world, her recordings having been streamed over twenty-five million times on Spotify and Youtube. Growing up in the Netherlands, Lara started out as a folk musician before making the transition to jazz and bossa nova. She sings mostly in English and French, with an emphasis on the classic American songbook from the 30s to the 60s.

Together with producer and multi-instrumentalist Gawain Mathews, she is working on her next album of jazz standards. Lara plays regularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and is available for private events. https://lara-louise.com/bio

Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars

Cannonball Adderley Quartet - Cannonball Takes Charge

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1959
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:53
Size: 122,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:32)  1. If This Isn't Love
(5:34)  2. I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
(4:16)  3. Serenata
(3:39)  4. I've Told Ev'ry Little Star
(7:03)  5. Barefoot Sunday Blues
(5:10)  6. Poor Butterfly
(6:55)  7. I Remember You
(7:48)  8. Barefoot Sunday Blues - Alternate Take
(6:52)  9. I Remember You - Alternate Take

The recording of Cannonball Takes Charge was sandwiched in between two events that would help earn Cannonball Adderley a permanent place in jazz lore. Just the day before the album’s first session, he participated in the completion of Miles Davis’s seminal Kind of Blue. Five months after Cannonball Takes Charge was finished, he had Riverside producer Orrin Keepnews record his newly formed quintet at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco which helped launch his career as one of the leading proponents of “soul jazz.” But what about the album made in between these two momentous occasions? Cannonball Takes Charge ’s concept was a common one: the altoist is the lone horn in a quartet performing a program made up primarily of standards. The results are anything but routine though, and show that 1959 was a very good year for Cannonball Adderley.  The opening tune, “If This Isn’t Love,” kicks off the proceedings on an ebullient note with Adderley playing an infectious solo that can brighten even the gloomiest day.

Things reach a more melancholic note only on “I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry” which features a fine ballad performance by the alto saxophonist. “Barefoot Sunday Blues,” the lone original composition, points to the gospel and soul-inflected jazz that would become Adderley’s calling card. The final selection, “I Remember You,” produces his finest performance on the album. Adderley is able to coax a five-chorus improvisation out of the standard’s changes that is always interesting and full of romantic lyricism. On the piano bench is Wynton Kelly who plays with the utmost of taste throughout. He makes his best impression when he dips in to a more earthy vibe on his last solo chorus of “Barefoot Sunday Blues” and in his work on “Poor Butterfly.” Joining Adderley and Kelly are Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb on four tracks, and Percy and Albert Heath on the rest. As an added bonus, this 2002 CD reissue adds alternate takes of “Barefoot Sunday Blues” and “I Remember You” that are well worth listening to. Adderley would rarely revisit the territory he covered in Cannonball Takes Charge in the years to come. His subsequent work on Riverside increasingly began to follow a formula: albums recorded live with the altoist’s working band. In 1961 though, Adderley would record another quartet album, Know What I Mean? , in which he managed to surpass the lofty heights achieved on Cannonball Takes Charge. ~ Robert Gilbert https://www.allaboutjazz.com/cannonball-takes-charge-julian-cannonball-adderley-capitol-records-review-by-robert-gilbert.php

Personnel: Cannonball Adderley - alto saxophone; Wynton Kelly - piano; Paul Chambers, Percy Heath - bass; Jimmy Cobb, Albert Heath - drums

Cannonball Takes Charge