Adam Shulman Quartet - On Second Thought

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:24
Size: 125,1 MB
Art: Front

(7:33) 1. New Beginning
(7:10) 2. 78 Prosper Resolution
(5:32) 3. Bounce
(6:01) 4. The Little Ones
(5:06) 5. On Second Thought
(9:45) 6. For An Unknown Lady
(7:13) 7. Sara's Song
(6:01) 8. Going Home

With On Second Thought, the Adam Shulman Quartet breaks through with its first CD, a selection of thoughtful and eminently accessible originals by leader and pianist Shulman. It features eight melodic compositions, melding perfectly the group's talented musicians, which include Dayna Stephens on alto, John Wiitala on bass and Jon Arkin on drums. Shulman has been active in the San Francisco jazz scene since he moved there some six years ago, playing regularly in the Bay area with assorted groups. He paid his dues with renowned jazz artists such as Stefon Harris, Paula West and Bobby Hutcherson. On his site, Shulman praises Bill Evans as a huge influence on him. This can be heard in the melodic force and use of chord voicing, as Shulman borrows from both classical and popular forms. It is Stephens on tenor, though, who shines here.

With his warm, breathy tone, he is right out of the Lester Young school via Stan Getz and, currently, Harry Allen. On this album, he delivers a string of peerless solos. On his way to becoming one of the best, he is currently leading groups in the New York area which sometimes include pianist Taylor Eigsti. This praise is not to detract from Shulman, though. The two wonderfully complement each other, piano and sax weaving in and out of often contrapuntal, melodic configurations. Assuredly backing them are Wiitala's bass and Arkin's drums. The ensemble shows up best on "For An Unknown Lady. " Both Shulman and Stephens have strong solos, and, near the end, Shulman's repetitive chords support Stephens' powerful statement. The whimsical "Bounce" takes off from the children's tune "Inchworm" and goes with it, providing fodder for Stephens' imaginative ideas. After this, one looks forward to Shulman's next release.~Larry Taylorhttps://www.allaboutjazz.com/on-second-thought-adam-shulman-kabocha-records-review-by-larry-taylor

Personnel: Adam Shulman: piano; Dayna Stephens: tenor sax; John Wiitala: bass; Jon Arkin: drums.

On Second Thought

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Adam Shulman Sextet - Here/There

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:46
Size: 142,2 MB
Art: Front

( 6:19)  1. Grant and Green
( 8:53)  2. Shelby's Sojourn
(10:18)  3. For an Unknown Lady
( 7:39)  4. Katy
( 8:24)  5. Pearl and Bruno
( 7:42)  6. Dirty
( 6:02)  7. Apartment 6
( 6:26)  8. Easy Living

San Francisco pianist/composer Adam Shulman presents an album of post-bop-inspired original compositions performed by a sextet of some of the Bay Area's most prominent jazz musicians. With a hard swinging group aesthetic and close harmonic writing inspired by the classic groups of Horace Silver and Art Blakey, Here/There offers bright new vehicles that embrace history while adding to the legacy of one of America's great jazz communities. With Mike Olmos, Patrick Wolff, Rob Roth, Smith Dobson and John Wiitala.

Personnel:  Adam Shulman - piano; Mike Olmos - trumpet; Patrick Wolff - alto saxophone; Rob Roth tenor - saxophone; John Wiitala - bass; Smith Dobson - drums

Here/There

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Adam Shulman Sextet - Full Tilt

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:00
Size: 153.4 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[7:34] 1. Fantasy In Db
[6:14] 2. Lonesome Dream
[9:10] 3. The Conquerer
[9:25] 4. San Francisco National Cemetery
[5:25] 5. Yeah...So
[8:42] 6. 4th Street Strut
[5:41] 7. Full Tilt
[6:16] 8. The Night We Called It A Day
[8:30] 9. Mr. Timmons

Adam Shulman: piano; Mike Olmos: trumpet; Lyle Link: alto sax; Patrick Wolff: tenor sax; John Wiitala: bass; Evan Hughes: drums.

In music, as in life, not every new voice is worth hearing. Here's one that is. Full Tilt, the fifth CD by San Francisco-born and based pianist Adam Shulman's sextet, is a throwback to those halcyon days when bop was king and giants like Diz, Bird, Miles, Max Roach, Hank Mobley, Benny Golson, Horace Silver, Wardell Gray, Lee Morgan, Kenny Clarke, Clifford Brown, Sonny Stitt, J.J. Johnson, Hampton Hawes, Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, Kenny Dorham, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and their kin were its noble emissaries.

Although the album was recorded for Cellar Live, it would have been right at home on Prestige or Blue Note, the sovereign labels during the bop regency of the 1950s and '60s. On the one hand, Shulman's radiant charts, underlined by delightful harmonies and rhythmic patterns, emulate that glorious era while on the other proving decisively that superior music is indeed timeless. For the record, Shulman wrote seven of the album's nine numbers and arranged all of them. Several sound like they could have come straight from the Jazz Messengers or Clifford Brown / Max Roach libraries, and there are deep bows elsewhere to Cedar Walton ("Fantasy in D Flat") and Bobby Timmons (the overtly named "Mr. Timmons"). The ensemble is equally taut and assured on the lone standard, Matt Dennis / Tom Adair's poignant "The Night We Called It a Day," and Shulman's heartfelt eulogy, "San Francisco National Cemetery."

Speaking of the ensemble, Shulman is fortunate to have found and gathered around him a team of blue-chip sidemen who evidently are not only as passionate about bop as he is but are able to translate that ardor into action and improvise in that style about as well as anyone. Trumpeter Mike Olmos, alto Lyle Link and tenor Patrick Wolff share the front line while Shulman, bassist John Wiitala and drummer Evan Hughes comprise a stalwart rhythm section that could have held its ground with any during the heralded Bop Era. Without singling anyone out for special praise, suffice to say that the solos by all hands (including the leader) are as keen and resourceful as those one might expect from their venerable predecessors. Indeed, close your eyes and you may start to believe that some of those hallowed patriarchs have actually made the scene for one last gig. They haven't, of course, but Shulman's time-shifting sextet is beyond any doubt the next best thing. ~Jack Bowers

Full Tilt mc
Full Tilt zippy

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