Akiko - Simply Blue

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:10
Size: 105.7 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[3:38] 1. Let's Face The Music And Dance
[4:19] 2. Speak Low
[5:49] 3. Same Ol' Gloomy Song
[3:45] 4. Old Devil Moon
[4:32] 5. Blues No. 8
[4:49] 6. Whisper Not
[4:54] 7. Do You Know
[4:25] 8. Night And Day
[4:30] 9. Not Lovers, Always Friends
[5:24] 10. Wish You Were Here

Drums – Tommy Campbell; Piano – Tadataka Unno; Bass – Yoshio “Chin” Suzuki; Vocals – Akiko.

Born in Tokyo, Akiko began playing piano at age 4. She began listening to rock and punk music when she was a junior high school and then began to take their interest in different types of music including 70's Disco Music 60's Oldies, 50's Rock and Country & Western In particular, they like music, she was particularly inspired by old black music Jump & Jive and Doo Wop. At age 18, she happened to listen to Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald and met with Jazz Afterwards she began to sing like a pro at Jazz Club Tokyo when she was a student.

Akiko in 2001 signed with Universal Jazz. In June 2005, Akiko released his first live album "Simply Blue "which was recorded at the Jazz Club Motion Blue Yokohama.

Simply Blue mc
Simply Blue zippy

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Akiko - Rockin' Jivin' Swingin'

Size: 102,7 MB
Time: 38:30
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz/Blues Vocals
Art: Front

01. Come On-A My House (1:57)
02. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter (2:26)
03. Relax Max (2:42)
04. What A Little Moonlight Can Do (3:11)
05. Fools Fall In Love (2:46)
06. Rum And Coca Cola (3:09)
07. I'm Walkin' (2:35)
08. Exactly Like You (2:30)
09. Blues No.8 (4:04)
10. Sh-Boom (2:27)
11. Mr. Sandman (2:30)
12. I've Got You Under My Skin (3:50)
13. Goody Goody (4:16)

Jazz singer Akiko has a brand new album out now, of rockin', jivin' and swingin' songs (as the title says!) from the 40's and 50's. Featured musicians include Gentle Forest Jazz Band, Blue Moon Quartet, Fats & Fats, and also female chorus groups Chai-Chii Sisters and Gentle Forest Sisters.

Tokyo born Akiko started playing piano at age of 4. She started to listen to rock / punk music, when she was a junior high school student, & then began to take her interest in various kinds of music, including 70s disco music, 60s oldies, 50s rock + country and western. Above all those music, she was especially inspired by old black music like jive, jump blues & doo wop. At age of 18, she happened to listen to Sarah Vaughan & Ella Fitzgerald thus, discovering jazz. Afterward, she started to sing as a professional at Jazz Club in Tokyo, when she was a university student.

Rockin' Jivin' Swingin'

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Nicola Conte - The Modern Sounds Of Nicola Conte

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 43:49

Size: 100.3 MB

Styles: Jazz/Pop/Rock, Electronic

Year: 2009

Art: Front

[4:39] 1. When I Wish Upon A Star

[3:28] 2. All Or Nothing At All

[5:15] 3. Charade

[6:15] 4. Flamenco Sketches

[3:30] 5. Groovy Samba

[4:17] 6. Lotus Sun

[4:02] 7. New Blues

[2:25] 8. Solo

[5:25] 9. Take Five

[4:29] 10. The Shaman

Performer [With] – Akiko, Alice Riccardi, Daniele Scannapieco, Fabrizio Bosso, Flavio Boltro, Gaetano Partipilo, Gianluca Petrella, José James, Kim Sanders, Lisa Bassenge, Lorenzo Tucci, Mark Murphy, Pietro Ciancaglini, Pietro Lussu, Rosario Giuliani, Teppo Mäkinen, Till Brönner, Timo Lassy.

This set has been a long time coming. Italian composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, and label impresario Nicola Conte has been issuing tracks on compilations, on 7", 10", and 12" vinyl for over a decade as mixes, side projects, and reworks. (The latter means that he actually uses his own band to reconceptualize and rearrange an original artist’s recording, more often than not with said artist’s participation.) Most of these cuts came and went, and have been out of print for some time. This killer double-disc set collects virtually all of them in a single spot -- 26 tracks' worth on his Schema imprint. The range of artists is staggering, from Mark Murphy, Til Brönner, Jose James, and Marco Di Marco to Fertile Ground, the Five Corners Quintet, Maki Mannami, and Roberto Roena.

Highlights on disc one include Mark Murphy’s “Stolen Moments (Midnight Mood Rework)”; his own Latin-ized cover of Henry Mancini’s and Johnny Mercer’s “Charade,” with Lisa Bassenge on vocals, and the killer reconstruction of [re:jazz]’s “Quiet Nights” subtitled “Out of the Cool Version,” after the Gil Evans session on Impulse! that inspired it. But tracks like the Jack Lawrence and Arthur Altman standard “All or Nothing at All,” by Conte's group with Jose James on vocals, are stellar examples of his ability to chart for large ensembles and make them rhythmically compelling and harmonically adventuresome, yet contain utterly smooth textures. Disc two contains the gorgeous reworking of Til Brönner’s version of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s and Vinicius de Moraes’ “Só Danço Samba,” that retains Brönner’s vocal and trumpet solo, but conceives everything else -- Conte’s guitar work on this track is stellar. The 12” of the Sunaga T Experience’s “A Healing Blue (Shape of Jazz to Come Version)” features Sheila Landis adding lyrics to the composition and fronting the Italian quintet. Also check the Afro-Cuban rework of Dave Brubeck’s classic “Take Five!” by Roberto Roena.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you know anything about Conte’s side project work, or his singles there are plenty of them here -- if you dig the man’s music, you’ll flip for The Modern Sounds of Nicola Conte: Versions in Jazz-Dub. It is a seamless, utterly engaging collection of 21st century clubjazz rooted in the traditions of bossa, West Coast, progressive big band, continental, and post-bop jazz, as well as 21st century electronic music that has something on it for everyone. Thom Jurek

The Modern Sounds Of Nicola Conte   

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Akiko - Mood Swings

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:26
Size: 111,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:40)  1. Old Devil Moon
(6:05)  2. Mood Swings
(4:43)  3. Overstay
(5:57)  4. Footprints on the Moon
(5:59)  5. Before Dawn
(4:56)  6. The Gift
(1:12)  7. Belgrade
(7:31)  8. Old Fisherman's Daughter
(6:20)  9. Sophisticated Lady

Tokyo born Akiko started playing piano at age of 4. She started to listen to rock / punk music, when she was a junior high school student, & then began to take her interest in various kinds of music, including 70s disco music, 60s oldies, 50s rock + country and western. Above all those music, she was especially inspired by old black music like jive, jump blues & doo wop. At age of 18, she happened to listen to Sarah Vaughan & Ella Fitzgerald  thus, discovering jazz. Afterward, she started to sing as a professional at Jazz Club in Tokyo, when she was a university student.

In 2001, Akiko signed with Universal Jazz. After she had gained highest praises at International Jazz Meeting in New York, she recorded her debut album in Paris. Legendary French Producer, Henri Renaud, produced this album. Her debut album "Girl Talk" was selected as Swing Journal's Gold Disc (Seal of Approval) and ranked at 1 of Jazz Chart in Original Confidence (Japanese Bill Board). Right after the debut, akiko made success with her debut concerts in 4 major cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka). And in October, she performed at Blue Note Tokyo with her trio. As the result of these aggressive activities, she won New Star Award of 2001, Swing Journal Jazz Disc Award.

In 2002, Akiko released her 2nd album "Hip Pop Bop" which features 2 songs produced by UK's pop unit, Swing Out Sister. The album also ranked at 1 of Jazz Chart in Original Confidence. In summer, she appeared with her own trio at several jazz festivals in Japan and captured more than 30,000 audiences. In 2003, Akiko released her 3rd album "akiko's holiday" which was recorded in New York. She picked up 12 jazz standards sung by legendary singer, Billie Holiday. On several tunes, she sang modern way in R&B/Hip Hop touch, with several guests like Roy Hargrove. This album was selected as Swing Journal's Gold Disc (Seal of Approval). In October (of 2003), Akiko was awarded "Defining Beauty Award" by world-famous cosmetic company "Estée Lauder". Right after receiving the award, she released her 4th album "Mood Swings". Tatsuo Sunaga, A Japanese famous DJ produced this album. With this album, Akiko has started to appeal to not only jazz fans but also young audience as "The coolest jazz singer in Japan". As the result, she won Jazz Vocal Award of 2003, Swing Journal Jazz Disc Award.

In 2004, Akiko collaborated with Tatsuo Sunaga again and released her 5th album "Mood Indigo". This album was awarded ADLIB magazine’s 2004 Best National Club/Dance Disc Award. In September, she performed at Tai-chung Jazz Festival in Taiwan and captured more than 6,000 audiences. In June 2005, Akiko released her first live album “Simply Blue” which was recorded at jazz club, Motion Blue Yokohama. In November, She released a new studio album produced by Yasuharu Konishi (ex. Pizzicato Five) titled “Little Miss Jazz & Jive Goes Around the World!” which focused on her musical roots; jive music. In connection with “Little Miss…”, she produced a jive compilation CD titled “akiko presents Rockin’ Doo Wop, Jump & Jive.” In April 2006, Akiko released her first best album “Collage.” In July, she made Blue Note tour (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka), and the live performance in Osaka was released as digital album on iTunes Store.

Akiko’s 2007 started in Brazil, for the recording of her new album “Vida” with her co-producer, GIRA MUNDO. The album was supported by famous Brazilian musicians incl. Marcos Suzao and Art Lindsey, which was released in April. She made a Japan tour with this album and also performed at major pop festivals incl. Fuji Rock Festival. Also, during this period, her past albums were released in Korea that she visited Korea for both promotion and performing at jazz festival. In the end of same year (2007), akiko released her first Christmas album “a white album” which was produced by Yasuharu Konishi. Simultaneously, her second jive compilation “akiko presents Rockin’ Doo Wop, Jump & Jive Vol. 2” was released targeting for the party seasons. In 2008, after the successful Billboard Live/Blue Note tour in spring, akiko started to work on two albums simultaneously in studio, by self-producing her albums. Concepts for these albums were to express “What’s Jazz?” from two different points of view. “What’s Jazz? -STYLE-” released in October expressed her love to good old acoustic jazz, whereas “What’s Jazz? -SPIRIT-” released in November was to express her vision as the music should always reflect the trend, collaborating with track makers of club music field incl. Yukihiro Fukutomi and Hajime Yoshizawa.

In June 2009, Akiko released her new album “HIT PARADE” which was a tribute to LONDON NITE, the legendary rock DJ event in Tokyo, where she largely spent her times as a teenager. Having Kensho Onuki, who was the organizer of LONDON NITE as her supervisor, akiko picked various pop/rock hit tunes of 60’s-90’s which were ‘LONDON NITE classics’ and collaborated with LONDON NITE DJs/producers for each track creation In summer of 2009, Akiko visited Oslo, Norway to make her new album with the producer/keyboardist and also the owner of Jazzland label, Bugge Wesseltoft. During her stay in Norway, she performed with Bugge at PUNKT, one of the most cutting-edge music festivals in Norway. The album is scheduled to be released in early December. Akiko has also collaborated for various artists incl. Haime Yoshizawa, STUDIO APARTMENT, Yukihiro Fukutomi, arvin homa aya, Yuji Ohno, , just to name a few. Akiko is one of the few vocalists whose total creation are paid attention; not only her music but also the album covers and her own fashion. http://www.last.fm/music/Akiko/+wiki

Mood Swings

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