Count Basie & His Orchestra - Basie's Beatle Bag

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:24
Size: 86,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:14)  1. Help
(3:20)  2. Can't Buy Me Love
(2:42)  3. Michelle
(3:19)  4. I Wanna Be Your Man
(2:58)  5. Do You Want To Know A Secret
(4:21)  6. A Hard Day's Night
(2:58)  7. All My Loving
(3:03)  8. Yesterday
(2:49)  9. And I Love Her
(2:43) 10. Hold Me Tight
(2:53) 11. She Loves You
(3:59) 12. Kansas City

Many recording artists covered The Beatles in the '60s; even their own producer, George Martin, released George Martin Instrumentally Salutes The Beatle Girls (One Way, 1966). Pianist/bandleader Count Basie recorded two albums of Beatles tunes in that decade: Basie's Beatles Bag (Verve, 1966) and Basie On The Beatles (Happy Tiger, 1969). Both discs contain vital versions of John Lennon/Paul McCartney classics, but Basie's Beatles Bag is rawer and more cohesive. Arranged by Chico O'Farrill, it selects some of the more rough and ready Beatles songs, back to "Hold Me Tight" and "I Wanna Be Your Man," from With The Beatles (EMI, 1963). Revealing much about the tunes themselves, the album is also a fun party album. The faster hits are there, such as "Help," "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love," but the arrangement of "Do You Want To Know A Secret" shows the pure swing era influence in its writing. With its beautiful Johnny Hodges-style saxophone solo, it is far superior to The Beatles' version. "Michelle," also, has the authentic Basie touch, his piano evoking his '30s-era band.

The strong R&B origins of "Hold Me Tight" are clear here, its great back beat making it one of the album's most fruitful recreations. O'Farrill throws elements of Nelson Riddle into "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "All My Loving," his gifted understanding of the music also giving saxophonist Charlie Fowlkes a baritone part on "And I Love Her" (a very imaginative touch). "All My Loving" shows, however, that guitarist Freddie Green was no match for George Harrison's soloing capabilities. Instrumentally daring, the grooving Basie's Beatles Bag casts new light on some classic songs, reveling in the rawer bluesy, swing and R&B roots of The Beatles' music. ~ AAJ Staff  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/basies-beatles-bag-count-basie-verve-music-group-review-by-aaj-staff.php

Personnel: Al Aarons: trumpet; Sonny Cohn: trumpet; Wallace Davenport: trumpet; Phil Guilbeau: trumpet; Henderson Chambers: trombone; Al Grey: trombone; Grover Mitchell: trombone; Bill Hughes: bass trombone; Marshall Royal: alto saxophone, clarinet; Bobby Plater alto saxophone, flute; Eddy Davis: tenor saxophone; Charlie Fowlkes: flute, baritone saxophone; Freddie Greene: guitar; Norman Keenan: bass; Sonny Payne: drums; Chico O'Farrill: arranger; Bill Henderson: vocal (8).

Basie's Beatle Bag

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Jimmy Smith - Softly As A Summer Breeze: The Incredible Jimmy Smith

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:58
Size: 115,5 MB
Art: Front

(5:30)  1. These Foolish Things
(6:00)  2. Hackensack
(6:18)  3. It Could Happen To You
(8:23)  4. Sometimes I'm Happy
(6:32)  5. Someone To Watch Over Me
(4:49)  6. Ode To Philly Joe
(3:26)  7. Willow Weep For Me
(2:41)  8. Ain't No Use
(3:28)  9. Angel Eyes
(2:48) 10. Ain't That Love

An oddity and supporting cast player in the Jimmy Smith canon, Softly As A Summer Breeze is nonetheless a welcome addition to Blue Note's Rudy Van Gelder remasters programme, bringing together three distinct sessions with partially overlapping personnel. All the evidence suggests the first four tracks were originally recorded for a Kenny Burrell album which was never released, and the next two for a Jimmy Smith set which likewise didn't materialise. The final four tracks, featuring vocalist Bill Henderson, were originally released on a pair of jukebox-targeted 45 rpm singles and were included as bonus tracks on the album's first CD issue ten years ago. Tracks 1-6 were recorded in February 1958, the day after Burrell had contributed to the sessions for Smith's House Party and The Sermon. They stayed on the shelf until 1965, either because they didn't include one of Smith's trademark soul-jazz shouters or, as seems more likely, because they were simply overtaken by new material recorded by the prolific organist and guitarist. All the signs are of a compilation of Burrell and Smith sessions that were paired up for joint release as a late afterthought. Burrell states the themes and takes most of the opening solos on "These Foolish Things," "Hackensack," "It Could Happen To You" and "Sometimes I'm Happy." The first two tunes ride at a furious gallop, with Burrell and Smith each taking rapid-fire, long-line, mainly single-note, bop-based solos. Smith gets a shade more raucous and funky on "Sometimes I'm Happy," but the rest of time he plays close to the top lines and remains relatively well behaved. (As does Philly Joe Jones, who, apart from trading fours on "Hackensack," stays in a crisp accompanying role.) Though he made his mainstream reputation with sweating, shouting soul-jazz and screaming big band set pieces, it's sometimes forgotten that Smith started out a performer of standards, albeit phattened ones. His 1956 Blue Note debuts A New Sound... A New Star, Vols 1-3 did indeed include the monumental funktifications of Horace Silver's "The Preacher" and Dizzy Gillespie's "The Champ," but most of the material consisted of standards and showtunes. Smith liked to soup them up, sometimes to the point of florid three-ring-circus cheesiness, but he relished pretty tunes and his naif performances of them, on those debut albums and this one from a couple of years later, are as irresistible as they are flamboyant. The least successful tracks are the last four, featuring vocalist Bill Henderson and averaging three minutes in length. The spotlight is naturally enough on Henderson, whose routine and anonymous readings haven't travelled well. But hey, you can always hit the search button. The rest of the music is busting. ~ Chris May https://www.allaboutjazz.com/softly-as-a-summer-breeze-jimmy-smith-blue-note-records-review-by-chris-may.php

Personnel: Jimmy Smith: organ; Kenny Burrell (1-4), Eddie McFadden (5,6), Ray Crawford (7-10): guitar; Philly Joe Jones (1-4), Donald Bailey (5-10): drums; Bill Henderson (7-10): vocals.

Softly As A Summer Breeze

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Harold Land - Choma (Burn)

Styles: Saxophone And Flute Jazz
Year: 1971
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:39
Size: 90,8 MB
Art: Front

( 9:56)  1. Choma (Burn)
( 5:52)  2. Our Home
(10:03)  3. Black Caucus
(10:47)  4. Up and Down

Solid early '70s date with tenor saxophonist Harold Land, his then-musical partner Bobby Hutcherson (vibes) and a cast that includes Land's son Harold C.. on keyboards. Land is a bluesy, steady soloist whose rich sound makes a fine contrast to the fluid, energetic solos by Hutcherson.~ Ron Wynn https://www.allmusic.com/album/choma-burn-mw0000867097

Personnel:  Harold Land - tenor saxophone, flute;  Bobby Hutcherson - vibraphone, marimba;  Bill Henderson - piano, electric piano;  Harold Land, Jr. - piano;  Reggie Johnson - bass;  Ndugu Chancler, Woodrow 'Sonship' Theus - drums

Choma (Burn)

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Bill Henderson - You Better Love Me (Joey Revisited Live)

Size: 110,3 MB
Time: 47:35
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1976/2015
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. You Better Love Me (3:54)
02. Don't Try To Send Flowers (3:20)
03. I Want You To Marry Me (2:42)
04. Sweet Georgia Brown (3:35)
05. Angel Eyes (3:27)
06. What Am I To You (2:33)
07. I Can't Give You Anything But Love (6:00)
08. Joey (6:16)
09. Royal Garden Blues (4:10)
10. My Funny Valentine (3:19)
11. Shades Of Mumbles (8:13)

The packaging of this live release is a bit shoddy, with bassist Steve LaSpina's name listed as "Lespina" and keyboardist Dave Mackay's being listed as "Malachai." Singer Bill Henderson is in generally strong voice on 11 songs (including "Tulips or Turnips" which is mistakenly listed as "What Am I to You"), although his dialogue between tunes should have been cut out. Henderson is accompanied by pianist Joyce Collins (who sings on three songs), Mackay, LaSpina and drummer Jerry Coleman; highlights include "You Better Love Me," "Sweet Georgia Brown," "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" and a surprisingly effective "Royal Garden Blues." The listed date is an estimate, since none is given on the release. This is the band that Henderson used around the period to record similar material for Discovery... ~by Scott Yanow

You Better Love Me

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Charlie Haden Quartet West - The Art Of The Song

Styles:  Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:26
Size: 161,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:30)  1. Lonely Town
(7:23)  2. Why Did I Choose You
(5:36)  3. Moment Musicale Opus 16 No. 3 In B Minor
(5:04)  4. In Love In Vain
(4:14)  5. Ruth's Waltz
(6:23)  6. Scenes From A Silver Screen [Instrumental]
(6:15)  7. I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out Of My Life
(4:23)  8. You My Love
(5:13)  9. Prelude En La Mineur
(6:55) 10. The Folks Who Live On The Hill
(4:54) 11. Easy On The Heart
(4:06) 12. Theme For Charlie
(4:23) 13. Wayfaring Stranger

Increasingly mired in nostalgia, Charlie Haden's Quartet West plunges further into the dream world of old movies and postwar domesticity in this down-tempo album of ballads, this time with the vocal help of Shirley Horn and Bill Henderson on four numbers apiece. But if you must find a focal point, this album is mainly a showcase for the string chamber orchestra arrangements of Haden's pianist Alan Broadbent, who has turned in far more imaginative charts for this group than the velvety muzak heard here. Even classical piano pieces are fair game as Broadbent produces mournful orchestrations of Rachmaninoff's Moment Musical Op. 16, No. 3 in B Minor and Ravel's Prelude in A Minor. In a rare latter-day visit to the recording studio, Henderson is frequently off-key and shaky, though his distinctive blues timbre is intact. 

But the subtle, conversational Horn is right at home in this late-night lounge idiom, particularly when she revives an obscure Nat Cole single, Cy Coleman's "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out Of My Life." Tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts sounds fairly listless and bland in tone most of the time, Larance Marable is limited mostly to brushes, and Haden confines his robust tone mostly to simple basic accompaniment. And if you want real nostalgia, Haden reaches all the way back to his Midwestern childhood by singing the folk song "Wayfarin' Stranger" in a lost-sounding, threadbare voice. Frankly, this sounds like the work of a weary musician. ~ Richard S. Ginell  http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-art-of-the-song-mw0000668250

Personnel: Charlie Haden (vocals, bass); Shirley Horn, Bill Henderson (vocals); Don Palmer, Marcy Vaj, Russ Cantor, Robert Sanov, Ezra Kliger, Robert Brosseau, Tibor Zelig, Murray Adler, Kathleen Robinson, Gina Kronstadt, Rachel Sokolow, Francine Walsh, Israel Baker, Robert Peterson, Paul Shure, Bobby Bruce, Charlie Bisharat (violin); Mimi Granat, Paolo Gozzetti, Carol Mukagawa, Suzanna Giordono, Steve Gordon, Harry Shirinian (viola); Jerry Kessler, Ray Kelley, Earl Madison, Suzie Katayama, Larry Corbett (cello); Ernie Watts (tenor saxophone); Alan Broadbent (piano); Larance Marable (drums).
 

R.I.P.
(August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014)

The Art Of The Song

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Bill Henderson - Live At The Vic: Beautiful Memory

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 51:07
Size: 117.0 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[3:00] 1. All The Things You Are
[4:06] 2. Never Make Your Move
[5:48] 3. You Are My Sunshine
[4:01] 4. Royal Garden Blues
[7:04] 5. Sleepin Bee
[2:26] 6. The Moon Was Yellow
[4:13] 7. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
[3:48] 8. The Song Is You
[8:17] 9. Old Black Magic
[4:09] 10. Never Kiss And Run
[4:10] 11. Living Without You
[0:00] 12. Tulip Or Turnip

How can a guy who has been heralded as the definitive hard-bop vocalist, whose wide-ranging résumé includes stellar work alongside the likes of Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Count Basie, Oscar Peterson and Charlie Haden (that’s Henderson alternating tracks with Shirley Horn on Haden’s The Art of the Song from 1999), who fully deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as such contemporaries as Ernie Andrews, Oscar Brown Jr. and Johnny Hartman, remain so incredibly underappreciated?

So far off the radar is Bill Henderson that even ardent jazz-vocal fans are often surprised to discover he’s still around. Well, around and active he is—remarkably, at age 82, sounding every bit as robust as he did throughout his vibrant stint from 1958-61 as the sole jazz artist on the Vee-Jay label, and on his bestselling eponymous ’63 Verve album with Peterson’s trio—as demonstrated throughout this live date, captured at the Vic in Santa Monica in March 2007.

Fans of Henderson’s early-career sessions will recognize that the aptly titled Beautiful Memory represents a stroll down memory lane. Yet while the songs may be largely the same (augmented by such eclectic additions as B.B. King’s “Never Make Your Move” and Elton John’s “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word”), the arrangements are fresh and innovative and Henderson’s reinterpretations are estimably inventive. There may be frost in his beard, but there remains a blazing fire in his belly and an irresistibly energetic hipsterism that rivals fellow octogenarian Jon Hendricks. ~Christoher Loudon/Jazz Times

Live At The Vic: Beautiful Memory

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Pharoah Sanders - Welcome To Love

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 70:51

Size: 164.0 MB

Styles: Crossover jazz, Saxophone jazz

Year: 2008

Art: Front

[4:58] 1. You Don't Know What Love Is

[5:21] 2. The Nearness Of You Dedicated To Eddy Moore

[8:09] 3. My One And Only Love

[8:15] 4. I Want To Talk About You

[9:24] 5. Soul Eyes

[6:55] 6. Nancy

[7:23] 7. Polka Dots And Moonbeams

[7:03] 8. Say It (Over & Over Again)

[6:19] 9. Lament

[7:00] 10. The Bird Song

When this was first released, the slow, straight sounds of Pharoah Sanders on a series of mostly famous ballads came as a bit of a surprise to some. Others saw Sanders as following the road of his mentor, John Coltrane, who had recorded most of these tunes himself. In retrospect, the inside playing of Sanders is less of a surprise, the saxophonist having followed that path regularly since at least the '80s. This performance has held up well through the years, and while the thin, reserved approach is reminiscent of Coltrane, it is still marked with Pharoah's print. The competent and thoroughly professional rhythm section of pianist William Henderson, bassist Stafford James, and drummer Eccleston W. Wainwright takes a decidedly reserved cue from the saxophonist, but each song is infused with a subtle emotional quality that simply does not let go. ~ Steven Loewy

Recording information: Gimmick Studios, Yerres, France (07/17/1990-07/19/1990).

Pharoah Sanders (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Bill Henderson (piano); Eccleston W. Wainwright, Jr. (drums).

Welcome To Love

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