Mark Colby - Reflections

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:33
Size: 130,0 MB
Art: Front

(6:59) 1. Close Enough For Love
(4:22) 2. Myth Mary's Blues
(6:13) 3. Reflections
(5:40) 4. Desafinado
(5:22) 5. Like Someone in Love
(6:11) 6. Blues Connotation
(6:26) 7. So in Love
(4:24) 8. Caroline's Romp
(5:45) 9. Somewhere Over the Rainbow
(5:08) 10. Squires Parlor

Reflections, the eighth CD as leader or co-leader by one of the Chicago area's most undervalued treasures, tenor saxophonist Mark Colby, is a tribute, he writes, to "the things that shaped and moved me when I was just a kid," as well as to friends, family and artists who nourished his growth and served as a catalyst for his becoming a musician. The studio date is dedicated to Colby's father, "who started me on my journey at age eight," and to one of Colby's earliest role models, tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, who died on July 25, 2008.

"Desafinado" is addressed to another of Colby's original mentors, Stan Getz, who befriended a teenage Colby and helped shape his young friend's approach to the tenor while introducing him to Brazilian music. To this day, Colby's abstractions display an unmistakable Getzian character even though the sound is pure Colby. Besides Colby, the first-rank quartet on "Desafinado" consists of guitarist Mike Pinto, bassist Eric Hochberg and drummer Bob Rummage.

Elsewhere, Colby uses pianist Jeremy Kahn to round out the group, is accompanied only by Hochberg and Rummage on "Myth Mary's Blues," Johnny Burke/Jimmy van Heusen's "Like Someone in Love" and Harold Arlen/E.Y Harburg's "Over the Rainbow." Three special guests alto saxophonist Phil Woods, trumpeter Bob Lark and pianist Ron Perillo help brighten the easygoing finale, Woods's "Squires Parlor."

Besides "Myth Mary," written for his wife, Colby composed "Reflections" and "Caroline's Romp," the last presumably for a daughter (or granddaughter). Completing the program are Johnny Mandel's "Close Enough for Love," Ornette Coleman's capricious "Blues Connotation" and Cole Porter's enchanting ballad from the Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate, "So in Love" (a second dedication to Colby's wife).

Kahn solos earnestly on "Reflections," "So in Love" and "Caroline's Romp," Pinto on "Desafinado" and "Blues Connotation" but none more so than Colby, who makes every note and phrase shimmer like sunlight on water. While he remains more or less unknown beyond his Chicago base, sooner or later the word on Colby is bound to spread, and that word is brilliant. By Jack Bowers
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/reflections-mark-colby-origin-records-review-by-jack-bowers

Personnel: Mark Colby: tenor sax; Jeremy Kahn: piano (1, 3, 7, 8); Ron Perillo: piano (10); Mike Pinto: guitar: (4, 6); Eric Hochberg: bass; Bob Rummage: drums; Bob Lark: flugelhorn (10); Phil Woods: alto sax (10).

Reflections

---

Clark Terry, Depaul University Big Band, Bob Lark - Express

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:43
Size: 157.3 MB
Styles: Big band
Year: 1996/2015
Art: Front

[4:21] 1. Just Squeeze Me
[4:08] 2. Juniflip
[4:08] 3. Rockin' In Rhythm
[6:15] 4. Just A-Sitting And A-Rockin'
[6:47] 5. Star Crossed Lovers
[4:46] 6. Easy Does It
[5:33] 7. C.T.'s Express
[4:53] 8. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
[4:35] 9. I Want A Little Girl
[4:38] 10. Launching Pad
[3:28] 11. Harlem Airshaft
[5:19] 12. Nodido
[3:23] 13. Cotton Tail
[6:22] 14. Something To Live For

Alto Saxophone, Flute – Dave Hutten, Doug Angelaccio; Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet – Jeff Erickson (2); Bass – Sharay Reed; Bass Trombone – Thomas Michaud; Drums – James Ward (7) (tracks: 5, 7, 8, 13, 14), Tom Hipskind (tracks: 1 to 4, 6, 9 to 12); Guitar – Steve Jacobson (3); Piano – Michael Stryker; Tenor Saxophone – Robert Gardiner (2); Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet – Rob Denty; Tenor Saxophone, Guest – Mark Colby (tracks: 12); Trombone – Steve Bradley (6), Tom Hanton; Trombone [Lead] – Troy Anderson (2); Trumpet [Lead], Flugelhorn [Lead] – Jason Aspinwall; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Amir El Saffar*, Eric Nelson (10), Gil Wukitsch, Vance Thompson. Recorded December 5-6, 1995 at The Concert Hall, DePaul University, Chicago IL.

Possessor of the happiest sound in jazz, flügelhornist Clark Terry always played music that was exuberant, swinging, and fun. A brilliant (and very distinctive) soloist, Terry gained fame for his "Mumbles" vocals (which started as a satire of the less intelligible ancient blues singers) and was also an enthusiastic educator. He gained early experience playing trumpet in the viable St. Louis jazz scene of the early '40s (where he was an inspiration for Miles Davis) and, after performing in a Navy band during World War II, he gained a strong reputation playing with the big band of Charlie Barnet (1947-1948), the orchestra and small groups of Count Basie (1948-1951), and particularly with Duke Ellington (1951-1959). Terry, a versatile swing/bop soloist who started specializing on flügelhorn in the mid-'50s, had many features with Ellington (including "Perdido"), and started leading his own record dates during that era. He visited Europe with Harold Arlen's unsuccessful Free & Easy show of 1959-1960 as part of Quincy Jones' Orchestra, and then joined the staff of NBC where he was a regular member of the Tonight Show Orchestra. He recorded regularly in the '60s, including a classic set with the Oscar Peterson Trio and several dates with the quintet he co-led with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s, Terry remained a major force, recording and performing in a wide variety of settings, including as the head of his short-lived big band in the mid-'70s, with all-star groups for Pablo, and as a guest artist who provided happiness in every note he played. Terry died on February 21, 2015, at age 94, after an extended battle with diabetes. ~ Scott Yanow

Express mc
Express zippy

---

Bob Lark - Until You

Styles: Straight-ahead/Mainstream, Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:25
Size: 95,1 MB
Art: Front

(6:13)  1. Until You
(7:21)  2. A Narrow Path
(6:58)  3. Walkin' About
(6:34)  4. The Things We Did Last Summer
(4:38)  5. Rhythm-A-Ning
(6:20)  6. Bye, Bye Blackbird
(3:18)  7. 'Round Midnight

Until You is the second album from Chicago trumpeter/flugelhornist Bob Lark, who also serves as the Jazz Chair at Chicago's DePaul University, where he directs the school's Jazz Ensemble and teaches trumpet and courses in jazz pedagogy and jazz style. Lark poses on the inside cover in a very Chet Baker-ish photo with his flugelhorn. Lark displays a very pure and undiluted tone and performs here on flugelhorn on all but the final two selections. There is a nice mix of two originals, two standards and three jazz standards. Lark opens the album with original compostitions: the title tune, a punchy up-tempo piece with a solo by bassist Kelly Sill, and "A Narrow Path," which allows him to unhurriedly present his solid delivery on the ballad's melody line and solo supported by the very capable Jim McNeely on piano. The pace picks up with Thad Jones' funky "Walkin' About," which likely served the Jones-Lewis band's live appearances. Lark's flugelhorn does more than justice to the Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn ballad "The Things We Did Last Summer," once a jazz favorite but now rarely heard.

Bob Lark must have an affinity for the music of Monk, evidenced by two of the pianist's compositions: "Rhythm-A-Ning," the most up-tempo piece on the album, and a solo muted trumpet take on "'Round Midnight." Still in the Miles-Monk 1950s period, Lark chooses the Miles Davis first quintet's reading of "Bye Bye Blackbird." McNeely plays a blockchorded piano intro, setting up Lark's muted trumpet entry. Parenthetically, Lark also did a Monk tune, "Evidence," on his first recording. ~ Michael P.Gladstone  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/until-you-bob-lark-hallway-records-review-by-michael-p-gladstone.php

Personnel: Bob Lark: flugelhorn, trumpet; Jim McNeely: piano; Kelly Sill: bass; Joel Spencer: drums.

Until You

---