Charlie Hunter & Bobby Previte - We Two Kings

Styles: Guitar, Holiday
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:17
Size: 90,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:01) 1. Joy To The World
(3:14) 2. Deck The Halls
(2:46) 3. It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
(2:59) 4. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
(3:22) 5. Hark The Herald Angels Sing (Feat. Curtis Fowlkes)
(3:54) 6. We Three Kings
(4:10) 7. The First Noel (Feat. Curtis Fowlkes)
(2:58) 8. Good King Wenceslas
(3:40) 9. Angels We Have Heard On High
(2:46) 10. Jingle Bells
(3:06) 11. Oh Come All Ye Faithful (Feat. Curtis Fowlkes)
(3:13) 12. Silent Night

A Christmas record from two master musicians that will shake, rattle, and roll your holiday.

Beautifully arranged, brilliantly played, and unlike any other version of these great songs, We Two Kings re-imagines the classic carols as surf, country, metal, jazz, and beyond. With the exception of guest trombone player Curtis Fowlkes, Previte and Hunter play all the instruments guitars, basses, drums, pianos, organs, and all manner of percussion. A stunning tour-de-force that takes you on a wild, fun and sometimes hilarious musical journey of joy, We Two Kings is a record that you will never want to be without during the holiday season. Hear these classics like you have never heard them before on We Two Kings. https://bobbyprevite.bandcamp.com/album/we-two-kings

Personnel: Charlie Hunter - guitars, basses, keyboards, percussion; Bobby Previte - drums, percussion, keyboards, sampling; Curtis Fowlkes- trombone

We Two Kings

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Jamie Saft - You Don't Know the Life

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:14
Size: 95,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:30)  1. Re: Person I Knew
(5:41)  2. Dark Squares
(4:22)  3. Water from Breath
(6:09)  4. You Don't Know the Life
(2:13)  5. Ode to a Green Frisbee
(4:19)  6. The Cloak
(3:16)  7. Stable Manifold
(3:56)  8. The Break of the Flat Land
(3:07)  9. Moonlight in Vermont
(3:37) 10. Alfie

Since his 1997 recording debut, keyboardist Jamie Saft has carved out a dynamic profile, first (mostly) with John Zorn's Tzadik label and, since 2011, with RareNoise Records. A string of four releases on the label set the stage, beginning with 2014's trio outing The New Standard, through Loneliness Road (2017) (another trio set, with Iggy Pop sitting in on a few tunes), Solo A Genova (2018), and the quartet recording, Blue Dream, featuring saxophonist Bill McHenry. It was a busy and artistically fruitful few years for Saft. You Don't Know the Life has Saft switching gears, plugging into Hammond and Whitehall organs and an electric Baldwin harpsichord. The organ trio tradition is a long one Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, Jack McDuff but You Don't Know the Life doesn't sound like an attempt to adhere to that groove-based, urban, soul-drenched template. The Saft Trio, with the team of bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bobby Previte, seems to be pushing through on a new path breezy and freewheeling at times, reverential and church organ-like at others, and even psychedelic, on the opening cut, pianist Bill Evans' "Re: Person I Know," where Saft breaks out the electric harpsichord.  "Dark Squares" is attributed, songwriting-wise, to Saft/Swallow/Previte, so it is most certainly a trio improvisation, a measured and contemplative music that seems like a trip to church. "Water From Breath" flows down the same path, in a more lighthearted manner. The title tune from ZZ Top-er Billy Gibbons' pre-ZZ Top psychedelic blues band, Moving Sidewalks sounds like a lonely stroll down a midnight alleyway, immersed in the pondering of a love just lost. The album wraps up with a couple of unexpected considering the eclectic batch of tunes that precede them familiar standards, "Moonlight In Vermont," taken at a loose and leisurely pace, and Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Alfie." Pure loveliness, Saft's organ a cool and cleansing breeze. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/you-dont-know-the-life-jamie-saft-rarenoiserecords-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Jamie Saft: Hammond organ, Whitehall organ, Baldwin electric harpsichord; Steve Swallow: electric bass; Bobby Previte: drums.

You Don't Know the Life

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Bobby Previte - Too Close to the Pole

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 1996
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:01
Size: 128,5 MB
Art: Front

( 4:14)  1. Too Close to the Pole
(13:02)  2. 3 Minute Heels
( 8:24)  3. The Countess' Bedroom
( 7:32)  4. Save the Cups
(14:16)  5. The Eleventh Hour
( 8:29)  6. Too Close to the Pole (reprise)

From its opening eccentric fanfare (which pops up briefly in other selections) through the wild group vocal on "Save the Cups" and "3 Minute Heels" (which sounds like Indian music for belly dancers), drummer Bobby Previte's Weather Clear, Track Fast band on this Enja release is continually colorful, cinematic (one can easily imagine crazy adventures occurring), and unpredictable. Although quite advanced, the expert use of repetition, complex but catchy rhythms, and echoey call-and-response riffing results in a complete lack of forgettable or routine moments. In addition to the six listed selections, there is an odd extra "bonus": an unidentified seventh song that is a five-part, 15-minute suite mostly featuring Andrew D'Angelo's bass clarinet. Although there are strong individual heroics from the sextet (such as Jamie Saft's organ and retro Fender Rhodes playing, Andy Laster's versatile flights on baritone, and Previte's stirring percussive work), it is the chance-taking spirit of the musicians and their performances as a whole that make this a memorable release well worth several listens. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/too-close-to-the-pole-mw0000093699

Personnel:  Bobby Previte – drums, voice; Lindsey Horner - electric bass, tin whistles, voice; Andy Laster - baritone saxophone, clarinet, flute, voice; Cuong Vu - trumpet, voice; Jamie Saft - piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Hammond organ, clavinet, voice; Curtis Hasselbring - trombone, voice; Andrew D'Angelo - alto saxophone, bass clarinet, voice

Too Close to the Pole

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Bobby Previte - Plutino

Styles: Vocal, Post Bop
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:39
Size: 98,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:33)  1. Austerity
(3:35)  2. Downgrading
(4:50)  3. Rollover
(4:02)  4. Default
(4:51)  5. Volatility
(4:27)  6. Tranche
(6:54)  7. Contango
(8:24)  8. Bailout

The cover with the image of three aliens / musicians who cast their stern and stunned eyes on the things of our world is a good way to listen to the CD that you find in your hands. The three visitors from the space respond to the name of Bobby Previte, in the role of great master of ceremonies and chief delegation, of Beppe Scardino and Francesco Diodati, in that of selected emissaries.

Paying attention to their requests, trusting their good intentions is the pass for a trip across overwhelming and breathtaking soundtracks. Music that comes from space, decipherable with earthly codes, implacable rhythmic scans, tangles of crazy sound waves, magnetic storms that disorient the listener and drag him into whirling black holes. But also an oasis of tranquility, moments of wonder in front of the beauty that still exists in our world, where the baritone sax of Scardino invents a cosmic lullaby with a poignant beauty like "Contango". Or when Diodati's guitar spreads sore electric vibrations on the martial rhythm of Previte in "Bailout," before opening up to delicate acoustic arpeggios that launch Scardino's bass clarinet in a solo of visionary intensity. 

~ AAJ Staff https://www.allaboutjazz.com/plutino-bobby-previte-cafe-royale-review-by-aaji-staff.php

Personnel: Bobby Previte (drums, vocals); Beppe Scardino (woodwinds, voice); Francesco Diodati (guitars, vocals).

Plutino

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Bobby Previte & The New Bump - Set the Alarm for Monday

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:39
Size: 123,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:28)  1. Set the Alarm for Monday
(5:39)  2. I'd Advise You Not To Miss Your Train
(4:32)  3. She Has Information
(3:43)  4. Where You Followed
(4:29)  5. I'm on to Her
(6:06)  6. There Was Something In My Drink
(5:44)  7. You're In Over Your Head
(5:08)  8. Drive South, Along the Canyon
(8:46)  9. Wake Up Andrea, We're Pulling In

A seminal figure in the Downtown New York scene, drummer and composer Bobby Previte resurrected his Bump the Renaissance ensemble for the cinematic Set The Alarm For Monday. Previte's venerable acoustic group has featured a rotating roster of talent over the years, including Ray Anderson, Curtis Fowlkes, Wayne Horvitz, Lenny Picket, Steve Swallow and Tom Varner. Ellery Eskelin (tenor saxophone), Bill Ware (vibes) and Brad Jones (bass) form the current incarnation, with special guests Steven Bernstein (trumpet) and Jim Pugliese (percussion). Conceived as a long form suite, the album opens gradually, working through progressions in mood episodically. Narrative song titles like "She Has Information" and "There Was Something In My Drink," suggest an evocative film-noir atmosphere that unravels like chapters from a pulp novel; each tune is another act in the continuing saga. An aura of suspenseful mystery permeates the session, which unfolds with foreboding drama, intermittently punctuated by rousing anthems. Book-ended by enigmatic tone poems, the core of the record features simmering ostinatos and driving vamps that conjure scenes of shadowy rendezvous at secret after- hours clubs and frenzied chases down seedy back alleys. Driving these pieces, Previte unfurls a multitude of Latinized polyrhythms, with tasteful syncopated accents provided by Jim Pugliese. Bill Ware and Brad Jones, longstanding members of the Jazz Passengers, have ample experience in this milieu. Jones' intricate winding bass lines offer a sinewy foundation for Ware's kaleidoscopic vibes, which stage effervescent tableaus for Ellery Eskelin and Steven Bernstein to explore. A singular stylist, Eskelin's wooly timbre and taut phrases mesh soundly with Bernstein's highly expressive pre-swing aesthetic, which resounds with smears, growls and buzzing mutes. Together they trade sinuous cadences and soaring intervals, uncoiling circuitous refrains and plangent cries. As fellow veterans of the fertile Downtown scene, the sextet delivers these stylish urban panoramas with convincing flair, effortlessly shifting from brooding atmospherics to sultry Latin grooves. Previte's most rewarding acoustic album in years, Set The Alarm For Monday effectively captures the mythic soul of Gotham after dark. ~ Troy Collins https://www.allaboutjazz.com/set-the-alarm-for-monday-bobby-previte-palmetto-records-review-by-troy-collins.php

Personnel: Bobby Previte: drums; Ellery Eskelin: tenor saxophone; Steven Bernstein: trumpet; Bill Ware: vibraphone; Brad Jones: bass; Jim Pugliese: percussion.

Set the Alarm for Monday

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Bobby Previte's Latin For Travellers - My Man in Sydney

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:12
Size: 134,4 MB
Art: Front

( 9:09)  1. Albuquerque Bar Band
(12:16)  2. My Man in Sydney
( 8:10)  3. London Duty Free
( 5:33)  4. Bear Right at Burma
( 8:52)  5. Deep Dish Chicago
( 8:08)  6. Love Cry New York

Drummer Bobby Previte's Latin for Travelers quartet burns up the track on this compilation of live dates done at the Basement Club in Sydney, Australia. Their endless summer, rockish sound is tempered by jazz improvisation and taken to lofty heights by the raw power of the participants, including double-plus keyboardist Jamie Saft, electric guitarist Marc Ducret, and electric bass guitarist Jerome Harris. All six of these extended jams are composed by Previte, where the identity and sound of the band are quickly established in the hip 6/8 funk with organ from Saft and "Telstar"-type guitar via Ducret on "Albuquerque Bar Band." Floating guitar and bass hand off to Previte's drum solo, free rock running into an R&B shuffle, with a grooving bridge during the title cut. Twangy and galloping introductory guitars by both Harris and Ducret develop into more driven organ-fired funk as "London Duty Free" shows a bundle of intensity and purpose, while an indirect ethnocentric core lurks under distinct African tom-tom beats in the process of "Bear Right at Burma." The coolest track is the urgent, hip swing of the neo-boppish head-nodding "Deep Dish Chicago," using a thin but not flimsy, bluesy guitar melody with insistent two-note organ incursions whose combined themes cement this total out-and-out jam. The closer starts as a choogling, very long drum solo in repeated rhythms, bordering on tedium, before Saft's Fender Rhodes improv breaks Previte out into rockish, raucous swing. A one-note guitar riff, another drum solo, and a small bass insert leads back to Saft's pungent organ for one final swoop. This is the first of two volumes planned from these performances, and where these set excerpts are plenty potent, subsequent issues may or may not be better, but one would expect consistency between this and the next CD. Thing is, this band has a sound all its own, best heard live and well documented on this surface-scratching effort. ~ Michael G.Nastos https://www.allmusic.com/album/my-man-in-sydney-mw0000030995

Personnel:  Bobby Previte :: drums, voice;  Marc Ducret :: electric guitar; Jerome Harris :: electric guitar, electric bass, voice;  Jamie Saft :: organ, fender rhodes electric piano, mini moog

My Man in Sydney

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Bobby Previte - Rhapsody

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop 
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:18
Size: 148,0 MB
Art: Front

( 6:59)  1. Casting Off
(10:58)  2. All The World
( 9:15)  3. The Lost
( 3:29)  4. When I Land
( 5:28)  5. The Timekeeper
( 1:43)  6. Coming About
( 9:22)  7. All Hands
( 8:39)  8. Last Stand / Final Approach
( 8:21)  9. I Arrive

Bobby Previte writes, conducts and arranges all of the music on this album, along with playing drums, percussion, guitar, harmonica and auto harp with an intuitive team of John Medeski/p, Zeena Parkns/harp, Fabian Rucker/as, Jen Shyu/voc-erhu-p and Nels Cline. The music is the second part of a Terminals Trilogy, which is an acoustic song cycle with the topic being transit and migration. There are few hints on this album of the subject matter, as Shyu’s voice is not used often, and is usually wordless. Having said that, her vocals are dark and agonizing with harp on “Casting Off” and is tranquil on “When I Land” before the piece leads to a dramatic conclusion. Rucker’s alto sax gets plenty of solo space on the fierce and angry “All the World” also careening on “Last Stand/Final Approach.” The music catches breath with prancing piano and harp on “Coming About” and Nels Cline’s folksy ruminations on “All Hands.” The mix of swirling strings and volcanic rhythms make for a white knuckler of a ride. http://www.jazzweekly.com/2018/04/bobby-previte-rhapsody/

Personnel:  Bobby Previte: batería, percusión, autoarpa, guitarra, armónica;  Nels Cline: guitarra acústica, slide guitar, guitarra de doce cuerdas;  John Medeski: piano;  Zeena Parkins: arpa;  Jen Shyu: voz, er’hu, piano;  Fabian Rucker: saxo alto

Rhapsody

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Bobby Previte's Weather Clear Track Fest - Hue And Cry

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:55
Size: 133,4 MB
Art: Front

( 4:05)  1. Hubbub
( 5:59)  2. Smack-Dab
( 6:04)  3. Move Heaven And Earth
(14:10)  4. 700 Camels
( 7:03)  5. Valerie
(13:16)  6. Hue And Cry
( 7:15)  7. For John Laughlan And All That We Stood For.

Hue and Cry features an eight-strong, all-star version of Bobby Previte's Weather Clear, Track Fast band and results in one of his finest efforts as a leader. Along with Henry Threadgill, Previte, in the late '80s and early '90s, was one of the leading figures of avant-garde jazz, using mid-sized groups to explore complex compositional ideas more than as solo vehicles. He's also extremely adept at tension-and-release structures, often using what might have been an introductory riff for anyone else as an extended phrase, wringing out every bit of melody from it, and leaving the listener in a juicy state of anticipation for the eventual burst into the central theme. Previte uses an interesting pairing up in this band, with Don Byron and Marty Ehrlich often both playing clarinet, Robin Eubanks and Eddie Allen on brass, and, most prominently, Anthony Davis on piano alongside Larry Goldings' organ. Goldings is particularly out front on many of the pieces here, giving the band a very different cast from their earlier recording. 

Only the ambitious "700 Camels" fails to cohere completely; the remainder of the tracks all have both imaginative writing and (at the least) solid playing and soloing. On the other hand, the similarly lengthy title track pulls all the right switches, layering material in a rich fabric and hurtling toward a satisfying climax. The closing number is an unusual dirge, with Previte playing a martial rhythm, Davis trickling out single notes like rainfall, and Ehrlich keening on soprano. Recommended! ~ Brian Olewnick  https://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1497658/a/hue+and+cry.htm

Personnel: Bobby Previte (drums), Marty Ehrlich (alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet), Don Byron (baritone saxophone, clarinet), Eddie Allen (trumpet), Robin Eubanks (trombone), Anthony Davis (piano), Larry Goldings (organ), Anthony Cox (bass)

Hue And Cry

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Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow, Bobby Previte - The New Standard

Size: 134,4 MB
Time: 57:38
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Jazz
Art: Front

01. Clarissa (4:06)
02. Minor Soul (6:18)
03. Step Lively (6:45)
04. Clearing (4:50)
05. Trek (4:09)
06. The New Standard (6:34)
07. I See No Leader (5:38)
08. Blue Shuffle (6:40)
09. All Things To All People (6:08)
10. Surrender The Chaise (6:26)

From a record label that’s decidedly askance from the mainstream, RareNoise dispenses with the noisy (Mumpbeak) and the experimental (Chat Noir) to release a record that’s, well, pretty darn jazzy. Entitled The New Standard, it features young New York Downtown pianist Jamie Saft as bandleader and chief composer, working out a handful of straight-ahead jazz charts with the venerable rhythm section of bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bobby Previte.

Recorded and mixed on the fly, direct to ½-inch analog tape, The New Standard feels like a late night eavesdropping session from behind the living room drapes, as if the listener were a 12-year old kid, sneaking down the midnight stairs to hear the grownups kicked back with a little food, maybe a little wine and a whole lot of inspiration.

From Previte’s point of view, that’s very much how the session felt in the studio. "It was the simplest, chillest record I have ever done. We set up, went out and had a nice lunch, went back to the studio and three hours later it was all done in one take. It's kind of incredible it actually worked out as it did. And my 1965 Rogers Holiday model tubs, which I got when I was 14 years old, have never, and probably will never sound better. The sound is so full, so creamy I feel like licking it!"

For Saft, whose Plymouth collaboration with Joe Morris we reviewed back in April, the relaxed atmosphere of the recording session started with Previte’s idea they’d work off of simple strong structures. "Bobby suggested that I put together simple structures for us to use as starting points," he explains. "I tried to put together pieces that were super soulful and honest. I wanted compositions that would highlight Steve's absolute mastery of melody and Bobby's incredibly soulful approach to groove. They took my simple pieces and made them into grand structures on which to improvise. Beginnings and endings were all improvised and this gives the album a special type of magic."

The New Standard begins with “Clarissa,” the first of seven Saft compositions included in this 10-song set. As with all the tunes on the record, it’s a compact no-nonsense, sparsely appointed jazz tune, this one built on Previte’s shuffling brushes and Swallow’s easy going electric bass in support of Saft cuddling up to all the notes he could find behind the back beat. “Minor Shuffle” is a head-bobbing, body-weaving waltz that’s not really a waltz, anchored by the booming bass drum of Previte’s Rogers Holidays, a comfortably melodic tune with no overtly showy improvisational choices from Saft’s corner of the room.

“Step Lively,” one of three trio-penned tunes of The New Standard, boasts Previte’s heavy right foot and Swallow’s subtle yet gritty bass playing in a modified Latin blues configuration…until they kick into a straight swing groove about midway through the tune. "Clearing," another band co-write, is a straight-ahead slow blues hallelujah, a time to get religion, with Saft wheeling out the B3 and the swirling Leslie cabinet. “Trek” sounds like a tall walk up a slow hill, around the corner from that restaurant in Chinatown, Saft’s flittery piano playing the part of the noodles and Previte’s bass drum going “kung pow.” The title cut’s not the most interesting tune on the record but its successor, “I See No Leader” is a fun, double-time swing set that may well be an homage to that white plastic tape that spins around the recording hub before the session rolls in earnest.

Though it was the first musical meeting of these three players – and their stellar engineer Joe Ferla – it sounds as if they’ve been playing together for years. So it goes with the legacy of jazz music, where like minds are usually meeting in spirit before they meet in person.

The New Standard is a classy record of cool compositions, played with style and fun and spirit. ~By Michael Verity

The New Standard

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