Showing posts with label Brussels Jazz Orchestra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brussels Jazz Orchestra. Show all posts

Monday, March 27, 2017

David Linx, The Brussels Jazz Orchestra - Changing Faces

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 80:42
Size: 184.7 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals, Big band
Year: 2007/2013
Art: Front

[6:11] 1. Deep Night
[6:53] 2. Down On Lovers Lane
[8:09] 3. Black Crow
[5:47] 4. Bilhete
[4:12] 5. Then We'll Be Home
[9:46] 6. A Day's Journey
[4:54] 7. Home, In The Spring
[5:33] 8. The Land Of Joy
[2:17] 9. Por Toda Minha Vida
[5:32] 10. Miziane
[5:34] 11. There Is You
[9:33] 12. Sweet Suite
[6:15] 13. For The Time Being

Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute – Dieter Limbourg; Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute, Art Direction – Frank Vaganée; Baritone Saxophone, Bass Clarinet – Bo Van Der Werf; Bass Trombone – Laurent Hendrick; Double Bass – Jos Machtel; Drums, Cajón – Martijn Vink; Guitar – Hendrik Braeckman, Manu Codjia; Percussion – Minino Garay; Piano – Nathalie Loriers; Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet – Bart Defoort; Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute – Kurt van Herck; Trombone – Ben Fleerakkers, Frederik Heirman; Trombone [Lead] – Marc Godfroid; Trumpet [Lead], Flugelhorn – Serge Plume; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Gino Lattuca, Nico Schepers, Pierre Drevet. Recorded at Hogent Studios, Ghent (Belgium).

Never thought I’d be mentioning that pre-Crosby crooner, Rudy Vallee, in this space, but one of the tunes associated with the megaphone meister, “Deep Night,” receives a surprisingly hip, propulsive makeover. It typifies the extremes to be found here. Linx, the Belgian jazz singer, will resort to any idiom, any language, any time signature. Occasionally he seems to dispense with bar lines altogether, or he will go beyond lyrics, as he abandons his own words on “A Day’s Journey,” for some free-wheeling scat. “Home, In the Spring” features Linx and the wordless Natalie Dessay in a wistful duet. While he strains for falsetto, she leaps octaves effortlessly. The most impressive tour de force is “The Land of Joy,” in which Linx resorts to jet-speed unison scat with pianist Nathalie Loriers. Linx wrote some of the tunes, which compete quite well against entries by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joni Mitchell. He can do it all, at the highest level of professionalism, like the superb Brussels Jazz Orchestra, a 17-piece band, used to the coloristic effects that accrue from their apparently endless doublings. ~Harvey Siders

Changing Faces

Monday, January 30, 2017

Brussels Jazz Orchestra - Wild Beauty

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:14
Size: 151.6 MB
Styles: Orchestral jazz
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[10:07] 1. Wild Beauty
[ 5:10] 2. Powerhouse
[ 6:25] 3. Streets Of Naples
[ 6:49] 4. Our Daily Bread
[11:50] 5. Big Ben
[ 8:31] 6. Sanctuary Park
[ 8:37] 7. Miss Etna
[ 8:42] 8. Viva Caruso

None other than the American saxophone player Joe Lovano and the Brussels Jazz Orchestra present the project Wild Beauty featuring compositions by Lovano and arrangements by Gil Goldstein (US), another big name from the jazz and music world. This production is the icing on the BJO's birthday cake as it celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2013.

Wild Beauty comprises 8 compositions by Lovano, brought together in one seamless music sequence that tells the story of composer and soloist Joe Lovano. All the compositions were previously released on various CDs by Lovano, but this is the first time they are performed by a big line-up. “Wild Beauty” is a showcase of his compositions, as it were, as it presents an overview of Lovano’s work, drawing inspiration from his Italian roots. Lovano has dedicated “Wild Beauty” to his Sicilian mother Josephine (Giuseppina) Verzi Lovano, who died in May last year. Gil Goldstein rearranged Lovano’s compositions for the BJO, having been given carte blanche by Joe.

The Brussels Jazz Orchestra (BJO) is not the kind of jazz orchestra that sticks to standards. It prefers to achieve the highest level by composing original music, creating unique arrangements and playing inventively as well as passionately. In fact, it really is jazz with a dynamic orchestral sound, with a classic strength in which each musician is also a brilliant soloist. Call it an ‘orchestrated passion for jazz’ that incites BJO to create world-class music.

Wild Beauty

Friday, January 6, 2017

Bert Joris, Brussels Jazz Orchestra - Smooth Shake

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:32
Size: 154.6 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[7:26] 1. O.U.T
[8:24] 2. Smooth Shake
[6:27] 3. Only For The Honest
[7:44] 4. Brussel-Parijs
[6:57] 5. Spaces
[8:23] 6. How Could We Forget
[8:49] 7. Mr. Dado
[8:12] 8. Nasty Boy
[5:06] 9. Smooth Shake (Radio Edit)

The new CD by Bert Joris with Brussels Jazz Orchestra is called Smooth Shake. This is the fourth large-scale production with Bert in which he shines as a soloist, composer and arranger, following Signs and Signatures (2010), Dangerous Liaison (2006) and the double CD The Music of Bert Joris in 2002. Bert Joris says: "A warm sound – that’s what I had in mind for this album. A sound that envelops you, fills you with energy, like a meaningful friendship. The result is a serene record which invites you to move nonetheless, to dance. Not too exuberantly, but smoothly."

Jazz trumpeter Bert Joris (°1957) has built a solid reputation as improvisor, composer, arranger and teacher. His work is performed by musicians allover the world. Joris received several awards and prizes for his work and his most recent solo album ‘Only for the honest’ was widely acclaimed by the press. Bert Joris has published three albums with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra so far. Over the years, Joris and the BJO toured together from Sweden to the USA.

Smooth Shake

Friday, June 10, 2016

David Linx & Brussels Jazz Orchestra - Brel

Size: 182,9 MB
Time: 79:11
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2016
Styles: Jazz Vocals, Chanson
Art: Front

01. Quand On N'a Que L'amour (8:00)
02. La Chanson Des Vieux Amants (5:43)
03. Vesoul - Amsterdam (7:34)
04. Ces Gens-La (6:48)
05. Mathilde (6:25)
06. Ne Me Quitte Pas (4:24)
07. Le Plat Pays (8:02)
08. Bruxelles (8:51)
09. Isabelle (5:00)
10. La Valse A Mille Temps (5:12)
11. Bruxelles (Radio Edit) (Bonus Track) (4:12)
12. La Ville S'Endormait (Bonus Track) (8:55)

While David Linx's name may not be writ large here in the States, the fifty-one year-old singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist is a mega-star in his native Belgium, and in 2005 was named Best Jazz Musician in Europe, which covers a whole lot of territory. On Brel, Linx sings music composed by his Belgian forerunner, the late and legendary Jacques Brel, accompanied by the world-class Brussels Jazz Orchestra (whose personnel are not listed on the bare-bones promotional copy save for saxophonist / music director Frank Vaganee).

The music is for the most part cerebral and debonair, lending itself quite well to a jazz milieu (one of the few French words salvaged from high school). As for the lyrics, they are generally sung in the aforementioned Gallic tongue; in other words, incomprehensible. Linx employs the universal jazz "language"—scat—on the flag-waving "Mathilde" and sings in English on "Vesoul -Amsterdam" and "Isabelle," reminding the listener why he doesn't choose to do so often. Elsewhere, like most other French singers, he sounds exceedingly French (or Belgian). Those who've heard Brel, Maurice Chevalier, Georges Guetary, Charles Aznavour, Sacha Distel and other standard-bearers should grasp the allusion.

The session opens quietly with the melodious "Quand on n'a Que L'Amour" and ends on a dynamic note with "La Valse a Mille Temps," which must translate into "waltz, fast and loud." Even though the lyrics (in most cases) are foreign, there's no doubt that Linx sings them well, with excellent diction and phrasing. As for the BJO, it plays its ancillary role to perfection, giving Linx a hermetic framework from which to operate while weighing in with a number of brief yet persuasive solos along the way. In spite of his prominence, there haven't been a great number of tributes to Jacques Brel and his music, which makes this one by David Linx and the BJO that much more enticing. ~Jack Bowers

Personnel: David Linx: vocals. Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Frank Vaganee: artistic director.

Brel

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Brussels Jazz Orchestra - The Music Of Enrico Pieranunzi

Size: 140,8 MB
Time: 61:01
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Jazz
Art: Front

01. Persona (6:18)
02. Within The House Of Night (7:20)
03. Fellini's Waltz (6:24)
04. Newsbreak (7:26)
05. With My Heart In A Song (8:42)
06. Coralie (7:29)
07. Distance From Departure (8:25)
08. It Speaks For Itself (8:55)

The Italian pianist and composer Enrico Pieranunzi makes music that appeals to the imagination: filmic, compelling and with the kind of frivolity you might expect from an Italian.Bert Joris succeeded in adapting these light, airy compositions for the larger forces of the BJO.

Compositions by Enrico Pieranunzi, arranged for the Brussels Jazz Orchestra by Bert Joris. Performed and recorded live at De Werf in August 2014. With Enrico Pieranunzi at the piano. All trumpet solos by Bert Joris.

The Music Of Enrico Pieranunzi