Rosana Eckert - Sailing Home

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:14
Size: 111,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:31)  1. Sailing Home
(3:57)  2. Garby the Great
(4:35)  3. Someone Else's Life
(4:52)  4. Waiting
(4:36)  5. Miles of Blue
(4:06)  6. Blue Flower
(4:49)  7. Coriander Stomp
(3:54)  8. Empty Room
(4:55)  9. Lovely Ever After
(5:37) 10. For Good
(3:19) 11. Meant for Me

Rosana Eckert has made a name for herself as a jazz vocals composer and arranger with her previous recordings, At The End Of The Day (GEM Records, 2003) and Small Hotel (GEM Records, 2010). Bright and imaginative, Eckert draws from a lifetime of music beginning with her childhood in El Paso, Texas, where the musical melting pot was richly seasoned with American, Hispanic, and European influences. Educated at the notable music school, the University of North Texas, she went on to become a faculty member in addition to leading her own band, performing as a wedding singer and recording commercial jingles. This wide-openness to anything musical is Eckert's charm. She has a giving and generous musical personality that manifests in her broad format and genre palette. On Sailing Home, Eckert composes or co-composes eleven disparate jazz songs, each with its own character and texture. Eckert's music is as much tactile as tuneful. This tactile musical nature reveals itself in the intersection of a chosen rhythm and the song arrangements. On the title song, Eckert and pianist Peter Eldridge craft a sonic walk on an uneven path.

Over the circuitous figure, guitarist Corey Christiansen lays an infectious muted electric counterfigure. Ben Whittman's prepared steel drums are just gravy. Eckert's singing is bright, positive and inviting, setting a warm tone to the entire project. "Garby The Great" is a slinky, blues-inflected ballad with Eckert singing with authority and awareness, almost as a spontaneous vocalese. Her scat counterpoint to Young Heo's walking bass leads to Christiansen's octaves, and Heo's muscular solo, tartly accented by Christiansen. If a voice can mimic a fingersnap, Eckert's does so.  "Someone Else's Life" shimmers with dubbed vocals, Eckert studying harmony and sound structure in a forward and progressive manner. Eldridge and Christiansen provide a delicate filigree hung on Heo's spare bass playing. Juxtaposed against this shiny surface is the humid and inviting "Waiting," featuring Ginny Mac's whispering accordion weaving with a lazy Reggae beat. The attention grabber is "Coriander Stomp" initiated by a dirty funk line by Christiansen that gives way to drummer Steve Barnes channelling Little Feat's Richie Hayward in a jaunty street march. Christiansen's solo is boss with fuzz and swing. Eckert sings wordlessly, scatting in and out of the musical celebration, which is a good way to describe the entire recording.. ~ C.Michael Bailey https://www.allaboutjazz.com/sailing-home-rosana-eckert-oa2-records-review-by-c-michael-bailey.php

Personnel: Rosana Eckert, vocals; Peter Eldridge, piano, organ, keyboards; Corey Christiansen, electric/acoustic guitars; Young Heo, acoustic bass; Steve Barnes, drums; Ben Wittman, percussion (1, 4, 9); Gary Eckert, percussion (5, 7, 10); Daniel Pardo, alto flute (8, 9); Brian Piper, piano (7); Ginny Mac, accordion (4).

Sailing Home

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Corey Christiansen Quartet - Outlaw Tractor

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:10
Size: 116,6 MB
Art: Front

(7:58) 1. Down Time
(9:02) 2. Carefree
(7:22) 3. When You Want
(5:09) 4. Starstepper
(7:51) 5. Outlaw Tractor
(5:58) 6. Big Kids
(6:48) 7. The Penguins Deserve Better

The reason behind Corey Christiansen's clinically precise guitar style is his experience with Mel Bay Guitar Instruction. He is fluent in all guitar styles, which fully informs his recording and performing persona. His previous recording, Roll With It (Origin, 2008), employing the same band as on the present Outlaw Tractor, was a sleek funk machine updating the soul jazz of the 1960s. Previous to that, Awakening (Mel Bay, 2004) demonstrated, with a piano quartet, the great (if a bit wordy) promise that Christiansen has brought into sharper focus with his more recent organ quartet releases.

Christiansen tightens things up on Outlaw Tractor, a true feat when considering Roll With It was tight as a drum. The disc opener sets the tone, and that tone is Les McCann, Eddie Harris, Ramsey Lewis "The In Crowd" funky. "Down Time" begins with a brief organ processional that introduces Christiansen's too-funky-to-live subject. His tone remains slightly fuzzy and round, distorted in the middle of the reverberation spectrum. This gives his chording a punchy, bright feel. The first solo out is saxophonist David Halliday, who squeezes notes out like Lee Morgan on The Jazz Messengers' "Moanin,'" redefining the meaning of "bad" in the jazz vernacular. Organist Pat Bianchi plays conservatively, never overwhelming even in his solos. Origin mainstay Matt Jorgensen deftly provides the rhythmic momentum to sent this boat forward. "When You Want" features an equally funky introductory line that evolves into the piece's angular head. Guitar and saxophone double over Bianchi's harmonic support Christiansen's solo pithy with attitude, while Halliday paints outside the lines and the organist plays from the Funky Church of Al Green. This is beautifully conceived soul jazz given a 21st Century spin. All seven selections, Christiansen originals, mine this rich loam of American music and present it in a spic and span modern fashion. The compositions are both immediate familiar and, at the same time, brand new. Outlaw Tractor is an improvement over the excellent Roll With It, and that is saying something.~ C.Michael Bailey https://www.allaboutjazz.com/outlaw-tractor-corey-christiansen-origin-records-review-by-c-michael-bailey.php

Personnel: Corey Christiansen: guitar; David Halliday: saxophone; Pat Bianchi: organ; Matt Jorgensen: drums.

Outlaw Tractor

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Corey Christiansen - Factory Girl

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:54
Size: 112,4 MB
Art: Front

(7:14)  1. She's Gone
(5:33)  2. Cluck Ol' Hen
(5:03)  3. Shenandoah
(4:52)  4. Factory Girl
(2:21)  5. That I Should Know Your Face
(5:25)  6. John Hardy
(5:07)  7. Old Joe Clark
(6:02)  8. One's Promised
(7:14)  9. Beour

Guitarist Corey Christiansen began his stint at Origin Records in 2008 with a top notch organ jazz outing, Roll With It. He followed that with an equally engaging disc featuring the same players, Outlaw Tractor on the label in 2010. On these two dates, Christensen and his superb band worked the soul jazz groove typical of the B3 organ genre, featuring a breezy dynamic with superb displays of technique all around, and lots of room for the guitarist's inspired guitar ruminations to ride the waves of the tight rhythms. Christensen's follow-up to his organ jazz CDs took another path. Lone Prairie (Origin Records, 2013), proved perhaps an unexpected turn (for those getting interested in his organ jazz foray) into the traditional music of the American West, with a postmodern bent. He dives deeper with Factory Girl. It's sort of "Americana," in the Bill Frisell mode; but like Frisell, Christiansen has a personal vision with a fine focus, and an eye tuned straight into the 'now." Even the familiar "Shenandoah" shines with a new millennium shimmer. 

Zach Lapidus, reprising his keyboard roll from Lone Prairie, is instrumental in buffering, subtly, the muted neon glow of the disc's sound. The set features, along with the traditional, three tunes from Christiansen's pen that fit the mold. The opener, "She's Gone," is instantly engaging, a robust and patiently laid out melody weaving in and out of an intricate rhythm. "One's Promise," is as gentle as a lullaby, pastoral and pretty and soothing. The overall "sound" of this album can't be overlooked. Bassist Jeremy Allen and drummer Matt Jorgensen, along with keyboardist/SuperCollider-weilder Zach Lapidus, and, occasionally, percolating percussionist Michael Spiro, lay the foundation rock solid but still intricate and virtuosic beyond the precursor music that Factory Girl brings to mind: the reverberant twang of Duane Eddy, the echoing atmosphere of The Ventures' 1960 hit, "Walk Don't Run," the coolness of Dick Dale and the Deltones' "Miserloo" (1963)," the fluid group dynamic of Merle Haggard's late career band, The Chantay's epic "Pipeline" from 1963, any number of good time cowboy bands all of it dialed up, somewhat avant-style, into a new century. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/factory-girl-corey-christiansen-origin-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php
 

Personnel:  Corey Christiansen: guitars;  Zach Lapidus: keyboards, SuperCollider;  Jeremy Allen: acoustic and electric bass;  Matt Jorgensen: drums;  Michael Spiro: percussion.

Factory Girl

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Frank Vignola - Vignola Plays Gershwin

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:24
Size: 129.1 MB
Styles: Gypsy jazz, Guitar jazz
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[5:34] 1. I Got Rhythm
[5:00] 2. Summertime
[2:21] 3. 's Wonderful
[2:51] 4. Our Love Is Here To Stay
[3:31] 5. They Can't Take That Away From Me
[5:50] 6. The Man I Love
[3:15] 7. Somebody Loves Me
[4:36] 8. Strike Up The Band
[3:18] 9. Nice Work If You Can Get It
[4:10] 10. Fascinating Rhythm
[4:08] 11. Embraceable You
[4:48] 12. Lady Be Good
[3:03] 13. How Long Has This Been Going On
[3:51] 14. But Not For Me

Frank Vignola: guitar; Joe Ascione: drums; Tom Kennedy: bass; Corey Christiansen: guitar.

"I like a Gershwin tune," Frank Sinatra sings on the Burton Reed/Ralph Freed classic, "How About You." Guitarist Frank Vignola apparently loves a Gershwin tune, passionately. Vignola—with twelve CDs as a leader under his belt—is a versatile musician who sites an array of influences: Django Reinhardt, Joe Pass, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Charlie Christian. On Vignola Plays Gershwin he leans in a swinging gypsy direction, bringing a Django vibe to fourteen George Gershwin melodies.

The guitarist's quartet includes Joe Ascione on drums, bassist Tom Kennedy and guitarist Corey Christiansen, who supplies the crisp rhythms behind Vignola. The tunes are all the familiar classics: "I Got Rhythm," "Summertime," "S'Wonderful," "Our Love is Here to Stay," "Fascinating Rhythm, "How Long Has This Been Going On," and more. The band swings hard. It's a reverent, loving elevation of one of America's master songwriters. The group attacks "I Got Rhythm" with a joyous fever; they relax into a smooth flow on "Nice Work If You Can Get It," and put a zippy sting into "Fascinating Rhythm."

I'm struck by Vignola's technical virtuosity. It sounds as if he's incapable of hitting even a slightly wrong sound; and it's a warm, breathing virtuosity that feels spontaneous and fresh—a comfortable and supremely confident-in-his-artistic-skin player. If America has ever turned out a finer melodist than George Gershwin, I haven't heard him. Frank Vignola and his band play the man's music with a beautiful zest. ~John McClenaghan

Vignola Plays Gershwin

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The Corey Christiansen Quartet - Awakening

Styles: Guitar Jazz, Straight-ahead/Mainstream
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:45
Size: 123,4 MB
Art: Front

(7:20)  1. Awakening
(5:26)  2. Little Hands, Big Dreams
(6:56)  3. Roads
(6:24)  4. All the Things You Are
(7:26)  5. Beatrice
(2:25)  6. Dialogue
(4:56)  7. Darn That Dream
(6:35)  8. Last Night In Manhattan
(6:13)  9. Alone Together

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. Take guitarist Corey Christiansen, whose début record on the nascent Mel Bay Guitar Sessions label, Awakening , is filled with spirited playing and an engaging mix of original and standard compositions. Christiansen is the senior music editor and guitar clinician for Mel Bay publications, a leading supplier of instructional material on a number of instruments. His job would demand that he has formidable technique and a broad musical knowledge, and he does. But the problem is that his admirable skills often overwhelm the music; while his assertive and deft style is quick to energize, it sometimes lacks in overall musicality. In some ways Christiansen is like a young Larry Coryell, who suffered the same problems of excess in his early days. Blinding runs and a certain kinetic excitement draw one into the record, but it ultimately becomes more a little wearisome, as flurries of notes are used in exchange for a more subtle lyricism. Coryell has, through the course of his career, matured and learned the meaning of space, and this is clearly something that Christiansen should aspire to as well. Musicians of note usually learn that music is as much about what you leave out as what you play, and Christiansen clearly needs to master that skill.

That being said, there is no question that Christiansen has all the raw materials. While his soloing is often excessive, his compositions are attractive, with pleasant melodies and interesting rhythmic hooks. The title track is a swinging 6/8 romp that gives Christiansen and pianist Per Danielsson the chance to demonstrate both their abilities to play modally and through changes. “All The Things You Are” opens and closes with an interesting vamp that gives the group a chance to settle in and get comfortable before hitting the main body of the tune. “Darn That Dream” is played as a light bossa, and Christiansen demonstrates a solid ability as a chordal player. But throughout Christiansen quite simply plays more than truly necessarily, often substituting a flurry of notes when one or two would do. Drummer Danny Gottlieb and bassist Mark Neuenschwander provide firm support, with Gottlieb getting the chance to contribute some of his characteristically fine cymbal work on “Roads.” Gottlieb, a drummer who deserves more due than he usually receives, is also empathic, quickly catching some of the motifs that Christiansen and Danielsson throw at him. All in all Awakening is an enjoyable début from a guitarist who, while an established educator, is relatively new to the scene. Possibly he spends too much time wood-shedding and not enough time out actively playing to develop a more restrained approach. But there is no doubt that Christiansen has all the raw materials to be a notable player; he just needs to relax a little more and let the music breathe. ~ John Kelman  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/awakening-corey-christiansen-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Corey Christiansen (guitar), Danny Gottlieb (drums), Per Danielsson (piano), Mark Neuenschwander (bass)

Awakening

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Corey Christiansen - Lone Prairie

Styles: Straight-ahead/Mainstream
Label: Origin Records   
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:09
Size: 122,0 MB
Scans: Front

(7:10)  1. Dying Californian
(6:52)  2. Streets Of Laredo
(6:55)  3. In The Pines
(4:39)  4. California Widow
(4:22)  5. Sittin' On Top Of The World
(6:32)  6. El Paso
(4:46)  7. Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie
(4:02)  8. Chaparrel
(3:40)  9. Il Grande Massacro
(4:06) 10. Red River Valley / Bootyard

Guitarist Corey Christiansen has released two previous recordings on the Origin label in Roll With It (2008) and Outlaw Tractor (2010). Both were well received and featured Christiansen's ethereal playing, characterized by a deep reverb beneath a slightly overdriven tone. These recordings are uniformly fine, but generally lacked a thematic center (not that one was required).

Having said that, Christiansen provides here a disc with a central theme of music of the American West on Lone Prairie but, if one is expecting "Streets of Laredo" or "Bury Me Not" to feature a border guitar part, think again. Christiansen and his sextet lay a postmodern play over this collection of traditional American western music and compositions inspired by the same. The presence of two keyboardists, Steve Allee and Zach Lapidus, establishes a plushly digital foundation for the ten selections on this recording. Here is a successful musical case that is completely inorganic in the sense that this is music arranged for the postmodern (that word again) soundscape. This is not your father's acoustic jazz.

And Christiansen's cover of "El Paso" is neither Marty Robbins nor the Grateful Dead. It is a fearlessly re-imagined piece with the two keyboards swirling around a muscular and assertive Christiansen while he solos. The song is the Western tone poem that resulted, had Aaron Copland met Robbins for a beer in Austin, then found themselves in Tombstone, AZ. at the O.K. Corral. Likewise is the musical myth created around "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie." Opened with a simple bass figure by Jeremy Allen, the song slowly builds and ebbs dramatically. Both pieces brag on Christiansen's arrangement abilities and his pacing control.

Lone Prairie works well within its concept, providing music that could score a 21st Century Spaghetti Western as evidenced by the presence of Ennio Morricone's "Il Grand Massacro." Christiansen continues to grow both as a guitarist and as a creative force in his West Coast environment. ~C. Michael Bailey  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=44801#.Uh0CWlcucv4

Personnel: Corey Christiansen: Guitar; Steve Allee: Keyboards, Piano; Zach Lapidus: - Keyboards, Piano, Supercollider; Jeremy Allen: Acoustic And Electric Bass; Matt Jorgensen: Drums; Michael Spiro: Percussion.

Lone Prairie

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