Hilary Gardner & Ehud Asherie - The Late Set

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:20
Size: 85,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:12)  1. Shadow Waltz
(4:58)  2. Sweet And Slow
(5:18)  3. A Ship Without A Sail
(4:04)  4. After You’ve Gone
(3:46)  5. I Never Has Seen Snow
(3:34)  6. I Used To Be Color Blind
(3:05)  7. Everything I’ve Got
(3:29)  8. Make Someone Happy
(3:52)  9. Seems Like Old Times

If you're looking for the definition of a class act, look no more. This is most certainly it. With The Late Set, kindred spirits Hilary Gardner and Ehud Asherie make us simultaneously pine for an era long gone and appreciate what's right in front of us. If you've followed either one of these artists, their simpatico sensibilities should come as no shock. Gardner delivered one of the most meaningful paeans to New York in recent memory with The Great City (Anzic Records, 2014), graced a Broadway stage to lend her voice to Twyla Tharp's Frank Sinatra-focused Come Fly With Me, continues to share the vocal spotlight with fellow charmer John Dokes in the George Gee Swing Orchestra, and matches wits with gal pals Melissa Stylianou and Amy Cervini in Duchess, a Boswell Sisters-inspired trio that's made its mark in the past few years. Asherie, having delved into days gone by with tenor saxophonist Harry Allen, multi-reedist Ken Peplowski's quartet, and all by his lonesome, has carved out his place as one of the finest pianistic purveyors of aged gems operating today. Both of these artists, while walking different paths, always stand out as old souls and valuable exponents of what the Great American Songbook can offer and teach us. That fact is magnified when they join forces. If you've been lucky enough to see this pair live, the magic needs no explanation. 

They put across a winning blend of casual expression and sophisticated artistry that's self-evident. Everything they create comes out as fine art without the slightest hint of artifice. This recording, presenting nine vintage numbers shaped with nuance and care, emphasizes that point and captures the spirit of their live shows. Most of the selections presented here are deep catalog chestnuts from our finest composers and songwriting teams, widely acknowledged or not. Al Dubin and Harry Warren make it onto the scorecard first with "Shadow Waltz," an album opener that gently glides along while referencing how old songs take on new meaning in love's hands, and "Sweet And Slow," a piece that musically mirrors its advice to get off the fast track and appreciate the simple pleasures of time spent with another. The former proves to be a perfect scene-setter for this pair while the latter remains as relevant today as it was eight decades ago. Those who prefer to take comfort in the familiar will likely connect with "After You've Gone," penned by Henry Creamer and Turner Layton; "Make Someone Happy," delivered unto us from Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jule Styne; and "Everything I've Got," written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. But the majority of this material doesn't play toward popularity. Instead, Gardner and Asherie usually take the roads less traveled, covering those songs that we don't necessarily encounter very often. In many cases, it's those numbers that possess the stronger draw and deeper connective strengths. The depressive threads sewn into Rodgers and Hart rarity "A Ship Without A Sail," for example, can't help but appeal to the soul through sympathy. This is the kind of album that can both connect to modern times and hold high appeal as a throwback statement. ~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-late-set-hilary-gardner-anzic-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Hilary Gardner: vocals; Ehud Asherie: piano.

The Late Set

---

Ehud Asherie - Swing Set

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:48
Size: 114,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:51) 1. You Any Me
(4:43) 2. Lonesome Road
(4:30) 3. Samba De Gringo
(5:58) 4. Slip 'N Stride
(5:00) 5. Since I Fell For You
(6:06) 6. Lush Life
(4:24) 7. A Quick One
(6:43) 8. Everything I Got
(4:18) 9. Pie-Eyed Blues
(4:11) 10. Porter's Love Song

Ehud Asherie returns to the scene with "Swing Set" a groovy piano trio date with bassist Neal Miner and drummer Phil Stewart. With this disc, his second effort for Posi-Tone, Ehud builds upon the momentum from his last release "Lockout" and cooks up a nice blended program of originals (like "Samba de Gringo" and "Slip 'n Stride" ) along with timeless classics (such as "Lush Life" and "Lonesome Road"). https://www.posi-tone.com/Swing_Set/Ehud_Asherie1.html

Personnel: Ehud Asherie - piano; Neal Miner - Bass; Phil Stewart - drums

Swing Set

---

Peter Anderson & Will Anderson - A Sax Supreme

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:54
Size: 101,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:16)  1. Let's
(6:36)  2. Walkin'
(5:23)  3. U.M.M.G.
(4:56)  4. Here's That Rainy Day
(1:37)  5. More Than You Know
(2:03)  6. You Go to My Head
(1:45)  7. Love Locked Out
(2:39)  8. Some Other Spring
(4:55)  9. Love Letters
(7:40) 10. Whoops

Peter and Will Anderson (born 27 March 1987) are identical twin American jazz saxophonists and clarinetists, composers and arrangers, and leaders of their own trio and quintet. They have performed at venues including The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Blue Note Jazz. Peter and Will's music has been reviewed and featured in the New York Times, Seattle Times, Washington Post, Jazz Times. In addition, their music was used in HBO's Board Walk Empire. Peter and Will Anderson were born in Washington, DC and raised in Bethesda, MD. They attended Walt Whitman High School and were mentored by many musicians including saxophonist Paul Carr and drummer and vibraphonist Chuck Redd. At age 18, they moved to New York City to attend The Juilliard School from 2005-9 (Bachelor of Music) and 2009-11 (Master of Music). There they studied under many notable artists including Joe Temperley, Victor Goines, Frank Wess, Benny Golson, Kenny Washington, and Joe Wilder. From 2007-09, Peter and Will were both recipients of the Illinois Jacquet Scholarship in Jazz Studies from Juilliard. During their undergraduate studies, they were both selected from an international pool of applicants for the Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program, which included a residency of performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.More... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Will_Anderson

Personnel: Peter Anderson, tenor sax; Will Anderson Anderson, alto sax; Grant Stewart, tenor sax; Ken Peplowski, tenor sax; Ehud Asherie, piano; Neal Minerm, bass; Aaron Kimmel, drums

A Sax Supreme

---

Ehud Asherie - Organic

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:11
Size: 100,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:59)  1. Tonight
(4:57)  2. Valse Pra Jelena
(4:02)  3. The Stopper
(6:20)  4. Coquette
(5:29)  5. It's Possible
(5:22)  6. Favela
(6:46)  7. Apostrophe
(5:13)  8. Blues For Fats

Contrary to what some might believe, the designation of a musician as an organist or pianist does not have to be mutually exclusive. While some players choose to focus all of their time and energy on one of these instruments, many others prefer to branch out and try their hand at both. Fats Waller wasn't afraid to work in both worlds, and a whole list of modern-day players, including Gary Versace, Larry Goldings and Sam Yahel, are adept on both instruments. Ehud Asherie can now be added to that list. His string of piano-led discs on the Posi-Tone Records label have already positioned him as a rising jazz star on that instrument, but Organic is all about the organ, and he pushes the piano aside for this one.

The program is evenly split between Asherie originals and covers, ranging from Leonard Bernstein's "Tonight" to Antonio Carlos Jobim's lesser-known "Favela," and guitarist Peter Bernstein is superb across the entire album. His clean-toned, single note lines are always a treat and his soloing on the charming ballad "Coquette" is an album highlight. Asherie's organ playing is unpretentious and pleasing, never running into modern-day abstractions or resorting to clichés. The momentary stops on the second syllable of "Tonight" add a hint of mischief to an otherwise fairly straightforward performance, and the aforementioned "Coquette" adds a touch of grace to the album. "The Stopper" a sorely neglected Sonny Rollins tune features lots of stop-time punctuations and unison hits beneath Dmitry Baevsky's alto saxophone proclamations. Baevsky's searing solo work energizes the rest of the band and drummer Phil Stewart delivers an explosive solo. Jobim's "Favela" is taken a bit faster than usual, with a samba-like groove on the bottom, and Asherie kicks things off with a Morse code-like lick. Stewart's solo, with some festive tom-dominated playing over his steady samba footwork, is the highlight here.

Asherie's originals include a mellow jazz waltz ("Valse Pra Jelena") with Bernstein showing some Grant Green-like tendencies delivered in a more modern fashion and a tribute to Fats Waller ("Blues for Fats") that clearly owes a debt to the man himself. Asherie isn't likely to give up the piano on a permanent basis, but the aptly titled Organic's presents an alternate view of the keyboardist's work, and is a welcome addition to his already impressive catalog. ~ Dan Bilawsky  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/organic-ehud-asherie-posi-tone-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php
 

Personnel:  Ehud Asherie: organ;  Peter Bernstein: guitar;  Dmitry Baevsky: alto saxophone;  Phil Stewart: drums.

Organic

---

Harry Allen - For George, Cole and Duke

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:36
Size: 162,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:35)  1. Always True To You In My Own Fashion
(5:09)  2. In  a Mellow Tone
(4:42)  3. Happy Reunion
(7:15)  4. Silk Stocking
(4:27)  5. Purple Gazelle (Angelica)
(6:34)  6. How Long Has This Been Going On?
(6:10)  7. I Love You Samantha
(5:19)  8. Shall We Dance?
(5:00)  9. By Strauss
(6:03) 10. Love For Sale
(5:54) 11. They All Laughed
(6:09) 12. Who Cares?
(3:13) 13. Mood Indigo

There is no greater paragon of tenor saxophonist taste than Harry Allen. While the fickle winds of prevailing styles continue to blow this or that way, Allen stands tall like the mighty oak, unswayed by fad fashions and firmly rooted to the music of the Great American Songbook. On this appealing date, Allen visits the music of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Duke Ellington. It's not a novel concept, and Allen has gone here countless times, both with single song nods to these men and, on at least two occasions, album-length tributes Cole Porter Songs (BMG, 2001) and Plays Ellington Songs (RCA Victor/RCA, 2000). But does that really matter? Allen continues to find inspiration in the work of these masters men whose respective compositional wells never run dry and his interpretations of their music are things of beauty. You could even go so far as to call them gifts to the ears.

For George, Cole, and Duke finds Allen working with a classy crew of like-minded traditionalists. Pianist Ehud Asherie delivers twinkling and sparkling solos, light and comforting comping, and beautiful beds of sound; Nicki Parrott provides balmy vocals ("In A Mellow Tone," "How Long Has This Been Going On?," and "Mood Indigo"), pleasing solos, and sturdy walking bass lines that act as the heartbeat of this music; and Chuck Redd proves to be a master of feel and economy whether providing a cheery swing pulse from behind the kit or gliding over his band mates with his vibes ("Who Cares?). The majority of the album is a quartet affair, pairing those three with Allen's attractive tenor, but percussionist "Little Johnny" Rivero drops in for the occasional guest shot, adding Latin seasonings to lively numbers ("Love For Sale") and slow roaming episodes of Ellingtonia ("Mood Indigo"). Harry Allen isn't likely to win any originality contests with this one, but that doesn't seem to bother him, nor should it. He's got his sublime saxophone, a group of top-notch musicians, and the music of the masters to work with. In this case, and throughout his career, that's proven to be a formula for success. ~ Dan Bilawsky  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/for-george-cole-and-duke-harry-allen-blue-heron-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php
 

Personnel: Harry Allen: tenor saxophone; Ehud Asherie: piano; Nicki Parrott: acoustic bass, vocals; Chuck Redd: drums, vibraphone; "Little Johnny" Rivero: shakere, conga, bongo (5, 10, 13).

For George, Cole and Duke

---

Ehud Asherie - Shuffle Along

Size: 101,6 MB
Time: 40:25
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Piano Jazz
Art: Front

01. Gypsy Blues (4:49)
02. I'm Just Wild About Harry (4:33)
03. Everything Reminds Me Of You (5:26)
04. I'm Cravin' For That Kind Of Love (4:59)
05. Bandana Days (3:44)
06. I'm Just Wild About Harry - Waltz Version (4:39)
07. If You've Never Been Vamped (3:15)
08. Goodnight Angeline (4:08)
09. Love Will Find A Way (4:48)

Ehud Asherie is an American Jazz Musician (Piano, Organ).

Ehud Asherie lived his childhood in Italy before he emigrated when he was nine years old with his family to the United States.

In 1997 and 1998 he studied jazz at the New School University, he also took private lessons with Frank Hewitt.

Since then, as a pianist, he has had a number of albums on the label Posi-Tone before, including with trumpeter Ryan Kisor as a guest musician.

In 2010 he played a solo album with compositions by, among others , James P. Johnson ( Harlem Strut), Duke Ellington ( Drop Me Off in Harlem ) and Thelonious Monk ( 52nd Street Theme )

In 2011, he took with Harry Allen on. As an organist he leads with guitarist Bina Coquet the Bossa Nova Ensemble Bina & Ehud , with the production Samba De Gringo.

Asherie also appears regularly in the New York jazz club Smalls.

Shuffle Along

---

Hilary Gardner - The Great City

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:49
Size: 92,1 MB
Scans:

(3:17)  1. No One After You
(3:34)  2. Brooklyn Bridge
(3:35)  3. The Great City
(4:52)  4. Autumn In New York
(4:06)  5. Drunk On The Moon
(2:29)  6. Sweetheart (Waitress In A Donut Shop)
(4:18)  7. You Came A Long Way From St. Louis
(3:28)  8. This Little Town Is Paris
(3:23)  9. Chelsea Morning
(3:24) 10. (Ah, The Apple Trees) When The World Was Young
(3:18) 11. Manhattan Avenue

New York City has its fair share of sobriquets "The City That Never Sleeps," "The Big Apple," and "Gotham" are just a few that spring to mind. It's a place of joy and frustration, triumph and tragedy, hope and despair, and all that exists between the extremes. It's a microcosm of the world we know, existing not as a great city, but as the great city. Just ask vocalist Hilary Gardner, an Alaskan- turned-New Yorker who's been soaking up New York City's aura and contributing to its cultural landscape since 2003. Plenty of musicians, in New York or any other locale across the globe, try to build careers around or atop recordings, but Gardner went the other way. She spent her first New York decade carving her place into the city's artistic fabric, working her way into the heart of live audiences at clubs, performing/collaborating with symphony orchestras, and taking Broadway by storm via her singing in Twyla Tharp's Frank Sinatra extravaganza Come Fly Away. Now, after firmly planting her flag in "The City So Nice, They Named Twice," Gardner delivers her leader debut a better-than-great offering called The Great City. 

To many, this record may seem like a throwback date. It's a classy collection of songs that speak, saunter, and/or swing with old world charm, but it's not a look into the distant past or an overly romanticized vision of New York life. It's a collection of stories that form a big(ger) picture about the city. There's an after after hours perspective ("Drunk On The Moon"), a touch of sadness mixed into a season of beauty ("Autumn In New York"), references to "Ol' Blue Eyes" ("Brooklyn Bridge"), and more. Through it all, Gardner proves to be poised, world-wise, and witty in her experience-shaded delivery. Crafting a program of music that successfully puts Leonard Cohen next to Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, Tom Waits beside Vernon Duke, and Nellie McKay after Johnny Mercer is no easy feat, but Gardner makes it seem like a breeze. She ties all of the music together beautifully and she works with a simpatico crew that's able to bring her vision(s) to life. Pianist Ehud Asherie upholds and extends his reputation as an old soul living in modern times, guitarist Randy Napoleon serves as Gardner's most trusted guide, saxophonist Jason W. Marshall and trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt capture the essence of the past without coming off as affected, and the rest of the crew provides superb backing. The Great City may be a paean to New York on the surface, but it's something more: it's recorded evidence indicating that Hilary Garder is a superb singer deserving greater recognition. ~ Dan Bilawsky  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-great-city-hilary-gardner-anzic-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php#.VFjetMmHmtg
 

Personnel: Hilary Gardner: vocals; Tatum Greenblatt: trumpet; Jason Marshall: tenor saxophone; Ehud Asherie: piano; Jon Cowherd: Hammond C-3 organ; Randy Napoleon: guitar; Elias Bailey: acoustic bass; Jerome Jennings: drums.

The Great City

---

Ehud Asherie - Lockout

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:10
Size: 142,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:57)  1. Mixed Emotions
(5:17)  2. Chonky
(6:01)  3. Shaw 'Nuff
(7:20)  4. Isn't This a Lovely Day
(7:31)  5. Lockout
(7:05)  6. Special
(9:04)  7. Un Poco Loco
(7:51)  8. I Had the Craziest Dream
(6:59)  9. Bringing Up Father

Bebop is almost seen now as the default form of jazz. Back in the day though, most jazz musicians still swung and swayed like Sammy Kaye, so the "new sound Dizzy Gillespie and his cohorts invented was as jarring as anything coming out of today's New York jazz underground. With Lockout, pianist Ehud Asherie takes that uptown sound and runs with it, spurred on by a monster quartet that features two major players at Smalls, the downtown club where Asherie cooked up his chops. Four of the nine cuts on Lockout are Asherie originals, though they are almost indistinguishable from the bebop standards with which they share space here. "Mixed Emotions shoots out of the gate with Asherie and tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart flying in tight formation, each shaping the head while injecting enough harmony to create their own individual spaces.

Stewart's phrases are sharp and clipped as he plumbs the depths of his tenor sax, while Asherie comps like a fiend behind him. The Israeli-born pianist takes the spotlight with a quick right hand that dances and bangs, snapping off a fast "Yellow Rose of Texas sub-reference in the middle of a blinding solo. That snap never wanes, not even on the Irving Berlin ballad "Isn't This a Lovely Day or during his in-the-clear intro to Harry Warren's "I Had the Craziest Dream. Asherie's music has the same feel as the picture on the back of the CD booklet: New York at night, all neon and shadows and glowing mist, as urban as it gets. "Chonky is a rolling blues that reeks of "Noo Yawk," and has Stewart' smoking tenor in the Coleman Hawkins tradition; "The Special walks those same mean streets, with slightly flat lines that hint of impending danger. 

The title track could have come straight out of the bells of Dizzy and Bird, with Asherie playing Bud Powell chords to complete the illusion.  Drummer Phil Stewart hooks up with bassist Joel Forbes to provide the classic bebop bass and drum foundation. Both players get room to stretch here and there Stewart most notably on Powell's "Un Poco Loco but their primary mission is to lay the floor for the three players who do the bulk of the heavy lifting. The third soloist is Ryan Kisor, whose searing trumpet appears on four cuts, including the Gillespie composition "Shaw 'Nuff. Kisor and Stewart's solos are stunningly chaotic crazed buglers calling the charge as the track careens downhill, almost at the edge of the cliff. Asherie is firmly in control though, and shows wisdom beyond his years by giving his players the space they deserve. Asherie doesn't always take the first solo, but he doesn't have to: Lockout is clearly his vision, and it injects verve and electricity into a sub-genre that began as innovation, but nowadays can lend itself to stagnation. ~ J Hunter   

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=27857#.UxVRDIVZhhk
 

Personnel: Ehud Asherie: piano; Grant Stewart: tenor sax; Joel Forbes: bass; Phil Stewart: drums; Ryan Kisor: trumpet (3, 5, 8, 9).

Lockout

---

Ehud Asherie & Harry Allen - Upper West Side

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:51
Size: 138,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:36)  1. Learnin' The Blues
(4:38)  2. It Had To Be You
(5:58)  3. O Pato
(5:17)  4. Our Love Is Here To Stay
(5:11)  5. Have You Met Miss Jones?
(5:39)  6. Passion Flower
(5:05)  7. I Want To Be Happy
(6:04)  8. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams
(4:07)  9. I'm In The Mood For Love
(6:30) 10. Love Will Find A Way
(4:42) 11. My Blue Heaven

The closing track on pianist Ehud Asherie's Modern Life (Posi-Tone, 2010), whether intentional or not, came to serve as musical foreshadowing for this album. Modern Life has Asherie leading a crack quartet through a program of largely lesser-performed gems by cream-of-the-crop composers like George Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Tadd Dameron, but when the album reaches its conclusion the rhythm section is relieved of its duties, while tenor saxophonist Harry Allen stays onboard for an emotionally riveting two-man take on Billy Strayhorn's "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing." Three months later, this pair would find itself in a Brooklyn recording studio, ready to make more duo magic with the music of Gershwin, Strayhorn and many others. 

That music from that session, which would come to be called Upper West Side, sat on the shelves for two-and-a-half years, but it couldn't have been due to a lack of quality. This is Grade A jazz performed by two consummate, classy musicians with an intimate knowledge of this repertoire and each other's mannerisms. They casually work their way through the Frank Sinatra-associated "Learnin' The Blues," turning up the heat and grit as they go, deliver playful lines when they visit Brazil (Jayme Silva's "O Pato"), fly through "I Want To Be Happy," and converse via traded solos at various points throughout the album. While Asherie has shown his (post) bop chops and organ abilities on other albums, he has built his reputation on his skills as a practitioner of the lost piano arts which are on display here. He's often a man out of time, performing in a style that one would sooner associate with the early twentieth century than now, but that's what makes him so special. 

Allen, who has his own throwback sound that occasionally touches on stylistic hallmarks of early masters like Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins, is in a similar headspace and, though both men can hold their own in modern digs, it's a pleasure to hear two musicians of this caliber, willing to stop and take a look back. While the pair finds success on every track, the emotional and literal centerpiece of the album comes with another Strayhorn made musical scenario. Allen is Johnny Hodges to Asherie's Duke Ellington on "Passion Flower" and despite Allen playing a larger horn he still manages to capture the mood and spirit that surrounded the famous Ellington-associated altoist. Viewed in its entirety, Upper West Side is a program of delightful duo music that doesn't try to win anybody over with outré ideals, surprise twists or forced displays of showmanship. Allen and Asherie simply play the music, and they do so with clarity, class and charm. ~ Dan Bilawsky   

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=41385#.UuwVTrSgsis

Personnel: Ehud Asherie: piano; Harry Allen: tenor saxophone.

Upper West Side

---

Ehud Asherie & Harry Allen - Modern Life

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:32
Size: 143,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:14)  1. I've Told Every Little Star
(5:09)  2. Blues For George
(6:26)  3. The Trolley Song
(6:02)  4. He Loves And She Loves
(5:04)  5. Vignette
(7:45)  6. One For V
(7:50)  7. No Moon At All
(5:25)  8. Casbah
(6:27)  9. Soon
(5:07) 10. A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing

A dichotomy exists within the musical mind of pianist Ehud Asherie. The youthful pianist is clearly an old soul in many ways. His choice of material including tunes from George Gershwin, Billy Strayhorn and Jerome Kern combined with his knowledge of stride piano and fondness for the jazz masters of the early twentieth century are a throwback. However, Asherie also shows a thoroughly modern concept with some of his choices and stylistic preferences. These two sides converge on Modern Life. While he went with a quintet on Lockout (Posi-Tone, 2007) and Swing Set (Posi-Tone, 2008) featured a trio, he split the difference for Modern Life and goes with a quartet.  This foursome, featuring saxophonist Harry Allen, travels through a pair of Asherie originals and a variety of material from yesteryear. Asherie's clean lines and two-handed independence help to create compelling and exciting moments throughout the album. 

While Allen often arrives with a clean and alluring sound, he ramps up the energy as the song develops and often puts more grit into the mixture, giving off a bit more edge as the music unfolds. While this pattern remains consistent across the majority of the album, the biggest exception is "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing." Allen creates a noir-ish scene, using breathy vibrato with a slight Ben Webster-influence, during this performance. Every note that Asherie plays here comes out as a crystalline musical jewel, helping to heighten the emotional impact. While Asherie and Allen work well together without any help, drummer Chuck Riggs and bassist Joel Forbes prove to be the rhythmic engine that powers the group. Whether providing a jaunty feel on Asherie's "One For V," driving the up-tempo performances like "The Trolley Song" or simply showing that less is more on "He Loves And She Loves," they always provide what is right in the moment.  Allen and Asherie take the bulk of the soloing on the record, whether wailing through a chorus or two or trading eight bars back and forth. Riggs gets in on the trading action every once in a while and Forbes steals the show with his solo on the aforementioned "One For V," but the focus remains largely on piano and saxophone. Asherie's performances on this album showcase his sophisticated sense of swing, strong musical instincts and a connection with Harry Allen that warrants more recorded music from this pairing. ~ Dan Bilawsky   http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=35815#.UuFN1LRpQ2w
 

Personnel: Ehud Asherie: piano; Harry Allen: saxophone; Joel Forbes: bass; Chuck Riggs: drums.

Modern Life

---

Ehud Asherie & Harry Allen - Lower East Side

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:54
Size: 142,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:30)  1. S'posin'
(5:58)  2. Hallelujah!
(5:08)  3. Portrait In Black And White
(6:04)  4. Hey There
(5:24)  5. Thou Swell
(4:06)  6. Some Other Time
(4:44)  7. Thanks A Million
(6:31)  8. 'Deed I Do
(5:37)  9. Loads Of Love
(5:34) 10. Always
(7:12) 11. When I Grow Too Old To Dream

Pianist Ehud Asherie and tenor saxophonist Harry Allen are established musical partners with a shared fondness for a time when songwriting giants like Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers were at their creative zeniths. Lower East Side is the pair's second duo outing, following on from Upper West Side (Posi-Tone, 2012), and once again the two demonstrate how this fondness for a bygone era can still produce fresh and joyous music. The journey from Upper West Side to Lower East Side is geographically short just a few miles. Musically, Esherie and Allen's journey is as brief as can be. Both albums feature the same mix of standards some famous, some undeservedly less so and the same stylish combination of tenor sax and piano. Why mess up a good thing, as they say. The mood throughout Lower East Side is relaxed, inviting, friendly. 

Asherie and Allen form a democratic, unselfish, partnership: a duo that functions best through mutual encouragement and cooperation. Such an arrangement may lack the fire and excitement of more competitive pairings but it more than makes up for this with a surfeit of good humor and high quality musicianship. Asherie's playing sparkles with a lightness of touch and an understated charm. He has a superb sense of rhythm there's never a moment where the music misses drums or bass especially when his stride playing takes center stage on tunes like Rodgers' "Thou Swell." His confidence is clear, his strong left-hand rhythms matched by emphatic, percussive, right hand melody lines. Allen's soft, slightly breathy, sound gives every note he plays a tonal richness. He's eminently capable of adding a raw edge but he does so sparingly, which simply heightens the impact of this shift in tone when it does appear his use of it on "Thou Swell" gives the tune a sexier vibe than usual.

Both men have a warmth to their playing, which heightens the emotional impact of the songs, whether they are upbeat and cheerful or a little more romantic; Allen's tenor on Leonard Bernstein's "Some Other Time" combines softness and warmth like a favorite blanket. The pair's delightful take on Fred Rose's "'Deed I Do" finds them both at their most assertive, driving the tune at a fast tempo that guarantees to drive away the blues. Although Esherie gets top billing on Lower East Side the great joy of this record is to be found in the interplay between piano and saxophone, between two terrific players with a deep, yet still evolving, musical relationship. Esherie and Allen form one of the most talented and most rewarding partnerships on the contemporary jazz scene. ~ Bruce Lindsay  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=43847#.UsggjLRc_vs

Personnel: Ehud Asherie: piano; Harry Allen: tenor saxophone.

Lower East Side

---

Ehud Asherie - Welcome To New York

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:24
Size: 142,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:23)  1. Drop Me Off In Harlem
(4:27)  2. Manhattan Serenade
(3:52)  3. 52nd Street Theme
(5:47)  4. Autumn In New York
(4:45)  5. 42nd Street
(4:56)  6. Lullaby Of Broadway
(6:10)  7. Somewhere
(4:08)  8. Harlem Bound
(3:58)  9. Lovers In New York
(6:53) 10. Lonely Town
(3:34) 11. Harlem Strut
(4:29) 12. Manhattan
(4:57) 13. Take The 'a' Train

On Welcome to New York, his first-ever solo-piano collection, Asherie’s mastery of various masters’ styles, from Waller and Tatum and Dave McKenna on down, puts him in the elite group of heritage pianists who rode in on the wave of Wynton Marsalis traditionalism. The 13-tune playlist here is resourcefully thematic, not necessarily extolling New York as Asherie raids the Bernstein songbook for two more nuggets, “Lonely Town” and “Somewhere.” The latter ballad builds to a rhapsodic fantasia after a hushed, cathedral-like intro, cresting as Asherie tellingly floats the aching yearning of his right hand over the dark fatality of his left.

Duke Ellington’s “Drop Me Off in Harlem” begins the Gotham travelogue with a hazy saloon-hall ambiance, and Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train” swings us out. In between we’re treated to choice interpretations of Monk’s “52nd Street Theme,” James P. Johnson’s challenging “Harlem Strut” and Rodgers and Hart’s anthemic “Manhattan.” Nothing stomps quite as hard as Asherie’s electrifying “42nd Street” when it reaches full steam before a graceful landing that duly honors the stop-time “Naughty, bawdy, gaudy, sporty” coda on the lyric sheet. Even more artful, Asherie expresses the wistfulness of Vernon Duke’s “Autumn in New York” by nostalgically quoting Gershwin’s “Summertime.” Dedicated students of the art form will then recognize the Hank Jones vamp that framed the opening track of Cannonball’s Somethin’ Else, “Autumn Leaves.”

Little delights like that are sprinkled everywhere, like Monk’s “Well, You Needn’t” in the middle of “Lullaby of Broadway” and a drop-by from the “Marines’ Hymn” in “52nd Street Theme.” Asherie studied hard for his first solo test.  ~ Perry Tannenbaum   

http://jazztimes.com/articles/27437-welcome-to-new-york-ehud-asherie

Welcome To New York

---