Steve Davis & Larry Willis - Alone Together

Styles: Trombone And Piano Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:42
Size: 157,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:32) 1. Milestones
(4:13) 2. My Foolish Heart
(9:50) 3. Surrey with the Fringe on Top
(8:54) 4. Alone Together
(5:24) 5. The Day You Said Goodbye
(8:22) 6. United
(8:30) 7. We'll Be Together Again
(7:44) 8. UMMG
(9:10) 9. Short Cake

Trombonist Steve Davis has been a veteran of the New York scene for many years. Hailing from Binghamton, New York, he quickly established a presence as one of the best trombonists in the area as a teenager. Upon his arrival in New York City in the mid-1980s, Davis' talents were noticed by such luminaries as drummer Art Blakey and saxophonist Jackie McLean. Davis' quartet release on Mapleshade, Alone Together , is a tip of the hat to his former boss a wonderful quartet featuring pianist Larry Willis, bassist Nat Reeves and drummer Eric McPherson, all McLean alumni.

The fact that all these men are veterans of McLean's combo gives this session the feeling of a working band, and everyone plays at a high level. Davis and Willis have a great rapport together, with Willis' voicings adding depth to Davis' lines. Larry Willis may perhaps be best known as the pianist in trumpeter Woody Shaw's classic group, and as one of the most sensitive and nuanced disciples of Herbie Hancock.

Willis begins the quartet's take on "Milestones with a lovely introduction before Davis enters with the familiar Miles Davis (by way of John Lewis) melody. The rhythmic feel throughout the piece is refreshingly buoyant as McPherson molds and shapes the time at the bridge, a la a young Tony Williams, allowing for strong statements from Willis and Davis. Willis also creates rhythmic interest behind the trombone solo by often going against the time for tension and release.

The next cut, the classic standard "My Foolish Heart, is taken as a duet. Willis' warm chords frame Davis' dark, burnished tone as he stays close to the melody. The title track is taken with a quasi-Latin/boogaloo eighth note feel. Davis bleeds soul out of his horn with Curtis Fuller-like intensity, while McPherson provides strong commentary on the skins throughout. Fuller's influence is further felt on "United, taken from Art Blakey's book. Davis provides slashing phrasing reminiscent of the elder trombonist on classic Blakey albums such as Free For All (Blue Note, 1964), as McPherson keeps a strong swinging pulse on this fairly straightforward Wayne Shorter composition.

As fine as the music is, the recording quality of this release, which is superb, deserves to be mentioned. The sound is dynamic and very much like a session at Rudy Van Gelder's original Hackensack living room studio combined with the intimacy of the many studio dates on Pablo. The recording is direct to two-track analog tape and minimally miked, capturing the nuances of Willis' piano, the woodiness of the bass, and all of the air control flowing through the trombone. Free of compression and other tweaks, this is how every new acoustic jazz album should sound. Overall, Steve Davis and his quartet have made an excellent album that is creative and soulful, sure to delight fans of the hard bop tradition. By CJ Shearn
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/alone-together-steve-davis-mapleshade-recordings-review-by-cj-shearn

Personnel: Steve Davis: trombone; Larry Willis: piano; Nat Reeves: bass; Eric McPherson: drums.

Alone Together

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Victor Gould - Earthlings

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:39
Size: 131,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:31)  1. Farewell to Dogma
(4:58)  2. Love Vibrations
(4:14)  3. Earthlings
(5:57)  4. Spider
(5:27)  5. Rise
(5:52)  6. Roses Poses
(5:06)  7. Blues on Top
(5:06)  8. Lover
(5:34)  9. Con Alma
(8:51) 10. Resilience

Darkly beautiful sounds from pianist Victor Gould an up-and-coming player who's also turning into a hell of a leader too! Vic works here with a fantastic core trio Dezron Douglas on bass and Eric McPherson on drums both players who are perfectly suited to set up the right sort of arcing, angling elements that fit the mode of Gould's piano which seems to run up and down in these blocky flights of deeper tones that are completely wonderful! The album also features guest horns on about half the set the soprano sax of Tim Warfield on three tracks, and the alto of Godwin Louis on three more plus some light percussion from Khalil Kwame Bell. 

Titles include the originals "Rise", "Resilience", "Spider", and "Blues On Top" plus versions of "Love Vibrations", "Farewell To Dogma", "Earthlings", and "Con Alma".  © 1996-2019, Dusty Groove, Inc. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/870271/Victor-Gould:Earthlings

Personnel: Victor Gould - piano,composer; Dezron Douglas - bass,composer; Eric McPherson - drums

Earthlings

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Jimmy Greene - Brand New World

Styles: Saxophone And Flute Jazz 
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:15
Size: 143,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:01)  1. Humpty Dumpty
(6:13)  2. Brand New World
(6:54)  3. Arise!
(8:29)  4. Renée
(6:39)  5. Mr. McLean
(6:48)  6. Never Let Me Go
(7:29)  7. Godsend
(8:10)  8. Dream, Little Boy, Dream
(7:29)  9. Darn That Dream

You may have caught some late night jazz at Small’s in New York’s Greenwich Village a few years ago and heard tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene. You wondered who is this guy? Maybe you picked up the Live At Birdland disc last year to check out the new talent. Again Greene was front and center. I first heard rumor of the wonderkin, then was thrilled by him on trumpeter Darren Barrett’s First One Up (J Curve). The pair reminded me of early Wynton and Branford Marsalis band, which of course reminds us of the classic hard bop bands of Miles, Blakey, and Lee Morgan. Also released late last year was the surprisingly fresh Horace Silver disc Jazz Has A Sense Of Humor (Verve) where both Silver and Greene thrilled old time fans of the pianist. Greene, at the ripe age of 24 makes his debut as leader. His background and tutelage under Professor Jackie McLean since age 15 spawns more of that great Jackie Mac sound. In a solid first outing as leader, Greene surrounds himself with graduates of McLean’s bands Eric McPherson (drums) and Steve Davis (trombone) and his musical soulmate Darren Barrett (trumpet). The band opens with Chick Corea’s “Humpty Dumpty,” a burning bop classic, and besides two standards, all the compositions are Greene originals. For a debut, I cannot criticize his choice to follow a bop medium. After all, it was the most revolutionary movement in the short history of the genre. His concession to a “modern” sound was the limited inclusion of an electric Rhodes Synthesizer on “Arise!,” a throwback to the seventies sound of Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson. Greene handles a flute and Soprano saxophone with deft touch. I am anxious to follow this young and promising career. ~ Mark Corroto https://www.allaboutjazz.com/brand-new-world-jimmy-greene-rca-victor-review-by-mark-corroto.php

Personnel:  Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Soprano Saxophone – Jimmy Greene; Drums – Eric McPherson; Electric Bass, Acoustic Bass – Dwayne Burno; Percussion – Kahlil Kwame Bell; Piano, Synthesizer – Aaron Goldberg ; Trombone – Steve Davis ; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Darren Barrett

Brand New World

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Andrew Hill - Time Lines

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:28
Size: 150,0 MB
Art: Front

(7:03)  1. Malachi
(9:02)  2. Time Lines
(9:00)  3. Ry Round 1
(9:40)  4. For Emilio
(8:59)  5. Whitsuntide
(8:14)  6. Smooth
(7:55)  7. Ry Round 2
(5:32)  8. Malachi (Solo Piano Version)

March was a month to celebrate. It saw the release of Andrew Hill's new album, Time Lines (for his alma mater, Blue Note), and found him leading a powerhouse quintet for four magical nights at Birdland. The visionary's legions of fans gave him a joyous reception in concert, and there is no end of buzz around his latest effort (many questioned the likelihood of his return to music after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2004). To be sure, Hill is back, with an album that deserves close attention, not for the simple fact that it documents the return of a jazz giant to the company that got him off the ground, but rather as an achievement by a man who continues to give wholly of himself in the pursuit of high art. Time Lines begins and ends with the ethereal ballad "Malachi, a piece written for the late Hill collaborator bassist Malachi Favors, setting the tone for the entire album. The rapport between the players is immediately evident on this track, and as the album progresses, the role of each becomes clearer in Hill's delicate musical scheme. Hill himself plays a relatively supportive role in the proceedings, providing the occasional angular interjection and often sitting out altogether, content to just take it all in. On the album and in person, the main protagonists are two relative youngsters, multi-reedist Greg Tardy and the incredibly versatile bassist John Hebert. Like the classic Andrew Hill albums of yesteryear, much of the musical propulsion that characterizes his unique sound emanates from the bass chair, and Hebert doesn't disappoint. 

His buoyant phrases and deeply rooted rhythmic sense, along with Eric McPherson's sensitive drumming, lay the foundation for Tardy to soar on pieces like "Ry Round 2 and "For Emilio and inspire the reemerging master trumpeter Charles Tolliver to recapture the fire that characterized his earlier efforts with Hill and as a leader in his own right. Throughout all this, the distinctive signature of Hill's sound, both as a pianist and writer, is always present, about which any listener will surely agree upon hearing the final solo piano track. Like the learned sage, Hill sat perched on his throne at Birdland last month as the fruits of his genius swirled in the air around him, smiling almost imperceptibly. Forty-plus years of music had come and gone, and the master could think of nothing more appropriate than to smile at the beauty he had created. ~ Matthew Miller https://www.allaboutjazz.com/timelines-andrew-hill-blue-note-records-review-by-matthew-miller.php

Personnel: Andrew Hill: piano; Greg Tardy: tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet; Charles Tolliver: trumpet; John Hebert: bass; Eric McPherson: bass.

Time Lines

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Fred Hersch Trio - Live In Europe

Styles: Piano Jazz 

Year: 2018

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 63:56

Size: 151,3 MB

Art: Front

(5:51)  1. We See

(7:12)  2. Snape Maltings

(2:50)  3. Scuttlers

(4:48)  4. Skipping

(8:25)  5. Bristol Fog (For John Taylor)

(8:40)  6. Newklypso (For Sonny Rollins)

(6:56)  7. The Big Easy (For Tom Piazza)

(7:10)  8. Miyako

(6:43)  9. Black Nile

(5:16) 10. Solo Encore-Bluemonk

Fred Hersch's 2009 recording, Whirl (Palmetto Records), was where pure magic first occurred in the pianist's extensive and consistently superb discography. That particular outing introduced his now long-standing trio with bassist John Hebert and drummer Eric McPherson. Alive At the Vanguard (2012), Floating (2014), and Sunday Night At The Vanguard (2016) by the group followed, all on Palmetto Records. For those who lauded Hersch's solo outing, Open Book (Palmetto Records, 2017) as his finest, most incisive and finely focused outing, the pianist offers up Live In Europe, featuring his Hebert/McPherson team, to garner votes for that "Hersch's Best" slot. Performed at Flagey Studio 4, in Brussels's former National Institute for Radio Broadcasting, Hersch was initially unaware that the set which he regarded as one of his best trio performances ever had been recorded. Upon finding out that it had been and upon hearing the tape and having his belief in its extraordinary quality confirmed he decided to release the music. Spinning through Hersch's previous outings with this nine years and running trio says that they bring the "A" game every time. On Live In Europe it's an "A+" game. The players are as flexibly synchronized and adept at presenting their three-way improvisational and emotional expressionism as they could be, on a set that begins with a jittery take on Thelonious Monk's "We See."

The group follows with six Hersch originals, including tributes to British pianist John Taylor and a calypso-esque nod to saxophone legend Sonny Rollins, before slipping into the Herbie Hancock songbook with the achingly beautiful "Miyako," that gives way to an effervescent take on a second Shorter tune, "Black Nile." It's a set where Hersch sounds freer, more open to possibilities, employing the same exploratory approach he presented on the epic "Though The Forest" on his Open Book outing. And the sound must be addressed. It doesn't get any better a big plus, especially on piano trio outings. The piano is crisp, like a winter sunrise. Every nuance of McPherson's intricate and energetic drumming has crystal clarity, and Hebert's empathic and emphatic bass lines come through with a clean-cut lucidity. The show wraps it up with a solo encore of "Blue Monk," a sober and contemplative return to Monk-land, a place to which Hersch often travels.~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/live-in-europe-fred-hersch-palmetto-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Fred Hersch: piano; John Hebert: bass; Eric McPherson: drums.

Live In Europe

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