Les McCann - On The Soul Side

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1995
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:58
Size: 144,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:09)  1. Shabalala
(8:41)  2. Early Riser
(7:16)  3. Back Rub
(8:12)  4. Vu Jade (The Feeling Of Never Having Been There Before)
(8:55)  5. New Blues
(5:15)  6. Lift Every Voice And Sing / God Bless America
(3:52)  7. Ignominy
(4:22)  8. The Children
(4:50)  9. Dippermouth
(6:22) 10. Look To Your Heart

While other Les McCann albums have emphasized R&B or soul-jazz vocals, the singer/pianist does very little singing on this CD. Only on "Look to Your Heart" can McCann's vocals be heard. Except for "God Bless America" (which contains a memorable vocal by Lou Rawls), all of the other tracks are jazz instrumentals. Joined by saxman Keith Anderson, trumpeter Jeff Elliott, bassist Abraham Laboriel, and drummer Tony St. James, a 58-year-old McCann makes jazz pianism his top priority on this album. It's a very lyrical and accessible sort of jazz pianism -- those who have spent a lot of time savoring Gene Harris' playing or getting into Joe Sample's Carmel should appreciate McCann's melodic playing on "Back Rub," "Shabalala," and other originals. Sadly, On the Soul Side is the last studio album that McCann would record as a leader before suffering a major stroke in early 1995 one that weakened his piano playing without depriving him of his ability to sing. ~Alex Henderson http://www.allmusic.com/album/on-the-soul-side-mw0000115110

Personnel: Les McCann (piano, vocals); Lou Rawls (vocals); Eddie Harris, Keith Anderson (saxophone); Jeff Elliott (trumpet, flugelhorn); Abraham Laboriel (bass); Tony St. James (drums).

On The Soul Side

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Jeff Elliott - Facing West

Size: 143,0 MB
Time: 61:30
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Jazz: Crossover Jazz
Art: Front

01. Magic Jazz Dance (7:23)
02. Out Of The Fog (6:20)
03. Happy Village (5:46)
04. Things Change (5:35)
05. Mad Traffic Jam (5:29)
06. Western Man (5:01)
07. Mine Tonight (5:33)
08. War Zone (6:26)
09. I've Lived 100 Lifetimes (6:20)
10. Resolution (Feat. Ernie Watts) (7:33)

Jeff Elliott – the trumpet leader – has been “jazz is in my veins” since his father, clearly a wise man, bought him a real trumpet in 1963. This album celebrates not only that gift of 50 years ago, but adds up to Jeff’s life in music in the decades since.

These days, he decided to sum it all up, and this album reveals how much Jeff has in his veins because of those 50 years.

Back in the 1960s, Jeff’s father made sure Jeff heard the records of Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Jonah Jones, the high standard bearers and blowers of jazz then. But, when his father left the room, Jeff grabbed his own guitar and played along with The Beatles.
In high school, he dreamed of being a rock star, even if the school sat him in its orchestra’s first chair, as first trumpet.

As Jeff Elliott grew into his twenties, he began thinking of himself as “a musical mutt,” a guy with more than just one style and instrument in his repertoires. And to help this mixture, whether Mutt or purebred, Jeff was blessed with perfect pitch.

Jeff Elliott always craved being “in the band,” whether it was a concert band or a jazz big band. Which didn’t matter, because Jeff grew up playing professionally at least those two loves: jazz trumpet and rock everything. Over the years, he has blended those genres into his own styles, passions, and beliefs about music.

As Jeff matured, playing with his and other bands and appearing night after night with West Coast clubs out on the Pacific shores, his ears began to hear a fresh style of music.

That style is not to be put in words here. It is best defined in your ears.

He thinks of it as and refers to it as “Pacific” and describes the ten compositions on this album as “another branch to the left of the great music tree: The West side, where I am from, facing west to the ocean and the sun.”

And thus this CD, which compiles the influences of Jeff’s past: jazz, folk, rock, orchestra, ethnic, funk, and concert band.

It’s amazing what you can create in only 50 years, if you’ve put all your different hearts into an album like this.

Facing West

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