Andy Fusco - Turmoil

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:10
Size: 145,7 MB
Art: Front

(8:34)  1. Minor League
(7:44)  2. Polkadots and Moonbeams
(6:09)  3. Look for the Silver Lining
(6:22)  4. Rhapsodia
(9:46)  5. Hackensack
(7:47)  6. Turmoil
(9:12)  7. The Gypsy
(7:34)  8. Bella's Burn

No turmoil here, as saxophonist Andy Fusco is very much in charge heading up the group with a confident tone and strong sense of voice which maybe also allows a bit more openness in the other players! Fusco blows alto throughout, with a rich, crispy tone that almost moves more towards a tenor at points  and he shares lots of solo space with guitarist John Hart, a player with very open chromes evoking lots of harmonic moments from his instrument, as they ring out strongly with a sense of color that it might normally take a few other players to introduce. The rest of the quartet features Bill Morning on bass and Rudy Petschauer on drums and titles include "Turmoil", "Minor League", "The Gypsy", "Bella's Burn", "Look For The Silver Lining", and "Rhapsodia".  © 1996-2019, Dusty Groove, Inc. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/894257/Andy-Fusco:Turmoil

Personnel:  Andy Fusco - alto saxophone; John Hart - guitar; Bill Mooring bass; Rudy Petschauer - drums

Turmoil

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Brother Jack McDuff - That's The Way I Feel About It

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:17
Size: 127,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:15)  1. The Age Of Aquarius
(8:49)  2. Blooze In G
(6:14)  3. Theme From Mission Impossible
(8:04)  4. That's The Way I Feel About It
(3:59)  5. Six A.M.
(4:53)  6. Saturday Night Fish Fry
(5:32)  7. Old Folks
(7:46)  8. Flamingo
(4:42)  9. Moody's Mood For Love

At times, McDuff demonstrates how soul-jazz organ stars used to make albums back in their '60s heyday, playing then-current pop hits like "The Age of Aquarius" and the theme from Mission: Impossible (which, thanks to cinema, was a hit all over again in 1996 when this CD was made). We also hear McDuff trying out his vocal cords for the first time on Louis Jordan's "Saturday Night Fish Fry"; actually, he merely talks the lyrics over the rhythm section -- and at 70, he's entitled to this charming lark. Otherwise, this is another fine, home-cookin' soul-jazz session, with McDuff's Hammond B-3 burning at its usual low-intensity, high-blues-content level. Chris Potter dances around the organ on flutes, Andrew Beals and Jerry Weldon offer solid solos on alto and tenor respectively, and the rest of the Heatin' System runs the gamut from Latin to soul-deep grooves. Fans of the genre can buy with peace of mind. ~ Richard S.Ginell https://www.allmusic.com/album/thats-the-way-i-feel-about-it-mw0000024437

Personnel:  Jack McDuff: Hammond B3 (+ vocals on "Saturday Night Fish Fry");  John Hart: Guitar;  Andrew Beals: Alto Sax;  Jerry Weldon: Tenor Sax;  Kip Reed: Electric Bass (except last track);  Rudy Petschauer: Drums

That's The Way I Feel About It

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René Marie - Vertigo

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:55
Size: 153.2 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2001
Art: Front

[5:18] 1. Them There Eyes
[6:25] 2. Surrey With The Fringe On Top
[4:54] 3. I'd Rather Talk About You
[5:15] 4. Don't Look At Me Like That
[6:38] 5. I Only Have Eyes For You
[4:01] 6. It's All Right With Me
[7:55] 7. Vertigo
[5:32] 8. Detour Ahead
[7:34] 9. Moonray
[6:22] 10. Blackbird
[6:58] 11. Dixie Strange Fruit

Bass – Robert Hurst (tracks: 1-7, 9-11); Bass Clarinet – Chris Potter (2) (tracks: 6); Drums – Jeff "Tain" Watts (tracks: 1-4, 7, 9-11); Guitar – John Hart (tracks: 4,5); Percussion – Jeffrey Haynes (tracks: 4, 5, 7, 11); Piano – Mulgrew Miller (tracks: 2-14, 7-10); Tenor Saxophone – Chris Potter (2) (tracks: 7, 9); Trumpet – Jeremy Pelt (tracks: 4, 10); Vocals – René Marie. Recorded on February 22 & 23, 2001 at Avatar Studios, New York

Rene Marie's second CD for MaxJazz is, for the most part, a very enjoyable CD. This extremely gifted singer has a very appealing voice and is a talented arranger as well. Her playful arrangement of "Them There Eyes," with bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, is very refreshing, with some fine scat singing, too. Her unusually deliberate and rather sexy take of "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top" adds pianist Mulgrew Miller and also has some fine scat singing, too. Her Latin chart for "I Only Have Eyes for You" proves catchy, with some tasty guitar playing from John Hart. "It's All Right With Me" is slowed to a snail's pace with Chris Potter's noodling bass clarinet and Hurst's brooding bass backing her powerful vocal. "Vertigo," another Marie original, is easily the most exciting piece on the session. The only occasion when she follows anything resembling an expected path is her lush treatment of the ballad "Detour Ahead" in a memorable duet with Miller. There are some weak spots. The original "Don't Look at Me Like That" is monotonous filler; while the Beatles' "Blackbird" is drastically rewritten with a tedious vamp that gives the song a somewhat ominous sound, but it grows tiresome quickly. The medley of "Dixie" (a song reviled by most African-Americans) and "Strange Fruit" (with its dramatic description of lynching) invites controversy. She sings "Dixie" a cappella with a possible touch of sarcasm, then the band is added for the shift into the piece that was first put on the map by Billie Holiday, introduced with almost a funeral march-like cadence. Somehow Rene Marie's lovely voice seems inappropriate for this song, as she doesn't reflect the anguish of its lyrics very consistently. Even with these reservations, this is a highly recommended CD. ~Ken Dryden

Vertigo

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Steve Davis - Quality of Silence

Styles: Jazz, Post-Bop
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:23
Size: 118,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:33)  1. The Quality of Your Silence
(5:27)  2. Bye Bye Blackbird
(3:46)  3. One Two Free
(4:27)  4. I Thought About You
(4:19)  5. Yesterdays
(6:13)  6. Infant Eyes
(2:16)  7. Free To Be Me
(6:21)  8. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
(5:46)  9. I'm Old Fashioned
(3:12) 10. Freedom
(4:59) 11. A Cole Porter Flat

Drummer Steve Davis has a keen ear that appreciates the sounds of silence as well as the sounds of music. “The power and beauty of a song is determined by the notes that you don’t play, as much as it is the notes you play,” Davis muses in the liners. Though an oft-touted goal, it’s one not generally made by drummers. Here, however, Davis really does “play” the silences thus living up to the promise of the project’s title. Indeed, it’s the charged negative spaces surrounding the notes as much as the notes themselves that keep resonating after the music has faded. Here, Davis’ implosive minimalism is fleshed out by soprano saxist Tim Ries, guitarist John Hart, bassist Drew Gress and pianist Andy LaVerne. “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” typifies the approach. Taken at a dizzyingly slow tempo, each pearl of Kern’s melodic strand stands alone, suspended against a black velvet void. Even when the tempo zooms, there’s still great clarity. Davis is a visionary, a master percussionist whose sticks and brushes paint rather than pound. Yes, Davis solos with elan (check out his pungent sketch at the end of “Blackbird”). This, however, is a project in which group interactions rather than soloistic stunting carry the day. ~ Chuck Berg https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/steve-davis-quality-of-silence/

Personnel: Steve Davis (drums); Tim Ries (soprano saxophone); Andy LaVerne (piano); John Hart (guitar); Drew Gress (bass).

Quality of Silence

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John Hart - Exit From Brooklyn

Size: 135,6 MB
Time: 58:17
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2016
Styles: Jazz: Mainstream Jazz
Art: Front

01. Here's That Rainy Day (5:51)
02. Exit From Brooklyn (5:54)
03. The Star Crossed Lovers (5:01)
04. Inside Out (6:04)
05. April In Paris (8:03)
06. Just Friends (5:49)
07. I Mean It! (6:53)
08. Ask Me Now (4:51)
09. Jackie-Ing (4:13)
10. Where Or When (5:32)

In the winter of 1984 I first arrived in New York City. Fresh out of college, armed with a couple of guitars, I was unaware that I was about to begin a 30-year odyssey in which I would experience virtually every facet of the NY jazz scene. I soon landed in Brooklyn - Fort Greene to be exact. Brooklyn was a popular location for migrating young jazz musicians at that time, as it was difficult for many to negotiate Manhattan’s high rents. Neighborhoods such as Ft. Greene, Park Slope, and Brooklyn Heights were teaming with musicians, and the sound of jam sessions coming from inside apartment buildings was ubiquitous.
It was a different Brooklyn from the Brooklyn today. The term hipster was dormant and I would venture to say that there were very few Brooklynites who knew what a latte was. The one thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the vibrant and fertile jazz scene that has always resided there.

Brooklyn is where I first met Bill Moring and Tim Horner, the two remarkable musicians who join me on this disc. We met shortly after I moved to NY, all from different parts of the country, each with different backgrounds but all with the same goal, to play and learn. We ran into each other at some of those apartment jam sessions, found each other on various gigs together, and eventually formed a trio around 2000. This is our fourth CD together. In the late 90’s we all headed to the suburbs, raised our families, played a lot of gigs together and kept those jam sessions happening (all though this time in a house, not an apartment!)

My idea for this record was for us to convene with a minimum of rehearsal, play music that is rich in melody and explore and refine the chemistry that we have developed after all these years playing together.

Exit From Brooklyn

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Brother Jack McDuff - Brotherly Love

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:10
Size: 154,8 MB
Art: Front

( 5:35)  1. Hot Barbecue
( 7:27)  2. Vas Dis
( 5:18)  3. Kettle Of Fish
( 7:57)  4. Georgia
( 5:38)  5. Santa Amalia
( 4:40)  6. April In Paris
( 9:33)  7. Time's Marchin' On
( 8:08)  8. Pork Chops G Pasta
(11:50)  9. Rock Candy

Brotherly Love would have been one of those feel-good Jack McDuff albums that reunites some of his early collaborators and some of the musicians he helped train (dozens of them!)...were it not his last album. Instead, Brotherly Love takes on a double meaning: a reference to the Philadelphians who join him on the album (Pat Martino and Joey DeFrancesco) and an acknowledgement of the fraternity (and, yes, sorority-or, well, camaraderie) of musicians who develop lifelong friendships and instinctive understandings of the music. Working once again with Red Holloway, McDuff leads with his unmistakable style that combines the blues with a melodic approach not only to his solos, but also to his music. 

McDuff wrote six of the tunes on Brotherly Love, and they typically includes his signature titles that imply his unpretentious attitude about life. Titles like "Time's Marchin' On," (a slow down-home blues building to the inevitable climax before fadeout and spoken exclamation), "Kettle Of Fish," (a faster blues that serves as the occasion for inspiring solos from McDuff, Martino and Holloway), "Vas Dis" (a twisting jazz waltz somewhat akin to "Take Five") and McDuff's famous "Rock Candy." "Rock Candy" has personal significance to Joey DeFrancesco, who joined McDuff on this tune in a live performance at the Concord Jazz Festival in 1996 after their duo It's About Time album was released. "Rock Candy" was the first tune that DeFrancesco performed with McDuff at the age of ten. 

Playing "Rock Candy" note-for-note as a child just the way that McDuff recorded it, DeFrancesco remained friends with him for what became a lifetime. Brotherly Love includes two tracks from that live performance, "Rock Candy" and "Pork Chops & Pasta," played by McDuff's touring band of Jerry Weldon, Andrew Beals, John Hart and Rudy Petschauer. The appearance at the jazz festival not only represents a full-circle performance of the tune, but also it's an thrilling performance unto itself when all of the musicians were at their peak. The enthusiastic applause at the end of the performance showed appreciation in person for the musicians' giving-it-their-all. That same applause which ends the recording shows appreciation for McDuff's lifelong success in entertaining thousands of listeners. The more surprising selection on the CD is Chucho Valdes' "Santa Amalia," played by the studio group consisting of Holloway, Martino, bassist Frank Gravis and drummer Grady Tate. 

Even with the Latin tinge laid down by Tate and the festival licks implied by Holloway, McDuff converts the tune into something that would fit right into the organ circuit repertoire. "April In Paris" and "Georgia" are the two other tunes on Brotherly Love that McDuff didn't write. With a nod to Count Basie's classic recording of "April In Paris," McDuff, in an orchestral fashion, fills in for the entire band before Holloway and Martino change the feel into that of an easy swing. That doesn't mean that McDuff leaves out the famous ending; he plays it as dramatically as would be expected. "Georgia" slows down into a languid retelling of the story, allowing for the musicians to fill in the rests with bluesiness and meaning. A hard-driving leader who demanded musical integrity from the people who worked for him, Jack McDuff remained true to the spirit of the music, even as he disdained fast licks for logical solo development. Brotherly Love is yet more proof that he understood the power of music, as he worked to channel that power to his audiences. ~ AAJ Staff  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/brotherly-love-jack-mcduff-concord-music-group-review-by-aaj-staff.php
 

Personnel: Jack McDuff, Joey DeFrancesco, Hammond B-3 organ; Andrew Beals, alto sax; Red Holloway, alto & tenor sax; Jerry Weldon, tenor sax; Pat Martino, John Hart, guitar; Frank Gravis, bass; Grady Tate, Rudy Petschauer, drums

Brotherly Love

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John Hart - Comfort Zone

Size: 132,1 MB
Time: 56:50
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2011
Styles: Jazz: Mainstream Jazz
Art: Front

01. Charade (5:57)
02. Desalento (4:44)
03. Comfort Zone (4:10)
04. Dark Attitude (5:31)
05. Living For The City (5:34)
06. Michelle (4:51)
07. There Is No Greater Love (7:33)
08. I'll Get By (5:04)
09. Lonnie's Lament (7:25)
10. Moonlight In Vermont (5:57)

John Hart has performed and/or recorded with Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Lou Donaldson, Chris Potter, Joey DeFrancesco, Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, Jerry Weldon and John Tendy. John is a veteran of the world famous Apollo Theater band in Harlem, NY. This is John's dabut recording with Index Jazz and he can also be heard on the Index collection: Index Jams Vol. 1, which features Joe Magnarelli, Jerry Weldon, John Tendy, and Akiko Tsuruga.

Comfort Zone

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