Alison Moyet - Voice

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:38
Size: 102,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:51)  1. Windmills Of Your Mind
(3:49)  2. The Man I Love
(3:53)  3. Almost Blue
(3:30)  4. Je Crois Entendre Encore
(3:15)  5. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?
(5:37)  6. God Give Me Strength
(3:30)  7. The Wraggle Taggle Gypsies-O!
(3:20)  8. Dido's Lament: When I Am Laid In Earth
(5:08)  9. La Chanson Des Vieux Amants
(5:39) 10. Cry Me A River
(3:01) 11. Bye Bye Blackbird

One of the U.K.'s most popular and best-selling vocalists of the past two decades, Alison Moyet's husk-and-honey voice has made her equally successful as a blues wailer and a dancefloor diva. Equal focus has always been paid to her sharp songwriting, but her new path keeps listeners firmly focused on the intimacy of those vocals, which sound better than ever on this mature and soul-stirring, lushly produced and arranged (by British film composer Anne Dudley) collection of standards some old (Legrand, Gershwin), some new (Elvis Costello), a few in French, and all surprising. 

Edging sweetly into pop-classical territory, Moyet reels us into the "Windmills of Your Mind" before ruminating on "The Man I Love" and exploring the concept of feeling "Almost Blue" (the Costello chestnut). Another highlight is her soaring, ethereal turn on the Costello/Burt Bacharach tune "God Give Me Strength," rendered here like a passionate prayer. She also tackles classical pieces by Bizet and Purcell. Although the tempo and tone of the arrangements are fairly similar, as per the album title, Dudley's restraint allows Moyet's voice to take center stage, where it always belongs. The key to creating a successful standards album is finding unique ways to render familiar material, and peppering the set with obscure pieces that will inspire a deeper study of musical history. Moyet achieves all this and more on this winsome future classic. ~ Jonathan Widran  http://www.allmusic.com/album/voice-mw0000743994

Personnel: Alison Moyet (vocals); John Parricelli (guitar); Julian Jackson (harmonica); Nicholas Bucknail (clarinet); Jamie Talbot (saxophone); Derek Watkins (trumpet); Anne Dudley (piano, keyboards); Chris Laurence (bass instrument); Ralph Salmins (drums).

Voice

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Julian Jackson Quartet - I Can't Get Started

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:41
Size: 134.3 MB
Styles: Harmonica jazz
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[3:15] 1. Alfie
[6:50] 2. Etude No. 1
[9:38] 3. I Can't Get Started
[1:57] 4. When I Fall In Love
[5:04] 5. Airegin
[7:42] 6. I Hear A Rhapsody
[5:56] 7. Three Views Of A Secret
[6:41] 8. Autumn Leaves
[8:07] 9. You Must Believe In Spring
[3:27] 10. Laurie

Julian Jackson (harmonica); Tim Lapthorn (piano); Tom Herbert (bass); Patrick Levett (drums).

You only have to listen to the first few seconds of this album to realize that Julian Jackson is a true master of the harmonica and that he has a tone to rival that of his heroes, Larry Aldler and Toots Thielemans, the superabundance of his ideas and his natural jazz feeling recalling the great Toots in particular.

Jackson has put together a nicely balanced programme for his debut solo jazz album. His harmonica sings beautifuly on the ballads "Alfie", "I Can't Get Started" and "When I Fall in Love", the latter an impressive a cappella version of Victor Young's classic tune, and effervesces on the swingers "I Hear a Rhapsody" and "Autumn Leaves". Sonny Rollins' "Airegin" is an exhilarating work-out for the quartet and features a telling solo from the talented Tim Lapthorn on piano. Jackson takes us on a wonderful musical journey on Jaco Pastorius' searching jazz waltz "Three Views of a Secret" with Lapthorn at his bluesy best, Patrick Levett displaying some impressive jazz-rock chops on drums. Jackson's lilting theme "Etude No 1" recalls the work of bossa nova genius Antonio Carlos Jobim, Michel LeGrand's haunting "You Must Believe in Spring" similarly infused with hypnotically swaying latin rhythms after its poignant rubato beginning. The album ends with Bill Evans' exquisite melody "Laurie", the last few bars evanescing into the ether with a series of harmonically ambiguous suspended chords, leaving the listener in a state of supreme calm.

Finally, taking time off from his bass guitar duties with award-winning groups Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear, Tom Herbert is rock-solid on acoustic bass, providing the necessary foundation for Jackson and co. to take flight. ~Geoff Eales

I Can't Get Started

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