LaVon Hardison - There Will Be Trouble

Size: 97,5 MB
Time: 41:48
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. My Funny Valentine (4:12)
02. Frim Fram Sauce (3:20)
03. Should I Stay Or Should I Go (3:22)
04. Mood Indigo (5:01)
05. Heat Wave (3:34)
06. It's Only A Paper Moon (2:53)
07. Firework (7:12)
08. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) (2:51)
09. Sweet Georgia Brown (3:42)
10. One Fine Day (5:37)

Did you ever hear a cover version of a popular song and think "That's what it's all about!"? Chances are you’ll feel that way about all of the songs on LaVon Hardison's "There Will Be Trouble." Her fourth release -- and by far her most compelling work to date -- comprises ten eclectic selections that prove that great songs are great songs, regardless of genre or age.

Her selections range from the raucous 1925 jazz standard "Sweet Georgia Brown" anchored by stellar baritone sax work from Hans Teuber, to a powerfully intimate re-imagining of Katy Perry's 2010 hit "Firework."

In between, LaVon visits the 1930s ("My Funny Valentine," "Mood Indigo," "It's Only a Paper Moon"); the 1940s ("Frim Fram Sauce"); the 1960s ("Heat Wave," "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)," "One Fine Day"); and the 1980s ("Should I Stay or Should I Go").

Each stop on this trip through diverse times and styles will make you smile, or cry, or think about your own journey in a new way. LaVon's remarkable ability as a musical storyteller -- rooted in a lifetime of acting and musical performance -- helps her become a conduit connecting song to listener. And the top-notch musicians she's chosen to work with support her voice at every step with just the right mix of verve and attitude.

Taking this musical journey with her, you can under stand why LaVon was acclaimed as Earshot Jazz's 2017 Northwest Vocalist of the Year and winner of the 2016 Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Audition

There Will Be Trouble

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Lavon Hardison - Everyday Gifts (Feat. David Rhys-Johnson)

Size: 71,1 MB
Time: 30:06
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2008
Styles: Gospel
Art: Front

01. Stand By Me (3:50)
02. Relax (2:06)
03. This Little Light Of Mine (2:58)
04. Imagine (3:07)
05. No More (2:42)
06. Wade In The Water (3:36)
07. Walk In The Light (3:34)
08. Every Day (2:51)
09. Pray, Pray, Pray (2:32)
10. Paths Together (2:46)

Inspiring. Spiritual. Uplifting. Sacred. Storytelling through song. Whatever you want to call LaVon's newest album, you'll be touched by the authentic emotion with which she tells each musical tale. Digging inside each line, each phrase, LaVon manages to convey the delicate balance between hope and struggle, triumph and tears, all beneath the larger umbrella of faith.

Says one fan: “When LaVon performs a song, you can be assured that not only will it sung beautifully, with the playfulness and the poignancy the song deserves, … each song becomes a distinct and memorable experience for the listener.”

LaVon's background in the Baptist church surely inspired her powerful versions of the traditional gospel songs "Wade in the Water" and "This Little Light of Mine." Among the original songs on Everyday Gifts, the original tune "Pray, Pray, Pray" also hews to a gospel sensibility, while "No More" takes a different musical approach to declaring what is and isn't on the To Do list.

The album includes two noteworthy covers: John Lennon's "Imagine" and the classic "Stand By Me" emerge with a new freshness and clarity through LaVon's clear alto tones.

A featured artist at the 2008 World Sacred Music Festival, LaVon offers this new album to listeners of all ages who are interested in the internal workings of the human heart, and how it relates to the larger Spirit. This is music that will speak to your spirit, whatever your path.

Everyday Gifts

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LaVon Hardison - Choices

Size: 100,3 MB
Time: 37:41
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2006
Styles: Jazz/Blues Vocals
Art: Front

01. Ain't Misbehavin' (2:32)
02. Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (3:07)
03. Choices (3:24)
04. Don't Fence Me In (2:46)
05. Superstition (4:03)
06. The Owl And The Pussycat (2:03)
07. It's Alright With Me (3:49)
08. Shop Around (5:39)
09. I Can't Give You Anything But Love (2:59)
10. Somewhere Over The Rainbow (3:59)
11. Coffee Song (3:12)

Personnel:
LaVon Hardison: vocals
Joe Baque: piano
Lorree Gardener: bass, vocals
Brad Gibson: drums
Russell Gores: saw
Pat Locke: guitar
Steve Luceno: guitar, bass, percussion, vocals
Barbara Metcalf: fiddle
Skuff Acuff: washboard
Bruce Whitcomb: keyboards

“When LaVon performs a song, you can be assured that not only will it sung beautifully, with the playfulness and the poignancy the song deserves, … each song becomes a distinct and memorable experience for the listener.”

Authenticity and soul are the foundations upon which LaVon stands when she sings. She simply has a rare ability to become a direct connection between the listener and the music.

On her debut release, Choices, LaVon shows why audiences rave about her performances. Each song oozes with personality and character, from the dark disfunction of “Perhaps” -- enhanced by the eerie musical saw of Russell Gores -- to the glass-half-full optimism of “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.”

Choices is remarkably cohesive, given the breadth of LaVon’s song selections. With two exceptions, the songs are well-known jazz standards and pop covers. In LaVon’s highly creative arrangements, these become tools for exploring the characters in the stories, and even familiar tunes take on new meaning and depth. Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” for example, gets the swamp blues treatment, complete with Scuff Acuff’s fingers scurrying across his washboard like cockroaches fleeing the light.

Veteran pianist Joe Baque co-wrote the title song “Choices” decades ago, though LaVon’s is the first recording of this poignant jazz mediation on the confusion of maturity. And LaVon’s original re-imagining of Lear’s poem “The Owl and the Pussycat” finds the two in a sometimes-awkward dating situation, wrapped in an arrangement that sounds like a just-hatched jazz standard.

While Choices will delight jazz fans, its forays into blues and pop give it an even broader appeal. Just call it great vocal music.

MC
Ziddu

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LaVon Hardison - Come Together

Size: 80,9 MB
Time: 34:18
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2016
Styles: Jazz/Soul Vocals
Art: Front

01. Tomorrow (3:13)
02. Sunny (4:32)
03. Maybe (2:27)
04. Come Together (2:57)
05. Alfie (5:25)
06. Unchain My Heart (3:54)
07. Better Than Anything (3:45)
08. They Long To Be Close To You (3:31)
09. Some Other Time (4:30)

Personnel:
LaVon Hardison: Vocals
David Joyner: Piano & Organ
Osama Afifi: Bass
Jeff Busch: Drums & Percussion
Brad Schrandt: Flute & Sax

Come Together is Hardison’s third album, but it truly marks a new beginning for the wildly talented singer. Building on the jazz interpretations of Choices (2006) and the inspirational bent of Everyday Gifts (2008), this long-awaited recording finds Hardison using her ineffable presence to tie together a wonderfully diverse selection of tunes with a first-class group of musicians.

“I was really excited to be able to mix jazz standards with other songs,” Hardison says. “Instead of trying to choose songs from a particular genre, I chose songs that have a melody or meaning that tell a story.”
With ease, Hardison erases the boundaries between jazz, funk, and soul, re-inventing well-loved tunes including “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” “Sunny,” and “Tomorrow.” She infuses The Beatles’ “Come Together” with rhythms that would be at home in New Orleans, and you can hardly imagine anything better than her version of the jazz standard “Better Than Anything.”

When Hardison smolderingly implores you to “Unchain My Heart,” you’ll gladly comply, if only because you sense her affection for the 1964 Ray Charles version of the song. “Ray Charles is a huge influence for me,” she enthuses. “He managed to do country, R&B, whatever – and he always understood the song and made it his own.”

What emanates from Hardison is not merely an admixture of those who came before. It’s everything she’s done, heard, seen and felt, plus a huge helping of musicianship, all drawn into her very own musical time machine. The result? An irresistibly distinct take on life and the living of it —from raucous to somber, gleeful to introspective. And there’s joy. Always joy.

Come Together

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