Ron Jackson - Flubby Dubby

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:54
Size: 143,0 MB
Art: Front

(7:11)  1. One for Melvin
(6:04)  2. The Look of You
(7:02)  3. The Long and Winding Road
(7:48)  4. Flubby Dubby
(7:49)  5. Love Ballad
(6:29)  6. Stars Fell On Alabama
(6:41)  7. Technophile
(7:13)  8. A Calypso Party
(5:33)  9. Get In the Country

New York-based urban guitarist Ron Jackson blends his soulful jazz sound with elements of R&B, funk and even a touch of the Caribbean mood on Flubby Dubby, his sixth album as leader. Leading his classic organ trio, also featuring organist Kyle Koeler and drummer Otis Brown III, the album was recorded live at Cecil's Jazz Club in West Orange, New Jersey, with alto saxophonist Bruce Williams and tenor luminary Don Braden augmenting the band on "The Long And Winding Road" and "Love Ballad." Guitarist Melvin Sparks, part of the burgeoning soul-jazz scene of the late '60s and early '70s, was a friend and mentor to Jackson, producing this date before passing away in March, 2011. The opening "One for Melvin," a swinging bluesy shuffle, serves as a moving dedication to a major influence in the guitarist's development. The swing continues on the grooving "The Look of You," with the trio taking turns soloing on the set's liveliest track. The Lennon/McCartney pop classic "The Long And Winding Road," travels in a different direction, pushed along by a new arrangement featuring Braden and Williams, who jazz up the music by laying down a saxophone background not normally associated with this piece.

The funk comes to life on the title track, recalling instrumental dance songs of James Brown's band with funk saxophonist Maceo Parker. Jackson provides another new arrangement to the R&B classic "Love Ballad," featuring delicious solos from the two guest saxophonists, to roaring applause from the audience. The guitarist himself is no slouch, peeling off one dynamic riff after another, leaving no doubt who's in charge. Serving as the set's gentle piece, "Stars Fell On Alabama" enters calmly and stays there, riding soft chords from the guitarist with warm organ phrasings shoring up the ballad. "A Calypso Party" suggests the music from a party on a cruise ship to the Islands, while the finale, "Get In The Country," ends the date on a funkier note. ~ Edward Blanco https://www.allaboutjazz.com/flubby-dubby-ron-jackson-self-produced-review-by-edward-blanco.php

Personnel: Ron Jackson: guitar; Kyle Koeler: Hammaond B-3 organ; Otis Brown III: drums; Don Braden: tenor saxophone (3, 5); Bruce Williams: alto saxophone (3, 5).

Flubby Dubby

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Jimmy Greene - Flowers: Beautiful Life, Vol. 2

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:38
Size: 146,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:50)  1. Big Guy
(6:26)  2. Stanky Leg
(4:20)  3. Flowers
(7:17)  4. Second Breakfast
(4:19)  5. Fun Circuits
(6:38)  6. Stink Thumb
(5:17)  7. Someday
(7:52)  8. December
(5:30)  9. Amantes
(5:59) 10. Something About You
(6:04) 11. Thirty-Two

In 2012, saxophonist Jimmy Greene lost his six-year-old daughter Ana Grace Marquez-Greene when she was murdered alongside 20 of her schoolmates during the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Poignantly, he paid tribute to Ana on his soulful 2014 album Beautiful Life. For 2017's buoyant follow-up, Flowers: Beautiful Life, Vol. 2, Greene continues to draw inspiration from his daughter's short life, this time exploring her love of dance. Joining Greene here is a stellar lineup featuring pianist Renee Rosnes, bassists John Patitucci and Ben Williams, drummers Otis Brown III and Jeff "Tain" Watts, guitarist Mike Moreno, percussionist Rogerio Boccato, and guest vocalists Jean Baylor and Sheena Rattai. If the first Beautiful Life found Greene in an understandably grief-stricken and deeply poetic state of mind, Flowers reveals a man who will never fully let go of his pain, but who is much more connected to the memory of his daughter's vitality and love of life than the tragedy of her death. This vitality is reflected in the animated grooves and lively melodies Greene brings to Flowers. There's also an experimental vibe here, with Greene bending his largely acoustic post-bop sound a bit more heavily toward fusion, as on the knotty groover "Fun Circuits." Similarly, "Stink Thumb," with its spacy Rhodes keyboard, brings to mind the '70s jazz of Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band. Even the far-eyed, soprano saxophone feature "Something About You" explodes mid-song into a choppy, angular improvisation. Still, there is a bittersweet tinge to the proceedings reflected in the languid, Latin flow of "Amantes" and the yearning vocal ballad "Someday." Remarkably, on Flowers: Beautiful Life, Vol. 2, Greene remains a productive, positive-minded artist whose music, and memory, have only deepened in their harmonic, rhythmic, and spiritual grace. ~ Matt Collar https://www.allmusic.com/album/flowers-beautiful-life-vol-2-mw0003019114

Personnel:  Jimmy Greene (soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxes);  Jean Baylor & Sheena Rattai (vocals);  Rogerio Boccato (percussion);  Otis Brown III & Jeff `Tain` Watts (drums & percussion);  Kevin Hays & Renee Rosnes (piano and Rhodes electric piano);  Mike Moreno (guitar);  John Pattitucci & Ben Williams (bass).

Flowers: Beautiful Life, Vol. 2

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Otis Brown III - The Thought Of You

Styles: Contemporary Jazz, Post-Bop
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:00
Size: 131,2 MB
Art: Front

(7:47)  1. The Way (Truth & Life)
(4:11)  2. The Thought Of You - Part I
(1:29)  3. Interlude I - Truth
(7:18)  4. Stages Of Thought
(6:51)  5. The Two Become One (For Paula)
(5:03)  6. You’re Still The One
(3:15)  7. The Thought Of You - Part II
(8:20)  8. I Love You Lord/We Exalt Thee/In The Beginning (Medley)
(5:27)  9. The Thought Of You - Part III
(5:10) 10. I Am Your Song
(2:04) 11. Interlude II - Life

Drummer Otis Brown III is a well-known, in-demand sideman and the founding drummer in Joe Lovano's Us Five. The Thought of You, his debut as a leader, was co-produced with Derrick Hodge. Pianist Robert Glasper, saxophonist John Ellis, trumpeter Keyon Harrold, and bassist Ben Williams -- the only one of these men who was not Brown's classmate at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music -- are the core of this lineup. Bilal Oliver (another schoolmate), Gretchen Parlato, and Nikki Ross all make vocal appearances. Hodge and Brown obviously share a love for the classic Blue Note quartet and quintet sounds of the late '50s through the middle '60s: tight, crisp, clean. But that doesn't mean the music is retro; it's anything but. Opener "The Way (Truth & Life)" commences with a punchy bass vamp before Brown enters with a kinetic Afro-Latin groove and Glasper offers his signature elliptical piano line. The horns counter with an urgent, melodic head with labyrinthine asides. Ellis moves toward the outside and Glasper follows.

Brown lays down hip fills and rolls and cymbal washes. The title track, written by Oliver, is quizzically done in three parts spread over the record -- though they were obviously edited from one longer cut. The first part the single has a knotty piano and horn intro before his breezy vocal claims the center briefly before the tune evolves into driving, fingerpopping post-bop. Parlato's reading of Shania Twain's "You're Still the One" is smoky, spacious, nocturnal, and understated. The hook is there, but in her phrasing and Brown's cymbal ticks and snare and tom-tom syncopations, its margin blurs and almost alchemically transforms into jazz. "Stages of Thought" and "The Two Become One" are instrumentals that offer differing sides of Brown's musical vision. The former is tumultuous, with layered dissonant harmonics. Glasper's piano alternates between inquisitive and declamatory as the horns engage in swooping dialogic call-and-response solos. The rhythm section prods and provokes with accents, feints, and dekes. The latter cut employs spoken samples from the tune's (literally) speaking subject (Brown's wife) during their wedding ceremony. It's a spacious, ethereal, open-ended ballad. Ellis' bass clarinet and Glasper's electric piano surround the rhythm section, which lays down a lithe, atmospheric groove. "I Love You Lord/We Exalt Thee/In the Beginning" is one of two fine Ross vehicles here. This one reveals the perfect intersection between gospel and contemporary jazz. 

Glasper's piano accompanies her on the melody, adding dimension and lyric harmony amid guest Shedrick Mitchell's organ swells. The singer soulfully and elegantly commits to the lyric yet never over-emotes. Brown's playing is like a chorale as he and Ross engage to develop an improvisational dialogue. The Thought of You is ambitious in its musical reach and affirmative in its themes of spiritual faith and family (actual and relational). It is a thoroughly classy, sophisticated, at times provocative offering by a top-notch talent.~Thom Jurek http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-thought-of-you-mw0002702040

Personnel: Otis Brown III (drums, cymbals, percussion); Gretchen Parlato, Bilal Oliver, Nikki Ross (vocals); Nir Felder (acoustic guitar); John Ellis (bass clarinet, tenor saxophone); Keyon Harrold (trumpet); Robert Glasper (piano, Fender Rhodes piano); Shedrick Mitchell (Hammond b-3 organ); Derrick Hodge (percussion).

The Thought Of You

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