Dave Tull - Texting And Driving

Size: 174,8 MB
Time: 75:00
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. The Texting Song (Feat. Randy Waldman) (3:49)
02. Henrietta (5:01)
03. The Moment (Feat. Inga Swearingen & George Stone) (4:44)
04. Please Tell Me Your Name (Feat. Wayne Bergeron, Doug Webb & Andy Martin) (7:19)
05. I'm Forever In A Fog (Feat. Randy Porter) (6:34)
06. I Will Sing To You (Feat. Larry Koonse) (5:29)
07. The Stoplight At The End Of The Street (Feat. Randy Porter) (5:37)
08. Tell Me That I'm Wrong (3:40)
09. Watch Your Kid (Feat. Randy Porter) (6:39)
10. The Date (Feat. Cheryl Bentyne) (5:15)
11. Clapping On One And Three (Feat. Doug Webb) (5:09)
12. This Summer Night (Feat. Randy Porter) (4:43)
13. You Remind Me (Feat. Kevin Axt) (4:02)
14. I'm So Confused (Feat. Les Benedict) (3:50)
15. Fly By The Seat Of My Pants (3:00)

Wallflower. The word has zero application to describe jazz drummer, vocalist and composer/arranger/producer, Dave Tull. He's more like a Venus Fly-Trap of talent, devouring all those activities and offering a keen eye for life's surrealities. He demos all on his second CD, texting and driving. It might just be what's needed for a long, endless drive from, say, St. Louis to Gallup, New Mexico.

Tull's drum credits are formidable—with Barbra Streisand (whose legendary pickiness imprimaturs Tull's chops), performing with Chuck Mangione, et al. With texting and driving Tull offers 15 (that's a plenty!) solid, swinging selections—all engaging originals—in which he vocalizes, vocaleses, and, with an elite cadre of L.A.'s best (Cheryl Bentyne, Wayne Bergeron, Doug Webb, George Stone, et al), does all that splendidly.

The title-related tune, "The Texting Song" launches the upbeat session with Tull backed by a cooking big band. And, while s(w)inging, he weaves fine lyric, hipster vocalese, and scat. "Henrietta" is a lilting woodwind-backed boy-meets-girl-with-unique-sobriquet thing. Lush strings embrace Tull's fine romancing, a la Jackie Cain and Roy Kral) with Inga Swearingen on the ballad "The Moment." "Please Tell Me Your Name" Latins away with some tasty Lou Rawls vocal embellishments on the swing section. He gets funky on the side-winding "The Stoplight at the End of the Street," too.

Vocally, Tull is more jazzer than pure crooner—think Dave Frishberg, or, perhaps Scatman supreme, Giacomo Gates. He's got solid pipes that invite. His vocal dexterity and word-work is hand-glove with the material throughout. You can't help but really like this Cat. He puts his own tasty seasoning on his recipes of "I'm Forever in a Fog," as well as on the Antonio Carlos Jobim-esque "I Will Sing to You" and on the ballad, "Tell Me that I'm Wrong").

As a composer/lyricist, Tull homers with smarts, wry humor, and pungency throughout the session, on tunes like the faux admonishment, "Please Watch Your Kid," the tasty contrapuntal duet with Bentyne on "The Date," the soul-slick "Clapping on One and Three," and the boss bossa complete with neat Tull set work, "You Remind Me." "I'm So Confused," a flashback ballad with a tasty Les Benedict bone ride that could "reflect" an Astaire classic and the carefree stroll, "Fly By the Seat of My Pants" close the session.

texting and driving is a marvelous panorama of Tull's and his pals' talents. Go for a ride and enjoy "Tull's Merry Pranks"—but, you take the wheel; he's rather involved with his fine texting and driving. ~By Nicholas F. Mondello

Personnel: Dave Tull: drums, vocals; Randy Porter: piano; Randy Waldman: piano (1); Larry Koonse: guitar (1,4,6,15); Kevin Axt: basses; Wayne Bergeron: trumpet (1,4,7,14); Dog Webb: saxes (1,4,7,11,14,15), clarinet (8); Cheryl Bentyne: vocal (10); George Stone: piano, flugelhorn (3), trumpet (9); Les Benedict: trombone (14); Inga Swearingen: vocals (3); Peter Olstad: trumpet (1,4,); Mike Guiterrez: trumpet (1,4); Dave Becker: flute, clarinets (2), saxes (9); Andy MArtin: trombone (1,4,7); Bill Hulting: percussion (6,13); Brynn Albanese: violin (3); Peter Jandula-Clark: viola (3); Ken Hustad: cello (3).

Texting And Driving

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Randy Porter (feat. Nancy King) - Porter Plays Porter

Styles: Vocal Jazz, Piano
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:01
Size: 96,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:22)  1. I Concentrate On You
(3:55)  2. I Love You
(4:48)  3. Just One of Those Things
(4:30)  4. Inside Your Mind
(4:43)  5. All Of You
(5:04)  6. Why Can't You Behave
(3:52)  7. Night and Day
(4:07)  8. Get Out of Town
(5:36)  9. Every Time We Say Goodbye

Randy Porter's “Porter Plays Porter” wasn't merely a title of convenience. The quality of Cole Porter's wit, harmony, and mix of dark and light has been part of Randy Porter's vernacular since his early musically formative years when at age 20, Randy was the pianist and musical director of “Cole!” The music, its beauty, irony, intelligence and poignancy has remained with him ever since. There is a resemblance of musical features that puts Randy and Cole on the same page, taking the same major to minor, pain and beauty that gives these musicians more than just a vehicle for improvisation. It's their muse and inspiration. Nancy King has been long considered the top of the elite jazz singers on the planet by followers and lovers of the vocal jazz tradition. Her immense innate musical abilities including phrasing, musical awareness, flexibility and depth of experience through the music of Cole Porter, in the company of Randy Porter, John Wiitala and Todd Strait on a cold Portland day came together in a surreptitious way that just one of those things meant to happen can. - Steve Christofferson https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/randyporter22

Porter Plays Porter

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Jaclyn Guillou - To the City

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:39
Size: 142,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:04)  1. Sunny Sunday
(4:30)  2. To The City
(4:02)  3. Little Red Shoes
(4:47)  4. Hiding Town
(5:15)  5. California
(5:16)  6. All or Nothing at All
(5:16)  7. That's All (Feat. Denzal Sinclaire)
(3:52)  8. Sweethearts In Love
(5:55)  9. Attends
(4:05) 10. Honey Blues
(3:51) 11. O Pato
(3:01) 12. No Moon at All
(4:39) 13. You Are (Bonus Track)

"To The City, the debut studio CD of Jaclyn Guillou is polished and playful. Jaclyn’s voice has rhythm, movement, and unique expression. When you layer this over a cast of players who can sculpt notes with their instruments, you have an album that is so rich with dimension you need a pair of 3D glasses to listen to it. There are a number of standout tracks on this CD one of which is “That’s All”. Guest vocalist Denzal Sinclaire raises the bar high with his impeccable phrasing which is met every step of the way by Guillou and Evan Arntzen’s clarinet. Little Red Shoes is fun song that highlights some of the playfulness of the album. The smooth tinkling of the vibes is a good contrast to the fullness of Chris Davis’s trumpet and Rod Murray on trombone. The title track To the City has a cosmopolitan feel to and when you listen you will hear shades of Guillou’s story in every line. Jaclyn Guillou has surrounded herself with outstanding musicians that support her beautifully without giving up any of their own presence, making this album interesting to listen to. There is a reason she was chosen as a Galaxy Rising Star...Jaclyn Guillou is the whole package." ~ ! Earshot (review by Shelley Gummeson)

"Guillou sings with a purity that keeps this jazz-pop grounded. Piano-based with some savory touches of clarinet and trumpet, To The City sounds playful yet classic. It’s possible to imagine Guillou has a sparkle in her eyes and it’s that kind of joy the album radiates." ~ The Province (review by Tom Harrison)

"BC has produced another rising star, someone perhaps to follow in the footsteps of international jazz artist Diana Krall in the years to come." ~ Review Vancouver

“Guillou’s originals have the brassy, mellow glow of jazz standards as if they were plucked straight out of the vault and given a gently modern spin.” ~ Slocan Valley Current http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jaclynguillou

Personnel:  Vocals – Jaclyn Guillou;  Piano – Randy Porter;  Vibraphone – Tom Beckham;  Bass – Michael Rush;  Drums – Joe Poole;  Piano (tracks 1, 5) – Bruno Hubert;  Vocals (track 7) – Denzal Sinclaire
Trumpet (tracks 3,4, 8, 10, 13) – Chris Davis;  Tenor Sax (tracks 3, 10) & Clarinet (track 7) – Evan Arntzen;  Trombone (track 3) – Rod Murray;  Percussion (track 8, 9, 11) – Rafael Geronimo

To the City

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Cindy Scott - Historia

Size: 128,6 MB

Time: 55:25

File: MP3 @ 320K/s

Released: 2014

Styles: Jazz: Vocals

Art: Front

01. Shaw 'nuff (4:20)

02. There Is No Greater Love (5:29)

03. What's Comin' Atcha (3:57)

04. Historia De Un Amor (7:37)

05. It's Gonna Be Okay (4:21)

06. Turnaround (Feat. Karrin Allyson) (3:40)

07. Look For The Silver Lining (3:15)

08. Laura Lee (5:14)

09. Shenandoah (4:02)

10. I Concentrate On You (5:45)

11. Silence Of The Stars (O Silencio Das Estrelas) (4:29)

12. Some Of That Sunshine (Feat. Karrin Allyson) (3:10)

Stating the obvious right off, vocalist Cindy Scott is from New Orleans. This fact thoroughly and three-dimensionally informs the twelve selections on Historia, Scott's follow-up to Let The Devil Take Tomorrow (Catahoula Records, 2009), without making a burden of it. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, the aural aroma of the Crescent City appears like an essence, that hyperdistillation that leaves neither finger nor footprint but exists as an indelible mark on the music readily recognised. This mark is made audible immediately in Scott's arrangement (with her lyrics) of the Gillespie/Parker shot- over-the-bow, "Shaw 'Nuff." Looking at that title makes it all too easy to expect an Eddie Jefferson or even Bob Dorough sliced bebop.

What curls from the speakers is something else altogether. A French- Quarter- Sunday-Afternoon march is established by drummer Jamison Ross and perpetuated by pianist Randy Porter channelling Professor Longhair. Guitarist Brian Seeger reaches down deep into the blues and shows where Bo Diddley came from. Scott sings of taking chances to learn, stretching beyond one's conception into that next creative place. Scott makes breezy "No Greater Love," pulling the piece from the dusty silver service of standards. She blow the soot off the classic, polishing it to a high and complex Creole sheen. Porter plays a eutection of impressionistic stride and Antoine Domino- left hand magic against Ross' shimmering cymbals and Scotts wordless song.

On the nominal title cut, "Historia de un Amor," Scott waxes darkly over an earth-pulse played by bassist Dan Loomis. Seeger seasons the piece with electric guitar cries in the extended introduction and then when Scott gets her Spanish on, leading up to Seeger's craggy and urgent solo, overdriven and cutting. Scott picks up and completes this urgent ache, completing the piece as a humid Caribbean tone poem. Scott penned the English lyrics. The original "It's Gonna Be Okay" ia a cross-over dream, a song of certain hope that would be as at home in the modern country realm as it is here, full of Louisiana and sunshine.

"Look at the Silver Lining" and "Shenandoah" are so completely transformed they become a celebration of all that jazz is in its absolute exegesis. In both songs, Scott winds up and throws a wicked curve ball. The former is taken up-tempo and is perhaps the most "jazzy" of all of the selections. The latter is made even more pastoral than the original by its slower tempo amid bass harmonics and Scott's rich flute playing. Scott duets with Karrin Allyson on "Some of that Sunshine" providing an upbeat and inclusive end to a very fine recording indeed.~Review by C. Michael Bailey

Personnel: Cindy Scott: vocals; Randy Porter: piano; Dan Loomis: bass; Jamison Ross: drums; Brian Seeger: guitar (1, 4, 5); Shannon Powell: percussion; Evan Christopher: clarinet (11); Karrin Allyson: vocals (12).

Historia

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Madeline Eastman - Can You Hear Me Now?

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:45
Size: 129,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:49)  1. You Say You Care
(7:33)  2. Make Someone Happy
(4:55)  3. Show Me
(2:34)  4. Pent Up House
(5:44)  5. Slow Boat to China
(6:37)  6. Don't Look Back
(0:42)  7. Intro Baubles
(5:02)  8. Baubles, Bangles and Beads
(4:58)  9. Gone with the Wind
(5:05) 10. Haunted Heart
(3:53) 11. I Love You
(4:46) 12. Epistrophy

Californian Madeline Eastman, blessed with an absolutely perfect voice, can run rings around just about any jazz singer, but chooses not to blow you away with animated or histrionic acrobatics, preferring to dig deep into a sophistication that is quite easy to enjoy and if you listen closely, she mainlines straight to the heart of any matter. This live concert date at the famous Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, at Half Moon Bay near the San Francisco area, features Eastman with her prime elements of playfulness, heightened emotion, abstract cool, and deftly enunciated phrasings that mark her as one of the few original jazz singers who refuses to compromise commercially. Her outstanding band with pianist Randy Porter and the imported East Coast pros of peerless bassist Rufus Reid and lithe, limber drummer Matt Wilson supplies all the top-notch musicianship required to match Eastman's hip, literate, and precise vocal legerdemain step for step. Her cut-up version of the Sonny Rollins favorite "Pent Up House" is an "aw shucks" tune with her original lyrics, a tale where she eventually tells a recent acquaintance she "forgot your name." The band tears up "I Love You" and the solid swinger "You Say You Care" with extrapolated second and third choruses, and she extols the virtues or perils of shopping for jewelry on television on the intro before the cute "Baubles, Bangles and Beads." 

Eastman and Jeff Pittson's arrangement of "Slow Boat to China" wedded to Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" works very well, a nice twist and corollary, where the soulful, modal "Show Me" could easily have been charted by Horace Silver. Vocalists have a thing for doing a duo with their bassists, and Reid is her perfect foil during the midtempo "Gone with the Wind," while the closer, "Epistrophy," is a perfectly funky get-up/get-down affair. Madeline Eastman has produced several very good recordings, but she's at the top of her game when captured live, and cheesy cell phone slogan title notwithstanding, she should be listened to by a larger chunk of the general populace. Her kind of jazz singer is far from a dime a dozen. ~ Michael G. Nastos   http://www.allmusic.com/album/can-you-hear-me-now-madeline-eastman-live-mw0000797780

Madeline Eastman (vocals); Randy Porter (piano); Rufus Reid (bass instrument); Matt Wilson (drum).

Can You Hear Me Now?

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Madeline Eastman - A Quiet Thing

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:03
Size: 135,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:33)  1. Alfie
(4:45)  2. Pick Yourself Up
(3:36)  3. Sea Journey
(5:44)  4. Spring Can Really Hang You Up
(4:35)  5. A Face Like Yours
(3:29)  6. I Remember
(2:46)  7. The Bad And Beautiful
(3:53)  8. All Of Us In It
(6:17)  9. I Never Meant To Hurt You
(3:50) 10. You Are All I Need
(5:08) 11. It's A Quiet Thing
(3:54) 12. I Think It's Going To Rain Today
(3:31) 13. With One More Look At You
(1:57) 14. God Only Knows

The beauty of vocalist Madeline Eastman is that she is an undaunted improviser who remains conservative in her improvising. In this context, the word conservative harbors no negative connotations. Eastman has an abiding respect for the melody that is reflected in her thoughtful interpretations of the fourteen ballads making up A Quiet Thing. The piano-voice format also reflects this careful conservative approach to the material.  The repertoire for this recording is what is truly provocative. Reading the subtitle, A Collection of Ballads, brings to mind any number of assemblies of tired standards belonging in writer Scott Yanow's "Songs That Should Be Avoided," from his book The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide (Backbeat, 2008). But Eastman completely sidesteps the issue by choosing ballads off the beaten path. "Alfie," "Pick Yourself Up" and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up" are what pass for well-worn standards, and all are treated impeccably by Eastman and pianist Randy Porter, both of whom deliver tastefully and with grace. Eastman's voice is beautifully well-balanced, confident and in control. Porter's pianism is understated and subtle, even in his solos. Both artists shine on a well-considered cover of Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today." In the duo's voice and hands, Newman's piece takes on a firm pastoral grace. Brian Wilson's "God Only Knows" closes the disc in an abbreviate performance where Eastman shows the song's brilliant melody, slowed down and not over-sung. Sweet are the fruits of this collaboration, rewarding in every way. ~ C.Michael Bailey  

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=43745#.UvLVe7SGeNA

Personnel: Madeline Eastman: vocals; Randy Porter: piano.

A Quiet Thing

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