Quincy Jones - Mellow Madness

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:11
Size: 101.2 MB
Styles: Jazz/Funk/Soul
Year: 1975
Art: Front

[3:52] 1. Is It Love That We're Missin'
[2:55] 2. Paranoid
[3:27] 3. Mellow Madness
[6:12] 4. Beautiful Black Girl
[4:16] 5. Listen (What It Is)
[3:28] 6. Just A Little Taste Of Me
[5:25] 7. My Cherie Amour
[3:02] 8. Tryin' To Find Out About You
[4:29] 9. Cry Baby
[7:00] 10. Bluesette

Backing Vocals – Carolyn Willis, Jesse Kirkland, Jim Gilstrap, Joe Greene, Leon Ware, Myrna Matthews, Paulette McWilliams, Quincy Jones, Tom Bahler; Bass – Louis Johnson; Congas, Percussion – Ralph MacDonald; Drums – Harvey Mason; Featuring [Introducing] – Brothers Johnson, Paulette McWilliams; Guitar – George Johnson, Wah Wah Watson, Toots Thielemans; Keyboards – Dave Grusin, Don Grusin, Jerry Peters, Quincy Jones; Saxophone – Ernie Krivda, Jerome Richardson, Sahib Shihab; Trombone – Frank Rosolino, George Bohanon; Trumpet – Bill Lamb, Chuck Findley, Quincy Jones, Tom Bahler. Recorded at The Record Plant, Los Angeles, Westlake Audio, Los Angeles.

Released not long after Quincy Jones was operated upon for life-threatening brain aneurysms, the music community was glad to have this album around (you can almost sense Q's own relief as he holds his forehead on the cover). Basically, though, it continues the polished, percolating soul direction that Q initiated with Body Heat, alienating purists but entertaining R&B audiences that rushed to buy it. The album is given its commercial edge by two new Jones discoveries, George Johnson (guitar, vocals) and Louis Johnson (bass), who would leap to fame the following year on their own as the Brothers Johnson. One attraction for jazz listeners is Toots Thielemans' "Bluesette," in which the Belgian virtuoso does a nice guitar/whistle cameo and Frank Rosolino blows some fine trombone, but the track is not helped by the overdubbed soul voices. ~Richard S. Ginnell

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Mellow Madness zippy

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Don Byrd, Gigi Gryce - Jazz Lab

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:29
Size: 95.0 MB
Styles: Bop
Year: 1957/2011
Art: Front

[3:39] 1. Speculation
[8:17] 2. Over The Rainbow
[5:28] 3. Nica's Tempo
[4:59] 4. Blue Concept
[6:59] 5. Little Niles
[7:13] 6. San Souci
[4:52] 7. I Remember Clifford

Alto Saxophone – Gigi Gryce; Baritone Saxophone – Sahib Shibab; Bass – Wendell Marshall; Drums – Art Taylor; Horn – Julius Watkins; Piano – Tommy Flanagan, Wade Legge; Trombone – Benny Powell, Jimmy Cleveland; Trumpet – Don Byrd; Tuba – Don Butterfield.

Alto saxophonist arranger Gigi Gryce and trumpeter Donald Byrd's innovative, but unfortunately short lived Jazz Lab Quintet recorded several sides during 1957, seven of which were released on this excellent Columbia album a handful of other titles were collectively made for Riverside, Verve, and RCA. The nucleus band of Gryce, Byrd, pianist Tommy Flanagan a spot also filled by Wade Legge and Hank Jones, bassis and drummer Art Taylor are augmented on four cuts here by trombonists Benny Powell and Jimmy Cleveland, French horn player Julius Watkins, baritone saxophonist Sahib Shihab, and tuba player Don Butterfield. The expanded ensemble turn in fleetly swinging renditions of Horace Silver's "Speculation" and Gryce's "Nica's Tempo" while varying the mood a bit with a ballad reading of Benny Golson's "I Remember Clifford" and a Far East-tinged waltz take on Randy Weston's "Little Niles" shades of Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool group are heard in the complex, yet featherweight arrangements by Gryce. The quintet tracks include Gryce's "Sans Souci" and a provocative version of "Over the Rainbow." With some of the best arrangements heard in jazz and excellent solos by Gryce, Byrd, and Flanagan, Jazz Lab makes for an excellent introduction to the hard bop catalog.

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Jazz Lab zippy

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LaVern Baker - Sings Bessie Smith

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:47
Size: 95.7 MB
Styles: R&B/Blues/Jazz vocals
Year: 1958/1988
Art: Front

[3:06] 1. Gimme A Pigfoot
[3:36] 2. Baby Doll
[3:12] 3. On Revival Day
[2:50] 4. Money Blues
[4:03] 5. I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle
[4:41] 6. Back Water Blues
[4:50] 7. Empty Bed Blues
[2:41] 8. There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight
[3:55] 9. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
[3:08] 10. After You've Gone
[2:49] 11. Young Woman's Blues
[2:50] 12. Preaching The Blues

Baritone Saxophone – Jerome Richardson, Sahib Shihab; Bass – Wendell Marshall; Drums – Joe Marshall; Guitar – Danny Barker; Piano – Nat Pierce; Tenor Saxophone – Paul Quinichette; Trombone – Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green, Vic Dickenson; Vocals – LaVern Baker. This record was recorded in January, 1958 and previously released as Atlantic 1281 (20th of October 1958).

This is an album that should not have worked. LaVern Baker (a fine R&B singer) was joined by all-stars from mainstream jazz (including trumpeter Buck Clayton, trombonist Vic Dickenson, tenor-saxophonist Paul Quinichette and pianist Nat Pierce) for twelve songs associated with the great '20s blues singer Bessie Smith. Despite the potentially conflicting styles, this project is quite successful and often exciting. The arrangements by Phil Moore, Nat Pierce, and Ernie Wilkins do not attempt to re-create the original recordings; Baker sings in her own style (rather than trying to emulate Bessie Smith), and the hot solos work well with her vocals. ~Scott Yanow

Sings Bessie Smith

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Benny Golson - New York Scene

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1957
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:02
Size: 101,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:05)  1. Something In B Flat
(6:01)  2. Whisper Not
(6:54)  3. Step Lightly
(4:12)  4. Just By Myself
(6:52)  5. Blues  It
(4:22)  6. You're Mine You
(3:59)  7. Capri
(5:34)  8. B.G.'s  Holiday

Benny Golson's debut as a leader was recorded at a time when he was better known as a composer than a tenor saxophonist. This album, reissued during the CD era with "B.G.'s Holiday" added to the original LP program as a bonus track, features Golson in a quintet with fellow future Jazztet co-leader Art Farmer on trumpet, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Charlie Persip on five selections, and with the same group plus four horns on three other songs. The set is most significant for including an early version of Golson's "Whisper Not" (which soon became a jazz standard) along with "Step Lightly," as well as for the leader's inventive and swinging arrangements; plus, there are some excellent solos from Golson and Farmer. Overall, this underrated gem served as a strong start to Benny Golson's influential solo career. ~ Scott Yanow  http://www.allmusic.com/album/new-york-scene-mw0000202937

Personnel: Benny Golson (tenor saxophone); Gigi Gryce (alto saxophone); Sahib Shihab (baritone saxophone); Art Farmer (trumpet); Julius Watkins (French horn); James Cleveland (trombone); Wynton Kelly (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Charlie Persip (drums).

New York Scene

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Charlie Rouse - Soul Mates (Feat. Sahib Shihab)

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 61:58
Size: 141.9 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz
Year: 1995
Art: Front

[5:45] 1. November Afternoon
[5:08] 2. Green Chimneys
[5:39] 3. Prayer Song
[5:10] 4. So Nice
[6:05] 5. Soul Mates
[5:36] 6. Bohemia After Dark
[5:58] 7. Soft Shoulder
[7:41] 8. I'm Never Happy Anymore
[4:50] 9. Dida
[5:33] 10. Bittersweet
[4:29] 11. Bird's Nest

Soul Mates, an exciting studio date from 1988, combines a front line of Charlie Rouse, Sahib Shihab, and Claudio Roditi (who doubles on trumpet and flügelhorn), with a first-rate rhythm section of Walter Davis, Jr., Santi Debriano, and Victor Lewis. With Don Sickler providing most of the arrangements, the full sextet is heard on six of the 11 tracks. The fast-paced hard bop opener, "November Afternoon," is a neglected work by Tom McIntosh and features some of the hottest playing of the two sessions that make up the date. Rouse, already well-versed in Thelonious Monk's "Green Chimneys," makes the most of Sickler's well-crafted chart, which incorporates quick quirky phrases by Shihab and Roditi to accent his tenor sax. Shihab composed and arranged the tricky "DiDa," in which Davis mirrors the baritone saxophonist throughout the introduction. Rouse is heard with just the rhythm section in his lyrical arrangement of the ballad "Bittersweet." On a sad note, by the time this Uptown CD was finally released in 1993, Rouse, Shihab, and Davis had all passed away. ~Ken Dryden

Soul Mates (Feat. Sahib Shihab)

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