Sathima Bea Benjamin - Southern Touch

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:34
Size: 100,9 MB
Art: Front

(8:57)  1. Loveless Love / Careless Love
(4:55)  2. Street of Dreams
(4:01)  3. I've Heard That Song Before
(5:04)  4. I'm Glad There Is You
(5:23)  5. One Alone
(5:10)  6. Together
(3:32)  7. I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart
(6:31)  8. Lush Life

Evocative, expressive ballads and love songs done by wonderful vocalist Satima Bea Benjamin, wife of Abdullah Ibrahim. She sings without a trace of self-indulgence and has the right touch to make even the most sentimental lyric seem convincing and genuine. 

~ Ron Wynn https://www.allmusic.com/album/southern-touch-mw0000078655

Southern Touch

---

Sathima Bea Benjamin - Musical Echoes

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:35
Size: 136,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:50)  1. All Too Soon
(7:25)  2. Caravan
(5:26)  3. Falling in Love with Love
(4:01)  4. I'll Follow My Secret Heart
(8:09)  5. They Say Its Wonderful
(8:05)  6. Musical Echoes
(5:40)  7. Someone to Watch over Me
(7:52)  8. Something to Live For
(6:03)  9. Star Eyes

Musical Echoes marks Sathima Bea Benjamin's return to recording after Cape Town Love (1999). This album was recorded in her hometown, Cape Town, and reflects a certain sense of return for the vocalist. My own association with her music goes back to 1979 and her second album, Sathima Sings Ellington, the first release on her own Ekapa label. Over the years, I've continued to be impressed with her unique voice and consistency. Upon hearing this 2006 update, I have to conclude that, from a historical perspective, Benjamin has the qualities that place a distinctive jazz vocalist in their own category, just like Sarah Vaughan, Abbey Lincoln and others.

Benjamin met the innovative pianist Dollar Brand (later known as Abdullah Ibrahim) in the late '50s, but the two fled South Africa in 1962 due to the political climate of the day. They moved to Europe, where they stayed for much of the 1960s, which gives the release of this album a sense of bittersweet homecoming. She is joined by pianist Stephen Scott (currently with Sonny Rollins), bassist Basil Moses and drummer Lulu Gontsana, the latter both well-regarded South African musicians.

The music presented is, as always, consistent with her standards, and a tribute to the songbooks of Duke Ellington, Rodgers & Hart, Gershwin and Berlin. Benjamin lends a South African pulse to "Falling In Love With Love," offers a beautifully rendered ballad version of "Someone To Watch Over Me," and delivers a most interesting hypnotic take on "Caravan." Her peerless versions of "They Say Its Wonderful" and "Something To Live For" are also highlights. Finally, on the title tune, an original composition, the vocalist reflects on music and its healing powers. ~ Michael P. Gladstone http://www.allaboutjazz.com/musical-echoes-sathima-bea-benjamin-ekapa-review-by-michael-p-gladstone.php

Personnel: Sathima Bea Benjamin: vocals; Stephen Scott: piano; Basil Moses: bass; Lulu Gontsana: drums.

Musical Echoes

---

Sathima Bea Benjamin - A Morning In Paris

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 42:21
Size: 97.0 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 1963/2008
Art: Front

[3:46] 1. Darn That Dream
[4:32] 2. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)
[3:19] 3. I Could Write A Book
[3:11] 4. I Should Care
[2:00] 5. Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
[3:29] 6. Solitude
[4:15] 7. The Man I Love
[2:37] 8. Your Love Has Faded
[3:17] 9. I'm Glad There Is You
[3:08] 10. Soon
[3:29] 11. Lover Man
[5:13] 12. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square

In 1963, singer Sathima Bea Benjamin persuaded Duke Ellington to see her future husband, Abdullah Ibrahim (then known as Dollar Brand), play in a club in Europe. Ellington was impressed by both of the recent South African émigrés and arranged with Reprise to record them. While Brand's record came out within a year, Benjamin's debut was lost and not heard for decades, even by the singer. As it turned out, engineer Gerhard Lehner had made a second copy and kept it for all of these years, so the initial 1997 release of this important session was possible. Backed by pianist Ibrahim, bassist Johnny Gertze, drummer Makaya Ntshoko, and (on two songs apiece) Duke Ellington or Billy Strayhorn, and occasionally joined by violinist Svend Asmussen (who here plays exclusively pizzicato, as if he were using a high-pitched guitar), Benjamin's voice sounds quite beautiful. She performs two Ellington tunes, Strayhorn's "Your Love Has Faded," and nine standards, with the emphasis on slow ballads. The moody music is often haunting and quite memorable. ~ Scott Yanow

Recorded at Barclay Studios, Paris, France on February 23, 1963.

Sathima Bea Benjamin (vocals); Svend Asmussen (violin); Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Abdullah Ibrahim (piano); Johnny Gertze (bass); Makaya Ntshoko (drums).

A Morning In Paris

---