Showing posts with label Stephen Scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stephen Scott. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Mark Whitfield - 7th Ave. Stroll

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1995
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:05
Size: 152,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:44) 1. Washington Square Thoroughfare
(8:09) 2. Harlem Nocturne
(6:45) 3. 7th Ave, Stroll
(7:00) 4. A Brooklyn Love
(6:46) 5. Businessman's Bounce
(4:20) 6. Spring In Manhattan
(5:37) 7. Sunday In New York
(4:54) 8. The Bowery Blues
(6:22) 9. Sunset At Waterside
(4:46) 10. Headin' To The Wes' Side
(5:36) 11. Autumn In New York

A talented guitarist influenced by George Benson and versatile enough to play straight-ahead jazz or R&B, Mark Whitfield was originally a bassist. At 15 he switched to guitar and soon won a scholarship to Berklee. After graduating from Berklee in 1987, Whitfield temporarily moved to Brooklyn and appeared at many sessions.

George Benson suggested he work for Jack McDuff and that association was a big break for Whitfield. He has since recorded as a leader for Warner Bros. and Verve, and as a sideman with many players including Jimmy Smith, Nicholas Payton, Ray Brown, and Courtney Pine.
https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/mark-whitfield

Personnel: Guitar – Mark Whitfield (tracks: 1 to 11); Bass – Christian McBride (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10), Dave Holland (tracks: 2, 5, 7, 9, 11); Drums – Al Foster (tracks: 2, 5, 7, 9, 11), Gregory Hutchinson (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10); Piano – Stephen Scott (5) (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10), Tommy Flanagan (tracks: 2, 5, 7, 9, 11)

7th Ave. Stroll

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Ron Carter - When Skies Are Grey...

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:28
Size: 112,0 MB
Art: Front

(7:08)  1. Loose Change
(7:05)  2. Besame Mucho
(7:08)  3. Caminando
(5:30)  4. Que Pasa
(7:22)  5. Corcovado
(6:00)  6. Cubano Chant
(8:12)  7. Mi Tiempo

The album cover for Ron Carter's When Skies Are Grey shows the jazz bassist contemplatively looking up toward an overcast New York City sky. Perhaps the title is in reference to how Carter felt during the recording sessions because his wife had died the week before. He attended funeral services over that weekend and came to the studio the following Monday morning. But when you listen to the music that came from those sessions, you'll hear the consummate bassist implementing his amazing skills on seven Latin-tinged tunes. Perhaps the exquisite melodies lifted Carter's spirits. Joining Carter on When Skies Are Grey are Stephen Scott on piano, Harvey Mason on drums and Steve Kroon on percussion. Carter and arranger Bob Freedman have dipped into the Latin genre, using the straight 4/4 beat and auxiliary percussion, while seamlessly placing the syncopated elements of jazz into the songs. The way Carter solos on Consuelo Velazquez's "Besame Mucho," it's as if he's mimicking a trumpet or saxophone. You wouldn't expect a bassist to play fast sixteenth notes, but what else would you expect from the man who helped keep the pulse for Miles Davis' 1960s quintet. With the opening track, Carter's "Loose Change," the quartet jumps from a straight Latin 4/4 to a swing rhythm, then back to the Latin pattern before switching gears yet again to cut-time swing. Carter, Mason and Kroon never lose the beat, while Scott effortlessly tickles the ivories. On Ray Bryant's "Cubano Chant," the group starts off in a medium-fast Latin feel, occasionally breaking into 7/4. Suddenly, the mood switches to swing, with Carter playing a walking bass line. They then return to the Latin beat, with Mason and Kroon having a drumming duel. Carter's "Mi Tiempo" also features smooth transitions in unexpected places, this time going from Latin to swing to cut-time swing and back to Latin. Scott is absent from the song, so Carter takes over the melody post, leaving Mason and Kroon to solo around the bass. In all, When Skies Are Grey is an impressive, unique mixture of two electrifying genres from one of jazz's most prolific bassists. 
~ Michael Fortuna https://www.allaboutjazz.com/when-skies-are-grey-ron-carter-blue-note-records-review-by-michael-fortuna.php

Personnel: Ron Carter: bass; Stephen Scott: piano; Harvey Mason: drums; Steve Kroon: percussion.

When Skies Are Grey...

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Stephen Scott - Aminah's Dream

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:19
Size: 132,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:32)  1. Aminah's Dream
(4:35)  2. Behind The Scenes
(6:38)  3. Young Confucius
(5:51)  4. Positive Images (Mother, Father)
(5:24)  5. The Pit And The Pendulum
(7:09)  6. When God Created Women
(4:48)  7. L'Ill Bro'... Life Goes On
(4:39)  8. You Are Too Beautiful
(4:58)  9. Moontrane
(6:40) 10. The Spur Of The Moment

One of the most promising of the "Young Lions," pianist Stephen Scott has a versatile style that can range from McCoy Tyner to Wynton Kelly without resorting to mere copying. On his second release as a leader, Scott holds his own during six trio performances with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Elvin Jones. The other four selections add four nonsoloing horns playing harmonies behind Scott's piano. With eight of the ten songs being his originals, this is a fine all-around showcase for the talented Stephen Scott. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/aminahs-dream-mw0000618597

Personnel:  Piano, Co-producer – Stephen Scott (5); Alto Saxophone – Justin Robinson (tracks: 1,4,6,9); Bass – Ron Carter; Drums – Elvin Jones; Tenor Saxophone – Don Braden (tracks: 1,4,6,9); Trombone – Jamal Haynes (tracks: 1,4,6,9); Trumpet – Terell Stafford (tracks: 1,4,6,9); Tuba – Bob Stewart (tracks: 1)

Aminah's Dream

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Bobby Watson - Made in America

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:40
Size: 149,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:42)  1. The Aviator “for Wendell Pruitt”
(5:12)  2. The Guitarist “for Grant Green”
(6:18)  3. The Butterfly “for Butterfly McQueen”
(7:51)  4. The Cyclist “for Major Taylor”
(6:44)  5. The G.O.A.T. “for Sammy Davis, Jr.”
(5:49)  6. The Entrepreneur “for Madam C.J. Walker
(6:17)  7. The Jockey “for Isaac Murphy”
(1:06)  8. A Moment of Silence
(7:53)  9. The Real Lone Ranger “for Bass Reeves”
(4:02) 10. The Computer Scientist “for Dr. Mark Dean”
(6:41) 11. I’ve Gotta Be Me

Saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator Bobby Watson grew up in Kansas City, KS. As a consequence, his playing is steeped in the roadhouse blues tradition of his native city. He got his formal education at the University of Miami, where his fellow students included Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorious, and Bruce Hornsby. The college has a distinguished, long-running, and well-respected jazz performance program. After he was graduated in 1975, he moved to New York City, the jazz capitol of the world, and soon found employment as musical director for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Watson stuck with Blakey's group from 1977 to 1981, and then pursued session and tour work with more vigor, working with drummers Louis Hayes and Max Roach, saxophonists George Coleman and Branford Marsalis, multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers, guitarist Carlos Santana and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. He's also worked with a who's-who in the jazz vocal world, including Joe Williams, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls, Betty Carter, and Carmen Lundy. Finally he launched his own group, Bobby Watson & Horizon with bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Victor Lewis, and they recorded for Blue Note and Columbia Records. Watson and Horizon were in demand and on the road from the mid-'80s to the late '90s, and he still performs with the group, with differing sidemen. Watson has amassed nearly 30 recordings as a bandleader and he's a veteran sessionman, having recorded on more than 100 other recordings. As a composer, he has recorded more than 100 of his original compositions, and his arrangements for big bands have circulated internationally. Watson, basing himself alternately in New York City and Kansas City, has been a first-call musician for more than three decades now, and he also served as a member of the adjunct faculty at William Paterson University in the mid-'80s and at the Manhattan School of Music from 1996-1999. In 2000, he was selected as the first William D. and Mary Grant/Missouri Distinguished Professor of Jazz Studies, and he's been working at the University of Missouri/Kansas City, balancing live concerts around the world with his teaching responsibilities. Since 2000, Watson's recordings under his own name include three excellent releases for the Palmetto Records label, based in New York City. They include Live & Learn (2002), Horizon Reassembled (2004), and From the Heart (2008). ~ Richard Skelly https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/bobby-watson/id3492427#fullText

Personnel:  Bobby Watson [alto saxophone]; Stephen Scott [piano]; Curtis Lundy [bass]; Lewis Nash [drums]

Made in America

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Roy Hargrove - Approaching Standards

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:01
Size: 146.5 MB
Styles: Bop, Trumpet jazz
Year: 1994
Art: Front

[6:09] 1. Easy To Remember
[6:11] 2. Ruby My Dear
[7:38] 3. Whisper Not
[5:16] 4. What's New
[7:34] 5. September In The Rain
[6:24] 6. You Don't Know What Love Is
[8:01] 7. End Of A Love Affair
[5:43] 8. Things We Did Last Summer
[4:50] 9. Everything I Have Is Yours/Dedicated To You
[6:10] 10. My Shining Hour

Roy Hargrove/Trumpet,Flugelhorn; Stephen Scott/Piano; John Hicks/Piano; Billy Higgins/Drums; Ron Blake/Soprano Saxophone,Tenor Saxophone; Scott Colley/Bass; Foster/Drums; Gregory Hutchinson/Drums; Frank Lacy/Trombone;Christian McBride/Bass; Rodney Whitaker/Bass.

Ballads dominate the album, accounting for seven of the album's ten tracks; Hargrove generally interprets them in a cool, emotionally detached manner...Compiled from four albums whose recording dates span from 1989 to 1993, Approaching Standards...also documents Hargrove's growth as a musician. "Everything I Have is Yours/Dedicated to You," taken from the 1993 recording Of Kindred Souls, finds Hargrove in a more mature frame of mind, and points toward the much better albums he would soon make.

Approaching Standards

Friday, March 10, 2017

Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride, Stephen Scott - Parker's Mood

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:40
Size: 148.0 MB
Styles: Bop, Trumpet jazz
Year: 1995
Art: Front

[4:39] 1. Klactoveesedstene
[4:19] 2. Parker's Mood
[3:23] 3. Marmaduke
[4:22] 4. Steeplechase
[5:09] 5. Laura
[5:00] 6. Dexterity
[3:55] 7. Yardbird Suite
[2:07] 8. Red Cross
[6:38] 9. Repetition
[4:05] 10. Laird Baird
[2:36] 11. Dewey Square
[3:27] 12. Cardboard
[3:07] 13. April In Paris
[2:56] 14. Chasin' The Bird
[3:07] 15. Bongo Beep
[5:41] 16. Star Eyes

Bass – Christian McBride; Piano – Stephen Scott; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Roy Hargrove. Recorded direct to 2-Track at Effanel Music Studio, April 12 - 14, 1995, NYC.

On this unusual album, Roy Hargrove (trumpet, flugelhorn), Christian McBride (bass) and Stephen Scott (piano) pay homage to the father of bebop with a generous set of (mostly) Charlie Parker compositions performed in trio, duet and solo arrangements. These three musicians, all of whom are part of the back-to-bop youth movement and all of whom have made names for themselves as session players and fledgling bandleaders, approach the tunes with a combination of reverence and iconoclastic innovation -- how often do you think you'll hear "Red Cross" as a bass solo or "Chasin' the Bird" as a trumpet/bass duet? This approach has its limitations, of course; as revealing as Hargrove's solo take on "Dewey Square" is, sometimes the weight of rhythmic responsibility weighs too heavily on McBride's shoulders during the trio numbers, and the groove suffers. Unless you're listening on headphones or in a quiet room with very good speakers, the rhythmic thread of the bassline can easily get lost in the mix, leaving Scott's syncopated comping sounding disjointed. But it doesn't happen very often, and the overall effect of this album is one of new light being shed on an aging but beautiful art collection. Those who know these tunes already will enjoy the album most. Those who don't will find they have much to learn, and should be excited at the prospect. ~Rick Anderson

Parker's Mood