Radka Toneff - Butterfly

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:42
Size: 118,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:12) 1. It's Been a Long Long Day
(3:58) 2. Pre-Dawn Imagination
(4:16) 3. Antonio's Song
(3:47) 4. Nature Boy
(5:43) 5. Sometime Ago
(4:37) 6. Like That
(2:11) 7. The Butterfly
(2:53) 8. Before Love Went Out of Style
(4:31) 9. Black Coffee
(5:37) 10. My One and Only Love
(6:18) 11. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
(3:33) 12. Don't Weep for the Indy

Born Ellen Radka Toneff on 25.06.1952, died on 21.10.1982.

Radka was a Norwegian/Bulgarian jazz composer and singer. She was born in Oslo, and was the daughter of the Bulgarian folk singer, Toni Toneff.

From 1975 unto 1980 she played in the group "Radka Toneff Quintet" with, among others, Arild Andersen and Jon Eberson.

Radka leaves us the legacy of three albums; "Winter Poem", "It don't come easy", and "Fairytales" (the last one actually released after her death).

Posthumously: "Live in Hamburg" and "Her finest moments", has been released
.
Her album "Fairytales" was the first Norwegian album to be digitally recorded, it also reached nr 12 in the contest "Best Norwegian album ever made".
https://www.last.fm/music/Radka+Toneff/+wiki

Personnel: Radka Toneff -vocals; Jon Balke / Steve Dobrogosz-Piano; Jon Eberson - Guitar; Arild Andersen - Doublebass; Jon Christensen / Alex Riel - drums

Butterfly

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Radka Toneff - Live in Hamburg

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1993
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:36
Size: 151,6 MB
Art: Front

(8:06) 1. Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most
(5:20) 2. Never Letting Go
(7:32) 3. Lonely Woman
(6:01) 4. A Certain Peace
(5:00) 5. Antonio's Song
(4:33) 6. Set It Free
(5:28) 7. Just Like a Woman
(5:12) 8. Rest Enough
(9:35) 9. Bulgarian Folksong - Fire
(3:33) 10. Havana Candy
(5:11) 11. We'll Be Together

'Live in Hamburg' by vocalist/composer Radka Toneff (alongside ECM legend Arild Andersen) must be one of the finest Norwegian concert albums ever made - regardless of genre. Now this classic is being released on vinyl for the first time, in a 180g 2LP edition with a gatefold cover.

At the same time a new CD edition with an updated cover is being released. 'Live in Hamburg' was released over ten years after Radka Toneff passed away, and shows a side of her that had never before been documented on a recording. The album won a Spellemannspris, the Norwegian Grammy award, in 1993. The material on the album comes from a concert the Radka Toneff Quartet held at the legendary jazz club Onkel Pös Carnegie Hall in Hamburg on 10 March 1981.

The German radio station NDR broadcast an hour of the concert live, and an edited version of the recording became this album, a modern classic. Arild Andersen and sound technician Jan Erik Kongshaug went through the tapes from NDR and edited the record, which was released in 1993 as the fourth recording released under Radka Toneff's name. The album provides a welcome and unsentimental snapshot of a unique artist's voice that became silent too soon, but that had a profound impact on Norwegian music history.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Live-Hamburg-Radka-Toneff/dp/B01EWZ0WQK

Personnel: Vocals [Vocal] – Radka Toneff; Piano – Steve Dobrogosz; Drums – Alex Riel; Bass – Arild Andersen

Live in Hamburg

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Steve Dobrogosz - Charts Demos, Pt. 1

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 178:52
Size: 411,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:43) 1. Carolina
(4:47) 2. Grain
(4:43) 3. Rolling Back the Sea
(6:27) 4. Maria of the Roses
(2:21) 5. Seduction
(5:06) 6. In Magic
(5:21) 7. Torch
(3:30) 8. Over the Hill
(5:17) 9. Quail Corners
(5:56) 10. Momentum
(1:41) 11. My
(4:16) 12. Siberia
(2:51) 13. You and I
(6:48) 14. Astronomy
(2:25) 15. Congregation
(3:29) 16. Anyday Now
(4:28) 17. Old Moses
(2:54) 18. Bring That Good News
(4:48) 19. Drawing the Bow
(4:13) 20. The Azures
(5:43) 21. Come Alive
(4:22) 22. Folkmass
(4:07) 23. The Look
(4:21) 24. Desdemona
(2:41) 25. Family
(3:33) 26. Christians and Lions
(3:36) 27. The Hopeless Bottle
(4:19) 28. The Pride
(4:32) 29. The Right Side
(2:37) 30. Welcome
(4:07) 31. Surf
(1:49) 32. Five Red Frogs
(2:25) 33. Sunflowers
(2:33) 34. Raggy
(4:00) 35. When She's Been Near
(3:07) 36. Open Heart
(3:34) 37. American Bible
(3:37) 38. Holyland
(2:53) 39. Limbo
(4:31) 40. Elmer Fudd's Secret Plan
(3:33) 41. The Cavern Clubs
(4:47) 42. Across the Sea
(2:30) 43. Poland
(4:05) 44. Speak
(5:00) 45. Cuernavaca

Steve Dobrogosz composer//pianist (1956 - Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, USA)

Steve Dobrogosz grew up in the American south (Raleigh, NC), trained as a classical pianist and interested in the popular music of the day. While studyiing at Berklee College of Music in Boston he met his Swedish wife and in 1978 moved to Stockholm, quickly becoming active in Sweden's jazz scene with the Steve Dobrogosz Trio and as sideman with popular Scandinavian jazz groups. In the mid 80s he focused on his main interest, songwriting, and began a series of successful vocal collaborations (see: the “Anthology” album with singer Berit Andersson), while also venturing into choral and orchestral composition.

Dobrogosz’s production (now over 1400 pieces) incorporates a wide spectrum of genres. His oeuvre now includes a 2-hour oratorio of Shakespeare sonnets, a symphony, a choral Requiem and several Masses, an oboe concerto and other Americana, gritty rock piano albums, a pop-jazz songbook, sultry background music, jigs, bluegrass fiddle, 300 jazz charts, music for Spanish guitar, a song cycle, and a book of childrens' rhymes.

His 1982 duo album with singer Radka Toneff "Fairy Tales” was voted all-time Best Norweigian Album in an artists poll. His “Mass” (1992) has been performed in 45 countries and is a staple in international choral repertoire. His 2006-2008 recordings with singer Anna Christoffersson recieved Swedish Grammy nominations and critical acclaim. The Gothenburg Post compared his music to Gershwin and Porter, writing "Dobrogosz's songs are melodic masterpieces, with a harmonic sophistication seldom found in music today.”

"Dobrogosz does not play complicated, but each tone is meaningful and the keyboard is a seamless extension of what must be spirit in conjunction with matter... Steve Dobrogosz plays in an alloy of genres without clichés in a way that is almost shockingly complete"
By Lira Magazine https://www.dobrogosz.com/bio.htm

Charts Demos, Pt. 1

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Radka Toneff & Steve Dobrogosz - Fairytales

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 1986
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:11
Size: 95,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:14) 1. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
(3:25) 2. Come Down In Time
(4:23) 3. Lost In The Stars
(4:22) 4. Mystery Man
(5:53) 5. My Funny Valentine
(5:47) 6. Nature Boy
(4:14) 7. Long Daddy Green
(5:10) 8. Wasted
(2:29) 9. Before Love Went Out Of Style
(2:10) 10. I Read My Sentence

Chances are you have neither heard of this album or Radka Toneff. But the album is recognised as a jazz classic in Scandinavia, is Norway's best-selling jazz album of all time and was voted Norway's Best Album of All Time in a poll of Norwegian musicians in 2011. Toneff graduated from the Oslo Musikkonservatorium in 1975.

Seven years later she was dead from an overdose. A highly original singer, she made an enormous impression on Norwegian (and Scandinavian) jazz during her brief lifetime, and her influence still continues to be felt through singers such as Sidsel Endresen, Solveig Slettahjell and Torun Eriksen. This is her finest work, and when it was originally released it became something of an audiophile classic, since it was recorded on one of the first digital tape machines.

Remastered using MQA technology from the 16-bit/50.35 kHz master-tapes, it appears here as a 16-bit Hybrid SACD (meaning Super Audio CD), the combination of piano and voice captured with astonishing clarity. Many pundits have described these performances as breathtaking and it is hard to disagree; the grain of Toneff's voice combined with a less-is-more delivery beguiles with its intimacy and enjoys a second life in the memory long after the CD has been played.

Ultimately, it is limiting to call this remarkable album ‘a classic of Norwegian jazz’; quite simply it is a contemporary jazz classic.
https://www.jazzwise.com/review/radka-toneff-and-steve-dobrogosz-fairytales

Musicians: Steve Dobrogosz (p), Radka Toneff (v)

Fairytales

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Steve Dobrogosz - Golden Slumbers

Styles: Piano
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:34
Size: 113,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:34)  1. Goodnight
(2:49)  2. Golde Slumbers/You Never Give Me Your Money
(6:17)  3. Across The Universe
(3:49)  4. Two Of Us
(3:26)  5. Blackbird
(4:26)  6. If I Fell
(4:26)  7. Don't Let Me Down
(4:53)  8. The Long And Winding Road
(4:14)  9. Because
(2:29) 10. I'll Follow The Sun
(4:17) 11. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
(3:50) 12. I Will

Steve Dobrogosz is an American pianist and composer based in Sweden whose career spans several decades and ranges in style from classical to jazz and pop. He was particularly successful in collaboration with vocalists Radka Toneff during the early '80s, Berit Andersson during the late '80s and early '90s, and Anna Christoffersson during the mid- to late 2000s. Born on January 26, 1956, in Bellefonte, PA, Dobrogosz grew up in Raleigh, NC, and later studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. In 1978 he moved to Stockholm, Sweden, and began a fruitful musical career there amid the city's vibrant jazz scene. Dobrogosz made his solo album debut in 1980 with Songs on the Caprice label. He later collaborated with Norwegian jazz legend Radka Toneff on the album Fairy Tales (1982), a classic pairing of vocals and piano that was released around the time of the vocalist's tragic death. A couple years later he began a long-running collaboration with Swedish vocalist Berit Andersson that spanned the years 1984 to 1992 and resulted in three full-length albums, The Final Touch (1989), Jade (1990), and Skin Balloon (1993), plus the double-disc compilation Best of Steve Dobrogosz & Berit Andersson (1999). During the 1990s he also released the albums Pianopieces (1992), a collaboration with percussionist Petur Östlund; Duckwalk (1996), with the Steve Dobrogosz Quartet; Mass (1997), with St. Jacob's Chamber Choir; and Ebony Moon (1998), a solo piano collection. After the turn of the century Dobrogosz was particularly successful in collaboration with Swedish vocalist Anna Christoffersson. Their first album, It's Always You (2006), was a Top 20 hit on the Swedish albums chart while their second, Rivertime (2008), reached the Top Ten. Other recordings by Dobrogosz released during the 2000s include Feathers (2000), a collaboration with vocalist Jeanette Lindström; Requiem/Te Deum (2004), with St. Jacob's Chamber Choir; Chambers (2007), a solo piano collection; and Poems (2009), a six-track EP with vocalist Annika Skoglund. ~ Jason Birchmeier https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/golden-slumbers/338053298

Golden Slumbers

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Steve Dobrogosz, Anna Christoffersson - Covers

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 65:06

Size: 149.0 MB

Styles: Piano jazz, Jazz vocals

Year: 2010

Art: Front

[4:15] 1. Ave Maria

[4:26] 2. Jealous Guy

[4:07] 3. Ooh Child

[6:08] 4. Lika A Hurricane

[5:16] 5. Just The Way You Are

[5:40] 6. I Have Nothing

[4:42] 7. Through The Morning, Through The Night

[3:58] 8. Somewhere

[5:24] 9. I Heard It Through The Grapevine

[5:09] 10. A Song For You

[5:44] 11. Dig Me A Grave

[6:16] 12. All Around

[3:54] 13. Akikaze Ni

Anna Christoffersson - vocal, Steve Dobrogosz - piano.

Steve Dobrogosz grew up in the American south (Raleigh, NC) where his training as a classical pianist paralleled his fascination with popular music. After moving to Stockholm in '78 he became part of Scandinavia's jazz scene as both pianist and composer. His 1982 duo album "Fairy Tales" with Norwegian singer Radka Toneff is widely regarded as a classic. The Gothenburg Post compared his music to Gershwin and Porter, writing "Dobrogosz's songs are melodic masterpieces, with a harmonic sophistication seldom found in music today."

In the 90s Dobrogosz shifted focus to notated composition and his reputation grew as a modern representative of tonal lyricism. His first major choral work Mass (1992) has now been performed in over 40 countries. Dobrogosz's oeuvre includes over 1000 compositions in a broad spectrum of genres. His duo recordings with Anna Christoffersson received two Swedish Grammy nominations.

Covers

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Steve Dobrogosz & Anna Christoffersson - Covers

Styles: Vocal And Piano
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:09
Size: 152,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:20)  1. Ave Maria
(4:30)  2. Jealous Guy
(4:12)  3. Ooh Child
(6:12)  4. Like A Hurricane
(5:21)  5. Just The Way You Are
(5:45)  6. I Have Nothing
(4:47)  7. Through The Morning, Through The Night
(4:00)  8. Somewhere
(5:26)  9. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
(5:23) 10. A Song For You
(5:50) 11. Dig Me A Grave
(6:20) 12. All Around
(3:56) 13. Akikazeni

When utsökte Steve Dobrogosz do not write their own music, dedicated to the successful scaling down others, find hidden structures in the dusty pop for instance. With singer Anna Christoffersson he has also formed a popular duo with live taste. Their new cover collection on the album is a bit flat. Most of the interpretations with few exceptions, do not add anything new. Christofferson's voice is nice, but not really the life weight that is required in this mästarsamling. Ave Maria followed by Lennon's Jealous Guy are therefor a bit hard to digest as the start. How were you there? Translate by google ~ Ulf Johansson  http://www.gp.se/kulturnoje/recensioner/skivor/1.496255-steve-dobrogosz-anna-christoffersson-covers

Pianist Steve Dobrogosz and singer Anna Christoffersson has chosen a repertoire beyond jazz with Schubert's Ave Maria, and Leon Russell with a connection to blues and gospel and restoring the piano in rock. Marvin Gaye's I heard it through the grapevine may have been a special source of inspiration. There are strong feelings and careful eye for musical DEVICES individuality. 

The song is somewhat uneven, it happens that Christoffersson lets air through at the expense of the timbre of the voice. Translate by google ~ Ingrid Strömdahl  http://www.svd.se/anna-christoffersson-och-steve-dobrogosz_5682663

Covers

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Jeanette Lindstrom & Steve Dobrogosz - Feathers

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:35
Size: 150,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:33)  1. Butterfly
(7:25)  2. Never Let Me Go
(4:12)  3. The Look Of Love
(3:49)  4. Love Makes You Suffer
(5:17)  5. Both Sides, Now
(5:14)  6. My Hands
(6:24)  7. Almost Blue
(5:09)  8. Like Water
(5:51)  9. Breakfast at Tiffany's  Moon River
(3:47) 10. To Whom It May Concern
(3:59) 11. Future Window
(5:27) 12. You Are There
(4:20) 13. Deep Space

Feathers travels a different road than Jeanette Lindström's previous albums. Where earlier releases have her sounding like an Afro-American singer with overtones of Abbey Lincoln and Diane Reeves, her newest is introspective and soft. There is no hint of soul, R&B, or anything resembling an up-tempo pace. This change of rhythms may have something to do with the label. Her earlier recordings were with Caprice, which has featured African/Middle Eastern music. Sweden's Prophone, on the other hand, not only records jazz, but classical as well, and probably is a bit more conservative. It may also have something to do with her fellow performer; Steve Dobrogosz's compositions and recordings are calm and collected as the listener will find out since there are four of his tunes on the 13 tune play list. His songs are also characterized by disconsolate, and in one case, cruel lyrics "So I reached out to rub off its color, break its small body, and pull off its wings" on "Butterfly." Maybe there's an allegory here somewhere. 

Then there's the not so appealing conclusion that "Love Makes You Suffer." Even tunes that one normally hears played if not in quick, at least in medium tempos, are offered in unusually slow measures. But there are gems here as well. Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" has an ethereal quality about it with Lindström's voice floating above the Mozart sonata-like piano of Dobrogosz. The Andy Williams' monster hit "Moon River" opens with a lengthy Dobrogosz introduction which changes the phrasing and accents of this tune, giving it a much different play than Williams'. The hopeful lyrics are sung with an appropriate feeling of longing. Every now and then, one needs to take down an album from the shelf if for nothing else than as a proper backdrop for quiet times. You could do a lot worse than purchasing this CD for that purpose. ~ Dave Nathan   http://www.allmusic.com/album/feathers-mw0001154452

Feathers

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