Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo - Swing Zing

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:24
Size: 123,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:08)  1. Cheek to Cheek
(2:22)  2. The Best Things in Life Are Free
(3:47)  3. September Song
(3:53)  4. Cry Me a River
(4:22)  5. Joseph Joseph
(2:05)  6. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
(4:30)  7. All the Things You Are
(3:59)  8. Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans
(4:34)  9. Whispering
(3:56) 10. Sleepytime Gal
(3:01) 11. Stardust
(4:35) 12. Tico Tico / Djangomania
(5:06) 13. Peg O My Heart / I'm Confessin'

When a press release accompanying a new album conveys more information than is found on the album itself, the supposition must be that it was recorded hurriedly with an eye toward a similarly expeditious release. Swing Zing! pairs the estimable guitarists Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo, who've been working together for more than five years, with half a dozen guests who are identified on the album (and in the press release) by name but not by instrument. Three of them Bucky Pizzarelli, Julian Lage and Gene Bertoncini are definitely guitarists. At least one of the others Olli Soikkeli, Audra Mariel, Gary Mazzaroppi must be a bassist, or doubles on it, as a bass seems to be present on several tracks. On the other hand, it could be a bass guitar or even a regular guitar played as a deep-throated rhythm instrument, a la Freddie Green. Sure sounds like a bass, though.

It's clear that Mariel is a vocalist, as she sings (quite well) on the Jerome Kern standard "All the Things You Are." As Mazzaroppi is also listed on that track, perhaps he's the mystery bassist (there's a photo inside the album cover of someone playing bass but he isn't identified by name). The problem is, Mazzaroppi's not noted as present on the other numbers that seem to include a bass including the upbeat opener, Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek." Soikkeli sits in on "Joseph Joseph," Bertoncini on "Whispering," Lage on "Sleepy Time Gal," Pizzarelli on "All the Things" and the closing medley, "Peg O' My Heart" / "I'm Confessin.'" The solo order for any of the tracks is not given, nor is there any hint as to the speaker (left or right) through which anyone can be recognized. We are told that Lage plays the lead, Vignola the rhythm on "Sleepy Time Gal" and (for some reason) that Pizzarelli plays a 1947 D'Angelico. Otherwise, as all guitars sound basically alike to some people (not mentioning any names), that makes any individual appraisals rather improbable.

Suffice to say that everyone on the album acquits himself (or herself) well, leaving no room for complaint about the music itself aside from the fact that it is rather guitar-heavy. For those who appreciate the sound of a well-strummed guitar, that should pose no problem. As for the swing quotient, it remains fairly high throughout, reaching its apex on the medley of "Tico Tico" and "Djangomania," taken at breakneck speed by Vignola and Raniolo. Elsewhere, the music is time-tested and should be familiar to most listeners, comprising as it does "The Best Things in Life Are Free," "September Song," "Cry Me a River," "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You," "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" and "Stardust." No surprises there. In spite of the lack of information offered, Swing Zing! is an enjoyable album of guitar-soaked jazz that should please fans of the instrument in general and the Vignola / Raniolo tandem in particular. ~ Jack Bowers http://www.allaboutjazz.com/swing-zing-frank-vignola-fv-records-review-by-jack-bowers.php

Personnel: Frank Vignola: guitar; Vinny Raniolo: guitar; Special guests – Bucky Pizzarelli: guitar; Olli Soikkeli: guitar; Julian Lage: guitar; Gene Bertoncini: guitar; Audra Mariel: guitar; Gary Mazzaroppi: guitar.

Swing Zing

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Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo - Beloved Earth Songs

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 45:57
Size: 105.2 MB
Styles: Guitar jazz
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[3:20] 1. Apache
[3:30] 2. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
[4:32] 3. Concerto De Aranguez
[2:57] 4. Carolina In The Morning
[2:55] 5. Killing Me Softly
[3:09] 6. Malaguena
[3:27] 7. Under Paris Skies
[3:07] 8. Brazil
[3:57] 9. Willow Weep For Me
[2:19] 10. April Showers
[3:01] 11. La Strada Nel Bosco
[3:06] 12. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
[3:32] 13. Anitra's Dance
[2:59] 14. Mozart's Symphony No. 40

Another deliciously eclectic set from these two jazz guitar monsters: "Apache" to Grieg, Mozart to "Killing Me Softly," time-tested standards and fresh surprises, all on two acoustic guitars!

Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo have played over 1,000 duo guitar concerts all over the planet and have played along side the world's finest musicians. Their playing together as a duo is infectiously fun, melodic and will keep your foot tapping for as long as their guitars make sound.

Beloved Earth Songs

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Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo - Melody Magic

Styles: Straight-ahead/Mainstream
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:11
Size: 94,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:34)  1. Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 (arr. F. Vignola)
(3:29)  2. Carmen (arr. F. Vignola): Carmen, Act I: Habanera: L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (arr. F. Vignola)
(4:52)  3. Scheherazade, Op. 35 (arr. F. Vignola)
(3:55)  4. Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 (arr. F. Vignola): Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46: I. Morning Mood (arr. F. Vignola)
(4:24)  5. If I Fell - Here, There and Everywhere (arr. T. Emmanuel)
(4:58)  6. Dust in the Wind (arr. F. Vignola)
(2:17)  7. Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 (arr. F. Vignola): Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004: I. Allemande (arr. F. Vignola)
(3:37)  8. Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, MWV O14 (arr. F. Vignola): Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, MWV O14: I. Allegro molto appassionato (arr. F. Vignola)
(4:28)  9. Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20a (arr. F. Vignola): Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20a: I. Scene (arr. F. Vignola)
(5:33) 10. Eye of the Tiger (arr. F. Vignola)

In the same adventurous spirit as Polkastra's "I Do" The Wedding Album (Ancalagon, 2013), a spirit that transcends genre, style, and even musical phyla, guitarists Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo, using the vehicle of the Hot Club gypsy swing jazz to transform a recital ranging from Beethoven and Bizet to The Beatles and Sting. Vignola provides the lion's share of arrangements, save for the Beatles' medley of "If I Fell" and "Here, There and Everywhere," which was arranged by guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. Instrumentation is de rigueur acoustic and spare, employing bass, accordion, and/or violin in turn.

The music is mostly classical, with a true Hot Club reading of Beethoven's "5th Symphony" opening the disc. The pair plays the allegro con brio straight until the interior, whereSpanish and Gypsy influences bleed in, as well as late-romantic sonorities insinuating their way into the performance, making it easy to imagine this music being played in a small café of Paris' Left Bank in the present day. Bizet's "Carmen Habanera" is dispatched with all its hot-blooded passion, again with a parlor feel about it. Pianist Uri Caine's Wagner e Venezia (Winter & Winter, 1997) and The Sidewalks of New York: Tin Pan Alley (Winter & Winter, 2000) possess this same quality of employing the instruments on hand to perform classical music in a parlor-like environment. The method provides the performer(s) an acute challenge to produce compelling music with instruments not necessarily associated with that music. Like Caine, Vignola rises to this challenge, transforming The Police's "Walking on The Moon" into a neo-reggae acoustic duet. Melody Magic is "hinge music" music that incorporates elements not normally associated with it. Recordings like this can go horribly wrong, as evidenced by cut-out bins full of such fare. Vignola and Raniolo, however, dispatch their ranging material with intelligence and care, producing a very satisfying set.~ C.Michael Bailey  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=43823#.Ulx2vhDFrkc

Personnel: Frank Vignola: guitar; Vinny Raniolo: guitar; Mark Egan: bass (1, 2, 4, 8, 9); Julien Labro: accordion (3, 6, 10, 11); Zack Brock: violin (3, 6, 10, 11); Cassie Holden: double bass (3, 10, 11); Mat Wigdon: double bass (6).

Melody Magic

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