Zachary Breaux - Uptown Groove

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 64:21
Size: 147.3 MB
Styles: Crossover jazz, Easy Listening
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[0:13] 1. Breakfast At The Epiphany
[5:22] 2. After 2 00 Am On The East Coast
[6:04] 3. Café Reggio
[4:28] 4. I Told You
[5:04] 5. Never Can Say Goodbye
[5:08] 6. The Thrill Is Gone
[4:41] 7. After 2 00 Am On The West Coast
[6:33] 8. All Blues
[6:04] 9. Back Into Time
[5:10] 10. Uptown Groove
[4:18] 11. Flavors Of My Mind
[4:40] 12. The 135th St. Theme
[6:29] 13. I Love This Life

With a prickly, doodling jazz chorusey style, the late guitarist Zachary Breaux could fit comfortably into the Earl Klugh light-and-breezy smooth jazz mold-but his willingness to experiment on his strong recording, Uptown Groove set him apart. Breaux, a well-traveled sideman whose touring credits included a stint with Roy Ayers, is all over his instrument, hitting light, high-toned chords on "Cafe Reggio" and trading soulful licks with flutist Hubert Laws on "I Told You." The multi-talented Breaux also sings in an emotive baritone on a dark, urban-contemporized read of B.B. King's "The Thrill is Gone," and proves a creative arranger on an edgy cover of Miles Davis' "All Blues," using harmonica and his own pinging, cornered melody to lend a soulful feel. Likewise, his elastic-ranged spiraling solo work on "Uptown Groove" is given an unexpected '60s soul lift by the backing of a killer horn quartet. With an elastic, easygoing guitar technique recalling George Benson, combined with arranging instincts diverging from tried-and-true commercial formulas, Zachary Breaux was clearly a very promising talent. ~Hilarie Grey

Uptown Groove

---

Various - Come Together: Guitar Tribute To The Beatles

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 58:42
Size: 136.1 MB
Label: NYC Music
Styles: Album rock, Alternative rock, Guitar jazz
Year: 1993
Art: Front

[4:51] 1. Mark Whitfield - Come Together
[6:04] 2. Toninho Horta - She's Leaving Home
[5:54] 3. Ralph Towner - Here, There, And Everywhere
[8:19] 4. Steve Khan - Within You, Without You/Blue Jay Way
[5:13] 5. Zachary Breaux - Eleanor Rigby
[2:16] 6. Adrian Belew - Blackbird
[5:24] 7. John Abercombie - And I Love Her
[4:54] 8. Allan Holdsworth - Michelle
[5:53] 9. Leni Stern - Norwegian Wood
[5:41] 10. Larry Coryell - Something
[4:09] 11. Toots Thielemans - Yesterday

Strictly speaking, this isn't just a guitar tribute to the Beatles, although stringed instruments that are plucked, strummed, and otherwise manipulated are in abundance, representing styles and sounds that will recall Django Reinhardt at one moment and the Mahavishnu Orchestra at the next. Toots Thielemans adds some astonishingly tasteful harmonica (and whistling) to "Yesterday" and Thomas Dawson's organ is almost a lead instrument on "Come Together." But it's the guitars (plus some superb bass) that make up the core of this delightful recording. Larry Coryell, Steve Khan, Ralph Towner, Adrian Belew, John Abercrombie, Allan Holdsworth, Toninho Horta (whose Brazilian-flavored rendition of "She's Leaving Home" is worth the price of admission by itself), and others do what they do best, and the results are revelatory and dazzlingly entertaining. This reviewer's favorite cut was Khan's medley of "Within You, Without You/Blue Jay Way," but that's just because it's that much more unexpected than anything else here. Mark Whitfield's lead work on the title cut, which is also the leadoff track, sets the bar pretty high for the rest of the CD, but everyone clears it and then some, each in his own way. One only wishes there'd been a follow-up album. ~Bruce Eder

Come Together: Guitar Tribute To The Beatles

---