Audrey Silver - Let Me Know Your Heart (New Link)

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:15
Size: 134,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:58)  1. When I Look in Your Eyes
(3:29)  2. Comes Love
(5:06)  3. Solsbury Hill
(3:35)  4. Plus Je T'embrasse
(4:02)  5. I Knew He Was There
(3:44)  6. Ever Since the World Ended
(5:14)  7. How Deep Is the Ocean
(4:05)  8. Giraffe Song
(4:53)  9. You Knew
(4:54) 10. Up Jumped Spring
(4:33) 11. Small Day Tomorrow
(3:09) 12. New Year's Eve
(3:41) 13. Let Me Know Your Heart
(3:44) 14. Can't We Be Friends

With a growing catalog of recordings and a warm, swinging performing style, Audrey Silver is one of the most elegantly creative singers in jazz today. Known for what Hot House Jazz has called “a velvet-laden timbre with impeccable phrasing,” Audrey has become renowned for her compelling takes on classic pop tunes as well as her own poignant originals.   Audrey’s composition style mines her vast musical experiences. She says “Songwriting comes from improvising if you can improvise in a melodic way, you can write a song.” Today, the New York City native releases her fourth album, Let Me Know Your Heart, which features her returning cast of players;  Bruce Barth on piano, trumpeter Marcus Printup, upright bassist Paul Beaudry, drummer Anthony Pinciotti, Tom Beckham on vibes and guitarist Marc Ciprut. The album’s collection of fourteen songs is centered artistically and emotionally on Audrey’s six newly-penned originals. Crediting musical luminaries as diverse as Bill Evans, Annie Lennox and Arnold Schoenberg as influences on her artistry, Audrey has found new challenges and satisfaction in becoming a songwriter. Receiving high praise for her vocal stylings, Jazz critics have reinforced a comparison she has heard her entire performing life, “Not since Karen Carpenter have I heard such a strong alto voice that is so pure and so convincing.”Audrey and her band will be celebrating the release of Let Me Know Your Heart with two sets of performance on Wednesday,  September 11th at The Zinc Bar in New York City. Tickets may be purchased here. https://don411.com/award-winning-vocalist-audrey-silver-releases-new-album-let-me-know-your-heart/#.XmTdTvRCeUk

Personnel: Bruce Barth on piano, trumpeter Marcus Printup, upright bassist Paul Beaudry, drummer Anthony Pinciotti, Tom Beckham on vibes and guitarist Marc Ciprut.

Let Me Know Your Heart

---

McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy (Remastered / Rudy Van Gelder Edition)

Styles: Piano Jazz 
Year: 1967
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:09
Size: 85,6 MB
Art: Front

(8:47)  1. Passion Dance
(9:12)  2. Contemplation
(6:37)  3. Four By Five
(6:32)  4. Search For Peace
(6:00)  5. Blues On The Corner

It is to McCoy Tyner's great credit that his career after John Coltrane has been far from anti-climatic. Along with Bill Evans, Tyner has been the most influential pianist in jazz of the past 50 years, with his chord voicings being adopted and utilized by virtually every younger pianist. A powerful virtuoso and a true original (compare his playing in the early '60s with anyone else from the time), Tyner (like Thelonious Monk) has not altered his style all that much from his early days but he has continued to grow and become even stronger. Tyner grew up in Philadelphia, where Bud Powell and Richie Powell were neighbors. As a teenager he gigged locally and met John Coltrane. He made his recording debut with the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet, but after six months left the group to join Coltrane in what (with bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones) would become the classic quartet. Few other pianists of the period had both the power and the complementary open-minded style to inspire Coltrane, but Tyner was never overshadowed by the innovative saxophonist. During the Coltrane years (1960-1965), the pianist also led his own record dates for Impulse.

After leaving Coltrane, Tyner struggled for a period, working as a sideman (with Ike and Tina Turner, amazingly) and leading his own small groups; his recordings were consistently stimulating even during the lean years. After he signed with Milestone in 1972, Tyner began to finally be recognized as one of the greats, and he has never been short of work since. Although there have been occasional departures (such as a 1978 all-star quartet tour with Sonny Rollins and duo recordings with Stephane Grappelli), Tyner has mostly played with his own groups since the '70s, which have ranged from a quartet with Azar Lawrence and a big band to his trio. In the '80s and '90s, Tyner did the rounds of labels (his old homes Blue Note and Impulse! as well as Verve, Enja, and Milestone) before settling in with Telarc in the late '90s and releasing a fine series of albums including 2000's Jazz Roots: McCoy Tyner Honors Jazz Piano Legends of the 20th Century and 2004's Illuminations. In 2007, Tyner returned with the studio album McCoy Tyner Quartet featuring saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mccoy-tyner-mn0000868092/biography

Personnel: McCoy Tyner (piano); Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone); Ron Carter (bass); Elvin Jones (drums).

R.I.P.
Born: December 11, 1938, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Died: March 6, 2020

The Real McCoy (Remastered / Rudy Van Gelder Edition)

---

Gregory Tardy - Standards & More

Styles: Saxophone And Clarinet Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:11
Size: 150,1 MB
Art: Front

( 7:49)  1. I See Your Face Before Me
( 6:42)  2. Voyage
( 3:09)  3. How Deep The Father's Love For Us
(10:03)  4. Billie's Bounce
( 6:42)  5. When I Fall In Love
( 6:47)  6. Secret Love
( 5:06)  7. A Prayer for the Preborn
( 5:35)  8. Aural Oasis
( 6:22)  9. How Deep Is The Ocean
( 6:51) 10. Firm Roots

As the title of this new album suggests Gregory Tardy and his excellent ensemble invested their energy in evergreen standards and jazz original classics here to fulfil his musical parents’ requests.“… Not only is he arguably the most original of the band’s improvisers, he’s also the most impassioned. His lines are incisive and hard-edged. Even his most fanciful flights are purposeful. His energetic approach consistently lifts the group’s performance to a higher level….” (Chris Kelsey – JazzTimes on “Steps of Faith” SCCD 31610)“….Of the many stars to have emerged on the jazz horizon during the '90s, one of the most disciplined, emotive and perhaps underrated is the multifaceted Gregory Tardy ….. Tardy takes another step toward establishing himself as one of the most important saxophonists of his generation….” (Matthew Miller - AJJ on “The Truth” SCCD 31583) https://www.jazzmessengers.com/en/13122/gregory-tardy/standards-and-more

Personnel: Gregory Tardy - tenor saxophone, clarinet, composer;  Philip Dizack - trumpet; Keith Brown - piano;  Sean Conly - bass; Jaimeo Brown - drums

Standards & More

---

Carmen Souza - The Silver Messengers

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz 
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:35
Size: 105,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:43)  1. Soul Searching
(3:48)  2. The Jody Grind
(4:50)  3. Señor Blues
(3:17)  4. Nutville
(3:30)  5. Lady Musika
(4:06)  6. St Vitus Dance
(3:43)  7. Pretty Eyes
(3:36)  8. Kathy
(6:09)  9. Song for my Father
(4:58) 10. Cape Verdean Blues
(3:50) 11. Silver Blues

Carmen Souza is back with her 9th CD. Her latest is totally dedicated to the music of Horace Silver, calling it -The Silver Messengers. Anyone following the last decade of Souza's career would have predicted this release sooner or later. Silver has been credited more then once as a big influence in Souza's career but their connections go beyond the artistic identification. They both share the same Cape Verdean heritage and they both, in different ways, mixed that heritage with elements of Jazz. The Silver Messengers mission in this CD was to honor Silver's pioneering repertoire by bringing it back to its African/Lusophone roots. Only Carmen Souza, with the help of her long time musical partner Theo Pascal, who has accomplish so much with her own pioneering musical signature, could have completed this mission with such wonder and authenticity.
Carmen Souza with her acclaimed position as composer, vocalist and instrumentalist in the World, and in the Cape Verdean musical spectrum, can now voice Silver's work to a whole generation, specially in his Ancestor's home, that did not knew his work before, promoting even further his legacy. Recorded between London and Lisbon, Carmen Souza and Theo Pascal have reworked 6 Silver original songs, adding some new creole lyrics to it, also including previous released versions of ''Song for My Father'' ''Cape Verdean Blues'' and ''Pretty Eyes'', plus 2 all new songs dedicated to Horace Silver. The Silver Messengers are Carmen Souza on vocals and guitar, Theo Pascal on Electric Bass/Dbass, Elias Kacomanolis on drums/Perc and Benjamin Burrell on piano. ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Messengers-Carmen-Souza/dp/B07W47GCMW

The Silver Messengers

---

Champian Fulton & Cory Weeds - Dream A Little...

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:51
Size: 139,9 MB
Art: Front

(2:58)  1. Dream A Little Dream Of Me
(4:41)  2. Fly Me To The Moon
(6:57)  3. Lullaby For Art
(7:18)  4. Darn That Dream
(5:53)  5. Pennies From Heaven
(5:58)  6. Once I Had A Secret Love
(9:07)  7. I Thought About You
(5:18)  8. Tangerine
(5:34)  9. I'd Give A Dollar For A Dime
(7:03) 10. Save Your Love For Me

“[Dream a Little] practically pants with unvarnished vitality….Fulton has set a high bar for herself since her 2007 debut Champian. In recent years she’s released a series of strong albums, each exposing a different aspect of her music. Dream a Little… might be her most pleasingly inviting. From the concise opening title track, she and Weeds establish the house rules with a conversational intimacy that bespeaks trust earned over many years and many gigs. It’s a loose session rife with quicksilver interplay. Fulton isn’t a subtle singer; she’s got an edge of brass in her voice that makes ballads, like a convincing version of “Darn That Dream,” more fulsome laments than whispered confessions. Weeds listens closely and responds in kind, often using his airy lower register as a tonal counterpoint when Fulton’s voice ascends. The album is also a showcase for her pianistic facility. She plays with such swinging joie de vivre on “Once I Had a Secret Love” that it’s easy to forget it’s not an instrumental track.” ~  Andrew Gilbert, JazzTimes

"At this point in jazz history, Champian Fulton is the best piano-playing singer and the best pianist who happens to be a singer. With her blend of precision and flair on the keys and her nuanced approach to the mic, she’s been unstoppable lately. Her career validates the old proverb that you get good at what you do: somehow, in between gigs, she manages to find the time to make albums....While this is first and foremost a collection of bittersweet love ballads, it’s also uproariously funny when least expected: Fulton has a subtle and often sly sense of humor, particularly on the keys. As if we need yet more proof that more artists should be making live records, this is it." ~ NY Music Daily https://champianfulton.bandcamp.com/album/dream-a-little

Dream A Little...

---

Lyambiko, WDR Funkhausorchester - Berlin - New York

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:54
Size: 101,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:49)  1. Die ganze Welt ist himmelblau
(3:53)  2. After the Rain
(4:04)  3. Bei dir war es immer so schön
(3:51)  4. Happy Days Are Here Again
(3:41)  5. Das Lied ist aus: Frag' nicht warum ich gehe
(3:33)  6. Answer Me My Love
(3:06)  7. September Song
(3:17)  8. Sommer, See und Sonnenschein
(3:48)  9. It's Oh So Quiet
(4:17) 10. Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
(3:57) 11. Schlummerlied
(3:33) 12. Irgendwo auf der Welt

The jazz singer Lyambiko illuminates the composer scene between Berlin and New York between the 1930s and 1950s: pop cultural globalization between Nazi terror and artistic exile.

The four-time German Jazz Award winner and ECHO jazz winner Lyambiko releases “Berlin - New York”, a personal and political album. Together with the arranger Max Knoth (Ryuichi Sakamoto, Lou Reed, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, David Newman, Matthew Herbert) and the WDR Funkhausorchester, conducted by Frank Strobel, she illuminates the diverse global connections of music culture in the "torn times" of the 1930s to the 1950s.

After countless appearances, tours and ten successful albums, Lyambiko is given a book as a gift: "Don't make your eyes sad because you're a little Negro". It tells the story of Marie Nejar, daughter of colored parents, who grew up under harassment in the Third Reich and became a singing child star in the young Federal Republic in the 1950s under the stage name Leila Negra. Lyambiko, herself the daughter of a Tanzanian and a German, finds her long familiar songs in Marie Nejar's autobiography, such as "Answer Me My Love" (Gerhard Winkler - 1952), which she has performed countless times. The book about an apparently distant, turbulent time has a strangely up-to-date effect and thus becomes the starting point for a musical and personal journey of discovery. Lyambiko came across sound film hits, radio hits and musicals, some of them immortalized in the "Great American Songbook", which were written by American and German composers in the 1920s to 1950s. Although everyday life was characterized by economic crises, wars and a terror regime in Germany, there was a lively international exchange between the songwriter circles in Berlin and Tin Pan Alley (New York City). The connection between European and American entertainment culture, as documented in countless cover versions of popular songs - such as the Comedian Harmonists - has existed since the beginning of the American music industry around 1900.

The song collection "Berlin - New York", carefully curated by Lyambiko and adapted by Max Knoth for the WDR Funkhausorchester, illuminates the pop cultural transfer between Germany and the USA in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Songs like "The wind told me a song" (Lothar Brühne - 1937), "September Song" (Kurt Weill - 1938), "Somewhere in the World" (Werner Richard Heymann - 1932) or "It's Oh So Quiet" ( Hans Lang - 1948) show the contradictions and ambivalences of these decades in an unforgettable way. The special thing about these songs, many of which are in the “Great American Songbook”, are the catchy, mostly optimistic but also sentimental melodies. They are ballads that, enriched by elements of jazz, Irish folk music or Central European operettas, stand out from the large number of songs at that time.https://www.lyambiko.com/berlin-new-york/

Berlin - New York

---

Anat Cohen Tentet - Triple Helix

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:17
Size: 117,8 MB
Art: Front

( 6:28)  1. Milonga Del Angel
(11:15)  2. Triple Helix: I First
( 5:36)  3. Triple Helix: ii for Anat
( 5:02)  4. Triple Helix: iii last
( 4:21)  5. Miri
( 4:51)  6. Footsteps & Smiles
( 7:48)  7. La Llorona
( 4:34)  8. Lonesome Train
( 1:17)  9. Morning Melody (Epilogue)

Few musical ploys are as riveting as intricacy, especially when the ensemble at hand is sizable. But without a wealth of eloquence in play, elaboration can be its own worst enemy, a knot of tangles void of emotion. Anat Cohen knows this, and though her Tentet’s second album boasts some truly formidable crossweaves, there’s seldom a moment when poise doesn’t carry the day.  Much of the grace that guides these victories has to do with what the leader has deemed the group’s “flexible” nature. As with the Gil Evans-led ensemble on Sketches of Spain or Ellington’s troupe on “A Tone Parallel to Harlem,” listeners never hear the mechanics of the work at hand, just the resultant art floating through the air. This applies to all the tunes from Astor Piazzolla’s “Milonga del Angel” to Stan Kenton’s “Lonesome Train”but especially the program’s centerpiece, a Carnegie Hall and Chicago Symphony Center commission penned by Tentet musical director Oded Lev-Ari that gives the album its title. 

The three sections of “Triple Helix” are varied in disposition. Though Cohen’s clarinet is out front, the band’s level of interplay is wily; the score steers them away from all things obvious. The Rite of Spring and Rhapsody in Blue flash by, even a phrase from “Turkey in the Straw” pops up. But in the end, former Tel Aviv schoolmates Lev-Ari and Cohen deliver an original and deeply affecting work whose dramatic aspects are given lots of room to reveal themselves. That flexibility thing shows up in the album’s other pieces too. The bouncy “Footsteps & Smiles” is a crowd-pleasing fanfare, detailed and swinging. “Miri” allows Cohen to wax bittersweet; “La Llorona” augments that feel and throws in a bit of spookiness. By the time Triple Helix is done, it’s hard to decide if its success rests on stylistic breadth or the deep rewards of partnership. Probably both. https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/anat-cohen-tentet-triple-helix-anzic/

Triple Helix

---

Dave O'Higgins - O'Higgins & Luft Play Monk & Trane

Styles: Saxophone And Guitar Jazz 
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:36
Size: 119,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:21)  1. Naima
(5:58)  2. Little Melonae
(5:42)  3. Locomotive
(6:49)  4. Minor Mishap
(4:02)  5. I'll Wait and Pray
(5:00)  6. Trinkle-Tinkle
(4:11)  7. Like Sonny
(3:23)  8. 'Round Midnight
(4:48)  9. Spring Is Here
(6:21) 10. Dreamland
(0:57) 11. Locomotive (duo)

Hearing the young British guitarist Rob Luft for the first time on his debut album, Riser (Edition, 2017), was rather like hearing American guitarist Johnny Smith for the first time on Moonlight In Vermont (Roost, 1956). You knew you were listening to something special. And while much separates the players' styles, much unites them, too: Smith's signature was long-form chorded passages, Luft's is effervescent single-note runs, but both approaches are intensely melodic and are enabled by virtuosic techniques, lightly worn. Plays Monk & Trane was made with an identically configured lineup as the one on Riser guitar, tenor saxophone, organ, drums but it cannot really be described as a follow-up. On Riser, Luft was centre-stage on ten originals. On Plays Monk & Trane, he shares the spotlight with saxophonist Dave O'Higgins on a set of covers.

On its own terms, however, Plays Monk & Trane is delightful. The album brings together two generations of players. O'Higgins and drummer Rod Youngs have been, not fully round the block, but about halfway, while Luft and organist Scott Flanagan have yet to round the first corner. O'Higgins put out his first album, All Good Things (EFZ), in 1992. London-based, US-born Youngs debuted on Gil Scott-Heron and his Amnesia Express' Tales Of Gil Scott-Heron (Essential) in 1990. Youngs worked with Scott-Heron for over twenty years and more recently has been a member of saxophonist Denys Baptiste's band; he was a cornerstone of Baptiste's 2017 masterpiece, The Late Trane (Edition).  Plays Monk & Trane comprises five Thelonious Monk originals, ranging from the familiar ('"Round Midnight") to the lesser known ("Dreamland"), and seven other pre-modal tunes either written by John Coltrane ("Naima," "Like Sonny") or standards recorded by him during the same Prestige / Atlantic era. Tempos range from the furious to the chilled. Youngs and Flanagan play unobtrustive roles pretty much throughout, with the solos shared equally between Luft and O'Higgins.

It is a testament to Luft and O'Higgins that they succeed in making two familiar-as-they-get tunes "Naima" and "'Round Midnight"sound as fresh as spring daisies. Both are played without organ or drums and are straightforward and spellbinding and lovely. You almost wish the group had woven the same magic on more warhorses. But the lesser known tunes are shot through with the same sense of discovery. ~ Chris May https://www.allaboutjazz.com/plays-monk-and-trane-rob-luft-ubuntu-music-review-by-chris-may.php

Personnel: Rob Luft: guitar; Dave O'Higgins: tenor saxophone; Scott Flanagan: organ (2-7, 9 ,10); Rod Youngs: drums (2-7, 9, 10).

O'Higgins & Luft Play Monk & Trane

---

Bill Frisell - Harmony

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:52
Size: 108,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:35)  1. Everywhere
(4:07)  2. God's Wing'd Horse
(4:06)  3. Fifty Years
(3:56)  4. Hard Times
(3:07)  5. Deep Dead Blue
(4:40)  6. There In A Dream
(3:20)  7. Lonesome
(3:23)  8. On The Street Where You Live
(2:29)  9. How Many Miles?
(3:54) 10. Lush Life
(1:17) 11. Honest Man
(2:00) 12. Red River Valley
(1:40) 13. Curiosity
(3:12) 14. Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

Iconic guitarist-composer Bill Frisell has chosen to primarily emphasize the Americana side of his music for his debut as a leader for Blue Note Records. When Frisell organized his new band with vocalist Petra Haden, cellist Hank Roberts and guitarist-bassist Luke Bergman he was struck by the fact that all of the band members but him sang, so their vocal blend became the group's signature sound as well as the inspiration for the name Harmony. Upon first hearing, the album sounds rooted in traditional American music, but in fact eight of the fourteen selections were composed by Frisell. The set leads off with three of his: "Everywhere" and "Fifty Years" both employ vocals in a traditional musical setting, and it is notable that the first sound is a cappella vocals. "God's Wing'd Horse" (words by Julie Miller) adds lyrics to the mix but, as the title implies, they sound as if they could easily be from a folk song. All three vocalists harmonize with only guitar accompaniment: Frisell solos a bit here, but solos are not the focus in this music. It is an ensemble sound above all.

Stephen Foster's "Hard Times" is the first of the traditional selections, beautifully rendered with only voices and guitars. "Red River Valley" strips the arrangement down to just the three voices; Frisell lays out completely, an impressive commitment to the vocal blend that is the heart of the group. Pete Seeger's "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" gets a very modern arrangement, the mournful subject intensified by new harmonies and a doleful vocal performance by Haden. The tunes that are neither traditional nor original are an interesting and varied lot. "Deep Dead Blue" is a collaboration between Elvis Costello and Frisell from their album Deep Dead Blue (Nonesuch Records, 1995). Petra sings her late bassist-composer father Charlie Haden's "There In A Dream," an atmospheric noir tune first heard on the Charlie Haden Quartet West's Now Is the Hour (Verve, 1996). 

Billy Strayhorn's classic "Lush Life" is the one unambiguously jazz entry. It's a beautiful, minimal duet performance by Frisell and Haden. Frisell fans should have learned long ago to keep an open mind. This album has arguably less of a guitar focus than any previous one. Yet it is suffused with his genre-free love of music, and his guitar-playing remains a foundation element. It's a beautiful group sound, with the name Harmony very well deserved. ~ Mark Sullivan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/harmony-bill-frisell-blue-note-records-review-by-mark-sullivan.php

Personnel: Bill Frisell: guitar; Petra Haden: voice; Hank Roberts: cello, voice; Luke Bergman: baritone guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, voice.

Harmony

---

Abdullah Ibrahim - Dream Time

Styles: Contemporary Jazz, Cape Jazz

Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:09
Size: 160,0 MB

(1:12)  1. Trieste My Love
(1:00)  2. Genesis
(4:13)  3. For Coltrane
(2:41)  4. Blue Bolero - Blue Bolero I
(9:39)  5. Nisa
(0:36)  6. Blue Bolero - Blue Bolero II
(3:39)  7. Capetown District Six
(3:36)  8. Sotho Blue
(0:08)  9. Machopi
(2:25) 10. Whoza Mtwana
(8:04) 11. Blues for a Hip King
(2:58) 12. Dream Time
(3:05) 13. In the Evening
(2:06) 14. Song for Lawrence Brown
(1:19) 15. Blue Bolero - Blue Bolero III
(7:48) 16. Dedication to Duke Ellington
(3:02) 17. The Ballance
(1:30) 18. Aspen
(2:53) 19. Did You Hear That Sound
(7:07) 20. Blue Bolero - Blue Bolero IV

Abdullah Ibrahim: Dream TimeStream-of-consciousness solo-piano recitals come in as many shades as jazz itself. At one extreme are Keith Jarrett's messianic epics. At another are Abdullah Ibrahim's less flashy but deeper outings. Ibrahim's style is about substance, space and subtlety. He says more by doing less. Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, after all, were his formative influences.

Dream Time was recorded in March 2019 at the Hirzinger Concert Hall in Sölinhuben, in the foothills of the German Alps where Ibrahim lives. Over the course of sixty-seven minutes, he ranges over seventeen tunes from his massive songbook of original compositions, returning three times to one of them, "Blue Bolero" (from the 2003 Enja album African Magic). Audio quality is superb and the performance is seamless, each tune seguing into the next. Only at the very end does applause inform us that an audience was present.

It would be interesting to know if Ibrahim's choice of material was planned or off the cuff, but it is of no consequence. Dream Time was conceived not as a greatest-hits package, but in the spirit of the Native Australian timelines from which it takes its name. It is contemplative and intimate and unhurried. Ellington and his longtime trombonist Lawrence Brown are both acknowledged as inspirations and other pieces evoke Ibrahim's early years in South Africa (he exiled himself from the country in 1963). Three of the tunes ("Dream Time," "Nisa," "The Balance") were included on his excellent 2019 album The Balance (Gearbox), recorded in London with his eight-piece band, Ekaya.

Talking soft and saying something, as is Ibrahim's wont, this is a work of exquisite beauty.

Personnel: Abdullah Ibrahim: piano.

Dream Time

---

Barb Jungr - Bob, Brel and Me (New Link)

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:53
Size: 158,4 MB
Art: Front

(2:54)  1. Rise & Shine
(4:36)  2. Jacky
(5:50)  3. Mr Tambourine Man
(4:11)  4. Incurable Romantic
(4:28)  5. The Tender Hearts
(3:33)  6. Buckets of Rain
(3:11)  7. One Too Many Mornings
(6:17)  8. The Cathedral
(3:36)  9. No-one Could Ever Wear Your Shoes
(3:05) 10. Twist of Fate
(4:55) 11. Sometimes
(3:36) 12. Secret Spaces
(4:22) 13. To See A Friend Break Down and Cry
(4:27) 14. This Wheel's on Fire
(4:54) 15. If We Only Had Love
(4:52) 16. If You See Her Say Hello

Apparently, Barb Jungr considers Bob, Brel and Me her best ever and has said of it, "I may not make another." Given her productivity over recent years, it is tempting to doubt that; but if it does turn out to be true, this album will make a great finale. Rather than being a one-off project, Bob, Brel and Me feels like an integral part of the warp and weft of Jungr's work since 1999. As early as her album Bare (Irregular Records, 1999), Jungr was covering a Jacques Brel song "Sons Of" and she included four of his compositions on Chanson The Space in Between (Linn, 2000) alongside other songs with a French connection.  Just as significant was her next album Every Grain of Sand (Linn, 2002) which featured fifteen Bob Dylan songs dating from 1963 to 2001; after it, Dylan compositions became a regular feature of her recordings and live performances. For years before recording Brel or Dylan songs, Jungr had been writing, performing and recording her own songs with others, notably Michael Parker with whom she was in a duo for thirteen years.

So, although many other songwriters figure in Jungr's discography, the title Bob, Brel and Me neatly encapsulates three principal sources of songs she has sung. Fittingly, the album gives equal weight to all three; of its fifteen tracks, five each are compositions by Dylan, Brel and Jungr. It kicks off with a barnstorming jazzy version of Jungr and Mike Lindup's "Rise and Shine," featuring Jamie Safir on piano plus the ever-present pairing of bassist Davide Mantovani and drummer Rob Youngs, with the sax of Mark Lockheart and trumpet of Pete Horsfall working together to sound like a full brass section behind Jungr. Next up is Brel's "Jacky," in a new translation by Robb Johnson with lyrics as attention-grabbing as Scott Walker's 1967 version. Jenny Carr on piano, Safir moving to organ a combination that is deployed on several tracks and Gabriella Swallow's cello combine in a mellow backing that works effectively. The horns return for the first Dylan track, "Mr Tambourine Man," which had miraculously avoided being recorded on Jungr's previous Dylan albums. Making up for lost time, she gives a typically heartfelt reading that reflects her love of Dylan songs. And so it continues, with the instrumentation and arrangement of each track individually tailored to suit the song in question and Jungr's rendition of it. Such attention to detail has resulted in an album of great variety but consistent quality. Although it has been true of her albums for many years now, it is worth emphasising that there is not one track here that does not match up to the high standards Jungr sets for herself and her fellow musicians.

Oddly, that statement is not contradicted by the fact that two contrasting tracks, both by Brel, stand out from the rest as being the best on the album. "The Cathedral," the longest track here at six-and-a-quarter-minutes features only Jungr's voice plus Safir at the piano; consequently, both are exposed, but rise to the occasion to give a bravura performance drenched in emotion. In contrast, the closing track, "If We Only Had Love," finds Jungr and Safir alone in the company of the twenty-one member Fourth Choir who provide lush accompaniment for her rendition of Brel's epic hymn to love. A stunning way to conclude this stunning album. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/bob-brel-and-me-barb-jungr-absolute-review-by-john-eyles.php

Personnel:  Barb Jungr: vocals, harmonica (7); Davide Mantovani: double bass; Rod Youngs: drums; Pete Horsfall: trumpet (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11); Mark Lockheart: saxophone (1, 3, 7); Jamie Safir: piano (1, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15), organ (2-4, 6, 7, 11, 14); Jenny Carr: piano (2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14), accordion (6); Gabriella Swallow: cello (2, 13); Mike Lindup: chorus vocal (4), other vocals (5); Christoph Bracher: other vocals (5); The Fourth Choir:- Victoria Ely: conductor; Eve Berwin, Kathleen Holman, Megan Inglis, Fiona Mortimer, Rioghnach Sachs, Che Ramsden: sopranos; Michaela Cauntier, Ellie Dragonetti, Suzy Duggan, Jill Pett, Kathryn Thomson, Sarah de Winter: altos; Sam Henson, Séamus Rea, Alistair Semmence: tenors; Gus Cairns, Daniel Florea, Ben Lumb, Kit Senior, Finn Schulze-Feldmann, Peter Warwick: basses (15).

Bob, Brel and Me

---

Dick Hyman, Ken Peplowski - Counterpoint

Styles: Clarinet, Saxophone and Piano Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:48
Size: 147,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:18)  1. My Dearie
(5:04)  2. Danced
(3:25)  3. Mariah
(7:12)  4. Gigi
(5:36)  5. Gigi Piano
(5:31)  6. Trees
(3:40)  7. Almost Like
(5:40)  8. Follow Me
(4:02)  9. On The Street
(3:26) 10. Havent Changed
(4:43) 11. Show Me
(2:18) 12. If Ever
(6:07) 13. Wine
(2:38) 14. Thank Heaven

In the 1950s, everyone knew Lerner and Loewe’s music: songs such as “On the Street Where You Live,” “Gigi,” “The Rain in Spain,” and “They Call the Wind Maria.” 
The tunes were instantly memorable, and they seemed to be everywhere, on the screen as well as on original cast LPs, reaching homes where little other music penetrated. Many of us will remember the film Gigi, where Maurice Chevalier  via his regionally indistinct French accent and with a twinkle in his eye  sang “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.” (The girl in this case was the beautiful French actress Leslie Caron, who didn’t look little to my preteen eyes.) And some will remember the shock when Julie Andrews was not chosen for the movie version of the part she made famous onstage in My Fair Lady.Several of Lerner and Loewe’s musicals, Gigi as well as My Fair Lady, have an international flavor. No wonder. Frederick Loewe was born in Austria in 1901: his  father was a renowned tenor, who originated the role of Count Danilo in The Merry Widow. Viennese operetta had a considerable effect on American musical theater. As a counterweight to Loewe’s cosmopolitanism, Alan Jay Lerner was born in New York City 17 years later. Together, of course, they famously wrote Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, Gigi, and My Fair Lady. Their partnership foundered in the ’60s while they were writing Camelot, yet that hit show gave the name to the age: John F. Kennedy’s brief period as our president.  more... http://jazzbluesnews.com/2019/12/19/cd-review-dick-hyman-ken-peplowski-counterpoint-2019-video-photo-cd-cover/

Personnel:  Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone – Ken Peplowski;  Piano – Dick Hyman

Counterpoint

---

Willis Jackson - Plays With Feeling

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:48
Size: 83,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:12)  1. Recubah
(4:51)  2. Feelings
(4:31)  3. Singing Bass
(3:23)  4. The Young Man with a Horn
(4:26)  5. Do Your Super Thing
(3:52)  6. Bouquet
(5:45)  7. Do It to It
(4:44)  8. Something Good

Born in Miami, Florida,  Jackson joined Duke Ellington alumnus Cootie Williams's band in 1949 as a teenager, after being discovered by Eddie Vinson. During the 1950s Jackson participated in R&B and jazz recordings, primarily as a session musician. He also toured as leader of the backing band of singer Ruth Brown whom he married. In the biography of Ruth Brown however is no mentioning of Willes Jackson. There it is mentioned that she was marries to trumpeter Jimmy Brown. Jackson joined Prestige Records in 1959, making a string of jazz albums that proved to an influence on the burgeoning soul jazz movement. 

During this era, Jack McDuff and Pat Martino became famous through association with Jackson. Jackson's main influences were Lester Young and Illinois Jacquet. Jamaican ska innovator Prince Buster has cited Jackson's song "Later for the Gator" as one of the first ska songs. Jackson died in New York City one week after heart surgery, in October 1987, at the age of 55. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Willis_Jackson_(saxophonist)

Plays With Feeling

---

Kenny Davern - Who Cares (Live)

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 78:13
Size: 180,4 MB
Art: Front

( 4:52)  1. Savoy Blues - Live
( 6:32)  2. Summertime - Live
( 6:36)  3. Travelin' All Alone - Live
( 8:07)  4. Struttin' with Some Barbecue - Live
( 3:01)  5. Sugar Foot Stomp - Live
( 6:01)  6. If I Could Be with You - Live
(11:45)  7. But Not for Me - Live
( 8:05)  8. All by Myself - Live
( 3:18)  9. Potato Head Blues - Live
( 8:17) 10. Fascinating Rhythm - Live
( 3:35) 11. Mood Indigo - Live
( 3:09) 12. Cornet Chop Suey - Live
( 4:49) 13. Wild Man Blues - Live

Described in The New York Times as "the finest clarinetist playing today" in the 1990s, that high praise wasn't far off the mark, as it applied to Kenny Davern in the autumn of his life, at the peak of his powers. Call him a jazz purist, even a snob, but Davern believed in playing standards, and that he did. Tunes by George Gershwin, Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Irving Berlin; what are sometimes referred to as Great American Songbook tunes. He was often praised for the clarity and pureness of his tone, and often played outdoor festival gigs without amplification. Davern was born in Huntington, on New York's Long Island, on January 7, 1935. He lived with his grandparents in Queens, New York after his own parents split up, and was shuffled through a maze of foster homes in Brooklyn and Queens in his youth. He began playing clarinet when he was 11, via the radio. He heard Pee Wee Russell playing "Memphis Blues" with Mugsy Spanier's Ragtimers, and right then, he had a revelation. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life playing traditional and blues-based jazz. One big break was a phone call from trumpeter Harry "Red" Allen, who he accompanied locally on gigs around Queens while still in high school. He began playing clarinet and switched to saxophone for a time in high school, but switched back to clarinet before auditioning for pianist Ralph Flanagan's big band in the early '50s. Davern recalled he got the clarinet-playing part in Flanagan's band by bluffing his way in, saying he had another gig and the sooner he could audition, the better. He played with the bandleader in 1953 and 1954. While still a teen, Davern made his recording debut with Jack Teagarden, and four years later, he recorded his first album under his own name, In the Gloryland, for the Elektra Records label. Davern's discography is extensive and includes many albums for the Concord, Chiaroscuro, and Arbors labels. 

Like any other focused musician, Davern devoted a lot of time to what he called his apprenticeship period, when he worked as a sideman to other bandleaders and recorded little under his own name. He collaborated on-stage and in the recording studio with trombonist Teagarden, trumpeters Harry "Red" Allen and Buck Clayton, and drummer Jo Jones. After he hit 40, he began having thoughts about leading his own group, and by that point, he'd been playing professionally for more than two decades. Davern always considered himself fortunate to have played with many of the pre-bebop jazz stylists in clubs in Manhattan in the '40s. Davern moved to the New Jersey Shore town of Manasquan from New York City in 1965, and he blamed the rise of rock & roll for diminished incomes suffered by many of his friends who played traditional jazz. He began to forge his own path and career with his own recordings, leading his own ensembles in the late '70s. For much of the '80s and part of the '90s, he spent upwards of 230 nights a year on the road, and it wasn't until the mid-'90s that he curtailed his travel schedule significantly, playing only a number of select festivals each year. His notable recordings include anything he recorded for the Florida-based Arbors Records label in the '80s and '90s and into the new millennium. "I like to play music that makes me feel good," Davern said in an interview. "I like to listen to it when I play it, and most of that music was played by people who happened to be born around the turn of the century. The lyrics may be corny, but the tunes are not. And the tunes will survive." Davern passed away at his home in Sandia Park, New Mexico, on December 14, 2006, after having a heart attack. He was 71. ~ Richard Skelly https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/interpreter/kenny-davern/download-streaming-albums

Who Cares (Live)

---

Carmen Lundy - Modern Ancestors

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:46
Size: 119,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:10)  1. A Time for Peace
(3:58)  2. Burden Down, Burden Down
(6:22)  3. Ola De Calor
(4:18)  4. Flowers and Candles
(4:28)  5. Jazz On TV
(4:26)  6. Meant for Each Other
(9:39)  7. Eye of the Storm
(3:30)  8. Clear Blue Skies
(4:48)  9. Affair Brazil
(6:03) 10. Still

Featuring 10 self-penned and arranged tracks and a stellar band consisting of Julius Rodriguez on piano, brother Curtis Lundy on acoustic upright bass, Kenny Davis on electric and acoustic bass, Mayra Casales on percussion, Terreon Gully and Kassa Overall on drums and Andrew Renfroe on guitar, Modern Ancestors is set for release October 25th via Afrasia Productions and will be accompanied by tour dates both in the US and abroad. From the Gospel-inflected musings of “Burden Down, Burden Down” (Hello Sister Rosetta Tharpe!) to the Afro-Cuban vibes of “Hola De Calor” and “Affair Brazil”; from the Geri Allen-inspired “A Time For Peace” to the cynical humor of “Jazz On TV” and the terror and sadness of “Flowers And Candles”. From the beautiful love songs of “Meant For Each Other” and “Still” to the tropics-inspired “Eye Of The Storm,” Modern Ancestors takes the listener on a musical journey that traverses a multitude of cultures, emotions and generations and is at the same time unlike any album Carmen has recorded in the past and yet remains so true to her craft. https://carmenlundy.com/discography/modern-ancestors/

Personnel: Carmen Lundy: vocals [1-10], background vocals [1, 2, 3, 5, 9], nylon string guitar [6, 9], rhythm guitar [2], tambourine [2], synthesizers [1, 2], orchestrations [4, 6, 8, 9, 10], Fender Rhodes, keyboards [1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9];  Julius Rodriguez:  piano [1-10];  Curtis Lundy: acoustic upright bass [1, 3, 4, 10];  Kenny Davis:  electric bass [2, 3, 7], acoustic bass [5, 6, 8, 9];  Terreon Gully:  drums [1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10] Kassa Overall:  drums [2, 5, 8, 9];  Andrew Renfroe:  guitar [2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10];  Mayra Casales:  percussion [2, 3, 7, 8, 9]

Modern Ancestors

---

Mike Richmond - La Vie En Rose

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:11
Size: 154,5 MB
Art: Front

(9:31)  1. I'm Getting Sentimental over You
(9:53)  2. Stranger in Paradise
(8:30)  3. Come Sunday
(6:33)  4. How Deep Is the Ocean
(7:37)  5. Zingaro
(7:52)  6. Love Is A-Many Splendored Things
(9:00)  7. Duke Ellington's Sound of Love
(8:13)  8. La Vie En Rose

Rich, round tones from Mike Richmond one of the few improvising cellists we know in jazz a musician who can pluck the instrument with all the depth of a bassist, and whose work here takes us back to classics in the tiny genre by Ron Carter, Oscar Pettiford, and Eldee Young! The setting is lean, and the cello lines are clean really inflected with a mix of melodic and rhythmic vibes the latter of which are underscored by deeper conventional bass work by Jay Anderson, in a quartet with Peter Zak on piano and Billy Drummond on drums! The lineup have a great way of swinging gently, as Richmond moves between plucking and bowing on titles that include "Stranger In Paradise", "Come Sunday", "La Vie En Rose", "Duke Ellington's Sound Of Love", and "Zingaro".  © 1996-2020, Dusty Groove, Inc. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/934085/Mike-Richmond:La-Vie-En-Rose

Personnel:  Mike Richmond - cello;  Peter Zak - piano;  Jay Anderson - bass;  Billy Drummond - drums

La Vie En Rose

---

Jackie And Roy - Storyville Presents Jackie And Roy

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 24:42
Size: 57,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:36)  1. Mountain Greenery
(2:58)  2. Yesterdays
(2:37)  3. Season In The Sun
(3:49)  4. Hook, Line And Snare
(3:00)  5. Cheerful Little Earful
(3:15)  6. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
(3:46)  7. Slowly
(2:39)  8. Thou Swell

Neither vocalist extraordinaire Jackie Cain, who died on September 15, nor her husband and musical partner, Roy Kral, ever claimed a particular closeness to the Boston scene. But Boston did them a good turn it housed the record company that gave them a chance to strut their stuff when they were just starting to make it as a duo act. The two albums they recorded for the Storyville label in 1955 set the tone for the two dozen that would follow in terms of musicianship and choice of material. “Finally,” wrote Jack Tracy in his review of the first of these, “Mr. and Mrs. Kral have been recorded the way they sound on personal appearances.”The partnership of Jackie and Roy was formed in 1946 in Chicago, where Jackie was singing with Jay Burkhart’s orchestra, and Roy was playing piano with George Davis at a club called Jump Town. Bob Anderson, a saxophonist with Burkhart who had worked with Kral in earlier days, brought Cain to Jump Town to sit in. They clicked. Soon Cain was the regular singer, and people noticed. Bandleader Charlie Ventura was one, and he hired them both in late 1947. Jackie and Roy were on their way.

Fast forward to May 1954, with Jackie and Roy in Boston for a week at Storyville, where owner George Wein signed them to his Storyville Records label. In late 1954 or early 1955, the duo recorded Jackie and Roy (STLP 322) as part of the Storyville Presents series. Their backing was excellent: Barry Galbraith on guitar, Bill Crow on bass, and Joe Morello on drums. The 10-inch LP featured eight tunes, a now-famous Burt Goldblatt cover photo, and glib George Frazier liner notes. The eight tunes included three Rodgers and Hart songs that remained in their repertoire for decades: “Mountain Greenery,” “Thou Swell,” and “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was;” flights of scat singing on two Kral originals; and the first of many Tommy Wolf  Fran Landesman compositions, “Season in the Sun.” Wrote reviewer Jack Tracy (Down Beat May 18, 1955): “It’s slickly swinging vocalizing singing that is applied to near-impeccable material and though there is still just that bit of chilliness to it that makes you wish they’d take their hair down and not worry if they were to make a mistake, it’s all most enjoyable.” Chilliness aside, Tracy gave the record four stars. Jackie and Roy’s popularity was not hurt by the fact they were easy on the eyes. A gushing Down Beat writer called them “wonderful looking young people; fresh, bright, and invigorating.” (He forgot “impossibly cheerful;” the duo just radiated joie de vivre.) Perhaps writers pushed the wholesome image because they were frightened by the looks of Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin in the proto-biker movie, The Wild One. In May 1955, Cain and Kral recorded their second effort for Storyville in Los Angeles, also part of the Storyville Presents series, and for whatever reason also called Jackie and Roy (STLP 904). This one was a 12-inch LP with a formidable West Coast band and liner notes by one of their champions, composer Alec Wilder. The dozen tunes included Tin Pan Alley standards; three Wolf and Landesman tunes, including the debut of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most;” “Dahuud” by Clifford Brown; and “Lazy Afternoon,” a ballad from the then-current Broadway musical, The Golden Apple.

Nat Hentoff’s five-star Down Beat review (Jan 25, 1956) heaped on praise from the first sentence: “This is one of the most excitingly pleasurable vocal albums of this or any year! Jackie and Roy are backed superbly by Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, and Red Mitchell, but the leading honors go to this extraordinary team whose musicianship, imagination, and taste are so magnificently consistent. Neither Roy nor Jackie has a native sound of unusual impact, but they have everything else all the qualities listed above, plus a wonderfully swinging beat and such ears. And Roy, incidentally, blows some first rate piano.” Hentoff’s recommendation: “Don’t miss this one.” But that chilliness… Jackie and Roy were capable of uninhibited swing, but they never did quite beat the rap that they were a little too rehearsed, a little too controlled. A typical reaction was voiced by writer Don Gold in 1957, who heard them at Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago: “The Cain-Kral act contains excellent material, flawless presentation, and smooth showmanship… The well-rehearsed presentation, however, often strikes me as somewhat superficial and too contrived. More improvisation and less concern for details would give the act a genuine freshness, it seems to me. Perhaps this is what must be sacrificed in moving from the jazz idiom to the night club circuit.”

There was a third Jackie and Roy LP on Storyville, Sing Baby Sing! (STLP 915), released in fall 1956. It was a reissue of the 10-inch Jackie and Roy, with four additional tracks, recorded with Chicago musicians, date unknown. By this time, though, Jackie and Roy had a major-label recording contract with ABC-Paramount, and would soon head to Las Vegas for what became a five-year gig. They wouldn’t be back in Boston until late 1965, when Fred Taylor brought them to Paul’s Mall. Don Gold wrote of Jackie Cain that “Her voice is a delicate, subtle instrument. It is beautifully disciplined, with a splendid sense of dynamics, a fluid approach to phrasing, and a perceptive knowledge of lyric content.” Hentoff noted that Jackie “should be required listening for aspiring young singers.” I’ve added “Lazy Afternoon,” from the 12-inch Jackie and Roy, to my YouTube channel to showcase that voice. https://www.troystreet.com/tspots/2014/10/03/jackie-and-roy-and-storyville-records/

Storyville Presents Jackie And Roy

---

Acker Bilk - That's My Home

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:17
Size: 105,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:20)  1. That's My Home
(3:10)  2. China Boy
(2:57)  3. Nagasaki
(3:24)  4. Maryland March
(2:43)  5. Creole Jazz
(3:18)  6. Jazz Me Blues
(3:34)  7. Savoy Blues
(1:53)  8. New Orleans Stomp
(3:37)  9. Buona Sera
(3:10) 10. South
(2:21) 11. Lazy River
(4:12) 12. Milenberg Joys
(2:44) 13. Original Dixieland One-Step
(4:48) 14. Black Label Blues

Acker Bilk  or Mr. Acker Bilk, as he was billed has won immortality on rock oldies radio for his surprise 1962 hit "Stranger on the Shore," an evocative ballad featuring his heavily quavering low-register clarinet over a bank of strings. To the jazz world, though, he has a longer-running track record as one of the biggest stars of Britain's trad jazz boom, playing in a distinctive early New Orleans manner. After learning his instrument in the British Army, Bilk joined Ken Colyer's trad band in 1954 before stepping out on his own in 1956. By 1960, a record of his, "Summer Set"  a pun on the name of his home county  landed on the British pop charts, and Bilk was on his way, clad in the Edwardian clothing and bowler hats that his publicist told his Paramount Jazz Band to wear. Several other British hits followed, but none bigger than "Stranger," which Bilk wrote for his daughter Jenny. The single stayed 55 weeks on the British charts and crossed the sea to America, where it hit number one in an era when radio was open to oddball records of all idioms (Bilk gratefully called "Stranger" "my old-age pension"). Released on English Columbia in Britain, several Bilk albums came out in America on the Atco label, and he continued to have hits until the British rock invasion of 1964 made trad seem quaint. With that, Bilk moved into cabaret and continued to have some success in Europe, leading jazz bands, recording with lush string ensembles, and even scoring another hit, "Aria" (number five in Britain), in 1976. Continuing to perform through the 2000s, Bilk slackened his pace so that he could pursue, like Miles Davis, a hobby of painting. ~ Richard S.Ginell https://www.allmusic.com/artist/acker-bilk-mn0000926115/biography

That's My Home

---

Erik Truffaz - Lune rouge

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:07
Size: 136,8 MB
Art: Front

( 0:45)  1. Tanit
( 6:33)  2. Cycle by Cycle
( 3:44)  3. Reflections
( 4:37)  4. Five On The Floor
( 9:46)  5. ET Two
( 4:05)  6. Tiger in The Train
(11:34)  7. Lune rouge
( 2:00)  8. Algol
( 3:01)  9. She's The Moon
( 1:43) 10. Alhena
( 5:53) 11. Nostalgia
( 5:19) 12. Houlgate

It is three years since Erik Truffaz last released an album. Now, with Lune Rouge, the acclaimed French trumpeter returns in his distinctive style, alongside Arthur Hnatek (drums and electronics), Marcello Giuliani (bass) and Benoit Corboz (Rhodes, keyboards and piano). It is an album of vast open landscapes. The rhythm section lay down insistent, cycling grooves – loping hip hop, four to the floor dance, straight rock, nu jazz electronic loops. A high-performance vehicle of interlocking rhythms, driving to the horizon under the big sky of Truffaz’ simple, beautiful melodic lines. “Do they do solos with so few notes in New York?” Truffaz jokes with Hnatek during the recording, apparently. And what notes they are. Each carefully chosen and delivered with a meltingly smooth tone. Sustained breathy exhalations - haunting, uplifting - surrounded by a luxury of space. Fragments of astral patterns repeated and developed. Simple harmonies. So little used to create so much.

The compositions for the album developed collectively in the Swiss studio from extended improvised sessions, before being adjusted, refined, polished. Hnatek, who joined the long-established band for their last album, is colourful and absorbing on drums  making angular sure-footed changes of direction to keep it fresh. Locking in tightly with Giuliani on bass, they are the compelling precision machine needed. Corboz is key to keeping the listener engaged throughout the album, providing essential variety in texture with his changing use of keyboard sounds. Smoothly supporting Truffaz with sweetly beseeching piano in Nostalgia or the album’s soporific savasana Houlgate. Creating tension with more unsettling, edgy synth sounds in the terrific Five on the Floor, the space-age Tiger in the Train, or the industrial distopian Alhena.

There are also two vocal tunes  the soulful Reflections featuring Jose Jones, and the wistful-optimistic She’s the Moon featuring Andrina Bollinger. They are uncomplicated, pretty songs, providing unexpected conventional islands in the open ocean of the album. It would be interesting to hear the contribution of the vocalists to some of the more spaced out, extended form tracks. Overall, this is a great album which is at its best when Truffaz makes that visceral connection between his music and the listener. The restless racing heartbeat of Cycle by Cycle. The anguish and release of the title track Lune Rouge, opening with an exquisite understated lament from Truffaz over a cycling, echoing electronic pattern, before rising to animalistic cries from the trumpet which loop and overlap. Through his 20 year career, we are told, Truffaz is setting out perpetually “on a passionate quest to make the stars align.” With Lune Rouge there are moments of that stellar calibration he is searching for. Truffaz is promoting the album through a European tour – including a date at the Jazz Café in London on 8th February 2020. https://www.jazzviews.net/erik-truffaz---lune-rouge.html

Personnel: Erik Truffaz (trumpet); Arthur Hnatek (drums, electronics); Marcello Giuliani (bass); Benoit Corboz (Rhodes, keyboards, piano)

Lune rouge

---

Monty Alexander - Wareika Hill Rastamonk Vibrations

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:00
Size: 166,4 MB
Art: Front

(0:18)  1. Wareika
(6:48)  2. Misterioso
(6:32)  3. Nutty
(5:55)  4. Bye-Ya
(6:19)  5. San Francisco Holiday (Worry Later)
(5:36)  6. Rhythm-a-Ning
(4:49)  7. Brilliant Corners
(5:21)  8. Well You Needn't
(6:54)  9. Bemsha Swing
(6:20) 10. Green Chimneys
(6:36) 11. Monk's Dream
(4:23) 12. Abide with Me
(4:39) 13. Well You Needn't (Live at the Paris Philarmonie)
(0:22) 14. Wareika Goodbye

Like a Rastafarian in Jamaica, he was different,” Jamaican-born pianist Monty Alexander says of Thelonious Monk, whom he first heard in person at New York City’s legendary Five Spot in 1963. Monk soon became a major influence on Alexander’s music, which was rooted in the reggae and ska of his native country as well as the jazz he absorbed first in Kingston studios and later when he moved to New York. On Wareika Hill (RastaMonk Vibrations), a collection of fresh reinterpretations of Monk gems, Alexander effectively nails his hero’s idiosyncrasies.

Recorded over the course of several years, the album features Alexander and a core group of players plus a few guests, including guitarist John Scofield, who injects keening, wah-edged lines into the rub-a-dub of “Bye-Ya.” Joe Lovano delivers an edgy tenor romp on a percussion-heavy “Green Chimneys,” which opens up for a piano solo that has the leader tossing in an introductory quote of John Barry’s James Bond theme. Wareika Hill is packed with sly reboots of classic material.

A live-in-Paris version of “Well, You Needn’t” alternates between something akin to a dancehall rhythm and swing, and features provocative turns by tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery and trombonist Andrae Murchison. “Bemsha Swing” opens with unaccompanied stride-style piano before sliding into roots-reggae and later turning to straight-ahead jazz. “Brilliant Corners” is remade with a melody played on melodica and piano over a sticky, chugging groove, pulsing Nyabinghi drums, and a bass line that incorporates part of the theme.There are other treats here too, including the ever playful “Rhythm-a-Ning,” with more outings by Escoffery and Alexander, on an arrangement inspired by a Bob Marley recording. “Nutty,” also with Escoffery, is built on mento rhythms. And “San Francisco Holiday” shifts from Jamaican brukins rhythm to swing, benefiting from Ron Blake’s gritty tenor turn. https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/monty-alexander-wareika-hill-rastamonk-vibrations-macd/

Wareika Hill Rastamonk Vibrations

---