Mike Vax - On A Jazz Mission

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:37
Size: 104.4 MB
Styles: Trumpet jazz
Year: 2001
Art: Front

[3:30] 1. Louis Meets The Bird (Back Home In Indiana Donna Lee)
[4:00] 2. Freddie Freeloader
[2:35] 3. Day By Day
[4:21] 4. A Night In Tunisia
[4:56] 5. Night Of The Capricorn Moon
[2:30] 6. Trumpet Blues And Cantabile
[3:42] 7. Wild Man Blues
[5:17] 8. Kiss And Run
[1:50] 9. Lickety Split
[5:34] 10. I Can't Get Started
[4:38] 11. Short Stop
[2:37] 12. Heckler's Hop

Acoustic Bass – Bill Langlois; Cornet – Mike Vax; Drums – Eric Thompson; Flugelhorn – Bob Doll, Mike Vax, Steve Campos, Warren Gale; Guitar – Steve Draper; Keyboards – Larry Dunlap; Piano – Larry Dunlap; Trumpet – Bob Doll, Mike Vax, Steve Campos, Warren Gale; Trumpet [Piccolo] – Mike Vax; Wind Chimes – Larry Dunlap.

As a recording musician, Mike has performed on more than 75 albums, including 20 under his own name. Mike has done workshops and concerts in over 2500 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities all around the world over the past 40 years. He is very active as a clinician and soloist in both the classical and jazz idioms.

TRPTS (Trumpets) was formed in 1985 as an experimental group to bring the history of jazz trumpet to audiences through performing voiced out solos from famous jazz trumpet players, playing music associated with trumpet jazz over the years, and also presenting new music written for especially for us. The CD “Transforming Traditons” (Later re-issued as “On a Jazz Mission” on Summit Records) has sold over 25,000 copies. The group has performed all over the United States. Our roster has included at different times: Mike Vax, Wayne Bergeron, Carl Saunders, Clay Jenkins, Claudio Roditi, Jeff Jarvis, Andrea Toffanelli, Steve Campos, Bob Doll, Warren Gale, and John Capobianco.

On A Jazz Mission

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Eric Reed - Something Beautiful

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:46
Size: 123,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:00)  1. Sun Out
(5:07)  2. In Your Own Sweet Way
(5:16)  3. Black Tables
(7:19)  4. How Deep Is the Ocean
(4:41)  5. I Still Believe in You
(3:52)  6. Lift Up Your Hands to the Lord
(4:03)  7. Mad About the Boy
(5:19)  8. Citadel
(4:19)  9. Honesty
(3:28) 10. Something Beautiful
(5:15) 11. If I Knew You

Eric Reed's Something Beautiful is well-named: a collection of mostly standards, delivered with sensitive hands and unerring taste. The pianist shows a knack for choosing great material, mostly staying away from jazz's grossly overplayed warhorses in favor of lesser-known material that is, nonetheless, classic and elegant. The album offers a unified atmosphere of down- and mid-tempo melodies sometimes melancholy, sometimes bouncy, and occasionally even uplifting. Jesse Tabish's "Black Tables" is almost hymn-like, with deep left-handed chords creating gravity under the melody, as drummer Rodney Green conveys the rhythm on the low toms. As he works out, Reed makes sure to allow a pause almost breathing room between ideas, preventing his improvisations from overwhelming the soft forward urge of the song. It takes a moment to grasp the melody of Billy Joel's "Honesty," with the almost pace diminished to a dirge. But it's there, and it turns out to be one of the best interpretations on the album. 

With only bassist Reuben Rogers accompanying, Reed draws this familiar pop song into exceptional new territory, with a deep connection to the music, and a delivery that places its emphasis on poignancy rather than pyrotechnics. It's a masterful performance. Reed's own compositions are equal to his interpretations and fit quite naturally with the rest of the album. The title track bounces a little more, with a prominent bass line, an accessible melody, and some really tight syncopation. Again, Reed employs those subtle pauses in the rhythm and in his improvisational delivery, adding an ingenious effect to an already well-crafted tune. The closing "If I Knew You," performed solo, returns to the larghissimo pace employed in "Honesty," with largely the same effect. Reed has a true feel for these ballads, playing with enough self-restraint to allow the melodies to shine through employing his considerable technique in the service of the piece, but never the other way around. 

That's a difficult balancing act, and one he manages with aplomb. If there's any criticism of his original compositions it's that there aren't more of them.  Reed's last effort, The Dancing Monk (Savant, 2011), was also an excellent effort, but Something Beautiful is better. Constrained by a single composer, Reed was forced to concede some of his own stylistic ground to compositions that that could never be mistaken for anyone other than Thelonious Monk. Here, he's free to interpret the material in his own style, and as a result he delivers a much more passionate performance. It has been noted that ballads can be the most difficult songs to master because of the subtlety involved. If that is the case then Something Beautiful represents the performance of a truly gifted and sensitive balladeer. ~ Greg Simmons  

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=41153#.Usm2urRc_vs
 

Personnel: Eric Reed: piano; Reuben Rogers: bass; Rodney Green: drums.

Something Beautiful

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James & Bobby Purify - Shake A Tail Feather: The Best Of James & Bobby Purify

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:43
Size: 159.6 MB
Styles: Pop/Soul/R&B
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[2:58] 1. I'm Your Puppet
[2:48] 2. You Left The Water Running
[2:06] 3. Shake A Tail Feather
[2:31] 4. I Was Born To Lose Out
[2:37] 5. So Many Reasons
[2:15] 6. Wish You Don't Have To Go
[2:33] 7. You Can't Keep A Good Man Down
[2:12] 8. I Take What I Want
[2:25] 9. Let Love Come Between Us
[3:13] 10. I Don't Want To Have To Wait
[2:04] 11. You Don't Love Me
[1:43] 12. Goodness Gracious
[2:16] 13. Hello There
[2:12] 14. Keep Pushing Me
[2:59] 15. Just Like Old Times
[2:35] 16. I Can Remember
[2:33] 17. We're Finally Gonna Make It
[2:30] 18. Untie Me
[2:15] 19. Everybody Needs Somebody
[2:20] 20. Last Piece Of Love
[2:16] 21. Help Yourself (To All My Lovin')
[2:28] 22. I Don't Know What It Is You Got
[2:35] 23. Section C
[2:42] 24. My Adorable One
[2:28] 25. Do Unto Me
[2:51] 26. The Weeper
[2:45] 27. She Ain't Gonna Do Right
[2:19] 28. Somebody Cares

You couldn't ask for a better compilation of James & Bobby Purify than this one, which fits no less than 28 songs onto a single disc, all from their prime 1966-1969 Bell era. In addition to a wealth of singles, B-sides, and LP tracks, there are five previously unissued cuts, the whole deal expertly annotated. The duo was harder to fit into a niche than many soul acts of the era; although there have been some comparisons to Sam & Dave, at times their sides were more pop-oriented than what Sam & Dave cut at Memphis, particularly on songs with sophisticated production touches like vibes. At other times, though, they were indeed in the late-'60s Southern deep soul bag; sometimes some doo wop and older R&B influences surfaced; and there's even a reading of the blues classic "You Don't Love Me." It makes for a varied and nice set, though there really isn't anything as instantly memorable as the song that will be always be their calling card, "I'm Your Puppet." If you do like "I'm Your Puppet" in particular, you'll probably go for the half a dozen or so other tracks in which Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham were also involved in the songwriting, like "So Many Reasons" and a version of "You Left the Water Running" that stands up to the better-known one by Otis Redding. For more up-tempo numbers, their interpretation of "I Take What I Want," with fuzzy guitar to the forefront, is at least as good as the more famed
version by Sam & Dave. ~Richie Unterberger

Shake A Tail Feather: The Best Of James & Bobby Purify

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Tal Farlow - The More I See You (Remastered)

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:11
Size: 142,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:46)  1. The More I See You 

(3:35)  2. Topsy 

(5:07)  3. Tal's Blues 

(3:20)  4. Little Girl Blue 

(4:40)  5. Taking a Chance on Love 

(5:13)  6. Yardbird Suite 

(6:45)  7. Gone with the Wind 

(3:07)  8. I Like to Recognize the Tune

(4:59)  9. Autumn in New York

(4:54) 10. Have You Met Miss Jones 

(4:18) 11. Night and Day 

(4:20) 12. And She Remembers Me

(6:00) 13. How About You

Tal Farlow was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, and was brought up in a musical atmosphere. His father played several musical instruments, including some of the fretted ones, while the piano in the house was played by his mother and his sister, who became a fine classical pianist. Tal trained as a signwriter and continued with this work throughout his life in parallel with his music. He listened to the radio and heard outside broadcasts of the big bands of the day, bands like Artie Shaw, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman. It was then that he first heard Charlie Christian playing and started to copy the solos. During the war, he was stationed in Greensboro. He worked there with a lot of musicians who had come from up north.It was sometime after this, while Tal was working for the vibraphonist Dardanelle, that he worked the Copacabana Lounge in New York. While he was there he regularly visited 52nd Street to soak up the sounds of some more of his favourite musicians, namely Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and some of the other members of the bop era. When Jimmy (Lyons) returned, Tal and bassist Lennie de Franco (Buddy's brother) all set off to New York to get their local 802 union cards. Shortly afterwards Tal worked with the Marjorie Hyams trio. Again it was with vibes. For a while they worked at the Three Deuces opposite Charlie Parker's group, which featured Miles Davis and Al Haig. Tal seemed to have an affinity with vibraphone players - he worked with Milt Jackson when he joined Buddy de Franco's group and then, at the end of 1949, he finally joined Red Norvo's trio when he took Mundell Lowe's place. While in New York, Tal lived in an apartment house on West 93rd Street. It seems to have acted like a honey-pot on the jazz musicians in town. Guitarists Jimmy Raney and Sal Salvador lived there and others like Johnny Smith and John Collins would call by to join the frequent jam sessions held there. Various other musicians lived there from time to time, including Phil Woods, Joe Morello and Chuck Andrews. Tal probably never envisaged the success he was about to have, when he joined Red Norvo's trio. At first Tal struggled to keep up with Norvo's very fast tempos but soon improved his technique so much that he became one of the fastest guitarists in the world at that time. Within a year they were recording and soon became one of the most popular groups of the fifties, and the ideas Tal used brought him to the forefront among jazz musicians. He won the Down Beat New Star Award in 1954 and the Critics Poll in 1956.

Tal left Red in 1953, to join Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five for six months, but returned to work with him for a further year straight afterwards. When Tal left Red for the second time, he formed his own group with Eddie Costa on vibes and the bassist Vinnie Burke. Over the next three years this trio made a number of very successful records and Tal won several awards. Apart from his tremendous speed of execution he had developed a very rich sense of harmony for which his very large hands were a tremendous asset being able to stretch to play chords which most players could not reach. He also developed great facility in playing artificial harmonics and a number of other devices such as tapping the strings to give a very realistic imitation of bongo drums. The trio played regularly at the Composers Club in Manhattan until Tal married in 1958, and moved out to Seabright, New Jersey. Apart from going back to sign painting, he carried on playing with various musicians. During the 1970' Tal has been in and out of things. He participated in several albums produced by Schlitten, including the late Sonny Criss' 'Up, Up And Away' for Prestige and Sam Most's 'Mostly Flute' for Xanadu. There were two Farlow albums on Concord, and Tal did play the Newport and Concord festivals, touring a bit with a Newport group. In the 1980s Tal became much more visible. He made half a dozen recordings for the Concord label and began playing much further afield again including Europe and even Japan. His playing had developed and was now more lyrical with richer harmony than ever before although perhaps with a little trade off against outright speed. He would often deputise for one of Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis, or Charlie Byrd in the “Great Guitars” band when needed. Tal continued to play concerts world wide until the mid 1990s when he slowed down a little although he still remained very busy in his native country with concerts and workshops. In 1997 he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. He continued to teach but sadly was unable to play in public any more and he passed away in 1998. https://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/talfarlow

The More I See You

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Tony Bennett - I Wanna Be Around

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:32
Size: 102.0 MB
Styles: Vocal
Year: 1963
Art: Front

[2:14] 1. The Good Life
[3:18] 2. If I Love Again
[2:10] 3. I Wanna Be Around..
[1:44] 4. I've Got Your Number
[2:51] 5. Until I Met You
[1:59] 6. Once Upon A Summertime
[2:14] 7. If You Were Mine
[2:26] 8. I Will Live My Life For You
[1:57] 9. Someone To Love
[3:04] 10. It Was Me
[3:15] 11. Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)
[2:14] 12. Autumn In Rome
[2:55] 13. The Way That I Feel
[2:13] 14. The Moment Of Truth
[1:59] 15. Got Her Off My Hands (But Can't Get Her Off My Mind)
[2:41] 16. 'long About Now
[3:21] 17. Young And Foolish (From 'Plain And Fancy')
[1:47] 18. Tricks

While there is no shortage of masterful Tony Bennett albums, the Bennett of the 1960s is one of the most finely honed voices of popular music. 'I Wanna Be Around' shades more toward the 'popular' (soft swing) style than jazz, but delivers two of the singer's signature numbers and much more. 'The Good Life' and the title track are inextricably part of the Bennett story - combining a bit of the soaring, almost operatic passages with the almost conversational. Throughout, you can sense these songs fit the singer like a custom tailored suit. I agree with one of the other reviewers -- if 'I Wanna Be Around' doesn't have you reaching for the 'repeat' button, you're really missing something special.

The songs are fully up to the performance, plenty of Johnny Mercer numbers, plus Coleman and Leigh's pleasing 'I've Got Your Number' which finds singer phrasing some clever lyrics in tempo with the arrangement that neither buries the singer nor buries him in excess accompaniment. Not as jazz-touched as 'I Wanna Be Around', but another example of a singer at his peak. The original album seems to have the better music, but the performances on the additional tracks from the 'This is All I Ask' album are a satisfying way to round out the otherwise short featured collection.
Antonio Carlos Jobim's 'Corcovado' -- a huge hit for Stan Getz and later interpreted by Sinatra on his album with Jobim -- seems less perfect. Beautiful song, sensational voice, but Bennett seems to grope his way through a few of the English lyrics. Fault the lyrics, translated from Portuguese -- they're not up to the music. Sinatra performs it wonderfully on his 1967 album, maybe because he was nearly 30 years into his career and Bennett was young on this 1962 version.

This may be too much detail for most people. The bottom line is that even Sinatra considered Tony Bennett the best popular singer of the century, and it is difficult NOT to reach that conclusion. All of his albums from this era -- including the concert at Carnegie Hall -- are a real treat. Highly recommended. ~Jon Warshawsky/Amazon

I Wanna Be Around

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Barbara Rosene - Nice And Naughty

Size: 183,6 MB
Time: 78:28
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2013
Styles: Jazz Vocals, Ragtime
Art: Front

01. There Ain't Much Good In The Best Of Men Now Days (4:43)
02. Kiss Your Pretty Baby Nice (3:17)
03. Easy Come, Easy Go (4:39)
04. My Man O' War (4:07)
05. I've Got Somebody Now (4:04)
06. Nuthin' (3:15)
07. Don't Take That Black Bottom Away (2:59)
08. Do What You Did Last Night (2:33)
09. Go Home And Tell Your Mother (2:50)
10. Don't Tell Him What Happened To Me (3:55)
11. Get Up Off Your Knees, Papa (3:48)
12. If You Want The Rainbow (You Must Have The Rain) (3:15)
13. What Do I Care What Somebody Said (2:51)
14. Don't Leave Me, Daddy (2:44)
15. Don't You Leave Me Here (I'm Alabama Bound) (3:24)
16. My Handy Man Medley (3:57)
17. You're The Cream In My Coffee (3:36)
18. Glad Rag Doll (4:38)
19. You're My Everything (4:15)
20. I'm Wild About That Thing (5:05)
21. We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye (4:24)

Barbara Rosene has built an unequalled reputation for interpreting the great music of the 1920s and 30s. She is a passionate vocalist whose interpretations uncover the richness of jazz classics through the subtle, skilled delivery of one truly in love with the genre she sings.

Rosene gives voice to songs in ways that are both gracefully provocative and warmly welcoming. Few singers have her feel for classic material, from all eras of Jazz, interpreting the music with not only a full understanding and love of the original time period but with the rare ability to make the material sound fresh and emotionally relevant today.

In her established career she has shared stages with jazz icons, performing internationally with The Harry James Orchestra, Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks, the late Les Paul at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club, The Woody Allen Band, at The Carlyle Hotel, as well as directing her own New Yorkers, and as guest artist with orchestras and in festivals across the world. She has played such venues as The Iridium, Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall, The Montreal Jazz Festival, Night Town (Cleveland), and The Arizona Music Festival.

Barbara has been featured on Judy Carmichael’s NPR program ”Jazz Inspired”, and recently on NPR’s “Hot Jazz Saturday Night.” She has been recognized by Backstage Magazine (Bistro Award, 2006), “Jazz Improv Magazine”, and is featured in Scott Yanow’s “Great Jazz Singers

Nice And Naughty

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Sinne Eeg - Dreams

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:57
Size: 108,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:42)  1. The Bitter End
(4:59)  2. Head Over High Heels
(3:38)  3. Love Song
(4:59)  4. What Is This Thing Called Love
(5:20)  5. Falling In Love With Love
(5:55)  6. Dreams
(4:49)  7. Aleppo
(4:31)  8. Time to Go
(4:35)  9. I’ll Remember April
(3:25) 10. Anything Goes

It has been a while since Danish singer, Sinne Eeg, joined Stunt Records' roster of artists with the album Face the Music (2014), but in a way, her latest album is a new beginning. All sails have been set to make Dreams (2017) the international breakthrough that the singer deserves. In fact, Eeg has already achieved quite a lot, winning prizes and toured internationally, but this album, a partnership between ArtistShare and Stunt Records, signals a rise in ambition. First of all, esteemed jazz writer Neil Tesser has been brought in to write the liner notes and in keeping with the genre, he does not hold back the praise, calling her "the real deal" as he notices her: "emerald tones both light and dark, sometimes throaty or bitingly clear." Tesser touches upon Eeg's biography and mentions her inspiration from church, her fascination with the Great American Songbook, her ability to write her own material and, not least, her pure musicality that comes through in a voice that is like an instrument. 

Her voice is allowed to shine in a band that includes her regular musical companion, pianist, Jacob Christoffersen, and an A-list band featuring the drum-whisperer Joey Baron, Larry Koonse's crisp guitar and not least the superb backing of bassist Scott Colley. Together they explore a repertoire that covers Eeg's self-penned songs, including the political ballad "Aleppo," dedicated to the children of Syria, and the ethereal word-less title track where Eeg sings lines in tandem with Koonse. She also shows her knack for writing a good ballad. "Time to Go" has something of the quality of "Waiting for Dawn," a jewel in Eeg's own catalog. There is also room for tried and true standards like "Anything Goes," "I'll Remember April," "Falling in Love with Love" and "What Is This Thing Called Love," which Eeg tackles with effortless musicality and class, and class is exactly the keyword that describes this album. It shows that Eeg is not only one of Denmark's finest jazz singers, but also a voice that should be able to court an international audience. ~ Jakob Baekgaard https://www.allaboutjazz.com/stunt-records-in-the-spotlight-enrico-pieranunzi-and-sinne-eeg-by-jakob-baekgaard.php

Personnel: Sinne Eeg: vocals; Jacob Christoffersen: piano; Larry Koonse: guitar; Joey Baron: drums; Scott Colley: bass; Warny Mandrup: backing vocals; Lasse Nilsson: backing vocals; Jenny Nilsson: backing vocals.

Dreams

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Mel Tormé - That's All

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1965
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:28
Size: 158,0 MB
Art: Front

(2:52) 1. I've Got You Under My Skin
(3:49) 2. That's All
(3:11) 3. What Is There To Say?
(2:49) 4. Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?
(3:34) 5. The Folks Who Live On the Hill
(3:07) 6. Isn't It A Pity?
(2:54) 7. Ho-Ba-La-La
(2:46) 8. P.S. I Love You
(2:50) 9. The Nearness Of You
(2:46) 10. My Romance
(2:51) 11. The Second Time Around
(2:23) 12. Haven't We Met?
(2:32) 13. I Know Your Heart
(2:20) 14. You'd Better Love Me
(2:55) 15. I See It Now
(2:21) 16. Once In A Lifetime
(2:54) 17. Hang On To Me
(2:48) 18. Seventeen
(2:49) 19. I Remember Suzanne
(2:27) 20. Only The Very Young
(2:50) 21. Paris Smiles
(2:41) 22. Ev'ry Day's A Holiday
(2:35) 23. One Little Snowflake
(3:10) 24. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On an Open Fire)

Mel Tormé's 1965 album That's All features beautiful vocals throughout the set, but there are a few problems. The arrangements (mostly by Robert Mersey) are essentially unimaginative middle-of-the-road pop with an orchestra and occasional strings and background singers greatly weighing down the proceedings. The album's selections (all ballads) are mostly taken at slow tempos and are clearly geared for radio airplay, clocking in around the three-minute mark, which means that Tormé's improvising is held to a minimum. So if the melody wasn't strong, the singer was not given a chance to improve it, and if the tune was excellent, Tormé's straight forward version added nothing to the song's legacy. At best, this recording makes for a mildly pleasant listen.~Scott Yanowhttps://www.allmusic.com/album/thats-all-mw0000311828

That's All

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Arkadia Jazz All-Stars - Thank You, Joe! (Our Tribute to Joe Henderson)

Styles: Jazz Contemporary
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:56
Size: 129,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:20) 1. Mamacita
(4:16) 2. Isfahan
(6:26) 3. Gazelle
(7:12) 4. The Kicker
(6:28) 5. Ask Me Now
(6:01) 6. Recorda Me
(3:53) 7. Isotope
(8:38) 8. Inner Urge
(6:38) 9. Granted

This 2000 release titled Thank You, Joe! Our Tribute to Joe Henderson represents Arkadia's fourth in a series of "tributes" to jazz artists who have made a conspicuous difference to this constantly evolving musical art form. On this recording, seasoned veterans such as trumpeter Randy Brecker and pianist Joanne Brackeen coalesce with some of the more prominent stars to emerge out of the '80s and '90s jazz scene for a hearty tribute to the great saxophonist Joe Henderson.

While Joe Henderson rose through the ranks during the '60s he did not enjoy the fame and success that several of his peers were receiving, yet Henderson gradually emerged as a gifted stylist who melded a silken, atmospheric tone with distinctive and altogether enviable chops. Additionally, the saxophonist has garnered a reputation as a shrewd and rather prolific composer. Here, the music of Joe Henderson serves as the framework for this upbeat and smartly produced set featuring some of the artist's more recognizable compositions. With the bossa nova-tinged "Mamacita," pianist Eric Reed, trumpeters Randy Brecker and Terrell Stafford, and tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson pursue poetic lyricism and impassioned soloing while Brecker and Stafford alternate and trade vicious fours on the bop burner, "The Kicker." Overall, the musicians engage Henderson's aura with bold enthusiasm and conviction as they eternalize the saxophonist's significance via strong soloing and finely crafted arrangements that sustain interest throughout~Glenn Astaritahttps://www.allmusic.com/album/thank-you-joe%21-our-tribute-to-joe-henderson-mw0000067831

Personnel: Eric Reed-piano, Javon Jackson-tenor sax, Randy Brecker-trumpet, Carl Allen-drums, Steve Nelson-vibraphone, Terrell Stafford-trumpet, Renato Thoms-percussion, Rodney Whitaker-bass, Carl Allen-drums

Thank You, Joe!(Our Tribute to Joe Henderson)

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Heinie Beau & & Milt Bernhart - Moviesville Jazz + The Sound of Bernhart

Album: Rare and Obscure Jazz Albums: Moviesville Jazz
Styles: Jazz
Year: 2021
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 32:43
Size: 76,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:36) 1. Scotland Yardbird
(2:54) 2. The House on Olvera Street
(2:48) 3. In Your Private Eye
(3:08) 4. The Man with the Golden Embouchure
(2:25) 5. The Three Heads of Adam
(2:56) 6. The Tattoed Street Car Named Baby
(2:31) 7. Under the Blowtop
(2:42) 8. The Five and a Half Gallon Hat Story
(2:33) 9. The Gina Pastrami Cha Cha Cha
(2:29) 10. Gullible Travels
(3:06) 11. Moonset Boulevard
(2:30) 12. The Cool Tin Roof Story

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Album: Rare and Obscure Jazz Albums:The Sound of Bernhart
Time: 36:57
Size: 85,7 MB

(2:30) 1. Love Is Sweeping the Country
(2:54) 2. Don't Blame Me
(3:20) 3. Get Out of Town
(4:24) 4. Valvitation Trombosis
(3:07) 5. Poor Pierrot
(2:07) 6. Martie's Tune
(4:55) 7. Carte Blanche
(2:14) 8. I'm Beginning to See the Light
(4:28) 9. Legend
(2:48) 10. Jungle Drums (Canto Karabali)
(4:06) 11. Balleta

Heinie Beau (1911-1987), was not only a fine instrumentalist clarinet, alto sax, flute but also one of Hollywood’s finest independent arrangers, who worked for countless top orchestras and artists, including Tommy Dorsey, Red Nichols, Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston, Peggy Lee, and others. He was also an arranger for major TV and radio shows for a time, and a frequent contributor to motion picture scores. "Moviesville Jazz" is mood music in the jazz idiom. Each track is loaded with excellent solos by some of the best Hollywood studio jazz musicians, and Heinie Beau’s compositions and orchestrations provide the cohesion, purpose, and integration that make the music so enjoyable. For when jazz goes to the movies, a good time is had by all.https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/heinie-beau-milt-bernhart-albums/54010-moviesville-jazz-the-sound-of-bernhart-2-lp-on-1-cd.html

Milt Bernhart (1926-2004) grew up as a musician playing in the bands of Boyd Raeburn, Buddy Franklyn, Jimmy James, Teddy Powell and ultimately Stan Kenton. His years with Kenton (1946-1951) led Bernhart to considerable popularity with jazz fans. After leaving Kenton, he devoted all of his time to studio work in Hollywood, where he participated in countless recordings. "The Sound of Bernhart" comprised of scores of sounds, five different groups all in all, playing mostly standards, with two originals, one each by Calvin Jackson and Fred Katz, who did most of the arranging. It is an out-and-out tour de force album, offering much variety, great musical interest and wonderful changes of pace, with Bernhart sliding fromlusty jazz blowing, to tight collaboration with the classically scored cellos.
In addition, all the playing is excellent and the writing is too.MoreInformation:https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/heinie-beau-milt-bernhart-albums/54010-moviesville-jazz-the-sound-of-bernhart-2-lp-on-1-cd.html

Moviesville Jazz + The Sound of Bernhart

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Sinne Eeg - Waiting For Dawn

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:18
Size: 128.9 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[3:41] 1. What It Means To Me
[4:19] 2. Let's Stay Awake
[5:29] 3. Waiting For Dawn
[4:22] 4. My Treasure
[4:45] 5. Sudden Change Of Weather
[6:17] 6. Snow
[5:05] 7. Stuck
[5:46] 8. Hours Of Ours
[4:59] 9. Better Than Anything
[5:35] 10. Brief Hesitation
[5:56] 11. Detour Ahead

Sinne Eeg (V); Lars Jansson (Pno); Morten Lund (Dr); Mads Vinding (B).

Sinne Eeg (born in Lemvig, Denmark in 1977) is a Danish jazz vocalist and composer. Sinne Eeg was admitted at the Academy of Music in Esbjerg in 1997, from where she graduated in 2003. She has received a number of positive reviews in the national and international press, and is considered among the best female jazz vocalists currently in Scandinavia. She has composed many of her own songs, and although she usually sings in English, she has also performed and recorded songs in Danish. As part of her musical studies, Sinne studied with American singer Janet Lawson in New York.

Sinne Eeg has won the Danish Music Awards prize in the category Best Danish Vocal Jazz Album of the Year three times: in 2007, 2010 and 2014, for her albums Waiting for Dawn, Don't Be So Blue and Face the Music. She also received the Ben Webster Prize on 28 March 2014, as the first vocalist ever. The Webster Foundation describes her as "a true jazz singer, who both shows sensitivity, improvisational skills, maturity, broad range and timing in her singing.". Sinne has toured Europe, Japan, China and the United States. The 26th of January in 2012, she sang in Brussels, accompanied by the Danish Radio Big Band, at the celebration for the beginning of the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In Denmark, she regularly performs at the jazz venue of La Fontaine in Copenhagen.

Waiting For Dawn

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John Funkhouser Trio - Time

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@128K/s
Time: 73:01
Size: 67,7 MB
Art: Front

( 9:55) 1. Green Dolphin Street
( 8:59) 2. Ellipse
( 2:22) 3. Prelude and Fugue in A Minor: Prelude (More Cowbell!)
( 5:43) 4. Prelude and Fugue in A Minor: Fugue
( 3:17) 5. Dyin' Nation
( 7:41) 6. Emancipation
( 6:20) 7. Eleventy One
( 7:08) 8. Come Rain or Come Shine
( 6:54) 9. Alone Together
(10:09) 10. Ode to a Lame Duck
( 4:29) 11. Kelp

A sad indictment of much contemporary music is that it has been over-intellectualized. With fun expunged from the soul of music, it becomes so wooden and hard to enjoy that it may as well never have been released even made at all. However, on the occasion when intellect and soul meet, music of exceptional beauty and exceedingly important value is made, and it is possible to simply shut the eyes and enjoy it. Such is the impact of the music of John Funkhouser and his trio on Time.

It is easy to gloss over much of the impact of the music by suggesting that it fuses the rhythms of jazz and the forthright emotion of rock. But that would be shortchanging the music and the musicians alike. Like the fine trios of Paul Bley and Jimmy Giuffre, Funkhouser's music is rich in melodic invention, even when he is re-casting standards such as "Green Dolphin Street," "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Alone Together." Funkhouser also employs such complex rhythms in deploying the melodies especially his own compositions "Ellipse," "Prelude & Fugue," "Eleventy One," "Ode to a Lame Duck" and "Kelp" that the music begins to live on several planes at once.

There is the extremely lyrical, literary plane, which appeals to the inner ear of the mind. "Ellipse" takes on the life of a geometric shape, and life is infused and breathed into it so it becomes at once gnomic and delightfully grotesque in a way that recalls Federico Fellini's film La Strada. "Prelude & Fugue" is a smarmy "yes-we-dare" play on Bach; but it is a study that combines Bach's patrician technicality with plebian frolic in a glorious manner. The first movement, "More Cowbell," becomes more than a perfunctory musical gesture, but revels in gamboling pastoral imagery. And the second movement, "Fugue," is performed as if the doors of the Prussian palace were thrown open to invite a Brazilian Carnival in.

"Dyin' Nation/Emancipation" is a lofty and damning comment on the state of social graces in the allegedly "developed world." There can be no doubt that Gustav Mahler envisioned dark thoughts about where the world was going in his Ninth Symphony. John Funkhouser, in no less a significant manner, sees the same social decay very similarly and employs dark tones and colors in viscous, wet paint on a musical canvas. "Ode to a Lame Duck" drips with dramatic irony, almost as if "Götterdämmerung" was returning to haunt the erstwhile predecessor of Barack Obama. Funkhouser employs a Wagnerian palette with a touch of Grecian pathos too. And, of course, "Kelp" is a splendid, murmuring suggestion of a sub-aquatic waltz.

Bassist, Greg Loughman and percussionist Mike Connors are simply superb on this record. Loughman plays arco con brio on "Ellipse" with sublime authority. His pizzicato playing especially on the ostinato passages of "Green Dolphin Street" is superb too. Connors excels as well. Both musicians are full participants in this memorable musical adventure with John Funkhouser.~ Raul d'Gama Rosehttps://www.allaboutjazz.com/time-john-funkhouser-self-produced-review-by-raul-dgama-rose

Personnel: John Funkhouser: piano; Greg Loughman: bass; Mike Connors: drums.

Time

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Alan Broadbent Trio - Like Minds

Styles: Piano Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:34
Size: 136,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:24) 1. This I Dig of You
(8:25) 2. Prelude to Peace
(7:18) 3. With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair
(5:16) 4. Dance Only with Me
(5:58) 5. Airegin
(8:19) 6. Stairway to the Stars
(4:45) 7. Blue Pearl
(6:42) 8. This Is New
(6:25) 9. Yardbird Suite

Out today is Alan Broadbent's new trio album, Like Minds (Savant), with Harvie S on bass and Billy Mintz on drums. It's a terrific trio recording, featuring Alan's elegant piano and superb conversational interactions with Harvie and Billy. I've known Alan for many years, and it's always a joy to hear his new releases, see him live and catch up. I first fell in love with his playing on his duo albums backing vocalist Irene Kral Where Is Love (1974) and Gentle Rain (1977). By then, my ear was grooved to the piano articulation of Bill Evans, and Alan's playing shared many similar traits, including the swing, the gentle quality, the pedal tones and chord voicings.

Alan's new album is terrific, with songs ranging from Hank Mobley's This I Dig of You, Bud Powell's Blue Pearl and Sonny Rollins's Airegin to Clara Edwards and Jack Lawrence's With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair and Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green's Dance Only With Me. Harvie S is also such a gorgeous player, running sensitive, meaty lines behind Alan while Billy is right there with splashy but tender cymbals and drum figures. So great to hear a trio that's so in sync and in the pocket. https://www.jazzwax.com/2022/05/alan-broadbent-like-minds.html

Personnel: Alan Broadbent, piano; Harvie S, bass; Billy Mintz, drums.

Like Minds

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Jo Ambros, Dieter Fischer, Johann Polzer - How Many Times

Styles: Guitar Jazz
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 24:04
Size: 55,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:47) 1. Where Have All the Flowers Gone
(3:39) 2. El Quinto Regimiento
(2:43) 3. Strange Fruit
(2:59) 4. Blowin' in the Wind
(2:32) 5. Give Peace a Chance
(3:42) 6. Danser Encore
(4:40) 7. A Change Is Gonna Come

Jo Ambros (born September 3, 1973 in Böblingen ) is a German jazz musician and guitarist. Jo Ambros at the St. Ingbert Jazz Festival 2016.

Jo Ambros learned the guitar from Philipp Konowski and studied jazz and popular music at the music academies in Würzburg and with Werner Acker at the music academy in Stuttgart (graduating in 2002 with distinction). He received a scholarship for New York from the German Academic Exchange Service . In 2001 he received a grant from the Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg . At the invitation of the Society for New Music in Cologne , he performed with the Ensemble Modern as part of the "Live and Electronics" competition . He also plays to surreal silent films (by Georges Méliès , Virgil Widrich ,Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí ) with drummer Jogi Nestel live music.

In addition to concerts with Helen Schneider , Marcia Haydée , Giora Feidman , Les McCann and the Pointer Sisters , he also worked on radio plays (with Patrick Bebelaar and Frank Kroll ), on sound installations with the visual artist Eva Paulitsch (SoundCities, 1998) and in the theater ( Theresa's dream, Museumsquartier Wien). In 2004 his solo CD "wanderlust" was released. He can also be heard on the CDs "Reality Music" by Torsten Krill 's frimfram collective (Vol. 1 nominated for the German Record Critics' Prize 2004, Vol. 2. 2006). With the Danish-German jazz quartet moldIn 2002 he recorded the CD "republic of" (nominated for the Danish Jazz Prize 2003). Further CDs were made with David Orlowsky's Klezmorim.

Jo Ambros is considered one of the most interesting and versatile jazz guitarists of the younger generation. In 2004 he received the Baden-Württemberg Jazz Prize for "his great stylistic breadth and the expressiveness of his artistic work". https://de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Jo_Ambros

How Many Times

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Doug Raney - The Doug Raney Quintet

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1989
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:37
Size: 150,8 MB
Art: Front

(11:26) 1. Fata
( 8:02) 2. Fee-Fi-fo-Fum
( 6:37) 3. Good Morning
( 8:24) 4. Star Eyes
( 8:12) 5. Speedy Recovery
(11:33) 6. God Bless the Child
(11:19) 7. The Parting of the Ways

This LP was originally released in the summer of 1989 with Doug Raney at age 33. He released during his rather short life (1956 - 2016) 17 leader albums for SteepleChase including this 13th piano-less horn-featured recording which won accolades from critics all over the world. https://www.prestomusic.com/jazz/products/9246173--the-doug-raney-quintet

"Doug Raney is an elegant player even when he's attacking, as he does here on most of the content...Certainly recommended if you enjoy your jazz slightly in advance of bebop, but with all of that basic feel still there." ~ Martin Richards, Jazz Journal International

"No doubt, another in the string of successful Raney releases."~ Paul B. Matthews, Cadence

Personnel: Doug Raney (guitar), Bernt Rosengren (tenor saxophone), Tomas Franck (tenor and soprano saxophone), Jesper Lundgaard (bass), Jukkis Uotila (drums)

The Doug Raney Quintet

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Scott Hamilton, René Ten Cate Quartet - Live in the Netherlands

Styles: Saxophone And Vibraphone Jazz
Year: 2021
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:09
Size: 170,3 MB
Art: Front

( 7:44) 1. I Got Rhythm / Apple Honey
(10:43) 2. A Beautiful Friendship
( 9:22) 3. It's You or No One
( 5:49) 4. Darn That Dream
( 6:25) 5. Basie Kick
( 9:25) 6. On Green Dolphin Street
( 8:57) 7. Stella by Starlight
( 8:38) 8. A Smooth One
( 7:02) 9. Sweet Georgia Brown

The American tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton (1954) has long been controversial as a jazz musician. In the seventies and eighties he was dismissed in the Netherlands as a square traditionalist who belonged in establishments in Het Gooi and for whom there was no place on a real jazz stage. It is even rumored that the Bimhuis once canceled a concert of his at the last minute because the press condemned Hamilton. Special, because the Marsalis brothers were able to go about their business simultaneously worldwide undisturbed with a revival of traditional jazz.

The clouds of dust have now largely lifted and it is clear that Hamilton is an interesting musician who has the tradition in his pocket and carries it out with verve. If he reminds of anyone, it is the legendary Zoot Sims (1925-1985), a musician whose style was somewhere between swing and bop. Hamilton, who now lives in Italy, has a delightful tone and it is impossible to sit still during his improvisations. His sound comes in like a sultry summer breeze and his performances of standards are masterful. Last September he recorded an album with the quartet of vibraphonist René ten Cate in the Theaterbakkerheij in Gouda.

The chosen repertoire represents a cross-section of a century of jazz history, with well-known songs such as 'I Got Rhythm', 'It's You Or No One', 'Darn That Dream' and 'On Green Dolphin Street'. Titles that may seem unexciting, but get a remarkable metamorphosis in the hands of Hamilton. Also great is the imaginative playing of vibraphonist Ten Cate, who constantly answers the tenor. The rhythm section with pianist Johan Clement, double bassist Hans Mantel and drummer Barry Olthof forms an engine that runs as smoothly as that of an Italian sports car.

Of great allure is the musical story that the tenor saxophonist presents in Kahn and Styne's 'A Beautiful Friendship', in which he once again expresses his deep love for the Great American Songbook, an almost inexhaustible source of inspiration. Hamilton does not play jazz, but is jazz: a craftsman of the highest order. Rarely did 'Stella By Starlight' sound more tender and the closing 'Sweet Georgia Brown' more cheerful. A festive album that deserves worldwide attention!http://www.jazzenzo.nl/?e=4807

Line-up: Scott Hamilton tenor saxophone, René ten Cate vibraphone, Johan Clement piano, Hans Mantel double bass, Barry Olthof drums

Recorded: September 14, 2021, Theaterbakkerheij, Gouda

Released: December 2021

Live in the Netherlands

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Tal Farlow - Chromatic Palette

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1981
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:14
Size: 88,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:14)  1. All Alone
(5:58)  2. Nuages
(3:24)  3. I Hear A Rhapsody
(4:52)  4. If I Were A Bell
(4:20)  5. St. Thomas
(5:21)  6. Blue Art, Too
(4:32)  7. Stella By Starlight
(5:29)  8. One For My Baby (& One More For The Road)

This album is most notable for the interplay between veteran guitarist Tal Farlow and pianist Tommy Flanagan. With bassist Gary Mazzaroppi completing the trio, the musicians perform Tal's "Blue Art, Too" (based on a blues), plus seven superior standards, including "Nuages," "If I Were a Bell" and "St. Thomas." In general, the music is on the relaxed side but there is plenty of inner heat to be felt on the fine set. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/chromatic-palette-mw0000611946

Personnel: Tal Farlow (guitar); Tommy Flanagan (piano); Gary Mazzaroppi (bass).

Chromatic Palette

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Avishai Cohen - Shifting Sands

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:08
Size: 121,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:40) 1. Intertwined
(4:34) 2. The Window
(7:05) 3. Dvash
(5:27) 4. Joy
(4:30) 5. Below
(6:45) 6. Shifting Sands
(3:23) 7. Chacha Rom
(4:15) 8. Hitragut
(4:14) 9. Videogame
(5:12) 10. Kinderblock

In the end it’s all about connection. The connection with your inner self, the connection between the musicians on stage, and, of course, the connection between the band and its audience. For the last twenty five years, legendary bassist, singer and composer Avishai Cohen has grown to be one of the heavyweights of contemporary jazz, with a catalogue to rival those of even the most legendary in the field of jazz… and beyond. He became a name of concert hall stature around the world and headlined the best festivals any artist could dream of.

Shifting Sands his brand-new album proves he’s not resting on his laurels, but don’t take our word for it. Listen to ‘Intertwined’ the charged opening track and the cornerstone of the record and you’ll feel right away that he raised the bar again. The message is loud and clear: it’s a new adventure on the DNA that you were already familiar with. Since the beginning of the century Avishai Cohen has travelled a varied road. He appeared leading with orchestras, led smaller ensembles and even duets. But it is the Trio format that he always returns to.

A trio always works because all elements are there. The piano is like an orchestra in itself. Add a beat and the low register of the bass, and you have everything. Yes, there have been different line-ups over the years. In 2008 he made Gently Disturbed, a landmark album considered a classic now, and some people even wondered if Avishai Cohen would ever be able to better it. Today we know he has. “That time with Shai and Mark was very special. But I honestly think I now have a trio where that kind of magic is happening again. First of all, Elchin Shirinov from Azerbaijan is a magnificent pianist in his own right. He’s very focused and confident, and I’m sure that comes across. Then I found drummer Roni Kaspi. She may only be 21, but she’s an exceptional talent and a new spirit who brings her own strong personality.

On stage, it’s about trust and feeling good in each other’s company. You can feel the joy we have in playing together, and to be completely honest the concerts we’ve been doing evolved way beyond the record.” Kaspi is very young, Shirinov will be 40 shortly, and Avishai Cohen celebrated his half-century back in 2020. Still,the age gap evaporates from the moment the trio starts playing. “I had that sense with Chick Corea. He was thirty years my senior,but when we played together there was a joy in the fact that he was his age, and I was mine. There was no barrier. Kaspi and Shirinov both grew up listening to my music and consider me an influence, which is incredible to me. Because they challenge me too.

One of the reasons why my music has progressed so well, is because of the musicians. I have a clear idea of what I want, but the musicians have total freedom. That, to me, is modern jazz. It’s the most democratic form of music but you have to be well invested and intelligent enough to respect what you’re getting. The hardest thing is to be yourself, and to give the freedom to others to be themselves too. And this new album is the highest level I’ve reached so far: of me being the composer and the idea-maker, but having them both state the mood and the vibe.”

That unity between human, sound and soul creates a sublime, sonically layered record that links mature compositions with a very youthful energy thriving through the music. Avishai feels it too. At this stage of his life, he has a degree of self-belief that gives him the courage to keep on pushing the boundaries. The compositions on Shifting Sands were born at home near Jerusalem on his piano during the pandemic. For the first time in years, this kept him off the road for several months. He kept communicating with his audience through regular live sessions on Facebook and Instagram. He considered it his little assignment. He had to practice, and it gave him motivation, and some distraction in a period of time where the whole world felt lost and lonely.

“It was an unusual way of working, but at the same time I found it cool and challenging to at least excite a few people every day. And excite me. Not being able to play shows for such a long time had never happened to me. It made me appreciate what I get to do for a living even more than I did before.” The compositions came to life when the trio played a handful of shows in the summer of 2021 in Europe, before they travelled to Sweden to record them. The result is a splendid, uplifting recording that ranks among his very, very best. https://avishaicohen.com/shifting-sands/

Personnel: Avishai Cohen - Bass and Vocals; Elchin Shirinov - piano; Roni Kaspi - drums

Shifting Sands

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LaVern Baker - Real Gone Gal

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1984
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:29
Size: 86,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:34)  1. How Can You Leave A Man Like This?
(2:08)  2. Jim Dandy
(2:41)  3. My Happiness Forever
(2:32)  4. Fee Fi Fo Fum
(2:03)  5. Jim Dandy Got Married
(2:13)  6. Substitute
(2:07)  7. Whipper Snapper
(1:45)  8. Voodoo Voodoo
(2:30)  9. I Cried A Tear
(2:11) 10. He's A Real Gone Guy
(2:26) 11. I Waited Too Long
(2:18) 12. Tiny Tim
(2:45) 13. Shake A Hand
(2:20) 14. Bumble Bee
(2:23) 15. Hey Memphis
(2:25) 16. See See Rider

?LaVern Baker was one of the sexiest divas gracing the mid-'50s rock & roll circuit, boasting a brashly seductive vocal delivery tailor-made for belting the catchy novelties "Tweedlee Dee," "Bop-Ting-a-Ling," and "Tra La La" for Atlantic Records during rock's first wave of prominence. Born Delores Williams, she was singing at the Club DeLisa on Chicago's south side at age 17, decked out in raggedy attire and billed as "Little Miss Sharecropper" (the same handle that she made her recording debut under for RCA Victor with Eddie "Sugarman" Penigar's band in 1949). She changed her name briefly to Bea Baker when recording for OKeh in 1951 with Maurice King's Wolverines, then settled on the first name of LaVern when she joined Todd Rhodes' band as featured vocalist in 1952 (she fronted Rhodes' aggregation on the impassioned ballad "Trying" for Cincinnati's King Records). LaVern signed with Atlantic as a solo in 1953, debuting with the incendiary "Soul on Fire." The coy, Latin-tempo "Tweedlee Dee" was a smash in 1955 on both the R&B and pop charts, although her impact on the latter was blunted when squeaky-clean Georgia Gibbs covered it for Mercury. An infuriated Baker filed suit over the whitewashing, but she lost. By that time, though, her star had ascended: Baker's "Bop-Ting-A-Ling," "Play It Fair," "Still," and the rocking "Jim Dandy" all vaulted into the R&B Top Ten over the next couple of years. 

Baker's statuesque figure and charismatic persona made her a natural for TV and movies. She co-starred on the historic R&B revue segment on Ed Sullivan's TV program in November of 1955 and did memorable numbers in Alan Freed's rock movies Rock, Rock, Rock and Mr. Rock & Roll. Her Atlantic records remained popular throughout the decade: she hit big in 1958 with the ballad "I Cried a Tear," adopted a pseudo-sanctified bellow for the rousing Leiber & Stoller-penned gospel sendup "Saved" in 1960, and cut a Bessie Smith tribute album before leaving Atlantic in 1964. A brief stop at Brunswick Records (where she did a sassy duet with Jackie Wilson, "Think Twice") preceded a late-'60s jaunt to entertain the troops in Vietnam. She became seriously ill after the trip and was hospitalized, eventually settling far out of the limelight in the Philippines. She remained there for 22 years, running an NCO club on Subic Bay for the U.S. government. Finally, in 1988, Baker returned stateside to star in Atlantic's 40th anniversary bash at New York's Madison Square Garden. That led to a soundtrack appearance in the film Dick Tracy, a starring role in the Broadway musical Black & Blue (replacing her ex-Atlantic labelmate Ruth Brown), a nice comeback disc for DRG (Woke Up This Mornin'), and a memorable appearance at the Chicago Blues Festival. Baker died on March 10, 1997. ~ Bill Dahl https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lavern-baker-mn0000778344/biography

Real Gone Gal

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Gene Ammons - Up Tight!

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:04
Size: 171.9 MB
Styles: Bop, Saxophone jazz
Year: 1961/1994
Art: Front

[6:25] 1. The Breeze And I
[6:06] 2. Carbow
[5:03] 3. Moonglow
[6:01] 4. I'm Afraid The Masquerade Is Over
[4:47] 5. I'm Beginning To See The Light
[8:17] 6. Jug's Blue Blues
[4:13] 7. Lester Leaps In
[5:57] 8. The Five O'clock Whistle
[4:31] 9. I Sold My Heart To The Junkman
[5:12] 10. Song Of The Islands
[3:32] 11. Up Tight
[3:40] 12. Travelin'
[4:49] 13. Soft Summer Breeze
[6:24] 14. Don't Go To Strangers

Bass – Arthur Davis, George Duvivier; Congas – Ray Barretto; Drums – Arthur Taylor; Piano – Patti Bown, Walter Bishop; Saxophone – Gene Ammons. Recorded in October 17th & 18th, 1961.

Gene Ammons recorded many albums for Prestige but, if this CD is a good start for listeners unfamiliar with his playing. A reissue of two LPs (Up Tight and Boss Soul) recorded during the same two-day period, these performances find Ammons backed by a pair of four-piece rhythm sections (with either Walter Bishop or Patti Bown on piano and Ray Barretto's congas a major asset) and taking the lion's share of the solo space. Ammons sounds particularly warm and emotional throughout this CD, particularly on such numbers as "The Breeze and I," "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is over," a cooking "Lester Leaps In" and "Song of the Islands." His sound and style effectively bridged the gap between bop and soul jazz. ~Scott Yanow

Up Tight!

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