Thursday, March 14, 2024

Buddy Rich - Live at Ronnie Scott's

Styles: Post Bop
Year: 1980
Time: 44:37
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 102,1 MB
Art: Front

( 4:37) 1. Beulah Witch
( 6:54) 2. Grand Concourse
( 6:18) 3. Blues a la 88 (Ernie's Blues)
( 5:28) 4. Saturday Night
( 5:43) 5. Slow Funk
(15:34) 6. Good News

Arguably the greatest jazz drummer of all time, the legendary Buddy Rich exhibited his love for music through the dedication of his life to the art. His was a career that spanned seven decades, beginning when Rich was 18 months old and continuing until his death in 1987. Immensely gifted, Rich could play with remarkable speed and dexterity despite the fact that he never received a formal lesson and refused to practice outside of his performances.

Born Bernard Rich to vaudevillians Robert and Bess Rich on September 30, 1917, the famed drummer was introduced to audiences at a very young age. By 1921, he was a seasoned solo performer with his vaudeville act, "Traps the Drum Wonder." With his natural sense of rhythm, Rich performed regularly on Broadway at the age of four. At the peak of Rich's early career, he was the second-highest paid child entertainer in the world. Rich's jazz career began in 1937 when he began playing with Joe Marsala at New York's Hickory House.

By 1939, he had joined Tommy Dorsey's band, and he later went on to play with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Ventura, Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa. Rich was regularly featured in Jazz at the Philharmonic during the late 1940s. He also appeared in such Hollywood films as Symphony of Swing (1939), Ship Ahoy (1942) and How's About It (1943). Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Rich toured with his own bands and opened two nightclubs, Buddy's Place and Buddy's Place II. Both clubs were regularly filled to capacity by fans of the great master drummer. After opening Buddy's Place II, Rich introduced new tunes with elements of rock into his repertoire, demonstrating his ability to adapt to his audience's changing tastes and establishing himself as a great rock drummer.

Known for his caustic humor, Rich was a favorite on several television talk shows including the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, the Mike Douglas Show, the Dick Cavett Show and the Merv Griffin Show. During these appearances, audiences were entertained by Rich's constant sparring with the hosts and his slights of various pop singers. This famed musician received outstanding recognition throughout his career. The Downbeat Magazine Hall of Fame Award, the Modern Drummer Magazine Hall of Fame Award and the Jazz Unlimited Immortals of Jazz Award are just a few of his numerous honors. Rich gained international attention for such master compositions as his 10-minute West Side Story medley.

During his lengthy career, Rich toured around the globe, performing for millions of fans and several world leaders including the King of Thailand, King Hussein of Jordan the Queen of England, and U.S. presidents Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. On April 2, 1987, Rich died of heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumor. Longtime friend, Frank Sinatra, spoke a touching eulogy at Rich's funeral. Today, Buddy Rich is remembered as one of history's greatest musicians. According to jazz legend Gene Krupa, Rich was "The greatest drummer ever to have drawn breath."
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/buddy-rich/

Live at Ronnie Scott's

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Harry Allen & Luigi Grasso - Live at the Duc des Lombards Vol.1, Vol.2

Harry Allen & Luigi Grasso - Live at the Duc des Lombards Vol.1

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2018
Time: 75:27
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 172,7 MB
Art: Front

( 9:02) 1. Step Right Up
(13:06) 2. Lady Be Good
( 9:13) 3. You ’n’ Me
( 8:22) 4. Harry Allen Ballad Composition
(11:21) 5. In the Still of the Night
( 7:00) 6. Wes’ Tune
(11:09) 7. The Blues up and Down
( 6:10) 8. One for Duke

Harry Allen & Luigi Grasso - Live at the Duc des Lombards Vol.2

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 180,6 MB
Art: Front

( 9:32) 1. Step right up
( 4:47) 2. Wes' Tune
( 9:35) 3. Stuffy
( 7:08) 4. One for the Duke
( 8:03) 5. You 'n' Me
( 5:36) 6. Prelude to a kiss
( 8:52) 7. The Birth of the Blues
( 9:32) 8. In the still of the night
( 5:28) 9. Old Joe
(10:16) 10. Blues up and down

Gene Lees writes, "Stan Getz was once asked his idea of the perfect tenor saxophone soloist. His answer was, 'My technique, Al Cohn's ideas, and Zoot's time.' The fulfillment of that ideal may well be embodied in thirty-year-old Harry Allen."

BMG recording artist Harry Allen has over twenty recordings to his name. Three of Harry's CDs have won Gold Disc Awards from Japan's Swing Journal Magazine, and his CD Tenors Anyone? won both the Gold Disc Award and the New Star Award. His recordings have made the top ten list for favorite new releases in Swing Journal Magazine's reader's poll and Jazz Journal International's critic's poll for 1997, and Eu Nao Quero Dancar (I Won't Dance), the third Gold Disc Award winner, was voted second for album of the year for 1998 by Swing Journal Magazine‚s reader‚s poll.

Harry has performed at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide, frequently touring the United States, Europe, and the Far East. He has performed with Rosemary Clooney, Ray Brown, Hank Jones, Frank Wess, Flip Phillips, Scott Hamilton, Harry 'Sweets' Edison, Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, John Pizzarelli, Bucky Pizzarelli, Gus Johnson, Jeff Hamilton, Terry Gibbs, Warren Vache, and has recorded with Tony Bennett, Johnny Mandel, Ray Brown, Tommy Flanagan, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Kenny Barron, Dave McKenna, Dori Caymmi, Larry Goldings, George Mraz, Jake Hanna, and Al Foster, among others.

Harry is featured on many of John Pizzarelli's recordings including the soundtrack and an on-screen cameo in the feature film The Out of Towners starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. He has also done a series of commercials for ESPN starring Robert Goulet.

Harry was born in Washington D.C. in 1966, and was raised in Los Angeles, CA and Burrillville, RI. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music in 1988 from Rutgers University in New Jersey, and currently resides in New York City.https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/harry-allen/

Personnel: Harry Allen - Tenor Sax, Luigi Grasso - Alto Sax, Dave Blenkhorn - Guitar, Sebastien Girardot - Bass, Guillaume Nouaux - Drums

Live at the Duc des Lombards Vol. 1, Vol.2

Daniel Humair - Humair Louiss Pont Disc 1, Disc 2

Daniel Humair - Humair Louiss Pont Disc 1
Styles: Jazz
Year: 1968
Time: 45:53
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 105,0 MB
Art: Front

( 8:43) 1. You've Changed
( 9:33) 2. Summertime
( 6:56) 3. 'Round Midnight
(14:33) 4. So What?
( 6:05) 5. Nostalgia in Times Square

Daniel Humair - Humair Louiss Ponty Vol 2
Styles: Jazz
Year: 1968
Time: 49:33
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 113,4 MB
Art: Front

(13:42) 1. Carole's Garden
(11:54) 2. That's All
( 9:47) 3. Bag's Groove
( 9:13) 4. Sonny Moon for Two
( 4:55) 5. Ole O

Drummer Daniel Humair's name might be listed first on this double CD, and organist Eddy Louiss may be the dominant voice, but it is the inclusion of violinist Jean-Luc Ponty as part of the trio that really makes it quite historic.

Recorded in Paris in 1968, the live set features Ponty at the beginning of his career, before he came to the U.S., teamed up with the George Duke Trio, joined forces with Frank Zappa, became part of the second Mahavishnu Orchestra and had his long string of fusion albums for Atlantic.

Not quite 26 at the time, Ponty is featured on the date mostly playing standards including "You've Changed," "Summertime" (which is taken double time), "So What," "Bag's Groove" and "Oleo." Sometimes his violin sounds a little like a saxophone and it is clear, even at this early stage, that Ponty had a great deal of potential in jazz.

Louiss' organ is fairly original, breaking away from Jimmy Smith to hint at the avant-garde and modal music in spots while always swinging. Humair is excellent in support. The program, never before available in the U.S., is quite intriguing and enjoyable.

Since it is very doubtful that Jean-Luc Ponty can be persuaded to play straight-ahead jazz again (his musical tastes have long been elsewhere although his musicianship is still in prime form), this two-fer is a must for jazz violin collectors.
By Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/humair-louiss-and-ponty-vol-1-mw0000899823

Humair Louiss Ponty Vol 1, Vol 2

Monday, March 11, 2024

Joyce Breach - Reel Songs

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:09
Size: 156.0 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 1999
Art: Front

[3:04] 1. I'm A Dreamer, Aren't We All
[3:44] 2. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing/Tender Is The Night
[2:36] 3. Zing A Little Zong
[5:17] 4. That Old Feeling
[3:39] 5. Mind If I Make Love To You
[2:21] 6. That's For Me
[4:44] 7. All That Love Went To Waste
[5:16] 8. The Bad And The Beautiful/Laura
[3:06] 9. You Wonderful You
[4:46] 10. A Very Precious Love/A Certain Smile
[3:24] 11. The Tender Trap
[4:05] 12. Love Can Change The Stars
[3:06] 13. The Boy Next Door
[3:28] 14. Oh, But I Do
[3:46] 15. The Best Of Everything
[4:33] 16. Wild Is The Wind
[3:38] 17. Did I Remember
[3:26] 18. There Will Never Be Another You

For her sixth album for George Buck's Audiophile label, consummate cabaret songstress Joyce Breach has selected a program of torch songs, a novelty tune or two, and some up-tempo material. The common thread running through the musical agenda is that all the tunes are from movies made during the years 1929 to 1973. Thus, the album's title Reel Songs. To their credit, the producers did not fall back on familiar warhorses from movie musical scores, but instead they rescued songs that have been relegated to the oblivion bin. The arrangements tend to favor Breach being backed by piano, rhythm, and a sole instrument like sax or trumpet. This works because the instrumentalists brought in to support this singer are first class. Experienced accompanist Keith Ingham is on most cuts with his sympathetic piano. But nowhere does his ability as a singer's friend come through more than on the poignant medley "A Very Precious Love"/"A Certain Smile." His understanding keyboard work can be a model for the way a pianist should work with a vocalist. Randy Reinhard shows he is equally adept on trumpet and trombone. His soft, mellow slide horn is featured on "All That Love Went to Waste." Reinhardt favors the muted horn, à la Harry Sweets Edison, on the haunting "Laura," one the highlights of the album. Scott Robinson's Stan Getz-influenced honeyed tenor provides the support for Breach on several cuts and is especially telling on "Love Can Change the Stars" while his clarinet takes the lead on "That's for Me." Robinson is a favorite among singers, having shared a recording studio with Rebecca Kilgore. Not only is the individual work outstanding, but the ensemble playing is equally adroit. On "The Tender Trap," the group is pushed along by Ingham's blusey piano for a swinging version of this tune from the 1955 movie of the same name becoming a staple in the Frank Sinatra repertoire. With her cool, but not emotionless, understated manner of delivery, Joyce Breach, along with her talented confreres, provides a very entertaining hour's plus worth of movie tunes with arrangements shaped to show off Breach's voice and delivery at their very best. This album is recommended. ~Dave Nathan

Reel Songs

Wild Bill Davis, Johnny Hodges - Con-Soul and Sax

Styles: Post Bop, Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1965
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:59
Size: 85,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:47)  1. On the Sunny Side of the Street
(3:15)  2. On Green Dolphin Street
(4:10)  3. Lil' Darlin'
(4:52)  4. Con-Soul and Sax
(2:30)  5. The Jeep Is Jumpin'
(3:25)  6. I'm Beginning to See the Light
(4:01)  7. Sophisticated Lady
(4:25)  8. Drop Me Off In Harlem
(3:21)  9. No One
(3:09) 10. Johnny Come Lately

Con-Soul & Sax is an album by American jazz saxophonist Johnny Hodges and organist Wild Bill Davis featuring performances recorded in 1965 and released on the RCA Victor label. The title is a play on words based on the term "console organ", a term used by the Hammond organ company to describe the type of organs favored by Davis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Con-Soul_%26_Sax

Personnel:  Wild Bill Davis - organ; Johnny Hodges - alto saxophone; Dickie Thompson, Mundell Lowe - guitar; Milt Hinton, George Duvivier - double bass; Osie Johnson - drums

Con-Soul and Sax

Susie Arioli - Embraceable

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 40:04
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 91,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:49) 1. Pendulum
(3:12) 2. It's Alright With Me
(2:57) 3. My Plan
(4:48) 4. Embraceable You
(4:07) 5. On The Street Where You Live
(3:22) 6. Indifférente
(2:37) 7. Unrequited
(2:52) 8. Calling
(2:58) 9. 500 Cigarettes
(3:35) 10. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blue
(3:09) 11. Easy
(3:31) 12. Worried Mind

Clearly, Susie Arioli is on top form! This brand new album from the sunny Montreal singer follows in the footsteps of the other great offerings in the genre that she’s delivered since her debut (that’s a long time ago, but I’ll stop there. It would be impolite to suggest more). Embraceable is a happy mix of standards (Porter, Gershwin, Arlen are all invited to the table) and original compositions that have absolutely nothing to envy the classics of the Great American Songbook, both melodically and lyrically (Pendulum, My Plan, bluffing with stylistic perfection).

There are also some lovely, well-balanced blues and some frank country incursions that betray the ever-essential presence of Jordan Officer, alongside Susie, in concocting these delights. I’d like to highlight the originality of the arrangement of On the Street where you live, which enhances this standard without distorting it.

A Susie album is like returning to the roots of a happiness that is never forgotten or fades away. Every time you hear a new album by her, it’s as happy and authentic as ever. Susie is a faithful friend who you only see occasionally, which makes each return so precious. It has to be said that the last few years have seen the singer sail blindly after the divorce with her previous record label and agency. The Blü Dog label has taken over the reins, and we can’t thank them enough. All the more reason not to miss out on this.By Frédéric Cardin https://panm360.com/en/records/suzie-arioli-embraceable-jordan-officer-blu-dog-media/

Embraceable

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Nat King Cole - From The Capitol Vaults (Vol. 1), (Vol.2), (Vol.3)

Nat King Cole - From The Capitol Vaults (Vol. 1)
Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2022
Time: 42:30
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 97,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:16) 1. Roses And Wine
(3:06) 2. Tunnel Of Love
(2:49) 3. Get Out And Get Under The Moon (feat. Maria Cole)
(2:44) 4. The Way I'm Loving You
(2:51) 5. My Brother
(3:03) 6. Hey, Not Now! (I'll Tell You When) (feat. Maria Cole)
(3:05) 7. The Magic Tree
(3:12) 8. Home (When Shadows Fall)
(2:56) 9. It's A Man Every Time (feat. Maria Cole)
(3:04) 10. Early American
(3:09) 11. I'll Always Remember You
(2:51) 12. The Day Isn't Long Enough
(3:18) 13. My First And My Last Love
(2:59) 14. Easter Sunday Morning

Nat King Cole - From The Capitol Vaults (Vol. 2)
Time: 34:03
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 78,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:05) 1. Why Can't We Try Again? (Final Take / Remastered 1992)
(3:15) 2. For A Moment Of Your Love (Remastered 1992)
(1:33) 3. I'm Shooting High
(2:49) 4. Maybe It's Because I Love You Too Much
(1:58) 5. One Sun
(2:32) 6. You Are My First Love
(1:45) 7. It's None Of My Affair
(2:42) 8. How Did I Change?
(2:20) 9. When Rock And Roll Come To Trinidad
(2:32) 10. Laughable
(2:39) 11. Something Happens To Me
(2:09) 12. Do I Like It?
(2:28) 13. When You Belong To Me
(2:10) 14. Give Me Your Love

Nat King Cole - From The Capitol Vaults (Vol. 3)
Time: 39:47
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 38,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:10) 1. Make Believe Land
(3:04) 2. I Still See Elisa
(2:25) 3. O.K. For TV
(2:38) 4. I Envy
(2:42) 5. Marilyn
(3:03) 6. I'll Never Settle For Less
(2:30) 7. Up Pops Love
(3:23) 8. My Dream Sonata
(3:46) 9. How Little We Know
(2:43) 10. Like Someone In Love
(2:04) 11. Should I
(2:38) 12. Lorelei
(2:52) 13. I Heard You Cried Last Night
(2:41) 14. Misery Loves Company

Nat King Cole was one of the most popular singers ever to hit the American charts. A brilliant recording and concert artist during the 40's, 50's and 60's, he attracted millions of fans around the world with a sensitive and caressing singing voice that was unmistakable.

Cole has a rare blend of technical musical knowledge and sheer performing artistry topped off with an abundance of showmanship. In the 23 years that he recorded with Capitol Records, he turned out hit after amazing hit - nearly 700 songs - all the while managing to remain a gentle, tolerant and gracious human being.

Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama on March 17, 1919. He was the son of Baptist minister, Edward James Coles, and mother, Perlina Adams, who sang soprano and directed the choir in her husband's church. Cole grew up in Chicago, met and married a girl in New York; they had five children and lived in Hancock Park in Los Angeles.

He had a distinctive voice, which has been compared to the quality of velvet, a pussy willow, a calm evening breeze, a still summer morning and a soft snow fall. In the case of Nat King Cole, who dropped an "s" off his last name and put a nickname in the middle, the lyricism is merited.

The first sign that Cole was destined for a musical life was at age four, when he was able to pick out a fairly good two-handed rendition of "Yes, We Have No Bananas." He later played the organ in his father's church. In high school he organized a 14-piece band, with himself as pianist and leader.

In 1937, after finishing high school, Cole joined a road company of the revue, "Shuffle Along." The show broke up a few months later in Long Beach, California, when a sticky-fingered member of the troop made off with the show's $800 treasury. He also wrote a song called "Straighten Up and Fly Right," which he sold for $50.

Cole spent the next period looking for work and not having much luck. Finally a night club manager offered him $75 per week for an instrumental quartet. He hired a guitarist, bass fiddle player and a drummer. On opening night the drummer didn't show up but the manager took trio and didn't cut the price.

Even though instrumental trios were not highly popular in those days, the King Cole Trio developed a large and faithful following. With Cole on the piano and later, vocals, Oscar Moore on guitar and Johnny Miller on bass, the trio eventually played the best clubs in the country and had their own radio show. They eventually won awards from every music publication in the U.S., and their jazz records are now treasured collectors' items.

A new career was inadvertently created for Cole when a tipsy customer at a small Hollywood bistro insisted on hearing him sing "Sweet Lorraine." To quiet the drunk, he sang the tune and thus launched his legendary singing career. In 1942, Cole became one of the first artists to join Capitol Records, then a fledgling company. With his King Cole Trio, he recorded such popular songs as "Straighten Up and Fly Right," "Sweet Lorraine" and "Embraceable You." For the remainder of this life, Cole always sang with the trio even when he began to sing with an orchestra.br />
"Capitol and I felt that a big band behind me would sell more records," said Cole. 'Nature Boy' was the first of these and it proved we were right. "He never regretted the decision."

Cole became one of the world's leading record-sellers. It is not correct to say that every Nat King Cole recording was a hit. There was one, in 1953, that was a decided bust. But, as far as anyone at Capitol can recall, that was the only one to reach flop status. From the time he recorded one of his very first discs, "Straighten Up and Fly Right," through "Mona Lisa," "Too Young," "Route 66," "Non Dimenticar," "Rambling Rose," and countless others, Cole probably had more hit records than any other artist of his day, including the number- one-selling holiday recording of all time, The Christmas Song. Cole's consistent ability to make best-selling records prompted one record columnist to remark that Nat's recordings were "practically legal tender."

In 1956, Cole had his own network television show on NBC- TV. The "Nat King Cole Show" attracted a wide audience and celebrity guests like Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Mel Torme. It could not, however, attract national advertisers willing to back a show hosted by a black. Rather than submit to an airtime change, Cole abandoned the show after 64 weeks. In December 1957, Cole telecast his last show. It was a bitter disappointment. He put it best when he explained his TV demise, "Madison Avenue," he said, "is afraid of the dark."

Throughout Cole's career there was a woman who supported him with love and enthusiasm. His wife, the former Maria Ellington, was a vocalist in Duke Ellington's (no relation) band. She met Cole in 1947 when they were both performing at the Club Zanzibar in New York, and then ten months later they were married. They had five children - Carole, Natalie, Kelly and twins, Timolin and Casey.

When Nat King Cole died of lung cancer on February 15, 1965, he was only 45. It was a loss felt all over the world."Nat was a very humble man." Maria said after the death of her husband. "I don't think he ever realized what a great international talent he had become."

He made us music millionaires while he lived, and he left a musical legacy to generations to come. All over the world today, his songs are played and as long as those sounds continue, Nat King Cole will live.
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/nat-king-cole/

From The Capitol Vaults (Vol.1) (Vol.2) (Vol.3)

Michael Buble - Higher

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2022
Time: 50:01
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 115,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:38) 1. I'll Never Not Love You
(3:28) 2. My Valentine
(3:05) 3. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
(3:17) 4. Make You Feel My Love
(2:23) 5. Baby, I'll Wait
(3:05) 6. Higher
(4:54) 7. Crazy (with Willie Nelson)
(4:35) 8. Bring It On Home To Me
(3:23) 9. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
(3:57) 10. Mother
(3:56) 11. Don't Take Your Love From Me
(3:45) 12. You're The First, The Last, My Everything
(3:47) 13. Smile
(2:41) 14. Pennies From Heaven

With his velvety voice and urbane charm, Michael Bublé is the epitome of the modern crooner, ably interpreting American Songbook standards alongside modern pop covers, as well as his own ebullient originals. He further conjures this vibe on his 11th studio album, 2022's appealing Higher. One the most notable aspects of Higher is the presence of Paul McCartney, whose song "My Valentine" (culled from 2012's Kisses on the Bottom) Bublé covers to fine effect here, with McCartney producing.

A moody, minor-key ballad, the song evokes the work of iconic French singer Jacques Brel and recalls how McCartney (a long-avowed jazz and standards aficionado) would often bring such influences to the Beatles, further broadening that group's cross-generational appeal. It's one of the standout moments on Higher and nicely illuminates the stylistic balance between jazz, traditional pop, and contemporary pop that Bublé is going for.

On Higher, Bublé is often at his best when taking on jazz standards, represented here in tracks like the big-band swing of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" or the orchestral romance of "A Nightingale Sang in Barclay Square." His relaxed, kitten-soft voice is a perfect match for the nuanced and sophisticated style of these songs. There's also a knowing quality about Bublé, as if he's well aware of the bygone aesthetic he's playing with by being an old-school crooner in the post-modern age it's a persona that's wry, a little campy, and helps sell his more over-the-top choices like taking on the '70s show biz disco of Barry White's "You're My First, My Last, My Everything."

His ironic schmooze achieves technicolor brilliance on the flamboyant 1930s movie soundtrack arrangement of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile." Replete with shimmering strings and what sounds like a backing chorus of winged angels, it ends the album but might have worked even better as an opening track. There's also an amiable duet with Willie Nelson on the country icon's classic "Crazy" that has the relaxed, in-the-moment energy of a Muppet Show performance.

Of his original songs, the standout is the title track. Co-written by Greg Wells, OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, and even Bublé's eight-year-old son, Noah (who recovered from his battle with liver cancer in 2017), "Higher" is a fun, tango-influenced banger that sticks in your head. There's also the romantic "I'll Never Not Love You" and the heartfelt tribute to his mom, "Mother," all songs that (like his 2005 hit "Home") add a bit of earnest warmth to the album's overall buoyant, swinging feeling one that Bublé has made his own.By Matt Collar https://www.allmusic.com/album/higher-mw0003659328#review

Higher

Ruby Braff & Dave McKenna - Complete Original Quartet/Quintet Recordings

Styles: Trumpet And Pianno Jazz
Year: 2007
Time: 64:54
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 149,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:08) 1. Dancing in the Dark
(3:52) 2. Blue Prelude
(2:50) 3. Why Was I Born?
(2:58) 4. Blue (And Broken-Hearted)
(3:01) 5. If I Could Be with You
(3:13) 6. I'm Crazy About My Baby
(2:27) 7. Louisiana
(4:00) 8. It's Wonderful
(2:21) 9. Almost Like Being in Love
(3:21) 10. Lover Come Back to Me
(4:07) 11. I Must Have That Man
(3:07) 12. As Long as I Live
(2:56) 13. Blue, Turning Gray over You
(3:07) 14. If I Had You
(3:13) 15. It's Been So Long
(1:57) 16. I'm Shooting High
(3:09) 17. Stardust
(3:34) 18. How Long Has This Been Going On?
(3:59) 19. Soft Lights and Sweet Music
(5:26) 20. The Song Is Ended But the Melody Lingers On

Although Ruby Braff and Dave McKenna played together on several occasions during their long careers, these two sessions best represent their collective legacy for a number of reasons. It must be said that their recorded collaborations were not as abundant as one might expect.

Their two initial sessions together were as sidemen for other musicians: A 1955 date as part of the Benny Goodman septet, and a February 1956 session backing singer Milli Vernon's recording debut. These dates were followed by the two incredible sessions included here. After that, the only known recordings of the Hackett-McKenna partnership are a 1961 live recording at Eddie Condon's with Bobby Hackett and Peanuts Hucko, and two 1991-93 double albums with a band including tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton.

The sessions featured on this edition are, thus, their only true small group quartet/quintet) recordings and the only instrumental sessions they made at the peak of their careers, in which both musicians can be considered, in a way, session leaders. Gambit.By Editorial Reviews
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Original-Quartet-Quintet-Sessions/dp/B000JVSWLY

Original Quartet/Quintet Recordings

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Stan Getz - The Girl From Ipanema

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 122:13
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 283,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:47) 1. The Girl From Ipanema (Single Version) (Feat. Astrud Gilberto & Antonio Carlos Jobim)
(2:20) 2. Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars) (Single Version) (Feat. Astrud Gilberto & Antonio Carlos Jobim)
(6:10) 3. Samba De Uma Nota So
(3:36) 4. Só Danço Samba
(4:48) 5. Samba Triste
(5:05) 6. Para Machuchar Meu Coracao
(4:13) 7. Desafinado
(2:29) 8. O Pato
(3:39) 9. Saudade Vem Correndo (Feat. Maria Toledo)
(2:32) 10. Eu E Voco (Live At Café Au Go-go,1964) (Feat. Astrud Gilberto)
(2:56) 11. Vivo Sohando (Stereo Version)
(2:08) 12. Sambalero (Feat. Maria Toledo)
(5:25) 13. O Grande Amor (Feat. Antonio Carlos Jobim)
(3:08) 14. Samba Da Minha Terra (Live At Carnegie Hall/1964)
(5:50) 15. Desafinado
(2:46) 16. Doralice (Stereo Version) (Feat. Antonio Carlos Jobim)
(4:11) 17. Menina Flor (Feat. Maria Toledo)
(3:07) 18. One Note Samba (Live At Café Au Go-go,1964) (Feat. Astrud Gilberto)
(6:42) 19. Bahia
(3:23) 20. Insensatez
(5:21) 21. Winter Moon (Feat. Laurindo Almeida)
(4:00) 22. Meditacao (Live At Carnegie Hall/1964)
(6:55) 23. O Morro Nao Tem Vez
(3:32) 24. Samba Dees Days
(5:42) 25. Menina Moca
(2:43) 26. Mania De Maria (Feat. Maria Toledo)
(3:40) 27. E Luxo So
(2:09) 28. Bim Bom (Live At Carnegie Hall/1964)
(4:13) 29. Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars) (Feat. Astrud Gilberto & Antonio Carlos Jobim)
(6:31) 30. The Girl From Ipanema

Bop saxophonist Stan Getz was almost single-handedly responsible for breaking bossa nova big in the United States. Classically trained jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd had toured in Brazil and fell under the sway of the burgeoning bossa nova an amalgam of samba and jazz influences movement there. He brought some recordings of the music back to Getz, who quickly went to work making arrangements with Verve Records for the landmark album that the two musicians eventually recorded in 1962, Jazz Samba.

Included on the sessions for the album was Antonio Carlos Jobim, the legendary bossa nova guitarist, pianist, and composer of many of the album's songs. Getz and Byrd each went on to record more records in the bossa nova oeuvre, but none were as commercially successful as the 1963 hit Getz/Gilberto, with Brazilian guitarist and singer Joao Gilberto. That album included the Jobim-penned, worldwide crossover smash "The Girl From Ipanema." Long since a standard, it is amusing to note that "The Girl From Ipanema" did not include the famous sultry vocals of Gilberto's wife, Astrud, until the last minute. Indeed, she was not even credited on the original release of the record.

Over the lilting samba rhythms and around Getz's cool sax lines, Joao Gilberto had laid down his Portuguese lyrics on the track in his trademark soft and simple voice, but producer Creed Taylor, sensing the commercial possibilities of the song, requested an English adaptation of some of the lines. Astrud, who was just along for the visit to New York, was the only Brazilian who understood English enough to sing the adaptation by famed lyricist Norman Gimbel. With no musical background, she stepped to the microphone and sang the words Gimbel had adapted (they are not a literal translation) with an authentic sense of innocence and austerity, the perfect mood for the lyrics: "Tall and tan and young and lovely/The girl from Ipanema goes walking/And when she passes each one she passes goes 'ahhh'/When she walks she's like a samba/That swings so cool and sways so gently/That when she passes each one she passes goes 'ahhh'/Oh, but he watches so sadly/How can he tell her he loves her/Yes, he would give his heart gladly/But each day when she walks to the sea/She looks straight ahead not at he."

Like all of Jobim's compositions, "The Girl From Ipanema" aims directly at the heart and soul with lyrics that celebrate the essence of life, the Zen beauty of nature and love. One of the other composers of the song is Vinicius de Moraes, another legendary figure in Brazilian music. de Moraes had been writing poetry, music, and lyrics since he was 14 and was established by the '30s. He had collaborated with Jobim on a number of projects already by the time they teamed up on this song. The Gilberto-Getz collaboration is the definitive version of the song, with intimate, soft-spoken, and ultra-present vocals and a subdued rhythm section, but "The Girl From Ipanema" has been recorded hundreds of times. Notable among the covers is Nat King Cole's, from L-O-V-E (1965), which swings the rhythm, all but ignoring the bossa nova origins of the song
.
It is effective in its mellow sophistication, Cole retaining the intention of the song with his Americanized arrangement. Included is a great trumpet solo over a key modulation. Count Basie, on Our Shining Hour (1965) with Sammy Davis, keeps a Latin feel to the song, but adds a swinging, American big band style on the choruses. Ella Fitzgerald recorded a more up-tempo reading, with guitarist Joe Pass soloing throughout. But this recording from Ella Abraca Jobim comes off as light jazz. Oddly, it is the master stylist himself, Frank Sinatra, who stays closest to the original, keeping his improvisations to a minimum and singing it in an understated style. He even features Jobim himself, singing a verse in Portuguese off in the background, hauntingly. It was released in 1967 on Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim. By Bill Janovitz
https://www.allmusic.com/song/the-girl-from-ipanema-mt0003013967

The Girl From Ipanema

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Sings the Blues

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2023
Time: 95:27
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 220,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:07) 1. Smooth Sailing (Feat. Ray Charles Singers)
(2:41) 2. See, See Rider
(4:00) 3. How Long, How Long Blues
(3:42) 4. Blues In The Night
(4:40) 5. I Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues (Feat. Duke Ellington & His Orchestra)
(3:07) 6. Basin Street Blues
(2:25) 7. Pete Kelly's Blues
(2:41) 8. In The Evening (When The Sun Goes Down)
(5:13) 9. Ella Hums The Blues
(5:41) 10. Wee Baby Blues (Live)
(3:15) 11. Good Morning Blues
(4:12) 12. Cherry Red
(5:12) 13. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
(6:31) 14. St. Louis Blues (Live From Rome/1958)
(2:50) 15. Swingin' Shepherd Blues (Alternate Take)
(2:26) 16. Beale Street Blues
(2:32) 17. Later
(3:15) 18. Too Young For The Blues (Alternate Single Version)
(5:27) 19. Joe Williams Blues (Live In Berlin, 1961)
(2:33) 20. I'll Chase The Blues Away (Single Version / Matrix 39614) (Feat. Chick Webb And His Orchestra)
(3:01) 21. A New Shade Of Blues
(3:33) 22. Trouble In Mind
(4:02) 23. St. Louis Blues
(5:11) 24. Every Day I Have The Blues
(3:58) 25. Party Blues

Part of a Fantasy sampler series that features musicians (and in this case a notable vocalist) performing the blues, this CD features Ella Fitzgerald on 11 performances taken from a variety of sessions. Although she never specialized in the blues, Ella had no difficulty swinging over blues changes and sometimes putting strong emotion into the lowdown variety.

There is one song apiece from the 1950s and '60s, while the remainder of the program dates from 1971-1979. Ella's rendition of "C-Jam Blues" at the Santa Monica Civic in 1972 is a true classic, and other highlights include "Duke's Place" (with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1966), "I'm Walkin'," and the lengthy "Basella," with Count Basie's big band. But the material is easily available in more complete form elsewhere, making this reissue more of a sampler for casual fans. By Scott Yanow
https://www.allmusic.com/album/bluella-ella-fitzgerald-sings-the-blues mw0000615825#review

Ella Sings the Blues

Idun Carling - IDUN

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2023
Time: 14:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 32,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:49) 1. No Moon At All
(3:10) 2. Girl From Ipanema
(3:09) 3. Att Angöra En Brygga
(3:53) 4. Out Of Nowhere

I grew up playing jazz and touring all over the world with our family band. I have been making a career of my own in both music and acting for a few years, I was cast as the main character in two Swedish national television programs and I have performed on famous stages such as Birdland in New York and for the king of Sweden. I write music and recently recorded an album in New York where I am featured on vocals and trombone. I was born and raised on the stage!https://www.backstage.com/u/idun-carling-blome/

IDUN

Alain Jean-marie - REMINISCENCE

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 62:59
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 145,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:19) 1. On Ti Berceuse
(5:09) 2. Evolution
(4:56) 3. Paper
(7:07) 4. Dezespwa
(5:51) 5. Mesi Gwada
(3:57) 6. Haiti
(3:05) 7. Baltazar
(5:41) 8. Morena' S Reverie
(4:49) 9. Todeu
(3:35) 10. Janmwenka
(5:16) 11. Haitian Child
(5:25) 12. Rag
(2:43) 13. The River

Jean-Marie taught himself to play piano from age eight. He played in dance orchestras in Guadeloupe (especially that of Robert Mavounzy), lived in Canada from 1967 to 1970 and then in the Antilles. He made his first recordings in 1969 (released in 1997 as piano biguines). At the same time he played regularly with the trio of Winston Berkley and Jean Claude Montredon. In 1973, he moved to Paris, where he accompanied jazz musicians such as Chet Baker, Sonny Stitt, Art Farmer, Johnny Griffin, Lee Konitz, and Max Roach.

In 1979, he debuted with his own trio (Al Levitt on percussion, Gus Nemeth and later Riccardo Del Fra on bass). Since the 1980s, he has regularly performed with Barney Wilen, including as a duo on albums such as La Notenbleue (1986) and Dreamtime (1992). In 1986, he regularly accompanied Dee Dee Bridgewater. In 1987 he recorded the album Latin Alley in a duo with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. In 1990 he accompanied Abbey Lincoln on the album World Is Falling Down with Jackie McLean, Billy Higgins and Charlie Haden.

1991 he played with Henri Texier (bass) and Aldo Romano (drums) on The Scene Is Clean. His 1992 trio album Biguine Reflections was influenced by the music of the Antilles as well as bebop. He also played in a trio with Gilles Naturel and John Betsch (Lazy Afternoon, 2000) and recorded his first solo album in 1999 (Afterblue, which received the Prix Boris Vian). In 2004, a second solo album, Thats What, followed.

Jean-Marie also played with Guadeloupe musicians such as the guitarist André Condouant (Clean & Class, 1997), a group of musicians from Guadeloupe under the trumpeter Franck Nicolas (Jazz Ka Philosophy) and the saxophonist Jocelyn Ménard (Men Art Works).

He also worked with Jacques Vidal / Frédéric Sylvestre, with Michel Graillier (Portrait in Black & White, 1995), Boulou and Elios Ferré (Intersection, 2001, Live in Montpellier, 2006), with Xavier Richardeau, Sara Lazarus and Ted Curson (In Paris, Live At The Sunside, 2006). In 1979 he received the Prix Django Reinhardt and in 2000 the Django d'Or.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Jean-Marie

REMINISCENCE

Friday, March 8, 2024

Peggy Lee - Portrait of Peggy: I'm Happy To Be A Girl

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2023
Time: 71:11
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 165,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:11) 1. I Enjoy Being A Girl (From 'Flower Drum Song') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)
(2:24) 2. Come Dance With Me (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:52) 3. As You Desire Me (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:09) 4. You Fascinate Me So (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:02) 5. C'est Magnifique (From 'Can Can') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)
(4:22) 6. Remind Me (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(3:16) 7. By Myself (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:01) 8. Fantastico (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:36) 9. Pretty Eyes (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:25) 10. Dance Only With Me (From 'Say Darling') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)
(3:03) 11. I Want To Be Loved (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:26) 12. It Could Happen To You (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(1:55) 13. Moments Like This (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:02) 14. Love And Marriage (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:32) 15. I Remember You (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:21) 16. Ole´ (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(3:08) 17. Because I Love Him So (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(1:50) 18. Just Squeeze Me (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(1:55) 19. The Surrey With A Fringe On The Top (From 'Meet Me In St. Louis') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)
(2:57) 20. Fly Me To The Moon (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(1:43) 21. You're So Right For Me (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:25) 22. You Stepped Out Of A Dream (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:20) 23. Too Close For Comfort Now (Feat. Billy May Orchestra)
(2:43) 24. Wish You Were Here (Feat. Jack Marshall)
(1:44) 25. Together Whereever We Go (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:20) 26. Non Dimenticar (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(2:08) 27. I Can't Resist You (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(1:49) 28. From Now On Leave It To Me (Feat. Joe Harnell Orchestra)
(3:15) 29. The Party Is Over (From 'Bells Are Ringing') (Feat. Jack Marshall Orchestra)

More than two decades have passed since Peggy Lee sang with Benny Goodman’s swing band and made her first hit recording. Yet so inexhaustible is her talent and so intense her application to her work that, almost a generation later, she stands at the peak of her career. A product of the big-band era, she derived from that apprenticeship her ability to sing anything from jazz to blues, to sing it with a beat, and with enough volume to be heard above the band. Few vocalists have had her staying power. Peggy Lee is also a successful composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, and businesswoman. To all her careers she brings a perfectionism that leaves the stamp of professionalism on everything she touches.

Of Norwegian and Swedish ancestry, Peggy Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, a farm town on the Great Plains, on May 26, 1920. She was the seventh of eight children born to Marvin Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad, and Mrs. Egstrom, who died when the child was four years old. Encouraged by the recognition she had received for her singing with the high school glee club, the church choir, and semi-professional college bands, Norma headed for Hollywood after she graduated from high school in 1938. With her she took $18 in cash and a railroad pass she had borrowed from her father. Although she got a brief singing engagement at the Jade Room, a supper club on Hollywood Boulevard, she made little impression on the film capital, and she was reduced to working as a waitress and as a carnival spieler at a Balboa midway.

Deciding to try her luck nearer home, she found work as a singer over radio station WDAY in Fargo, North Dakota, whose manager, Ken Kennedy, christened her Peggy Lee. (To supplement her income she worked for a time as a bread slicer in a Fargo bakery.) Her prospects for a career brightened when she moved to Minneapolis, where she sang in the dining room of the Radisson Hotel, appeared on a Standard Oil radio show, and sang with Sev Olsen’s band. Miss Lee broke into the big time when she became a vocalist with Will Osborne’s band, but three months after she joined the group it broke up in St. Louis, and she got a ride to California with the manager.

It was at the Doll House in Palm Springs, California that Peggy Lee first developed the soft and "cool" style that has become her trademark. Unable to shout above the clamor of the Doll House audience, Miss Lee tried to snare its attention by lowering her voice. The softer she sang the quieter the audience became. She has never forgotten the secret, and it has given her style its distinctive combination of the delicate and the driving, the husky and the purringly seductive. One of the members of the Doll House audience was Frank Bering, the owner of Chicago’s Ambassador West Hotel, who invited her to sing in his establishment’s Buttery Room.

Benny Goodman discovered Peggy Lee’s vocalizing in the Buttery Room at a time when he was looking for a replacement for Helen Forrest. Miss Lee joined Goodman’s band in July, 1941, when the band was at the height of its popularity, and for over two years she toured the United States with the most famous swing outfit of the day, playing hotel engagements, college proms, theater dates, and radio programs.

Much of her present success Miss Lee credits to her apprenticeship with the big bands. "I learned more about music from the men I worked with in bands than I’ve learned anywhere else," she has said. "They taught me discipline and the value of rehearsing and even how to train…. Band singing taught us the importance of interplay with musicians. And we had to work close to the arrangement." In July, 1942, Peggy Lee recorded her first smash hit, "Why Don’t You Do Right?" It sold over 1,000,000 copies and made her famous.

In March, 1943, Peggy Lee married Dave Barbour, the guitarist in Goodman’s band; shortly thereafter she left the band. After her daughter, Nicki, was born in 1944, Peggy Lee and her husband worked successfully on the West Coast. In 1944 she began to record for Capitol Records, for whom she has produced a long string of hits " many of them with lyrics and music by Miss Lee and Dave Barbour. Among them are "Golden Earrings," which sold over 1,000,000 copies [sic; song not written by Lee and Barbour]; "You Was Right, Baby;" "It’s a Good Day;" "Mañana" (which sold over 2,000,000 records); "What More Can a Woman Do?;" and "I Don’t Know Enough About You." Today Peggy Lee has a top rating as a songwriter with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
More ....................https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/peggy-lee/

Portrait of Peggy: I'm Happy To Be A Girl

Mal Waldron Sextet - Mal/2

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 46:40
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 107,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:17) 1. From This Moment On
(8:40) 2. J.m.'s Dream Doll
(8:26) 3. The Way You Look Tonight
(9:42) 4. One By One
(6:59) 5. Don't Explain
(6:35) 6. Potpourri

Before becoming an expatriate in 1965 and eventually settling in Munich, pianist Mal Waldron cut several stateside hard bop albums full of his idiosyncratic and Monk-ish piano work, and featuring choice contributions by some of the music's finest. For this 1957 date, Waldron worked with a stellar sextet interchangeably manned by John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Idrees Sulieman, Art Taylor, and others.

Bookended by the pianist's ebullient "Potpourri" and the avant-noir blues "One by One," the set also includes a fetching cover of Cole Porter's "From This Moment On" and a beautifully complex arrangement of Billie Holiday's "Don't Explain." (Waldron was Holiday's accompanist for the last two years of the singer's life until her death in 1959.) Solo highlights include McLean's keenly constructed solo on Waldron's "J.M.'s Dream Doll" (dedicated to the alto saxophonist and his wife) and Sulieman's incredibly rich and supple trumpet work on "One by One."

For his part, Coltrane is in good form throughout, save for a few sour notes and some faltering solos; at this time Coltrane was still coming into his own and a few years shy of the masterful hard bop sides he would record for Atlantic. Waldron here leads a potent crew on an engaging and original set of arrangements. A cut above many of the relatively straightforward and blues-based hard bop dates of the time.By Stephen Cook Mal/2 - Mal Waldron, Mal Waldron Sextet | Album | AllMusic

Mal/2

Miles Davis - Blue in Green

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 62:14
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 143,0 MB
Art: Front

( 5:37) 1. Blue In Green
( 9:25) 2. So What
( 9:49) 3. Freddie Freeloader
( 2:49) 4. Générique
( 5:44) 5. Milestones
( 4:43) 6. Stella By Light
( 3:01) 7. 'Round Midnight
(11:35) 8. All Blues
( 9:26) 9. Flamenco Sketches

“Blue in Green” is arguably the most beautiful piece of music on Kind of Blue. The ensemble playing reaches new levels of subtlety and transcendence, and the work benefits greatly from the introduction of pianist Bill Evans, one of Miles Davis’ greatest collaborators. Indeed, his piano part is magnificent, and his solo is a masterpiece of his unrivalled lyricism.

The tempo of the tune is audaciously slow, and it’s easy for the listener to think that it will fall apart at any moment. It doesn’t, however, due to the genius of the ensemble. “Blue in Green” is also a greatly important piece; it shows that the values of “cool jazz” can have huge artistic value it’s not just laid-back music for the sake of it, it’s music of extraordinary depth of feeling. By Thomas Ward Miles Blue in Green by Miles Davis - Track Info | AllMusic

Personnel: Miles Davis – trumpet; John Coltrane – tenor saxophone; Bill Evans – piano; Paul Chambers – double bass; Jimmy Cobb – drums

Blue in Green

Omar Puente - Play Violin the Cuban Way

Styles: Violin
Year: 2023
Time: 74:12
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 170,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:36) 1. Para Omar (Cha Cha Cha)
(3:42) 2. Para Omar (Practice Track)
(6:41) 3. Danzo´n Gloria (Danzo´n)
(6:47) 4. Danzo´n Gloria (Practice Track)
(5:20) 5. Guajira Maniguera (Guajira)
(5:28) 6. Guajira Maniguera (Practice Track)
(4:07) 7. Jorocoso (Guaracha-son)
(4:14) 8. Jorocoso (Practice Track)
(7:28) 9. Inside The Danzo´n
(5:25) 10. Inside The Cha Cha Cha
(1:18) 11. Inside A Timbales Solo
(6:05) 12. Cha Cha Cha Soloing
(5:36) 13. Guajira Soloing
(6:07) 14. Guaracha-son Soloing
(2:11) 15. D7 Latin Jazz (Practice Track)

I have performed in both classical and jazz genres to positive audiences worldwide. On leaving Cuba, I was first violin with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra, and toured with Buena Vista’s Ruben Gonzales. Since arriving in England in 1997, I have maintained an international profile when possible, playing all over Europe, Middle and Far East, the USA and Africa. In England I have supported Tito Puente, Ibraham Ferrer and Omara Portundo, I have played with John Williams, Kirsty MacColl, Jools Holland and Eddie Palmieri as well as being invited to jam with many visiting Latin artists such as Ruben Gonzales and the Afro Cuban Allstars.

I have maintained close links with both traditional Cuban Music and Classical genres as well as Jazz. This has included a number of high profile projects such as appearing with Winston Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, with the Simon Bolivar Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, with Nigel Kennedy at 606 Jazz Club, with Eddie Palmieri at Queen Elizabeth Hall, and with several members of the Buena Vista Social Club.

I was part of Denys Baptiste’s international tour ‘Let Freedom Ring’, based on a brilliant composition commissioned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther Kings inspirational ‘I Have A Dream’ speech.

I have also played with Courtney Pine, and in 2006 released the CD ‘Bridges’ with Robert Mitchell and completed an Arts Council supported tour focussed on performing in rural areas across the UK. Robert and I were also involved In developing a fusion project ‘Nuance’ with members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. I worked with Dennis Rollins on a commissioned work for Ensemble 360 culminating in a well-received performance at Doncaster Minster in February 2006.

The opportunity to play and work and record with the artists mentioned above as well as others such as Rod Youngs, Jason Yarde, Cameron Pierre and Byron Wallen, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, (the list goes on and on) has allowed me to develop my own sound, drawing together elements of jazz, classical and cuban music, and this fusion of multi – national roots forms the basis of an exciting new approach to Jazz in my forthcoming album, ‘Best Foot Forward’

I have also appeared on the BBC and several ITV channels, various radio shows as well as venues the length and breadth of Britain. From Aberdeen to the Isle of Wight, Newcastle to the Eden Project Belfast to Cork including; Ronnie Scott’s, The Jazz Café, QEH, the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall, participating in major projects such as Jazz Britannia. The tour for my 2009 album ‘From There to Here’ included well known Jazz Festivals beginning with a launch as part of the London Jazz Festival in November 2006, and including others such as Brecon Jazz Festival, Warsaw Jazz Festival, and well known venues such as Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. Tracks from the forthcoming ‘Best Foot Forward’ have been previewed at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, and on tour in Brazil.

My Cuban qualifications incorporate a teaching qualification, I have taught extensively in the UK including the UK’s most prestigious music colleges, and also in Cuba. I have taught Jazz Violin and a range of Latin Jazz Ensembles at Leeds College of Music and at various other places including London City University, Professor of LPM Latin Jazz Violin, Guildhall Conservatory Exterior Examiner.

I continue to teach in Havana at the prestigious National Conservatoire, and Trinity College in London and have recently and published a University level textbook on the violin in Cuban Music.

I maintain a close relationship with the Cuban Ministry of Culture, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, and support the ‘attitude is everything’ campaign to encourage arts venues to become accessible to disabled artists and patrons.https://www.omarpuente.com/about-me/

Play Violin the Cuban Way

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Ruby Braff & Dick Hyman - America, The Beautiful

Styles: Swing
Year: 2002
Time: 68:29
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 157,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:31) 1. When It's Sleepy Time Down South
(3:18) 2. When My Sugar Walks Down the Street
(3:44) 3. When I Fall in Love
(5:36) 4. As Long as I Live
(3:52) 5. America The Beautiful
(4:43) 6. Louisiana
(4:18) 7. High Society
(2:44) 8. I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time
(5:10) 9. I Ain't Got Nobody
(2:41) 10. This Is All I Ask
(3:13) 11. The Yankee Doodle Boy
(3:41) 12. If Dreams Come True
(3:18) 13. I'm Confessin' That I Love You
(2:47) 14. I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
(5:01) 15. Dinah
(4:52) 16. Duke Ellington Medley: Don't Get Around Much Anymore/I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart
(4:51) 17. Muskrat Ramble

"Ruby is one of those few people who could solo with a pipe organ, who could improvise with such an unusual instrumental background. It requires a very special ability flexibility, ingenuity, and invention. Ruby, of course, is his own man. Like his idol, Louis Armstrong, he commands the center of attention, even if the background is something as odd as a theatre organ. The tonal colors of a pipe organ are its great glory.

Above all, I'm stimulated by being able to orchestrate on the spot. And once you launch into a bright swinging tempo with the instrument sounding perhaps a beat behind the fingers, the sensation is like leading a herd of galloping elephants. You don't dare look back." By Dick Hyman, Organist who also performs on this release By Editorial Review https://www.amazon.com/America-Beautiful-Braff/dp/B00008GQCL

Personnel: Ruby Braff - cornet, Dick Hyman - Wurlitzer Theatre Organ

America, The Beautiful

Tatum Greenblatt - Imprints

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2012
Time: 57:45
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 54,3 MB
Art: Front

(2:23) 1. Frafrito Malenke Bonacci ("DIAP!")
(5:09) 2. Gotta Feel It
(5:38) 3. As I Wait For You
(6:59) 4. Paris Is Burning
(1:46) 5. Daahoud Intro
(6:07) 6. Daahoud
(1:30) 7. Floating Intro
(7:09) 8. Floating
(6:54) 9. Consider Me Gone
(5:12) 10. Silhouette
(5:49) 11. View From Above
(3:04) 12. Pure Imagination

Tatum Greenblatt has established himself as one of the most in-demand trumpet players on New York City's music scene. Named by Wynton Marsalis as one of his favorite "up-and- coming trumpet players," Greenblatt has performed with Marsalis, as well as with Joe Lovano, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, The Mingus Legacy Bands, Maria Schneider, India Arie, George Gruntz, Donny McCaslin, David Berger, Christian McBride, Jimmy Cobb, Jeremy Pelt, Sara Gazarek, Reggie Workman, George Garzone and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, among many others.

After earning his Master's Degree from The Juilliard School, Tatum can now be heard performing all over the world with The Richard Bona Group, and frequently around New York City with The Mingus Big Band, Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band, Fat Cat Big Band, and Pedro Giraudo Jazz Orchestra. In May 2011 at the request of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Greenblatt formed and led the Essentially Ellington All-Stars Band performing to sold-out audiences at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. His upcoming album, Imprints, his third as a leader, is slated for release October 2011.

A native of Seattle, WA, Tatum Greenblatt grew up in a musical household with a musician/educator father and filmmaker/educator mother. With frequent rehearsals and impromptu jam sessions often popping up in the family living room, Greenblatt picked up drumming while still a toddler, emulating the musicians who were often at his house to play, and became enamored with the music in his father’s record collection. “My favorite above all others was Art Blakey and The Jazz Messangers,” Greenblatt recalls, “particularly the album, Ugetsu, with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet. I used to ask my parents to put it on when I was just two years old.”

At the age of 9, Tatum picked up the trumpet and one year later, began performing with Imperials, a local music and youth organization. Seattle's excellent music programs, which produced several great young musicians including Anne Drummond, Aaron Parks, and a host of others, offered Greenblatt the chance to thrive at an early age. He played his first professional gig, performing with his father, when he was only in the 5th grade. "I was lucky to have some incredible teachers Robert Knatt in middle school, Clarence Acox at Garfield High School," Greenblatt remembers. "I gigged in Seattle throughout high school, and got to tour Europe twice during that time."

One of Greenblatt's biggest influences at the time was Patience Higgins, a highly respected saxophone teacher and professional gigging musician in New York City, and close friend of Greenblatt's father. Higgins stayed with the family when he came through Seattle, tutoring Greenblatt and offering advice on the life of a New York musician. Higgins connected Greenblatt with John Longo, Wynton Marsalis' former teacher, as well as Stanford Davis and Laurie Frink. Higgins continued to mentor Greenblatt after he moved to New York, with the two often meeting up at the regular Jam Session Higgins lead at St. Nick’s Pub in Harlem. A turning point in Greenblatt's education and professional development came when he participated in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington High School Band Competition program as a junior and senior.

It was at Essentially Ellington that he initially met Wynton Marsalis, leading to a three-hour private lesson with the trumpet great and on-going lessons when Greenblatt moved to New York City at the age of 18 to attend The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. In addition to Marsalis, the move to New York spurred lessons with such trumpet luminaries as Laurie Frink, Joe Magnerelli, Terrell Stafford, Jimmy Owens, Mark Gould, and Chris Jaudes.

Jam sessions at New York clubs such as Cleopatra’s Needle, Zinc Bar, and Smalls, and work with his classmates at the New School, drove Greenblatt to explore experimental, Latin, hip-hop, rock, ska and pop music, greatly expanding his musical horizons. As his education continued, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt became an important mentor to Greenblatt as well, leading to his first experiences playing with The Mingus Big Band. This exciting time period also included a trip to Freiburg, Germany for a jazz workshop with the New School (International Association of Schools of Jazz). Legendary Swiss pianist, composer and big band leader George Gruntz, president of the association that year, presided over the workshop, leading to an offer for Greenblatt to tour with his band.

Greenblatt went on to earn his Master's Degree at the Juilliard School, traveling, performing and conducting educational workshops along the way. While still in school, Greenblatt embarked on three European tours with George Gruntz, performed in two concert series with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, began performing regularly with The Mingus Big Band, and subbing in Broadway musical orchestras. By the time he graduated, Greenblatt had solidified his place as one of New York’s top young trumpet players.

In addition to touring and performing, Greenblatt has taken onthe role of music educator. He began giving private lessons as early as the 7th grade, so it is natural that his desire to give back extends into his professional career. He spent five years as a Teaching Artist with the Midori and Friends Program, teaching jazz band and private lessons at an inner city New York high school, and has served as a small- ensemble instructor at The New School.

He helped lead educational workshops internationally while attending Juilliard, and has recently lead workshops with The Mingus Big Band at the University of Vermont and at the annual Mingus High School Competition and Festival. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/tatum-greenblatt/

Imprints

Andrea Motis/Camerata Papageno/Christoph Mallinger/Federico Dannemann - Febrero

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2024
Time: 38:03
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 88,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:48) 1. La Pajita
(4:43) 2. The Man I Love
(3:56) 3. Carinhoso
(5:08) 4. Someone to Watch Over Me
(4:06) 5. Garota de Ipanema
(4:07) 6. Noche de Ronda
(4:16) 7. Sensemaya´
(3:53) 8. Perfidia
(4:02) 9. El Carnaval

Febrero is a declaration of pure joy. With a repertoire chosen by Andrea Motis along with her friend Federico Dannemann, and recorded like in the golden era of jazz (all of the musicians playing together in the same place, at the same time), she sounds relaxed, happy, but also bluesy, knowing that those unique summer days in Chile will fade away, like everything else in life.

On Febrero you hear two jazz standards by the Gershwin brothers and melodies from the Brazilian and Latin American tradition, including two classics from the Inti-Illimani songbook composed by Horacio Salinas. Above all, Motis remembers the atmosphere of these days and notes that «through the delicate arrangements and how the recording sounds, these songs bring me back to the feeling of calmness and deep joy that we all had together during those summer days in Chile». Few albums sound happier than Febrero. By Joan Anton Cararach https://jazztojazz.com/en/product/febrero/

Febrero