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

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Bing Crosby - Bing Crosby Sings & Swings Love Songs 1

Styles: Swing
Year: 2023
Time: 74:08
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 172,2 MB
Art: Front

(1:34) 1. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (Alternate Take) (Feat. The Buddy Cole Trio)
(2:27) 2. I Get A Kick Out Of You
(2:49) 3. Almost Like Being In Love
(2:48) 4. Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
(2:31) 5. People Will Say We're In Love (Version 2)
(2:46) 6. La Borrichita (I'll Never Love Again)
(2:00) 7. The Lady Is A Tramp
(2:19) 8. Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart
(2:56) 9. That's Amore
(2:03) 10. Where Or When
(2:01) 11. Love's Old Sweet Song
(2:37) 12. Isn't This A Lovely Day?
(1:59) 13. C'est Magnifique / Taking A Chance On Love (Mono)
(2:35) 14. You're Just In Love (Version 2)
(2:34) 15. I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
(2:35) 16. All The Way
(2:29) 17. Pagan Love Song / Cuban Love Song
(1:50) 18. Everybody Loves My Baby
(2:23) 19. Love And Marriage
(3:27) 20. P.s. I Love You (1953 Version)
(2:42) 21. No Te Importe Saber (Let Me Love You Tonight)
(2:06) 22. Taking A Chance On Love
(2:00) 23. All My Love (Bolero)
(2:18) 24. Papa Loves Mambo
(3:35) 25. South Of The Border
(2:22) 26. I Love Paris
(2:56) 27. Medley: I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore / I Wish I Were In Love Again (Live) (Feat. Maurice Chevalier)
(1:35) 28. Why Don't You Fall In Love With Me
(2:06) 29. Pledging My Love
(3:32) 30. I'm Through With Love

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, actor, television producer, television and radio personality and businessman. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. Crosby was a leader in record sales, network radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1926 to 1977. He was one of the first global cultural icons. Crosby made over 70 feature films and recorded more than 1,600 songs.

Crosby’s early career coincided with recording innovations that allowed him to develop an intimate singing style that influenced many male singers who followed, such as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Dick Haymes, Elvis Presley, and John Lennon. Yank magazine said that Crosby was "the person who had done the most for the morale of overseas servicemen" during World War II. In 1948, American polls declared him the "most admired man alive", ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII.: 6  In 1948, Music Digest estimated that Crosby’s recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music in America.

Crosby won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Going My Way (1944) and was nominated for its sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), opposite Ingrid Bergman, becoming the first of six actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. Crosby was the number one box office attraction for five consecutive years from 1944 to 1948. At his screen apex in 1946, Crosby starred in three of the year's five highest-grossing films: The Bells of St. Mary's, Blue Skies and Road to Utopia. In 1963, he received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. Crosby is one of 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, and audio recording. He was also known for his collaborations with his friend Bob Hope, starring in the Road to ... films from 1940 to 1962.

Crosby influenced the development of the post–World War II recording industry. After seeing a demonstration of a German broadcast quality reel-to-reel tape recorder brought to the United States by John T. Mullin, Crosby invested $50,000 in the California electronics company Ampex to build copies. He then persuaded ABC to allow him to tape his shows and became the first performer to prerecord his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. Crosby has been associated with the Christmas season since he starred in Irving Berlin's musical film Holiday Inn and also famously sang "White Christmas" in the movie.

Through audio recordings, Crosby produced his radio programs with the same directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal, time shifting) used in motion picture production, a practice that became the industry standard. In addition to his work with early audio tape recording, Crosby helped finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, and co-owned the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, during which time the team won two World Series (1960 and 1971).https://musicbrainz.org/artist/2437980f-513a-44fc-80f1-b90d9d7fcf8f

Bing Crosby Sings & Swings Love Songs 1

Tony Lakatos - Nothing Like a Ballad

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 53:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 122,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:31) 1. More Than You Know
(6:01) 2. What´s New
(3:44) 3. Tenderly
(5:09) 4. Chelsea Bridge
(5:12) 5. My Little Brown Book
(6:22) 6. A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing
(5:26) 7. Infant Eyes
(6:50) 8. When We Were One
(4:29) 9. It Might As Well Be Spring
(6:23) 10. Sunday Afternoon

In these times, it is not easy to find anything that permits us to foresee with clarity the direction in which jazz is evolving. . For this reason, let us forget for a moment questions such as “should art advance or not ?”. This could be an option that would allow us to enjoy music in all of its splendor.

In this context it is very comforting to run into recordings like “Nothing Like a Ballad” by Gypsy saxophonist Tony Lakatos, whose proposal would draw as much interest three decades ago as in the remote future. However, since we are asking these questions, one would ask what is the necessity of recording a handful of ballads that have already been recorded and are amongst the favorites of any serious jazz fan. I don’t think that there is any answer to this question and perhaps it’s probably not even worth trying to find one. After listening to “Nothing Like a Ballad”, I would prefer to write about the enormous beauty of this recording.

Situated in a very comfortable space-time frame, Lakatos proposes his conception of ten ballads such as the mysterious “What’s New”, the atmospheric “Chelsea Bridge” , or to mention one more , his version of “Infant Eyes” which in my judgement would serve to fully defend the meaning and the function of the ballad in all of its power of expression and emotion in the heart of afro-american music.

Accompanied by an excellent rythmn section that have been playing together for many years in different projects, the saxophonist revindicates such essential values in jazz music as are individuality and leadership. His warm and profound sound flows with the tightly knitted accompaniment provided by the pianist Fabio Miano, the bassist Ignasi Gonzalez and the drummer Jo Krause.

My opinion is that “Nothing Like a Ballad” is one of those necessary records, not only to emphasize the importance of the ballad as a classical and timeless art form, but also to allow us to become travelers , taking us on beautiful journeys which will inevitably affect our emotions. By Josep Ramon Jové
https://discmedi.com/en/disco_new/14125/nothing-like-a-ballad

Nothing Like a Ballad

The Gerry Beaudoin Trio - Just Among Friends

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 47:34
Size: 108.9 MB
Styles: Swing, Guitar jazz
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[3:39] 1. Just Among Friends
[4:14] 2. St. Thomas
[5:01] 3. Nashville Nod
[5:30] 4. My Romance
[3:58] 5. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
[6:03] 6. All Blues
[4:29] 7. Misty
[6:11] 8. The Girl From Ipanema
[8:26] 9. Mood Indigo

This second acoustic recording featuring the Gerry Beaudoin Trio with jazz guitar legend Bucky Pizzarelli and mandolin titan David Grisman was " ..submitted for consideration for a Grammy nomination." Award winning jazz guitarist Gerry Beaudoin, (1992 National Association of Independent Record Distributors Award for best jazz recording and 1993 and 1995 Cadence Magazine Editors Choice Award)has performed on over 22 recordings in his career. A guitarists guitarist Gerry has performed or recorded with the cream of jazz and blues guitarists including Duke Robillard, Howard Alden, John and Bucky Pizzarelli, Jimmy Bruno, Jack Wilkins, Ronnie Earl, Hubert Sumlin,and rock guitar legend turned jazz guitarist Jay Geils from the J.Geils Band. He is also a featured performer on the Mel Bay Productions DVD,Cafe Benedetto. Gerry was recently contracted by Hal Leonard Publishing to write a book/CD project on acoustic jazz guitar.

A chance meeting with mandolinist David Grisman in 1990 led to their 1992 all acoustic recording, Minor Swing, with Duke Robillard sitting in on second guitar. Just Among Friends is the follow up to that first recording and jazz guitar legend Bucky Pizzarelli lent his talents to this recording. To quote David Grisman" ..Gerry Beaudoin is one of the finest guitarists and composers I know. I am looking forward to more musical adventures with Gerry and his trio in the future." The Boston Globe called Gerry ".." A swing guitar master." and blues guitar legend Duke Robillard stated,"..Gerry can play anything from swing to bop and is one hell of a blues guitarist."

Gerry also performs in the concert attraction New Guitar Summit, featuring Gerry with Duke Robillard and Jay Geils. In 2003 Gerry was invited to headline the Ottawa International Jazz Festival.

Just Among Friends

Mike Nock - Hearing

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 50:39
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 117,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:19) 1. Prologue
(4:34) 2. Sunrise
(1:42) 3. Conundrum
(6:19) 4. Vale John
(1:03) 5. Re-Affirmation
(7:16) 6. And In The Night Comes Rain
(1:24) 7. Jacanori
(1:30) 8. Accessing the Flow
(6:55) 9. Spirit Song
(1:02) 10. Square Circles
(4:04) 11. Waltz For My Lonely Years
(6:36) 12. Journey Through An Imaginary Landscape
(5:49) 13. Windows Of Arquez

Mike Nock has had a varied sixty-five-year musical journey, receiving many awards and honours. It has been thirty years since he released his celebrated solo piano album Touch, recorded at the Australian Broadcasting Commission's Eugene Goossens Hall in Sydney in 1993. Hearing has him returning to the same hall for another solo album and, as the title indicates, it is all about the facility of perceiving sounds aptly and interpreting them in a particular way on a range of his compositions and tunes from a few of his favourite musicians, Bryce Rohde, Bernie McGann and Jonathan Zwartz.

A spontaneously delicate bijou of an opener, "Prologue," is followed by " Sunrise," from Nock's first solo album in 1978. The improvisation, "Conundrum" then leads to "Vale John," a work in progress at the time, which celebrates the life and friendship the pianist experienced with the drummer & bandleader John Pochée who sadly died unexpectedly a day before the recording.

A brief stellar Nock reimagining, "Re-Affirmation" leads on to a delicate interpretation of Jonathan Zwartz's, "And in the Night Comes Rain" which he originally wrote for the pianist, proves sonically blissful, as does the other brief improvisation "Jacanori." Bernie McGann's iconic "Spirit Song," now almost an Australian standard, is interpreted sensitively to the original. "Journey through an Imaginary Landscape" meanders towards a personal favourite on the album, the pianist's interpretation of the Bryce Rohde composition, "Windows of Arquez."

The atmosphere of quiet which runs right through this recording is reason alone to recommend it. More space is given between notes than is expected from a solo piano recording. This recording is all about becoming cognisant of sound. Finally, it is not what you play but how you play. This is a recording of virtuosic and introspective pianism, with occasions of playfulness and melody. Mike Nock's session of interpretations and improvisations gives the feeling of a continuation of an intimate, unique, and personal musical adventure from a master of his craft.
By Barry O'Sullivan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/hearing-mike-nock-abc-jazz

Personnel: Mike Nock - piano

Hearing

Monday, March 4, 2024

Noah Haidu - Standards

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2023
Time: 56:28
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 130,7 MB
Art: Front

(5:11) 1. Old Folks
(4:01) 2. Just In Time
(4:24) 3. Beautiful Friendship
(6:06) 4. All The Way
(5:47) 5. Someday My Prince Will Come
(5:30) 6. You And The Night And The Music
(6:55) 7. Ana Maria
(4:32) 8. Skylark
(6:02) 9. Thought About You
(1:17) 10. Last Dance I
(6:38) 11. Last Dance II

In 1983, Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette released the first of their album of standards, Standards Vol. 1 (ECM). The trio's harmonic ideas, insight and collective musicianship went on to become the benchmark for reworking these well- known American songs. Together they recorded 21 albums over three decades.

Inspired by that trio's work and celebrating the 40th anniversary of that release, pianist & composer, Noah Haidu, has released Standards. He is joined by bassists Buster Williams and Peter Washington, drummer Lewis Nash and guest saxophonist Steve Wilson. In many ways, Standards could be considered the companion release to Slowly: Song for Keith Jarrett (Sunnyside, 2021), Haidu's heartfelt tribute following Jarrett's debilitating illness. After recording that album, Haidu felt drawn to the trio format in his live performances and this release has evolved from that time spent on the road.

Starting with relaxed piano and melodic bass, the album opener, "Old Folks," subtly changes to a faster pace as Nash's drums drive the tune forward. "Just in Time," follows with Williams' fluent bass lines and Nash's fluid drumming contributing in equal part to Haidu's eloquent piano touch. "A Beautiful Friendship" opens with supple bass and swings throughout. Haidu's delicate style comes to the fore in the gentle "All the Way" as Nash and Williams hold back just enough to let the track breathe. Having played on the first four tracks, Williams makes way for Washington to take up bass duties for the rest of the album. He starts with a fluent improvisation, along with Haidu, on "Someday My Prince Will Come."

Haidu then picks the perfect moment to introduce acclaimed saxophonist, Steve Wilson on two tracks. The mood immediately changes as his alto takes centre stage on the fast moving "You and the Night and the Music." The Wayne Shorter composition, "Ana Maria" follows. Shorter wrote this piece for his wife, who passed away, along with their niece, on TWA flight 800. The playing is soulful and reverent and as Haidu states: "With the loss of Ana Maria, Dalila and of Wayne himself, this song now embodies the narrative of loss in so many ways."

Hoagy Carmichael's "Skylark" is a solo piano piece and is admirably executed. Haidu is at his bluesy best while Washington and Nash provide compelling support on the uplifting "I Thought About You." The album could end there, but another change sees Wilson return on "Last Dance I" and "Last Dance II." These are both Haidu compositions rather than standards. Named after a Jarrett recording and composed in tribute to his Standards trio and their final concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. They feature energised solos from Wilson and Haidu. The contemporary feel adds another facet to the album.

Many of the tracks featured on the album were part of Jarrett, Peacock and DeJohnette's catalogue. They are all played with vitality and appropriate respect. The variety of mood and texture, the track sequencing and the use of the different musicians, all ensure that the album sustains interest throughout. They have served Haidu with inspiration for a connection which he has distilled into a clear contemporary musical statement of his own. Highly recommended.By Neil Duggan
Noah Haidu: Standards album review @ All About Jazz

Standards

Ann Hampton Callaway - Fever: a Peggy Lee Celebration!

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:10
Size: 118,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:43) 1. Fever
(3:18) 2. Till There Was You
(2:36) 3. The Glory Of Love (Feat. John Pizzarelli)
(6:06) 4. The Folks Who Live On The Hill
(1:47) 5. Sing A Rainbow
(2:57) 6. I Don't Know Enough About You
(3:37) 7. Claire De Lune
(5:54) 8. Black Coffee
(3:51) 9. I Love Being Here With You
(3:26) 10. The Other Part Of Me
(3:22) 11. Johnny Guitar
(4:53) 12. Where Can I Go Without You?
(2:38) 13. This Is A Very Special Day / It's A Good Day
(2:55) 14. Angels On Your Pillow

Peggy Lee was a remarkable singer and songwriter, but to some listeners, deeply enigmatic. Her time, often well behind the beat, conveyed a subtle sense of irony. "Are you getting this?" she sometimes seemed to say, "or am I going too fast for you?" She could be exuberant and world weary almost in the same breath. It was seemingly up to the audience to decipher her meaning. Lee could convey expectation and experience simultaneously, as in her version of "Folks Who Live on The Hill." "Fever."

Well, it was not as if much imagination was needed, with a drummer dropping exclamation points, but tastefully, not bump and grind. As much as any singer of her generation, even more than Anita O'Day, Lee could convey emotional turmoil, never perhaps really distant from her personal life. She was a singer for adults, like O'Day or Billie Holiday. She could sing sweetly, but that was not her customary image by the time she reached the 1960s.

Those same qualities are gloriously evident in Ann Hampton Callaway's well-chosen celebration of Lee. Just in case the listener were inclined to miss them, Callaway's version and it is her version of "Fever" includes a wry commentary on Lee's first marriage to guitarist Dave Barbour, when she was in her apprenticeship to Benny Goodman in the 1940s. It is a nod to Lee's songwriting as well, like "Captain John Smith and Pocahontas," that Lee apparently added. It is instructive to listen to Callaway doing "Till There Was You."

This tune dates from the 1950s, and Lee sold it as a straight love song, no fireworks. Callaway gives a different impression, regret perhaps. When you think of Lee as the voice of experience as in "Is that All There Is?," Calloway's quality is strikingly different. It is the same on "Folks Who Live on the Hill." Lee could have been looking into the future, but Callaway leaves the impression that she has seen it all.

"Black Coffee" has been done by so many artists since Sarah Vaughan that it would take a book to compare them. Callaway gives it a solid blues treatment, and like some others, she has the right voice for it, down and dirty. Lee pretty much did it that way too, but not every singer has. Callaway is true to the original, but then so was Lee. Preference is a matter of taste.

On the other hand, some of the material is, well, if not obscure, probably new to some. "The Other Part of Me," for instance, or "Johnny Guitar," is presumably related to a Joan Crawford film made in 1954 about the risks an independent woman had to take on the Wild West. Lee started young and had a long career that included acting. Not everyone will be familiar with her entire trajectory, or coded allusions to aspects of her personal life.

As for Callaway, this recording only goes to show she has not chosen to coast on past successes, of which there have been many. She is, like Lee, quite versatile, ranging far beyond basic blues, and very much her own singer and songwriter, no matter who her formative influences were.

There are plenty of subtle clues about Callaway's outlook in her singing: anyone who can do a song like "Thoughts and Prayers" is not about to compromise artistry or talent for anyone. Nor, one suspects, would Peggy Lee either. Jazz can be complicated, and so too, its best exponents.By Richard J Salvucci https://www.allaboutjazz.com/fever-a-peggy-lee-celebration-ann-hampton-callaway-palmetto-records

Personnel: Ann Hampton Callaway: voice / vocals; John Pizzarelli: guitar; Ted Rosenthal: piano; Martin Wind: bass, acoustic; Tim Horner: drums; Bob Mann: guitar.

Fever: a Peggy Lee Celebration!

Pat Bianchi - Back Home

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:35
Size: 131,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:48)  1. Fifth House
(7:00)  2. Midnight Mood
(8:34)  3. Lithia
(5:47)  4. Back Home
(4:43)  5. Blues Connotation
(7:21)  6. Portrait of Jenny
(7:07)  7. Just In Time
(8:10)  8. Hammer Head
(3:00)  9. Fifth House - alternate

Organist Pat Bianchi's turn to be in the spotlight as a premier player on his instrument is long overdue, and with the release of Back Home, it's clear his time has finally come. Since the 2006 issue of his album East Coast Roots on the Jazzed Media label and his estimable work with guitarist Corey Christiansen, Bianchi's star has been steadily rising, but now he's reached his zenith. Playing with two different groups, Bianchi transcends soul-jazz by playing the C-3 (church) organ, choosing heady progressive material, and showing his acumen on his instrument similar to peer Larry Goldings (see the Goldings masterpiece Sweet Science). With his "A" group the very energetic sidemen of drummer Ralph Peterson, tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, and trumpeter Terell Stafford alongside, Bianchi whips out compositions not necessarily thought of as vehicles for organ, evidence including the super-fast and tricky Ornette Coleman post-bop piece "Blues Connotation" and Chick Corea's 6/8 groove and bop track "Litha," which came directly from fusion originally with electric piano. The "B" trio with drummer Carmen Intorre and guitarist Gilad Hekselman also tackles difficult music John Coltrane's "Fifth House" (and an additional shorter alternate take) challenges rhythmic parameters in a modal sense while Bianchi goes off à la Larry Young. But where Bianchi's three pieces also explore a mellower sound during ballads and blues, it is his deeply hued style on the C-3 that identifies a new approach to playing modern jazz. What Bianchi is doing is very nearly innovative, and this should only be the tip of the iceberg. ~ Michael G.Nastos https://www.allmusic.com/album/back-home-mw0001987608

Personnel:  Pat Bianchi - Organ; Ralph Peterson Jr. - Drums ; Terell Stafford - Trumpet; Wayne Escoffery - Saxophone; Carmen Intorre Jr. - Drums; Gilad Hekselman - Guitar

Back Home

Milt Hinton - Laughing At Life

Styles: Jazz, Swing
Year: 1994
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:48
Size: 130,2 MB
Art: Front

(7:17)  1. A Child Is Born
(5:46)  2. Sweet Georgia
(4:23)  3. Brown
(4:32)  4. Laughting At Life
(4:05)  5. Prelude To A Kiss
(3:04)  6. Indiana
(5:04)  7. Mona's Feeling Lonely
(4:20)  8. Jon John
(4:33)  9. Old Man Harley
(4:52) 10. Just Friends
(6:52) 11. The Judge And The Jury

Milt Hinton's major label debut as a leader (at age 85), other than a 1955 date for Victor, finds the great bassist utilizing two separate rhythm sections on a variety of standards. In addition to fine solos from pianists Richard Wyands and Derek Smith, there are guest appearances by trumpeter Jon Faddis (who defies his stereotype by sounding closer here to Roy Eldridge than to Dizzy Gillespie) and veteran Harold Ashby whose warm tenor recalls Ben Webster. Even if Hinton's three vocals are one too many, his singing has its charm. The finale "The Judge and the Jury" adds four other bassists for a very musical tribute to one of the few veterans of the 1920s still to be heard in his prime in the mid-'90s. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/laughing-at-life-mw0000628214

Personnel:  Bass, Vocals – Milt Hinton;  Bass – Brian Torff, Lynn Seaton, Rufus Reid, Santi Debriano;  Drums – Alan Dawson, Dave Ratajczak, Terry Clark;  Piano – Derek Smith, Richard Wyands;  Saxophone [Tenor] – Harold Ashby ;  Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Jon Faddis

Laughing At Life

Julian Lage - Speak To Me

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 59:54
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 138,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:22) 1. Hymnal
(6:05) 2. Northern Shuffle
(3:26) 3. Omission
(5:20) 4. Serenade
(6:00) 5. Myself Around You
(5:14) 6. South Mountain
(4:15) 7. Speak To Me
(4:19) 8. Two And One
(4:26) 9. Vanishing Points
(4:25) 10. Tiburon
(5:07) 11. As It Were
(4:36) 12. 76
(4:14) 13. Nothing Happens Here

Julian Lage is a surprising composer and guitarist. In the opening of this album, one seamlessly transitions from intentions inspired by flamenco to a jazz-infused blues, with delightful touches of humor along the way. Invariably, over the past few years, the Blue Note label seems to be giving wings to its artists, to the extent that journalists and radio programmers, much like with albums from Mack Avenue, delight even before discovering the cover of a new album.

That was the case here, a simple black and white portrait of Julian Lage, giving no hint of the content within. Clearly, Julian Lage is devoted to telling us stories through his music; it’s a music of tales, dialogue, perhaps even of novels. The guitarist states: “Throughout my life, I’ve always been drawn to music that has a narrative quality,” explaining that he sees his recent compositions as less of a departure and more of an extension of the originals from previous albums, notably his first album, “Squint,” on Blue Note in 2021. “I believe there’s a sort of connective tissue that music has, and that’s important, and it’s fun to cultivate.”

The musical language on this album speaks so directly to the listener that one could have named it “Speak to You,” as each person will find a bit of their musical universe within it, those cultural elements that shape an individual throughout their life. “Speak To Me” showcases the guitarist and composer in various contexts, including solo acoustic, duos, with his usual trio consisting of bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King, and a larger ensemble with keyboards (by Kris Davis and Patrick Warren) and woodwinds (Levon Henry).

This is Lage’s fourth effort for Blue Note and is part of a torrent of creative activity that includes his participation in Charles Lloyd’s Trio of Trios project and recordings with Terri Lynn Carrington, John Zorn, and Cautious Clay. From start to finish, we are plunged into highly diverse musical worlds on this album, some even occasionally reminiscent of cinematic soundtracks, whether intentional or not, the effect is guaranteed, and at no moment can this album be found dull. Between amusing passages, sometimes poetic, sometimes dramatic, sometimes joyful, it’s even difficult to say if this album leans towards a particular audience, because as I mentioned, this album speaks to everyone.

“Speak To Me” was recorded quickly, over a few days. Instead of pre-production, Lage and Henry maintained a constant electronic flow of discussion on tone, temperament, and mission for months before the sessions. When Lage was frustrated that a song he had written didn’t fit with the others, he would send a demo to Joe. “I would tell him, ‘I’m about to toss this one. Does it fit into the narrative we’re trying to create with the other pieces?’ Several times, I told him I didn’t think a song was appropriate. And he would tell me it was he saved a few songs that way.”

This is probably what makes this album as rich as it is exciting, immediately becoming indispensable from the first notes, and we are certainly here on Julian Lage’s best album, one of sincerity.Julian Lage – Speak to Me (ENG review) - Paris Move (paris-move.com)

Personnel: Julian Lage guitar; Levon Henry tenor saxophone; Patrick Warren keyboards; Kris Davis piano; Jorge Roeder bass; Dave King drums

Speak To Me