Gene Estes & Dick Grove - West Coast Series/ Jazz & Swing Orchestras, Westful Big, Bad & Beautiful

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2020
Time: 77:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 178,3 MB
Art: Front

( 3:57) 1. Sharly My Boy
( 3:36) 2. All About Henry
( 4:09) 3. Poca Nada
( 3:27) 4. Big “P”
( 3:03) 5. Pot Luck
( 3:03) 6. D.A.V.
( 4:10) 7. Sweet Lump
( 5:02) 8. Bésame Mucho
( 4:34) 9. Goodbye
( 4:17) 10. The Call
( 4:13) 11. Dead Ringer
( 5:22) 12. Dill Pickles
( 3:27) 13. My Lady
( 3:42) 14. Good 'n Plenty
( 4:15) 15. Big, Bad & Beautiful
( 6:26) 16. Ain't No Doubt About It
(10:20) 17. Trilogy for a Boy

When the dust from the collapse of the Swing Era settled, there were few big bands left that had survived. Yet, because they loved the swinging drive of a full-on jazz orchestra, a series of adventurous and unsung bandleaders optimistically organized some fine, but short-lived, new orchestras that were packed with jazz and studio musicians, holding the flag of Swing high.

Gene Estes (1931-1996) had a richly varied and successful musical career as a drummer, vibraphonist, composer and arranger, writing for, and performing equally well with small groups and big bands. His career went through several stages, not the least of which was his attempt to keep a big band going in Hollywood during the ‘60s. He organized it in the fall of 1964 to play his own compositions and arrangements. The first iteration lasted only one year, but in 1966 he reorganized it and was able to keep it active until the end of 1968. “Over the years we’ve had many different good players and always a good band,” Estes mentioned, but then he also recognized that this particular version of the band was his favorite. This is the only recording that exists of this magnificent big band.

Dick Grove (1927-1998) was a rare and unique composer-arranger-conductor, and just as Clare Fischer, Gil Evans and other arrangers of renown, he had to wait until he was in his thirties before he could make any impact on the jazz scene. This album proves he was an inventive, polished arranger, who scored a wide sampling of contemporary musical styles beyond the then accepted boundaries of jazz. All are Grove originals, in a program that jumps from straight-ahead driving tunes, to bossa nova grooves, blues and jazz rock pieces. The interesting performances are spiced by the brilliant solo work of saxophonists Lanny Morgan, Bill Perkins, Bob Hardaway and Bill Hood; trumpeters Joe Burnett and Jay Daversa; pianist and organist Pete Jolly; trombonist George Bohanon; and the brilliant drummer Roy Burns (1935-2018), who adds to the music his masterful technique and rhythmical drive.

Sources: Tracks #1-9, from the album “Westful” (Nocturne Hollywood NRS-701)
Tracks #10-17, from the album “Big, Bad & Beautiful” (First Priority Music FPM 1001)

Personnel on "Westful":
Conte Candoli, Ollie Mitchell, Ralph Osborn, trumpets; Herbie Harper, trombone; Bob Enevoldsen, valve trombone; Dick Leith, bass trombone; Med Flory, alto sax; Tom Scott, alto sax & clarinet; Bob Hardaway, tenor sax & clarinet; Jay Migliori, tenor sax; Bill Hood (#1,3,4,5) or Meyer Hirsh (#2,6,7,8 & 9) baritone sax & clarinet; Joyce Collins, piano; Alan Estes, vibes (#3,4,8); Jim Hughart, bass; Gene Estes, drums, arranger & conductor.
Recorded in two sessions at the MGM Sound Stages, Culver City, Cal. March 23, 1968

Personnel on "Big, Bad & Beautiful":
Buddy Childers, Jack Feierman, Hal Espinosa, trumpets; Joe Burnett, Jay Daversa, trumpet & flugelhorn; Charles Loper, George Bohanon, Bob Edmondson, Dick McQuarry, trombones; Lanny Morgan, Bill Perkins, alto saxes; Bob Hardaway, soprano & tenor sax; Bill Robinson, clarinet & tenor sax; Bill Hood, baritone sax; Pete Jolly, piano, Fender Rhodes & organ; Norm Jeffries, vibes; Al Viola, guitar; Gene Cherico, double bass & Fender bass; Roy Burns, drums; Dick Grove, composer, arranger & conductor.

Recorded at TTG Studios, Hollywood, Cal., summer of 1973

West Coast Series - Jazz & Swing Orchestras, Westful/Big, Bad & Beautiful

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Mark Turner - Reflections on: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2025
Time: 73:41
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 68,8 MB
Art: Front

( 4:04) 1. Movement 1. Anonymous
( 9:37) 2. Movement 2. Juxtaposition
( 5:31) 3. Movement 3. Pulmonary Edema
(12:03) 4. Movement 4. New York
( 9:46) 5. Movement 5. Europe
( 8:26) 6. Movement 6. The Texan...The Soldier
( 6:59) 7. Movement 7. Mother...Sister...Lover
( 8:37) 8. Movement 8. Pragmatism
( 6:11) 9. Movement 9. Identity Politics
( 2:22) 10. Movement 10. Closure

“I once heard a colored man sum it up in these words: ‘It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient’”. The quote, wry, lightly expressed yet heavily charged, is typical of the text that inspires saxophonist Mark Turner’s ambitious new suite here, as of his own playing and composition.

It comes from the novel in the title, a meditation on race in the USA 100 years ago from the point of view of a black man able to pass as white. A penetrating work by the remarkable author and civil rights activist (also diplomat, lawyer, and university professor) James Weldon Johnson, it grabbed Turner’s attention because members of his own family including his mother were able to pass, so the issues of presentation, perception, identity, status, and self-determination it poses were intensely familiar.

Twenty years later, the ten movement suite he presents here uses words from the book on around half the tracks. The leader’s brief passages of measured narration – in keeping with the prose style set the scene for long musical responses. Bringing words and music together not as songs but as separate strands of the work is always risky. The music or the words may not quite work, or they may not work together. Here, the combination succeeds brilliantly. ‘I wanted to have music that was enhanced with words, not words that were enhanced by music’, Turner tells us in the notes. That is just what he has achieved.

And such music it is. The state of the art quintet assembled here includes Turner’s closest recent associate Jason Palmer on trumpet, David Virelles on piano and – here and there – synthesisers, Matt Brewer on bass and Nasheet Waits on drums. The compositions generally begin simply, gathering complexity as they go. Piano, bass and drums furnish an atmospheric backdrop much of the time, with occasional more prominent contributions. Saxophone and trumpet do most of the heavy lifting, and provide one of the most striking twin horn leads on a connected suite of compositions I can recall since Bobby Bradford joined David Murray on the former’s deeply affecting Death of a Sideman.

Like Bradford, Turner displays a cherishable ability to unroll long lines each of which sounds like someone following a fresh train of thought. Some in the past (not me) have suggested that his playing can be stronger on intellect than emotion. If that ever happened, it is certainly not the case here. Every piece fizzes with feeling that the understated narrative preludes mostly prime but do not let loose until the music allows it to emerge.

That culminates in part 9, Identity Politics. For once, the music sets the mood first, Turner and Palmer playing as one in a through-written duet, at once slightly fretful and ruefully resigned, for four minutes. Then Turner voices the protagonist’s closing regret at turning away from his heritage, and the struggle that comes with it, to live in relative security, while Virelles underpins the words with the chords of Lift Every Voice and Sing, for which Johnson also wrote the words to go with his brother’s music.

It’s an indelible moment from a work that lodged firmly in the mind from first hearing.

I thought Turner’s previous release, Live at the Village Vanguard, from 2023 was perfectly achieved music. Reflections, though, feels like a new high water mark for an artist at the peak of his powers.

Mark Turner appears with Jason Palmer’s quartet at Ronnie Scott’s on Weds 15 Nov and Birmingham Conservatory’s East Side Jazz Club on 16 Nov.https://ukjazznews.com/mark-turner-reflections-on-the-autobiography-of-an-ex-colored-man/

Personnel: Mark Turner - Tenor Sax & Narration; Jason Palmer - Trumpet; David Virelles - Piano, Profit & Organ; Matt Brewer - Acoustic & Electric Bass; Nasheet Waits - Drums

Reflections on: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

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Cozy Cole - Swinging Drums

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:21
Size: 129.0 MB
Styles: Swing, Bebop
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[2:31] 1. Comes The Don
[2:39] 2. Take It On Back
[3:01] 3. I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance
[2:46] 4. Willow Weep For Me
[2:47] 5. Smiles
[3:11] 6. Now's The Time
[2:53] 7. Why Regret
[2:43] 8. Look Here
[2:36] 9. Through For The Night
[2:41] 10. Lover Come Back To Me
[2:42] 11. Stompin' At The Savoy
[2:42] 12. All Of Me
[3:11] 13. Dat's Love
[3:04] 14. Night Wind
[2:48] 15. Memories Of You
[2:31] 16. Beat
[2:40] 17. Strictly Drums
[3:09] 18. Hallelujah
[2:48] 19. They Didn't Believe Me
[2:51] 20. When Day Is Done

He was born William Randolph Cole in East Orange, New Jersey in 1909. Cozy had studied music from childhood and his career spanned the entire history of jazz with debut records made with Jelly Roll Morton between 1927-1930 continuing to play until the week of his death. Primarily known as a swing drummer, Cozy Cole worked with some of the best big bands including Benny Carter, Stuff Smith, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, Jelly Roll Morton, Teddy Wilson, Bunny Berigan, Bud Freeman, Lionel Hampton, and Coleman Hawkins.

Between 1938 and 1942 Cozy was featured with the dynamic Cab Calloway band, on three drum pieces which may be the earliest drum feature recordings. They were Paradiddle, Ratamacue, and Crescendo In Drums. Cole was featured in two Broadway musicals, Carmen Jones (1954) and Seven Lively Arts (1946). He was also the first black musician to work as a CBS Studio staffman. His drumming bridged the swing to bebop gap when he recorded with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie between 1945-1946. In fact, in a 1960 issue of Down Beat, Don DeMicheal noted that Cozy’s “major addition to the jazz drummer’s frame of reference was a technical one: hand and foot independence. He was one of the first—if not the first—to develop and master this coordination, which is such a necessity for today’s drummer.” ~Scott Fish

Swinging Drums

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Nicki Parrott - After Midnight

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2025
Time: 56:20
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 129,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:09) 1. I Love Being Here With You
(4:19) 2. Unchain My Heart
(3:52) 3. All I Do Is Think About You
(5:13) 4. Crazy He Calls Me
(4:13) 5. After Midnight
(3:54) 6. The Thrill Is Gone
(3:58) 7. What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted?
(3:54) 8. I Don't Need No Doctor
(3:59) 9. Your Cheatin' Heart
(3:34) 10. Wild Women Don't Have The Blues
(4:31) 11. He Called Me Baby
(4:15) 12. You Don't Know
(3:29) 13. Let The Good Times Roll
(2:54) 14. Somewhere Over the Rainbow

This release captures Nicki Parrott's sultry and soulful voice in a deeply evocative session that blends jazz sophistication with the raw emotion of blues. Parrott delivers a sexy and melancholic blues night, drawing on the rich traditions of American roots music. Influences from Ray Charles, B.B. King, and others shine through as she seamlessly fuses elements of jazz, blues, and country into a fresh, expressive sound.

Personnel: Nicki Parrott - vocals and bass; Steve Russell - piano; Dave Sanders - drums; Martha Baartz - tenor & alto saxophones; Jim Kelly - guitar

After Midnight

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Boz Scaggs - Detour

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2025
Time: 48:45
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 112,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:28) 1. It’s Raining
(4:46) 2. Angel Eyes
(3:53) 3. Once I Loved
(5:10) 4. The Very Thought Of You
(4:47) 5. I'll Be Long Gone
(5:24) 6. Detour Ahead
(4:40) 7. I Could Have Told You
(3:56) 8. The Meaning Of The Blues
(4:27) 9. Tomorrow Night
(3:47) 10. Too Late Now
(3:23) 11. We'll Be Together Again

Sometimes in life, an unexpected detour leads you right where you belong. Boz Scaggs’ captivating new album is proof of that.

“I had no intention of making a record when I started singing these songs,” the Grammy-winner confesses. “It was all very casual at first, just an opportunity to explore a style of music I’ve always liked, to get together with a friend and play for the sheer joy of it.”

Detour, Scaggs’ first new studio album in seven years, is more than just a sonic diversion, though; it’s a love letter to the Great American Songbook. Recorded over the course of the last several years with pianist Seth Asarnow, the collection finds Scaggs interpreting timeless standards with tender insight and profound emotional sophistication. The tracks here began life as a series of demos for Scaggs’ personal use as he expanded his vocal stylings, but it soon became apparent that there was something magical about the performances and arrangements, something undeniable that deserved to see the light of day. The result is an eclectic mix of the familiar and the obscure that tips its hat to everything from Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to Irma Thomas and Lonnie Johnson, an elegant reimagining of old favorites and new discoveries delivered with both reverence and a fresh perspective.

“There are as many different approaches to these songs as there are singers who’ve taken them on over the years,” says Scaggs. “It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to join their harmonic ranks and contribute my renditions to this rich musical legacy.”

Hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of rock and roll’s most soulful vocalists,” Scaggs has his own rich musical legacy dating back to the 1960s, when he took on the role of guitarist and singer with the Steve Miller Band. His tenure with the group was short-lived, though, and after just two albums, he left to pursue his own solo career with Atlantic Records, who released his self-titled American debut (produced by Jann Wenner and featuring a young Duane Allman) in 1969. By the ’70s, Scaggs had made the leap to Columbia, releasing a series of critically acclaimed records leading up to 1976’s Silk Degrees, which would make him a household name on the strength of smash singles like “Lido Shuffle,” “It’s Over,” and “Lowdown.” (The five-times platinum album also spawned the band Toto, which featured several musicians Scaggs assembled for the recording sessions.) In the years to come, Scaggs would go on to share bills with the likes of Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, play everywhere from SNL and The Tonight Show to Austin City Limits, and tour as The Dukes of September with Donald Fagan and Michael McDonald. Along the way, he would sell millions of records worldwide and crack the Top 40 eight more times while carving out a distinctive and enduring path that’s endeared him to six decades of fans.

“If I look at myself as a musician over the years, I’d have to consider my primary instrument to be my voice,” says Scaggs. “Early on I was really influenced by rock and roll guys like Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley and R&B and soul singers like Curtis Mayfield and Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, but there was something about jazz and standards that always fascinated me.”
More..............https://concord.com/concord-albums/detour-2/

Detour

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Stevie Holland - Talk to Your Tomatoes

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2025
Time: 39:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 90,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:56) 1. On a Clear Day
(3:49) 2. Help Me
(4:24) 3. When Two Hearts Collide
(4:55) 4. How I Feel
(3:09) 5. Blossom
(3:27) 6. Talk to Your Tomatoes
(4:20) 7. Round Midnight
(3:29) 8. You Pull Through
(3:18) 9. Pure Imagination
(4:19) 10. East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)

Stevie Holland has returned to the recording studio with Talk to Your Tomatoes, a collection of songs from the pop, jazz and American Songbook catalogs. Also included are original songs penned by Holland and her longtime collaborator and arranger, award-winning composer Gary William Friedman. The album will be released on October 10th.

The instrumentation for this album includes a wide variety of orchestrations that include string orchestra, horn combo and guitar, along with the trio on several tracks. The 10-track set begins with Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner’s “On A Clear Day," and also includes songs such as "How I Feel” from the musical The Me Nobody Knows, Joni Mitchell's "Help Me," and "Pure Imagination."

Holland’s trio consists of Matthew Sheens, piano; Matt Aranoff, bass; and Jeff Davis, drums. Lauded guitarist Ben Monder guests on three tracks, including an intimate vocal/guitar duo on “Round Midnight”, with a horn combo led by Chet Doxas.

Recorded in April 2025, Talk To Your Tomatoes is Holland’s sixth release of standards and original material from 150 Music. Her most recent recordings include Life Goes On and Before Love Has Gone.

Talk to Your Tomatoes will be available for streaming on all major platforms and Holland’s back catalog is also being reissued for streaming across all platforms.

About Stevie Holland:
Stevie Holland is an American jazz vocalist, writer and lyricist. She has headlined at major concert halls, jazz clubs and cabaret rooms, in addition to performing in theater.

She created the one-woman musical Love, Linda: The Life of Mrs. Cole Porter with award-winning composer Gary William Friedman. Love, Linda had its Off-Broadway Premiere at the York Theatre 2013-2014, returned to the Triad Theater for a special limited engagement in October 2018, and was filmed for a worldwide on-demand video release in 2021. Holland starred in all productions, with direction by TONY-Winner Richard Maltby, Jr. The film has earned multiple awards at festivals in the USA & UK, including a BEST ACTRESS IN A FEATURE FILM award for Holland at the Culver City Film Festival in California. The film is streaming at Amazon Prime/BroadwayHD.https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmusic/article/Vocalist-Stevie-Holland-to-Release-New-Album-Talk-to-Your-Tomatoes-20250813

Talk to Your Tomatoes

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101 North - 101 North

Styles: Jazz Fusion
Year: 1987
Time: 45:17
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 42,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:04) 1. Lady Of The Night
(4:22) 2. So Easy
(4:35) 3. Africa
(7:45) 4. Night Voices
(7:04) 5. Pillow Talk
(4:57) 6. Suzanne
(3:24) 7. Sashimi
(4:39) 8. Sunday
(2:24) 9. Children Of Time

This band is a project of keyboardist George Duke who composed, arranged and produced the album, it was released in 1988 on Valley Vue/Capitol Records and features Leon Ndugu Chancler, Byron Miller, Paulinho Da Costa, Dawilli Gonga, George Duke, John Robinson and singers Josie James, Carl Carwell and Ellis Hall.https://www.nts.live/artists/38912-101-north

101 North

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Happy Sunday 19-10-25

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