THE JAZZ CHILL CORNER NEW RELEASES - CHUCK BERRY, DUKE ELLINGTON, CHRIS CONNOR

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• NEW RELEASES - CHUCK BERRY, DUKE ELLINGTON, CHRIS CONNOR
• THE BLACKBYRDS – THE ESSENTIAL SELECTION 1973 TO 1980
• NEW RELEASES - RICARDO SILVEIRA / VINICIUS CANTUARIA, BENNIE GREEN, ELMO HOPE SEXTET

NEW RELEASES - CHUCK BERRY, DUKE ELLINGTON, CHRIS CONNOR Posted: 23 Sep 2013 09:11 AM PDT CHUCK BERRY - SAN FRANCISCO BLUES One of the weirdest Chuck Berry albums ever – and one of the greatest, too! The sound here is very different than the hard rockin Berry of the early days – and the record's got kind of a laidback, trippy, and slightly bluesy approach – one that has Chuck singing in these homey vocals we really love, and playing guitar with this kind of watery tone that's really unique – almost airy, but still with a bit of bite – and really quite hard to peg! Backing is relatively spare – electric and acoustic piano, rhythm guitar, bass, and drums – and the whole thing is very rootsy, with tracks that include "Your Lick", "Festival", "Bordeux In My Pirough", "My Dream", "Viva Rock & Roll", "Lonely School Days", and "Let's Do Our Thing Together".  Dusty Groove DUKE ELLINGTON - ELLINGTON 65 Hey, we like this album – and if you don't, we're willing to fight about it! Sure, you might call it a sellout – as The Duke's playing arrangements of mid 60s pop tunes like "Fly Me to The Moon", "More", "The Second Time Around", "Blowin In The Wind", and "Never On Sunday" – but the sound is actually pretty darn hip, with a strong swing to the whole album, and a good groove that brings life into the songs on the set. The overall feel is like some of the hipper Basie backings at the time – very in the pocket playing, and short jazzy renditions of songs that we like in any form – but which come off here even more nicely with some real jazz touches from the Ellington group! ~ Dusty Groove CHRIS CONNOR - WITCHCRAFT A lovely side by Chris Connor for Atlantic, recorded not too long after her stint at Bethlehem – where she'd perfected an icy cool style of singing that's still to be matched to this day! The album features larger arrangements by Richard Wess – but still has a light jazzy feel, intimate in approach, despite the larger musical backings. Chris' voice is at once personal and removed – a razor's edge of emotion, repressing some impulses, and opening up surprisingly at other moments. Titles include "Skyscraper Blues", "The Lady Sings The Blues", "Come Rain Or Come Shine", "When Sunny Gets Blue", "Just In Time", "Baltimore Oriole", and "How Little We Know".  ~ Dusty Groove

THE BLACKBYRDS – THE ESSENTIAL SELECTION 1973 TO 1980 Posted: 23 Sep 2013 08:37 AM PDT Some of the sharpest, jazziest funk you'll ever hope to hear – a smoking collection of the legendary 70s work by The Blackbyrds on Fantasy Records! The group started as a jazz combo under Donald Byrd's supervision – right at a time when Byrd was making his own fantastic funky records in the 70s – but working for the Bay Area Fantasy label, they really took off into an amazing groove that was all their own – still informed by jazz, but free to open up to lots of funk and soul elements too – sometimes with vocals in the lead, sometimes more focus on the kinds of solos that always set them apart from all their contemporaries!  The cuts have some wonderful keyboard work from a young Kevin Toney – who's gone onto a lot of fame over the years – and production on all cuts is either by Larry Mizell, Donald Byrd, or George Duke – key 70s jazz funk forces who keep things mighty tight in the studio! The package features work from all Blackbyrds albums of the 70s – including the Cornbread Earl & Me soundtrack, and the Night Grooves remix set – and the package features 25 titles that include "Enter In", "Party Land", "Do It Fluid", "Gut Level", "Summer Love", "I Need You", "The Baby", "Blackbyrds' Theme", "City Life", "Rock Creek Park", "Walking In Rhythm", "A Hot Day Today", "Wilford's Gone", "One Gun Salute", "Supernatural Feeling", "Mysterious Vibes", and "Soft & Easy". ~ Dusty Groove

NEW RELEASES - RICARDO SILVEIRA / VINICIUS CANTUARIA, BENNIE GREEN, ELMO HOPE SEXTET Posted: 23 Sep 2013 08:34 AM PDT RICARDO SILVEIRA / VINICIUS CANTUARIA - RSVC One of the warmest, most intimate records we've ever heard from Vinicius Cantuaria – and one of the most beautiful too! The set's got Vinicius on vocals and guitar, in the company of guitarist Ricardo Silveira, and no other instrumentation at all – which makes for a wonderfully airy sort of record, and one that really lets Cantuaria open up! We might dare to say that the album's got a more classic bossa approach than some of Vinicius' other records – but the music isn't really bossa, either – and instead has all these fresh, individual inflections that really come from the simple, yet stunning work from both guitar players – and Cantuaria's well-measured use of lyrics – often in ways that have them taking second stage to the guitar instrumentation. Titles include "Perritos", "A La Dori", "Sessao Das Onze", "E O Fim", "Trilha Polar", and "Dia Del Sol".  ~ Dusty Groove BENNIE GREEN - WALKING DOWN A stone classic from the great Bennie Green – working here at a sharp 50s level that easily makes him one of the most hard-edged players in jazz at the time! Bennie's rooted in bop, but has plenty of deeper soulful elements too – a groove that others would expand more in the soul jazz generation, but which Green unleashes here with a really raw sort of energy – a tightness that's almost more suited to the trumpet than modes you'd usually hear from other trombonists. The setting's almost a blowing session one, but a bit tighter overall – and the quintet features Eric Dixon on tenor and Lloyd Mayers on piano – plus raw rhythms from Sonny Wellesley on bass and Bill English on drums. Titles include "East Of The Little Big Horn", "Walkin Down", and "But Not For Me". (SHMCD pressing.)  ~ Dusty Groove ELMO HOPE SEXTET - INFORMAL JAZZ Quite possibly the most "all star" session ever cut by pianist Elmo Hope – and one of his few dates to feature horns as well! The album's one of a few cut for Prestige by the modern piano giant – and it's done in an open-ended, long song format that was very much in keeping with the label's "blowing session" mode of the time – a setting that lets Hope really stretch out with players that include John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. And while the album has less of the angular, more tightly wound modern lines of some of Hope's better known work, it's still an extremely strong set overall – more of a showcase for all players involved, but still featuring 2 Hope original compositions – "Weeja" and "On It" – as well as versions of "Polka Dots & Moonbeams" and "Avalon". (SHMCD pressing.)  ~ Dusty Groove