THE JAZZ CHILL CORNER REISSUES FROM RAY BARRETTO - LA CUNA; ESTHER PHILLIPS - FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM; ERIC GALE - FORECAST |  |
- REISSUES FROM RAY BARRETTO - LA CUNA; ESTHER PHILLIPS - FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM; ERIC GALE - FORECAST
- NEW RELEASES - LINDA SEDIO, LISA DONNA, DIAN S. MEECHAI
- NEW RELEASES FROM - ART BLAKELY, ADMAD JAMAL, FOX CAPTURE PLAN
- THE SOUNDS OF REGGAE & SKA FROM WINSTON APPLE AND THE TWO TONES
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Posted: 19 Dec 2013 06:58 PM PST
RAY BARRETTO - LA CUNA - FEATURING TITO PUENTE / CHARLIE PALMIERI / JOE FARRELL / JOHN TROPEA / STEVE GADD
Digitally remastered by Chris Herles (Sony Music Studios, New York). Producer Creed Taylor has inspired everything from praise to anger among jazz fans. His work has been brilliant at times, detrimental at others (his worst flaw being a tendency to overproduce). Taylor plays a mostly positive role on La Cuna, a jazz-oriented effort uniting Ray Barretto with such first-class talent as Tito Puente (timbales) and the late Joe Farrell (tenor & soprano sax, flute). As slick as things get at times on La Cuna (originally released on vinyl by Taylor's CTI label and reissued on CD in 1995), Taylor wisely gives the players room to blow on everything from the haunting "Doloroso" and the driving "Cocinando" (a piece by Carlos Franzetti that shouldn't be confused with Barretto's major salsa/cha-cha hit) to a somewhat Gato Barbieri-ish take on Mussorgsky's "The Old Castle." Barretto successfully moves into soul territory on Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise" (which rapper Coolio recast as his hit "Gangsta's Paradise" in 1994). Barretto may hate the term "Latin jazz," but make no mistake: La Cuna is one of his most memorable contributions to that genre. ~ Alex Henderson 2013 Japanese pressing BLU-SPEC CD. Remastered. CTI Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, Hackensack, New Jersey in August 1979. Includes liner notes by Arnold Jay Smith. Personnel: Ray Barretto (congas, percussion); Willy Torres (vocals); Joe Farrell (tenor & soprano saxophones, flute); Carlos Franzetti (piano); Charlie Palmieri (piano, percussion); Jeremy Wall, Suzanne Ciani (synthesizers); John Tropea (guitar); Francisco Centeno (bass); Steve Gadd, Mark Craney (drums); Tito Puente (timbales). ~ cduniverse.com
ESTHER PHILLIPS - FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM
One of Esther Phillips finest '70s releases, From a Whisper to a Scream is the first of seven albums the singer recorded for CTI offshoot Kudu. Arranged and conducted by Pee Wee Ellis, the December 1971 session also involved principal players such as bassist Gordon Edwards, drummer Bernard Purdie, percussionist Airto, guitarists Cornell Dupree and Eric Gale, keyboardist Richard Tee, and saxophonists Hank Crawford and David Liebman. Setting the tone for Phillips' Kudu era, Whisper offers a series of spacious, yet fully arranged ballads of burning heartache, along with a handful of relatively funky numbers that do nothing to compromise her talent, dishing out loads of classy grit. It's a definite point of departure from the likes of Esther Phillips Sings and And I Love Him, her field of contemporaries closer to Al Green and Aretha Franklin than before. She grabs onto "Home Is Where the Hatred Is," Gil Scott-Heron's most harrowing rumination on drug dependency -- which, at that point, wasn't even a year old -- as if it were her very own, and it's all the more poignant given its parallels with her own life. (Its meaning was only compounded by her death in 1984. ) Though there is absolutely nothing lacking in the album's more energetic moments, it's still the ballads that shine brightest, like the alternately fragile and explosive "From a Whisper to a Scream" (Allen Toussaint) and a staggering "Baby, I'm for Real" (Marvin and Anna Gordy, made popular by the Originals) so vulnerable yet commanding that it really should've closed the album. ... Full Description ~ Andy Kellman 2013 Japanese pressing BLU-SPEC CD. Remastered. CTI Rolling Stone (7/6/72, p. 62) - "... She puts her bitter yet warm personal stamp on everything on the album, and covers a really broad range of material, from blues to ballads..." Mojo (Publisher) (p. 69) - "[With] an incredible funked-up version of Gil Scott-Heron's harrowing portrait of drug addiction, 'Home Is Where The Hatred Is'. ~ cduniverse.com
ERIC GALE - FORECAST
Eric Gale's 1973 Forecast album on the Kudu label is one of his most varied texturally. Produced by Kudu label boss Creed Taylor, the rhythm tracks were arranged by Gale, and the horns and strings by Bob James. Taylor surrounded Gale with the cream-of-the-crop of the current session players: jazz's most soulful drummer, Idris Muhammad, was in the house for most of the album, and Rick Marotta filled out the rest. Saxophonists included Joe Farrell, Pepper Adams, and Jerry Dodgion (an underrated ace who made his name with Curtis Amy on his Pacific jazz sides in the early '60s), and trumpeters included Randy Brecker and Jon Faddis. Hubert Laws and George Marge sat in the flute chairs, and James played piano and synths. Gale, for his part, was blended into a meticulously arranged and gorgeously orchestrated set of mixed tempo originals, and a pair of carefully chosen covers: "Killing Me Softly," by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, and Antonio Carlos Jobim's and Aloysio de Oliviera's deeply moving "Dindi." Gale's single string lines bite harder than some of the Brazilian counterparts, but because his blues inflection is so pronounced against the lush strings, keyboards, and horns, it works wonderfully. ... Full Description Gale's own grooved out "Cleopatra," and the otherworldly funk and blues feel of "White Moth," are just off-kilter enough to add a labyrinthine dimension to the album. Gale was a tear when he was on Kudu, and this album is the first example of his particular brand of street tough yet bedroom romantic soul-jazz for the label. ~ Thom Jurek 2013 Japanese pressing BLU-SPEC CD. Remastered.~ cduniverse.com
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Posted: 19 Dec 2013 08:21 AM PST
Linda Sedio has released a cover version of Etta James' "At Last." Sedio's cover (written by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon) is recorded with a great vibe and a great emotion. For the release of this project, she chose a glamorous appearance to give this classic all its charm. Many people will surely be charmed by her voice, her beauty, her great emotion, but the most important thing today for her is to give a best visibility to this challenge. Linda Sedio Says: "From Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin until Etta James, I've always been rocked by soul music and the choice of 'At Last' was the strongest for a cover version. It's an amazing loving song and love is everything we need in our everyday life. Not only at Christmas or Valentine's Day... but all the time. So it's a real and immense happiness for me to share my version with all the lovers of soul and blues music." ~ www.lindasedio.com
LISA DONNA - SOMEONE IN LOVE
"Hearing a performance by Lisa Donna is like visiting the rich vocal Jazz tradition of Ella, Billie, Carmen and Sarah. Her scat singing is off the chart and her ballads will touch your heart. LIsten for Lisa Donna!!! She is a bright star in the future of Jazz!"~ Bill Augustine (Jazz Pianist/Producer/Jazz Educator)
"The eight tracks on "Someone in Love," Del Rey singer Lisa Donna's newly released album of popular contemporary jazz, are mostly originals, with a couple of covers (standards "Like Someone in Love," "It Never Entered My Mind") interspersed. As the CD's title implies, Donna's musical obsession is primarily the universal topic of romance."~ Michael Aushenker (The Argonaut News) ~ cduniverse.com
DIAN S. MEECHAI - STORMY WEATHER
Dian Meechai's debut album Stormy Weather is a celebratory blend of Christmas music, jazz standards and classical arias. The album is divided into two sections, Christmas Cocktails and Sunday Service. Each section reflects the various spirits of the holiday season. Â Christmas Cocktails begins the festivities with familiar jazz songs such as "The Way You Look Tonight" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me." Listeners are invited to dance "Cheek to Cheek" with a loved one, cozy up to the sentimental sounds of "Christmas Time is Here" and "Over the Rainbow," or take a spirited turn to the groovy "Santa Baby." For Sunday Service, the mood becomes more intimate as the drummer and bassist step away. Dian transports the listener to their own personal recital with holiday classics such as "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night." By including sweet arias such as "Mesicku na nebi hlubokem," she creates a scene reminiscent to those found in the novels of Jane Austen. "The holiday season is my favorite time of year," Dian says. "I hope to bring some of my mushy spirit into your home." Dian is accompanied on Stormy Weather by renowned jazz pianist Dan Zemelman, drummer Greg Wyser-Pratte, and bassist Mike Bordelon. ~ cduniverse.com
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Posted: 19 Dec 2013 05:07 AM PST
ART BLAKELY - HOLD ON, I'M COMING
A soulful little record from Art Blakey – and very different than his Blue Note sessions! The album's got a tight soul jazz groove – shorter numbers, fuller backings, and an overall sound that's almost more like Cadet Records at the time. Backings are handled by Melba Liston or Tom McIntosh, and tracks are shorter than usual – but still filled with firey work by from the players – who include Freddie Hubbard and Chuck Mangione on trumpet, Tom McIntosh and Garnett Brown on trombone, Gary Bartz on alto, Frank Mitchell on tenor, Grant Green on guitar, John Hicks on piano, and Malcolm Bass on organ. A number of tracks have a conga drum groove – very unusual for the average Blakey album – and the tracks are a mix of soul jazz originals and pop covers, like "Secret Agent Man", "Sakeena", "Slowly But Surely", "Monday, Monday", and "Hold On, I'm Coming". ~ Dusty Groove.
AHMAD JAMAL - PORTFOLIO OF AHMAD JAMAL
One of Ahmad Jamal's best early albums for Argo – a brilliant set of live recordings, done at the Spotlite Club in Washington DC in 1958 – and with a fluid vibe that's simply incredible – one of the best true statements of Jamal's genius from the early years! The trio is incredible on the set – opening up even more than on other classics from the time – and really letting the bass work of Israel Crosby and the mellow drums of Vernell Fournier get equal time with Jamal's incredible lines on piano – as the stretch out and do things that jazz pianists would hardly have been able to conceive a few years before. The whole thing's fantastic – and the double-length set is really unusual for the time, but a great way to encompass all the wonderful energy of the performance. Titles include "Aki & Ukthay", "Our Delight", "Tater Pie", "Seleritus", "This Can't Be Love", "Ole Devil Moon", "Ivy", and "Let's Fall In Love". ~ Dusty Groove
FOX CAPTURE PLAN - BRIDGE
Fast drums, fast piano, and a groove that's mighty darn nice – that wonderful sound we're really digging from Fox Capture Plan – a Japanese trio who mix clubjazz modes with almost a minimalist sense of progression! The tunes have loads of leaping piano lines from Ryo Kishimoto – a player who manages to bring lyrical elements to his music, even when adhering tightly to the direction of the piano and bass in the trio – an approach that almost takes us back to the sublime Japanese work from Spiritual Vibes many years back. Titles include "Rising", "Far Out", "Pictures", "Teardrop", and "Attack On Fox". ~ Dusty Groove
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Posted: 19 Dec 2013 04:59 AM PST
Winston's latest album ("The Two Tones") will be released on December 17th. Apple wrote and sings all of the songs on "The Two Tones." He recruited musicians and a producer (Mark Thies) for this project with the intention of making an authentic ska/reggae album, but with pop and rock influences and production values. A three-piece horn section made up of some of the KC areas finest jazz players provides added interest. This approach should create interest among both ska and reggae purists and fans of pop and rock music. The lyrics are intelligent and thought-provoking. The beats are infectious.
The album features nine new songs written by Winston and reggae and ska versions of six more songs from Winston's catalog, including a reggae version of "Shoot 'em Up, Cowboy" (now re-titled simply "Shoot 'em Up"). The original (rock) version of that song led to a recording contract with Monument Records for Winston (then recording as "Gary Apple"). It was getting good air-play and heading up Record World's singles chart in September of 1978 when Monument's distribution deal with Phonogram expired and was not renewed. Despite the fact that it was no longer being promoted, the song spent nine weeks on the singles chart in Record World. Now (minus the "Cowboy") "Shoot 'em Up" will get a second chance.
As a singer-songwriter, Winston has always recorded using session musicians, but in the early stages of this project it became apparent that a band was being born. Several of the musicians expressed an interest in doing some gigs as a group and "Winston Apple and the Two Tones" made their debut as a live act at recordBar in Kansas City in February of 2013 in the middle of the recording project. The album title was changed to "The Two Tones" to reflect the fact that it was very much a group effort.
"Winston Apple and the Two Tones" will be touring extensively in 2014 to promote the album and to "let the good times roll" for audiences everywhere.
www.winstonapple.com
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