Tag Archive > Jazz

Marilyn Scott

Every Time We Say Goodbye

Why vocalist Marilyn Scott has never made a bigger splash in the jazz world is a mystery. Her voice has the smoothness of the highest grade velvet with just enough corduroy in the weave to turn a phrase with the deepest emotion; maybe it’s because her history includes a single in the Billboard Top 100 and West Coast studio work. In many ways she’s a female Lou Rawls, just enough commercial success to be popular but with strong enough chops to have street cred in jazz circles. On Every Time We Say Goodbye she strips down the accompaniment to a rhythm quartet able to subtly convey the dulcet tones and shifts of delicate sentiment for which she is universally known....

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Simona Molinari

Egocentrica

New Pop-Jazz Artist Who Is Going To Participate To Sanremo After A Long Live Experience. Her Sanremo Single Features A Guest Performance By Jazz Trumpetist Fabrizio Bosso. The Album Also Features The Participation Of Stefano Di Battista, Gio’ Di Tonno. The Album Also Contains Songs Intepreted In French And English...

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Mina Agossi

Zaboum

Introducing the electrifying new French/Beninoise vocal star, already the darling of the French press, Mina is described as “Tumultuese” (Nice Matin) “Une Voix Magique” (France Sud Ovest) “Energie, Energie, Energie” (Virgin Hebdo) and “The voice of today...

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Trijntje Oosterhuis

Look Of Love

The Netherlands’ leading pop female pop singer’s second outing on the Blue Note label is a tribute to the timeless songs of composer/arranger/singer Burt Bacharach. Oosterhuis rises to the challenge with stunning results, covering classics like “I Say A Little Prayer”, “Alfie”, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”, “House Is Not A Home”, “Close To You”, “The Look Of Love” and many more. ...

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Pink Martini

Hey Eugene

After a seven-year gap between their first and second albums, Pink Martini have brought forth their third long-player just over two and a half years later. Based in Portland, Oregon, this dazzling 12-piece ensemble are led by pianist Thomas Lauderdale and fronted by vocalist China Forbes. Their rich musical journeys carry listeners everywhere from a ballroom in Havana to a cabaret in Paris. This set even includes a number in Japanese and another in Arabic. With their strings, horns, and sultry rhythms, Pink Martini find the common denominators in these musics from around the globe. ...

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Nat King Cole

After Midnight

Nat “King” Cole endured more than his share of scorn and rebuke from all manner of fans and critics. He wasn’t jazzy enough to satisfy many, not white enough to please the pop cultural obsession with Anglo- and Euro-American stardom. In answer to all of this, Cole simply proceeded, crooning beautifully even after he’d walked away from the piano and become primarily a vocal sensation. This 1956 collection is famous as Cole’s riposte to the critique that he wasn’t jazzy. ...

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Ron Blake

Shades Of Brown

Ron Blake is an excellent modern mainstream tenor saxophonist with a strong tone, a creative improvising style, and versatility. On this well-rounded CD, Blake digs into some of his best originals (“Tom Blake” is particularly memorable), Johnny Griffin’s catchy “Dance of Passion,” a lyrical version of “The Windmills of Your Mind,” and a beautiful reading of “Pure Imagination.” The backing ranges from straight-ahead in a 1960s John Coltrane vein to the use of electronics to creative funk rhythms and touches of fusion. Much of the set could have been recorded during 1965-1975, but it is not predictable, it doesn’t lose the listener’s interest, and the musicianship is top-notch. While the regular CD has 11 selections, a second limited-edition CD has remixed versions of three of the songs, with “Tom Blake” and “Dance of Passion” being “re-imagined” twice. Listeners who feel that the original date does not sound complete without louder bass and drums, electronic rhythms, and odd sound effects may enjoy the second CD, but others may find this to be an odd waste, a case where more is less. However, Sonic Tonic is worth acquiring for the first disc. ...

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Karrin Allyson

Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane

More than most tribute albums, singer Karrin Allyson’s remembrance of John Coltrane makes a genuine attempt to relate to its subject–not only in retracing his 1961 offering, Ballads, song by song and luxuriating in the deep, swelling tenor sounds of Bob Berg and James Carter, but also in giving the tunes plenty of room to breathe. Resisting the temptation to dress them up with overt displays of style, she approaches them in a straightforward, emotionally understated fashion, capturing their essence with taste and intelligence. ...

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