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Jazz: [REL] Heads Up Super Band - (1998) Live Berks Jazz Fest[APE] |
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'Live at the Berks Jazz Fest' | Tue, 06 Jul 2004 02:36:15 GMT | Автор: fanatics |
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 | Артист: | Heads Up Super Band | | Альбом: | Live at the Berks Jazz Fest,1998 | | Жанр: | Jazz (Live) | | Формат файла: | Audio APE | | Ссылка: | CD | | Примечание: | One of the best sources for in the pocket smooth jazz recordings since the early 90s, Heads Up's promise of a live date featuring three of its most appealing core artists - bassist Gerald Veasley, keyboardist Joe McBride and saxman Kenny Blake - seems like as sure a bet as the genre can offer. In terms of showcasing the varied strengths of each performer and their adaptability to an ensemble setting, The Heads Up Super Band's Live at the Berks Jazz Fest at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania is a triumph. McBride's forte is playful, uplifting synth melodies and soulful, George Benson like scat vocals, and he shines on the light-funk of "Sweet Street" while Blake matches him note for note. Instrumentally, the band doesn't add too much new to Hall and Oates' gentle 70s hit "Sarah Smile," but McBride takes the opportunity to show his raw vocal power. One of Veasley's specialties is subtly weaving his bass melodically around moody synth atmospheres, and he and Blake do a cat and mouse kind of slow dance on "Night Games." As a leader, Blake specializes in his own brand of sensuous funk, and Veasley gives him a solid, seductive rhythmic foundation to lift a few improvisations off "Dancing at the Pagoda." All of these are mere pleasantries in comparison with the closing tune, a live jam whose combustible spirit shows that these hard workers are about more than friendly radio jazz. Blake leads his "Mississippi Mudslide" aggressively over Veasley's slappy bass groove and McBride's throbbing Sunday Morning blues-gospel best, leading to a jam so buoyant it feels shortchanged at just under six minutes. -- Jonathan Widran |
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Jazz: [REL] Laverne Butler - (1992) No Looking Back [FLAC+CUE] |
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'Elegant, Sophisticated, Laid-Back/Mellow, Sensual' | Tue, 06 Jul 2004 02:36:07 GMT | Автор: fanatics |
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 | Артист: | Laverne Butler | | Альбом: | No Looking Back, 1992 | | Жанр: | Traditional Pop, Vocal Jazz | | Формат файла: | Audio FLAC | | Ссылка: | CD | | Примечание: | If justice had prevailed, No Looking Back would have made LaVerne Butler well known in jazz circles, but this fine debut was more of an artistic success than a commercial one. In contrast to the laidback, relaxed mood and pop influences that defined the singer's sophomore effort, Day Dreamin', No Looking Back is very much a hardcore bop effort. Butler's impressive phrasing sounds like a combination of Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, but when she passionately tears into hard-swinging, high-energy interpretations of "It's Alright With Me," "Sunday In New York" and "The Song Is You," it's clear that Butler is very much her own person. Equally captivating are a sensuous bossa nova take on "Speak Low" and an unexpected version of "Come Fly With Me," which was defined by Frank Sinatra but also fares quite well in Butler's capable hands. Guest Joe Henderson (tenor sax) is in excellent form on "I Cover the Waterfront," "Easy to Love" and "The Song Is You," all of which prove that the ton of favorable publicity he was receiving in the early to mid-1990s was well deserved. This is a CD that fans of straight-ahead jazz singing should make a point of searching for. -- Alex Henderson |
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