Now at Amazon.com--thousands
of MP3 downloads at great prices for albums, or $0.99 per
track.
Compatible with iPod & all other MP3 devices.
Late Night Thoughts on Jazz:Louis
Prima's Magnagroove recordings The last period of
Louis Prima’s career is comprised of his work
with fifth (and final) wife Gia Maione as his vocalist.
During this period, Louis continued to work the Las
Vegas circuit, and was as popular as ever, but his
recordings (on his own Magnagroove label) acknowledged
that times had changed dramatically in the popular
music world with a band that included electric keyboards
and guitars.
Stefano
Bollani is Italy’s hottest young jazz
player. Enrico Rava was one of the first Italian musicians
to be taken seriously by American musicians and critics.
No surprise, then, that Bollani considered Rava to be
his mentor, and joined the elder trumpeter’s group
for a series of live performances and the recordings
Easy Living (2004) and Tati (2005), which
marked Rava’s return to the ECM label after a
long absence. Bollani's recent recordings include Piano
Solo, a piano recital, and a duet with
Rava, The Third Man. Read
about both albums here.
Chick
Corea & Gary Burton/The New Crystal Silence Chick Corea and Gary
Burton helped create a sound and identity for themselves
and the fledgling ECM record label when they entered
the studio together back in 1973 to record an album
of duets...For this occaision Burton and Corea accepted
an invitation to perform with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra,
providing Tim Garland with five tunes to arrange for
the orchestra as part of their set. The also performed
as a duet at many concert halls and festivals. The resulting
2CD set, The New Crystal Silence, is comprised
of the Sydney performance with orchestra as well as
a disc of duet performances recorded at the Molde Jazz
Festival in Normay, with one track, “Senor Mouse”
from a performance in the Canary Islands.
Jessy
J/Tequila Moon Saxophonist Jessy J (Jessica
Spinella) has been playing with producer/guitarist Paul
Brown’s live band since 2006, and she appeared
on his highly successful 2007 CD White Sand.
Her popularity with smooth jazz fans has only risen
since then, and will likely explode with the release
of her Peak Records CD Tequila Moon...The
album, produced by Paul Brown (who also plays guitar
on several tracks), combines Latin grooves with ballads
and pop instrumental pieces in a pleasing program of
gentle music that, while radio-friendly and relaxing,
still has substance.
Caribbean
Jazz Project/Afro Bop Alliance
Dave Samuels’ Caribbean Jazz Project has been
a huge success, from its inception in the early 1990s,
when Samuels formed the group along with pan steel drummer
Andy Narell and reedman Paquito D’Rivera, through
its Grammy Award-winning recordings of the last decade,
including The Gathering and Birds of a
Feather. The group’s promotion of the connection
between Afro-American jazz, Latin beats, and Island
music has not only been commercially successful, but
artistically pleasing as well. For his latest recording
under the CJP banner, Samuels has teamed with the amazing
Afro Bop Alliance, an Annapolis, Maryland-based group
whose explorations of Afro-Cuban and Brazilian musical
styles have fast earned them a solid reputation among
Latin music fans.
Maceo
Parker/Roots & Grooves Saxophonist Maceo Parker
needs no introduction to fans of soul and funk. He served
as James Brown’s right hand man through his most
groove-a-liscious years and worked with George Clinton’s
P-Funk collective, a logical extension of Brown’s
groundbreaking groove-based music, as well. In 1991
Parker started to map out a solo career, and he’s
remained synonomous with the groove ever since, mixing
in some jazzier moods and even hip-hop. Parker’s
work has been heavily sampled by hip-hop musicians,
in part because of his disctinctive, hard-edged alto
sound and in part because of his devotion to groove-based
music.
XML
FEED
