T.J. Kirk

T.J. Kirk - If Four Was One - 1996 - Warner Bros.

If Four Was One (Warner Bros 9 46262-2: 43:34), the second effort from guitar summit group T.J. Kirk, is a slightly more energetic outing than the group's debut. Like the first one, it looks at the music of Thelonious Monk, James Brown and Rahsaan Roland Kirk through a funk-jazz guitar prism (with Prince's "Rockhard in a Funky Place" the only deviation). All the principals are back: Charlie Hunter holds down guitar and bass duties on his eight-string guitar, joining fellow stringsmen John Schott and Will Bernard. This time, the arrangements and playing are more pointed and focused. As with the last disc, the group's tasty licks sound best on the JB stuff. Hunter's sly phrasing is heard on "Get on the Good Foot/Rockhard in a Funky Place." Bernard's octave-effect laden solo energizes "The Big Payback", but some of the other stuff works just as well. Bernard's work on "Ruby My Dear" recalls Blow by Blow-era Jeff Beck, while Schott ellipses his way through the "Meeting at Termini's Corner/I got a Bag of My own/Brilliant Corners" medley. By & © Tony Green January/February 1997 © 1999–2012 JazzTimes, Inc. All rights reserved http://jazztimes.com/articles/8868-if-four-was-one-t-j-kirk

The idea of three guitarists and a drummer who play the music of Thelonious Monk, James Brown and Rahsaan Roland Kirk may seem odd or limiting, but the musicianship of the players in question has produced an album that explicitly explores the connections between the compositions of these three legendary musicians while raising the stakes in the debate about what is and isn't "jazz." Scott Amendola's drumming is precisely funky throughout, and Charlie Hunter's 8-string guitar supplies both the punchy basslines and the heavily chorused chords that Will Bernard and Will Schott build upon, resulting in a tightly rendered "The Payback," a stirring version of the eternal "Ruby, My Dear" and the multiple tempos and timbres of "Brake's Sake." Worthwhile. © Peter Stepek © 2012 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://allmusic.com/album/if-four-was-one-r240942/review

With such a uniquely brilliant concept behind them, this quartet's success is ensured even before they go into a studio. Their only weapons: three eclectic electric guitarists (Charlie Hunter, John Schott, Will Bernard), one drummer (Scott Amendola), and the songs of Thelonious Monk, James Brown, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. No matter whose tune they're playing, they seem to combine the approaches of all three simultaneously: Monk's curiosity, Brown's insistent rhythms, Kirk's passion. Not only can they execute their ideas, they also have a great deal of fun mixing and matching the various composers. Sometimes two melodies will battle each other for supremacy; other times a quirky Monk melody will be backed by funky grooves. Somehow, it all blends together seamlessly. © 2012 Net2Da http://net2da.net/t-j-kirk-if-four-was-one-1996-lossless/

An unusual, clever, very innovative, and satisfying mix of soul and jazz fusion by four of the best players in the business, and HR by A.O.O.F.C. Try and listen to T.J. Kirk 's 1994 s/t album [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 99.6 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Damn Right I'm Somebody - James Brown, Fred Wesley 5:07
2 Get on the Good Foot/Rockhard in a Funky Place - James Brown, Eric Leeds, Joe Mims, Prince, Fred Wesley 6:44 *
3 Stomping Grounds/Untitled Instrumental/Green Chimneys - James Brown, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Thelonious Monk 5:32
4 The Payback/I Mean You - James Brown, Coleman Hawkins, Thelonius Monk, John Starks, Fred Welsey 4:05
5 Brake's Sake - Thelonius Monk 4:30
6 Ruby,(It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World) My Dear - Thelonius Monk, James Brown 3:21
7 Meeting at Termini's Corner/IGot a Bag of My Own/Brilliant Corners - James Brown, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Thelonious Monk 4:46
8 Cross the Track/Thelonious - James Brown, Thelonius Monk 4:44
9 Four in One - Thelonius Monk 4:31

* N.B: "Rockhard In A Funky Place" is also a Prince song on the "Black Album".The "Black Album" contains a song written with James Brown called "2 Nigs United 4 West Compton."

BAND

Will Bernard - Guitar, Slide Guitar
Charlie Hunter - 8 String Guitar
John Schott - Guitar
Scott Amendola - Drums, Percussion

BIO

T.J. Kirk may not be remembered in the annals of jazz/fusion history, but the quartet's story is uniquely its own. Formed by eight-string guitarist Charlie Hunter as a side group to his own self-titled and San Francisco-based band, T.J. Kirk was a cover act that took its name from the three artists making up its catalog: Thelonius Monk, James Brown, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Hunter's recording career had started in 1993, and he brought his group's drummer, Scott Amendola, into T.J. Kirk to join the more conventional six-string guitarists Will Bernard and John Schott. The band wanted to be called James T. Kirk, but settled for T.J. Kirk for their 1995 self-titled debut CD when they didn't get permission to use the original moniker from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's estate. The album gave Hunter license to play in styles even more funky than with his own ensemble, as the eight-string guitarist often played bass lines and guitar melodies (usually simultaneously) and even added keyboard-like textures on his customized Novax instrument. Combined with Amendola's muscular drumming, Hunter's versatility allowed Bernard and Schott the freedom to re-work their namesake trio's classics like "Soul Power," "Bemsha Swing," and "Serenade to a Cuckoo." The group's 1996 follow-up, If Four Was One, was even better. T.J. Kirk had a knack not only for mimicking Brown's soul epics ("Get on the Good Foot," "The Payback"), but also making danceable the jazz standards of Monk and Kirk ("Damn Right I'm Somebody," "Ruby, My Dear," "Four in One"). Yet Hunter, never one to stand pat, was making changes in his own band's career. When he covered reggae legend Bob Marley's time-honored Natty Dread album, instrumentally and in its entirety, in 1997, and in the process made one of his best CDs, T.J. Kirk was essentially finished except for the live bootleg recordings. The death of Hunter's saxophonist Calder Spanier in an auto accident later in the year -- and Hunter's decision to move from the Bay Area to New York in 1998 -- officially ended the reign of T.J. Kirk. But as anyone who's heard their releases knows, T.J. Kirk is the unofficial captain of jazz/fusion's all-time cover bands. Further evidence appeared in 2005 when the Rope-A-Dope label issued a 1997 concert by the band as Talking Only Makes It Worse. © Bill Meredith © 2012 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://allmusic.com/artist/tj-kirk-p165793/biography

Caecilie Norby

Caecilie Norby - My Corner Of The Sky - 1996 - Blue Note

Although she is not a household name, the 44 year old Danish vocalist, Caecilie Norby was elected one of the ten most popular Jazzsingers throughout the world in 1996. She can do it all: Fusion, Rock and Jazz. She has a lovely elegant voice with a great lyrical touch, and her natural improvisational ability is wonderful. She already has a stupendous career, and she has contributed to breaking down the sometimes rigid jazz structure into genres. She has also attracted notice by awakening an interest in Jazz in the young, traditionally rock oriented audience. This may not be her strongest album, but it's very good, and covers some songs rarely sung by jazz vocalists. Bowie's "Life on Mars" and Sting's "Set Them Free" are done really well. If you would like to hear more of this very talented lady, buy her excellent 1995 self titled album "Caecilie Norby." with contributions by Randy Brecker, Chick Corea, Don Grolnick, Rick Margitza, Billy Hart and Lars Jansson.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Look of Love, The - B.Bacharach/H.David
2. Right to Love, The - L.SchriffrinG./Lees
3. Set Them Free - Sting
4. Suppertime - Berling
5. African Fairytale - W.Shorter/C.Norby
6. Life on Mars - D.Bowie
7. Spinning Wheel - D.C.Thomas
8. What Do You See in Her - Weldon/H.David
9. Just One of Those Things - C.Porter
10. Snow - F.Bak/C.Norby
11. Song For You, A - L.Russell
12. Calling You - B.Telson

MUSICIANS

Caecilie Norby (vocals)
Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone)
Randy Brecker (flugelhorn)
Dave Kikoski (keyboards)
Terri Lyne Carrington (drums)

SHORT BIO

Caecilie Norby is a singer with an unusual repertoire that not only includes some jazz standards, but a few pop tunes of the past 30 years (including "Spinning Wheel" and "The Look of Love"). She has a strong voice and a style that shows potential. Born in Denmark to parents active in the classical music world, Norby's background is actually in rock, recording with Frontline in 1985 and spending 1986-1993 as half of the rock group One Two. However, she also sang occasionally with a small jazz group in clubs, and pianist Niels Lan Doky was impressed enough to offer to produce her first jazz record. Caecilie Norby, whose greatest musical influence is early Nancy Wilson, recorded two sets released domestically by Blue Note. © Scott Yanow, All Music Guide



MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST

She can do it all: fusion, rock and jazz. At the tender age of 32 she already has a stupendous carrier, and she has contributed to breaking down the rigid division into genres; in addition she has attracted notice by awakening an interest in jazz in the young, traditionally rock-oriented audience.Cæcilie Norby was born on 9 September 1964 in Fredriksberg, Denmark, into a musical family: her father, Erik Norby, is a renowned score composer, and her mother, Solveig Lumholt, an opera singer. The family's only record with rhythmic music was one with the singer Nancy Wilson, and together with the Beatles tapes it became well worn. She went to the singing school of Sankt Annæ Gymnasium, and then followed a year at a folk high school with theatre as her main subject. In the summer of 1982, when she participated at a jazz festival at Brandbjerg, she was one of the founders of Street Beat, and she was the vocalist in this group for the next 18 months. From 1983 she was part of the jazz/funk group Frontline, which was awarded the Ben Webster Prize in 1985 and in the same year recorded the album Frontline. In the former Danish music magazine MM, a readers' poll bestowed prizes on the orchestra for "Jazz Act of the Year", "Live Act of the Year", "Most Promising Act", "Album of the Year" and Cæcilie elected "Soloist of the Year". She has also toured with various groups and has performed several times with the Danish Radio Big Band. In 1985, she launched on a long co-operation with the singer Nina Forsberg in the highly popular rock group One-Two. The group existed right up to 1993 and recorded three albums. 1986 saw Cæcilie representing Denmark in an international jazz orchestra at the Knokke Festival in Belgium. Moreover, Cæcilie Norby has performed as vocal soloist with numerous Danish jazz musicians and orchestras: pianist Jørgen Emborg, Klüvers Big Band, drummer Niels Ratzer, pianist Thomas Clausen and many more. In 1990, Cæcilie's father wrote the work "Concerto for Two Sopranos" for Zealand Symphonic Orchestra. The two sopranos were Cæcilie herself and her mother, and the work contains both classical, rhythmic and improvising elements. Cæcilie has also performed with her mother and Thomas Clausen with a mixture of opera, musical and jazz titled "Ballads, Blues & Lieder". During the 1990s, Cæcilie Norby has really cultivated her popular version of the standard repertoire of jazz music. She has been on frequent tours with her own quartet comprising pianist Ben Besiakov, bassist Lennart Ginman and Søren Christensen or Alex Riel playing the drums, and she has toured Europe with local quartets and big bands. In addition, she has been external examiner at the Academy of Rhythmic Music in Copenhagen, and moreover she has arranged and sung at various studio productions. In the spring of 1995 her album Cæcilie Norby was released on Blue Note, the legendary jazz label, with contributions by a number of trend-setting international composers and soloists, including saxophonists Randy Brecker and Rick Margitza, drummer Billy Hart, pianist Lars Jansson, and composers Chick Corea, Don Grolnick and Randy Brecker. The CD was mixed and partly recorded in the USA. The Jazz Special magazine elected Cæcilie Norby one of the year's five best records featuring a Danish jazz musician, and the five-digit sales figures achieved so far both in Denmark and Japan are exceptional for a jazz album. Cæcilie certainly never expected to do that well. Her initial target was a mere 5,000 records sold, which would be something for a jazz album. But then Cæcilie calls her music jazz pop; it is by no means hard-core jazz. Following the release of Cæcilie first CD on Blue Note she has been on tour most of the time, with some of the musicians on the CD Cæcilie Norby as well as others. This success is now being followed up by another Blue Note release: My Corner of the Sky, and the contributors include drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, bassist Lars Danielsson and the Brecker brothers on tenor sax and flugelhorn. As on her first album, Niels Lan Doky is co-producer and co-arranger. Cæcilie Norby has scored a tremendous success with her numerous projects, and she has been through the entire rock circus without becoming capricious. Although she is a popular favourite at festivals, she is drawn to smaller, more intimate venues, to the standard repertoire of jazz and to the talent of jazz musicians for improvising and going on stage without having spent six months in training camp and without the backing of a huge machinery. What has been referred to as a flirt with jazz must now be called a firm commitment. Cæcilie Norby's voice is lyrical and supple. She colours her vowels to taste. Improvisations and scats are done with elegance. Her phrasing can be both down-to-earth and romantic. She can radiate anything from the sweet and vulnerable to the crude and powerful. Some critics have compared Cæcilie Norby to Swedish Monica Zetterlund and to the American singers Nancy Wilson, Dinah Washington and Aretha Franklin. [EMI-Medley, Denmark, Europe Jazz Network , © www.ejn.it/mus/norby.htm

Rachelle Ferrell

Rachelle Ferrell - Somethin' Else - 1990 - Somethin'else

The first album by Pennsylvania's Rachelle Ferrell was a jazz project released only in Japan. This pop-soul followup curbs most of her jazz moves, but you can sense Ferrell's background in the way she slides gracefully through harmonies and in the way she brings a strong adult sensibility to the love songs. Like fellow jazz/R&B crossover artists Anita Baker and Oleta Adams, Ferrell is at her best on the smoldering ballads, where her smoky voice epitomizes sensuality. All the same, her Minnie Riperton-like wailing on the uptempo "It Only Took a Minute" will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. © Geoffrey Himes, Amazon.com

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1.You Send Me - Cooke 5:07
2.You Don't Know What Love Is - DePaul, Raye 5:14
3.Bye Bye Blackbird - Dixon, Henderson 4:25
4.Prayer Dance - Bailey, Green 6:01
5.Inchworm - Loesser 2:20
6.With Every Breath I Take - Coleman 6:24
7.What Is This Thing Called Love? - Porter 1:33
8. My Funny Valentine - Hart, Rodgers 7:14
9.Don't Waste Your Time - Ferrell 5:15
10.Extensions - Ferrell 4:59
11.Autumn Leaves - Kosma, Mercer, Prevert

MUSICIANS

Rachelle Ferrell - Piano, Vocals
Michel Petrucciani - Piano
Gil Goldstein - Synthesizer, Piano
Pete Levin - Synthesizer
Terence Blanchard - Trumpet
Stanley Clarke - Bass
Kenny Davis - Bass
Tyrone Brown - Stick Bass
Lenny White - Drums
Doug Nally - Drums
Wayne Shorter - Sax (Tenor)
Alex Foster - Sax (Soprano)

ABOUT RACHELLE FERRELL

Composer, lyricist, arranger, musician and vocalist Rachelle Ferrell is a recent arrival on the contemporary jazz scene, but her visibility on the pop/urban contemporary scene has boosted her audience's interest in her jazz recordings. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Ferrell got started singing in the second grade at age six. This no doubt contributed to the eventual development of her startling six-and-change octave range. She decided early on, after classical training on violin, that she wanted to try to make her mark musically as an instrumentalist and songwriter. In her mid-teens, her father bought her a piano with the provision that she learn to play to a professional level. Within six months, Ferrell had secured her first professional gig as a pianist/singer. She began performing at 13 as a violinist, and in her mid-teens as a pianist and vocalist. At 18, she enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston to study composition and arranging, where her classmates included Branford Marsalis, Kevin Eubanks, Donald Harrison and Jeff Watts. She graduated in a year and taught music for awhile with Dizzy Gillespie for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Through the 1980s and into the early '90s, she'd worked with some of the top names in jazz, including Gillespie, Quincy Jones, George Benson and George Duke. Ferrell's debut, First Instrument, was released in 1990 in Japan only. Recorded with bassist Tyrone Brown, pianist Eddie Green and drummer Doug Nally, an all-star cast of accompanists also leave their mark on her record. They include trumpeter Terrence Blanchard, pianists Gil Goldstein and Michel Petrucciani, bassists Kenny Davis and Stanley Clarke, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter and keyboardist Pete Levin. Her unique take on now-standards like Sam Cooke's "You Send Me," Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love," and Rodgers & Hart's "My Funny Valentine," captured the hearts and souls of the Japanese jazz-buying public. In 1995, Blue Note/Capitol released her Japanese debut for U.S. audiences, and the response was similarly positive. Her 1992 self-titled U.S. debut, a more urban pop/contemporary album, was released on Capitol Records. Ferrell was signed to a unique two-label contract, recording pop and urban contemporary for Capitol Records and jazz music for Blue Note Records. For four consecutive years in the early '90s, Ferrell put in festival stopping performances at the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Although Ferrell has captured the jazz public's attention as a vocalist, she continues to compose and write songs on piano and violin. Ferrell's work ethic has paid off, and Gillespie's predictions about her becoming a "major force" in the jazz industry came true. Her prolific songwriting abilities and ability to accompany herself on piano seem only to further her natural talent as a vocalist. "Some people sing songs like they wear clothing, they put it on and take it off," she explains in the biographical notes accompanying First Instrument. "But when one performs four sets a night, six nights a week, that experience affords you the opportunity to present the song from the inside out, to express its essence. In this way, a singer expresses the song in the spirit in which it was written. The songwriter translates emotion into words. The singer's job is to translate the words back into emotion." Ferrell has made her mark not as a straightahead jazz singer and pianist, but as a crossover artist who's equally at home with urban contemporary pop, gospel, classical music and jazz. © Richard Skelly, All Music Guide

BIO (Wikipedia)

Rachelle Ferrell (b. 1961, Berwin, Pennsylvania) is an American singer and musician. Although she has had some success in the mainstream R&B, pop, gospel, and classical music scene, she is most noted for her talents as a contemporary jazz singer. Rachelle Ferrell began singing at the age of six, which contributed to the "development of her startling six-and-change octave range." Her range also includes the ability to reach the whistle register, as stated in an editorial review in which she references her whistle note in "It only took a minute" as "Minnie Riperton-like wailing". She received classical training on violin at an early age and by the time she was a teen, she was able to play the piano at a professional level. She enrolled in Berklee College of Music in Boston where she honed her musical abilities in arrangement, singing and songwriting. From 1975-90, Ferrell sang backup for Lou Rawls, Patti LaBelle, Vanessa Williams, and George Duke. Ferrell's debut, First Instrument, was released in 1990 in Japan, five years prior to its U.S. release. Recorded with bassist Tyrone Brown, pianist Eddie Green and drummer Doug Nally, an all-star cast of accompanists also leave their mark on her record. They include trumpeter Terence Blanchard, pianists Gil Goldstein and Michel Petrucciani, bassists Kenny Davis and Stanley Clarke, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter and keyboardist Pete Levin. Her unique take on now-standards like Sam Cooke's "You Send Me," Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love," and Rodgers & Hart's "My Funny Valentine," captured the hearts and souls of the Japanese jazz buying public.

LaVerne Butler

LaVerne Butler - Blues In The City - 1999 - MAXJAZZ

Blues In The City by LaVerne Butler was not only her MAXJAZZ debut, but maintains the distinction of launching the label’s highly acclaimed Vocal Series. The release hit #1 on the Gavin Jazz Chart and was nominated for the AFIM (Association for Independent Music) Indie Award for Best Jazz Vocal.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

01. This Bitter Earth - Clyde Otis
02. Please Send Me Someone to Love - Percy Mayfield
03. Hit the Road Jack - Percy Mayfield
04. Willow Weep for Me - Ann Ronell
05. The Blues Are Out of Town - Marcia Hillman & Joe Darise
06. One for My Baby (And One More for the Road) - Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer
07. Late Sunday Afternoon - Bruce Barth
08. I'm a Fool to Want You - Jack Wolf, Joel Herron, & Frank Sinatra
09. Born to Be Blue - Bob Wells & Mel Torme
10. Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying - Joe Green
11. All That I Know - LaVerne Butler
12. Since I Fell for You - Buddy Johnson
13. Backwater Blues - Bessie Smith

MUSICIANS

LaVerne Butler, vocals
Bruce Barth, piano
John Webber, bass
Klaus Suonsaari, drums
Ava Burton & Janet Hall Givens, background vocals

REVIEWS

“Ever since Cassandra Wilson, Holly Cole and Diana Krall started topping the jazz charts, record companies have been signing almost any woman with a strong, sulky voice…LaVerne Butler stands out in this suddenly crowded field because she is no warmed-over pop singer; the Louisiana veteran has a sure grasp of jazz’s two essential elements - blues and swing.” © Washington Post

“LaVerne Butler is a rising star with fine jazz chops.” (3½ stars) © Skanner Newspapers

“ . . is an exceptional jazz singer, yet her vibe is the blues. Her delivery is authoritative yet passionate as she gives new meaning to favorites such as ‘Please Send Me Someone To Love,’ ‘This Bitter Earth’ & ‘Since I Fell For You.’” © Ebony

BIO

Not to be confused with R&B great LaVern Baker, LaVerne Butler is a superb but underexposed jazz singer whose main influences include Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan. Butler is originally from Shreveport, LA, where she grew up listening to jazz and R&B extensively with a lot of encouragement from her father, saxophonist Scott Butler. After leaving Shreveport, she moved to New Orleans, where she studied music at the University of New Orleans and become a fixture in the city's Dixieland and bebop venues. Butler worked with such distinguished locals as Alvin Batiste, Ellis Marsalis, Henry Butler (no relation), and James Black before deciding to move to the New York area in 1984. Butler studied with Jon Hendricks after arriving in New York and later earned her living as an English teacher while tackling the Manhattan club world. The early to mid-'90s found Butler signed to Chesky, for which she provided her bop-oriented debut album, No Looking Back (1992), and her lighter, more relaxed sophomore release, Day Dreamin' (1994). After leaving Chesky, Butler planned to record an album for Herbie Mann's Kokopelli label in 1997, but her plans fell through when the company experienced financial problems. 1999 saw the release of her third album, Blues in the City. © Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

Kristin Korb with The Ray Brown Trio

Kristin Korb with The Ray Brown Trio - Introducing Kristin Korb With the Ray Brown Trio - 1996 - Telarc

Kristin Korb is a female Bass player based in LA who is also a unique vocalist with an exuberant, rapid vocalese style and open spirit While studying with jazz bass icon Ray Brown, he arranged for her first recording with his trio, Introducing Kristin Korb, on Telarc Records. Brown, who has worked with the late divas Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, wrote twelve special arrangements which highlight Korb's vocal talents. She tours worldwide as a performer, clinician, and guest artist with numerous jazz ensembles. Her more current releases feature her original compositions and innovative arrangements of jazz standards with the help of jazz greats Mike Wofford and Jeff Hamilton. When she’s not touring, she’s on the faculty at the University of Southern California. She has a great DVD on release, Kristin Korb: Live in Vienna, which really showcases her talents.

TRACKS

A Night in Tunisia (Gillespie/G/P) 5:40
Peel Me a Grape (Frishberg) 5:30
Whirlybird (Hefti/Korb) 3:06
Fever (Cooley/Davenport) 4:33
Straight, No Chaser (Monk/Swisher) 2:31
Black Orpheus (Banfa/B/C/P/W) 4:09
Yeh Yeh (Grand/H/P) 4:36
Ain't Misbehavin' (Razaf/Waller) 3:36
These Foolish Things (Link/M/S) 6:02
Funky Tune for Ray (Brown/Korb) 3:53
Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn) 5:11

MUSICIANS

Kristin Korb (Vocals),
Conte Candoli (Trumpet),
Plas Johnson (Sax (Tenor)),
Ray Brown (Bass),
Oscar Castro-Neves (Guitar),
Benny Green (Piano),
Gregory Hutchinson (Drums),





REVIEW

Originally from Montana, but now living, performing, and teaching in San Diego, this is Kristin Korb's first album. Not possessed with an especially powerful set of vocal chords, Korb nonetheless weaves delicate figures with a clear, cool, almost vibrato-less voice. Scatting, but not to the point where lyrics are entirely ignored, she's a pleasant, if not overwhelming, addition to the world of jazz vocals. Korb is joined on this session by the dean of bass players, Ray Brown, and his trio that features the outstanding, hard driving piano player Benny Green, an outstanding soloist in his own right. The trio is augmented by two veterans, Plas Johnson on tenor sax and Conte Candoli on trumpet. Johnson, unfairly, is pretty much known for his work on Henry Mancini's Pink Panther. He has done much more and better work, such as with T-Bone Walker, Lou Rawls, and others. His swinging, boppish sax drives "Yeh Yeh." Conte Candoli has been on so many albums, he's likely lost count, but he hasn't lost his touch of waxing lyrically behind a singer in the tradition of fellow Stan Kenton player, Don Fagerquist. Guest guitarist, the Brazilian Oscar Castro-Neves, takes center stage in Latin-tinged tunes like Luis Bonfa's "Black Orpheus." "Peel Me a Grape" is done, appropriately, in an Anita O'Day style and there's a very delicately delivered "These Foolish Things" and an almost hymn-like "Take the "A" Train." These slower tunes are balanced by a winging version of Neal Hefti's "Whirlybird." A nice program of varied tunes offered by top professionals provides a little more than 45 minutes of pleasant entertainment. © Dave Nathan, All Music Guide

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Dee Dee Bridgewater - Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver - 1995 - Verve

Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver is a fitting tribute to the great Horace Silver. Her intrepretations of Silver's great syncopated and rhythmic music is just brilliant. If you have heard Silver's compositions like "Song for My Father", or "Tokyo Blues", you should enjoy this album. One of Dee Dee Bridgewater's best albums. Horace Silver himself makes two guest appearances on "Nica's Dream" and "Song for My Father". Bridgewater's performance earnt her a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Buy her great 1992 Keeping Tradition album. Also listen to Horace Silver's classic album, "Song For My Father," one of the greatest jazz albums ever recorded.

TRACKS

"Permit Me to Introduce You to Yourself" – 3:25
"Nica's Dream" – 5:14
"The Tokyo Blues" – 5:44
"Pretty Eyes" – 5:05
"St. Vitus Dance" – 2:40
"You Happened My Way" – 6:29
"Soulville" – 4:16
"Filthy McNasty" – 4:51
"Song for My Father" – 5:30
"Doodlin'" – 6:06
"Lonely Woman" – 5:21
"The Jody Grind" – 5:00
"Blowin' the Blues Away" – 3:55

Recorded on December 1994, At Plus XXX Studios, Paris, France. Produced by Dee Dee Bridgewater. All songs composed by Horace Silver


PERSONNEL

Dee Dee Bridgewater - vocals
Stephanie Belmondo - trumpet
Lionel Belmondo - tenor saxophone
Horace Silver - piano
Hein Van DeGeyn - double bass
Andre Ceccarelli - drums

REVIEW

Dee Dee Bridgewater performs 13 of Horace Silver's songs on her very well-conceived release. On most selections she is accompanied by her French quintet, but there are also two guest appearances apiece for organist Jimmy Smith and pianist Silver ("Nice's Dream" and "Song for My Father"). Bridgewater uplifts Silver's lyrics, proves to be in prime form, and swings up a storm. Other high points include "Filthy McNasty," "Doodlin'," and "Blowin' the Blues Away." A gem. © Scott Yanow, 2007 All Media Guide, LLC. All Rights Reserved

BIO

Born Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950, in Memphis, TN; daughter of Matthew Garrett (a musician and teacher) and Marion Hudspeth; married Cecil Bridgewater, 1970; daughter: Tulani; married Gilbert Moses, c. 1975. Education: Attended Michigan State University, 1968, and University of Illinois, 1969; studied with pianist Roland Hanna. Addresses: Home-- Paris, France. Record company-- Verve Records (Polygram), 825 8th Ave., New York, NY 10019.
Dee Dee Bridgewater's lives, personal and professional, have taken a lot of unexpected turns since she first emerged as a top jazz diva in the early 1970s. Her quest to create a life satisfying on both levels has included stops on both coasts of the U.S., a return to her childhood hometown in Flint, Michigan, and finally a flight across the ocean to Paris, where she has lived for the last several years. Along the way, Bridgewater has established herself as one of the best and most versatile vocalists of her generation, as well as a skilled actress. Her career entered as new phase in the 1990s, as she took over creative and financial control of her own work. The result has been a couple of Grammy Award nominations and a degree of international recognition that had eluded her in the past.
Bridgewater was born Denise Garrett on May 27, 1950, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a prominent trumpet player in the Memphis jazz scene, and had worked as a sideman with the likes of Nat (King) Cole. When Dee Dee--Denise's nickname since infancy--was three years old, the family moved to Flint, Michigan, where Matthew opted for the security of a teaching job. The Bridgewaters remained in Flint for the rest of Dee Dee's childhood.
While her friends listened to the pop hits of the day, Garrett immersed herself in jazz at home. Among the many vocalists she admired, Garrett's favorite was Nancy Wilson. She plastered her room with photographs of Wilson and taught herself to mimic Wilson's style. Garrett formed a vocal trio called the Irridescents while she was still in high school, but that group was shortlived. After her graduation in 1968, she enrolled at Michigan State University. It was there that Garrett began to bloom as a performer, working college clubs and jazz festivals with a quintet led by saxophonist Andy Goodrich.
In 1969 the Goodrich group performed at a festival at the University of Illinois in Champaign, where Garrett caught the eye and ears of John Garvey, director of the U. of I. jazz band. A few months later, Garvey invited Garrett to join his ensemble for a six-week tour of the Soviet Union. The band included trumpet player Cecil Bridgewater. Garrett and Bridgewater married in 1970, and shortly thereafter moved to New York, together in search of a successful career in jazz.
Cecil caught on first in New York, working initially with noted pianist Horace Silver and then landing a steady job with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the de facto house band at the legendary Village Vanguard jazz club. When Jones and Lewis discovered that Dee Dee could sing, she joined the group as well, and remained its featured vocalist from 1972 through 1974. During this period, she returned to the U.S.S.R., this time with the Jones-Lewis orchestra, and also performed in Japan. Her steady gig at the Village Vanguard put Bridgewater at the center of the New York jazz scene, and she became much sought after for session work by some of jazz's biggest names, including Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, and Roland Kirk. In 1974 she was named best new vocalist in Down Beat magazine's annual poll.
In 1974 Bridgewater decided to audition for the Broadway musical The Wiz, an updated African-American version of the classic The Wizard of Oz. She landed the part of Glenda, the good witch of the South. The part was relatively small, but included several featured songs. Bridgewater's performance earned her the 1975 Tony Award for best supporting actress in a musical. Having divorced Cecil Bridgewater by this time, she also landed her second husband, Wiz director Gilbert Moses.
Bridgewater grew tired of Broadway by 1976. She quit The Wiz that year and moved to Los Angeles, with an eye toward trying her hand at film acting and pop singing. Although she remained primarily a jazz singer, Bridgewater sought to stretch her talents in more commercially viable directions. The next several years were frustrating ones. Caught between the worlds of jazz and pop, Bridgewater was unable to find a comfortable spot in the hearts of either audience. She was especially bothered by the mediocre "Black muzak" that record producers tried to make her sing. By the mid- 1980s, Bridgewater was ready to abandon her musical career entirely. In 1985 she moved back to Flint to live with her mother, who was in poor health.
The following year, Bridgewater moved to Paris, where, like so many jazz artists before her, she found a public far more appreciative of her talents than American listeners had ever been. In 1986 and 1987 she starred in the one-woman show Lady Day, a musical about the life of Billie Holiday. She performed in other musicals as well, including a revival of Cabaret. Meanwhile, Bridgewater resumed her singing career. She toured the Far East with a band that ncluded such notable players as Clark Terry, James Moody, and Jimmy McGriff. By the end of the 1980s, Bridgewater had established herself as one of the top jazz vocalists in Europe.
In 1990 Bridgewater released In Montreaux, her first album on the Verve label. By this time she had managed to regain creative and financial control over her projects, a fact reflected in her choice of material for the album, notably a medley of Horace Silver compositions. In Montreaux served notice to the jazz world that Bridgewater was once again a force to be reckoned with. Her next recording, Keeping Tradition, was nominated for a 1993 Grammy award. The Bridgewater-Silver connection became even more concrete in 1994, when Bridgewater got the idea for her next album while performing the Silver tune "Love Vibrations." The resulting recording, Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver, was released the following year. It earned Bridgewater another Grammy nomination, and brisk crossover sales in Europe landed the album on the pop charts on that continent.
Bridgewater performed to an enthusiastic audience at the Village Vanguard in 1996, more than 20 years after her earlier brush with fame at that venue. Although she has remained based in Paris, her successful return to the U.S. was music to the ears of audiences on the side of the Atlantic where jazz was born. © Robert R. Jacobson , © 2007 Net Industries - All Rights Reserved

Jacintha

Jacintha - Here's To Ben - 1998 - Groove Note

The title of this collection refers to the late saxophonist Ben Webster. Jacintha Abisheganaden has an absolutely ravishing voice that's enough to make you melt and seep away. Listen to her astonishing vocal interpretations of "Georgia on My Mind," and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". The great musicians here are real jazz veterans, including saxophonist, Teddy Edwards, who recorded with Billie Holiday in the '50s. There's also pianist Kei Akagi, trumpeter Larance Marable, and bassist Derek Oles, who have all played with some of the greatest jazz musicians of our time. This great album has been released on LP, normal CD and gold CD. Sequence of tracks vary from album to album, and on this CD issue, track 10, "The Look Of Love" is not included. If anybody has any info on Jacintha's release with this track, please post. Also check out her superb album, "Autumn Leaves: The Songs Of Johnny Mercer". An exceptionally talented jazz vocalist. VHR by A.O.O.F.C

TRACKS

1. Georgia on My Mind (Carmichael/Gorrell)
2. Our Love Is Here to Stay (Gershwin/Gershwin)
3. Tenderly (Gross/Lawrence)
4. Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Arlen/Harburg)
5. How Long Has This Been Going On(Gershwin/Gershwin)
6.Stardust (Carmichael/Parish)
7. In the Wee Small Hours of Morning (Hilliard/Mann)
8. Pennies from Heaven (Burke/Johnston)
9. Danny Boy (Weatherly)
10. The Look of Love (Bacharach/David) - NOT INCLUDED ON THIS RELEASE

REVIEW

"Here's To Ben" captures the essence of jazz vocals by Jacintha. She sings each song with a pure, jazzy feel that is one of a special kind. This 9 selection collection showcases the talents of Jacintha. Songs include "Georgia On My Mind," "Our Love Is Here To Stay," "Tenderly," "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," "How Long Has This Been Going On?," "Stardust," "In The Wee Small Hours of Morning," "Pennies From Heaven," and "Danny Boy." Each song is a vocal beauty, very expressive, sensitive, and lovely to listen to. Two songs that are perfect reflections of a jazz singer at her best moments can be found with Jacintha singing "In The Wee Small Hours of Morning" and "Danny Boy." If you like female jazz vocalists and the song "Danny Boy," this is one of the finest recordings ever done! This collection delights, entertains, and is enjoyable from start to finish. Jacintha has one of the very finest jazz voices in contemporary jazz. Topnotch performances! Excellent solo work. Teddy Edwars shines on tenor saxophone, and each performer is incredibly good.
© Lee Prosser - jazzreview.com



Jacintha Abisheganaden
BIO (Wikipedia)

Born to Alexander Abisheganaden, an Singaporean Indian educator of Malayali and Tamil descent, and a Chinese mother, both of her parents had musical backgrounds. She grew up to win a singing talent competition, Talentime, with her trio, Vintage. She graduated with honours in English literature from the National University of Singapore. She was one of the founders of the TheatreWorks theatre group, and has worked with director Ong Keng Sen in acclaimed plays such as Beauty World, Three Fat Virgins, Longing and The Lady of Soul. To date she has released thirteen albums. She began a series of jazz recordings in 1999, and has released six acclaimed audiophile albums. Her latest album "Jacintha goes to Hollywood" was released by Groovenote in USA in July 2007. Her music has been featured in the movie "Play it to the bone" with Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson and in the Jennifer Garner TV Series "Alias". Jacintha performed live for the opening of the 117th IOC Session held in Singapore in 2005 to a worldwide audience over 200 million. She has also acted in local television drama The Price of Peace, a period drama documenting the days of World War II.