GRETCHEN PARLATO — In a Dream (2009) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Gretchen Parlato is a rising star in vocal jazz circles of the 2000s who everyone should pay attention to and enjoy. Her singing is pure sterling silver, accented with just a hint of ethnic shadings and a big helping of modern style that goes well beyond standard fare. As alluring, distinct, and mature as her youthful instrument is, she deserves extra credit for choosing some of the most interesting young players who also are ascending to major-league status. Guitarist/vocalist Lionel Loueke, keyboardist Aaron Parks, bassist Derrick Hodge, and drummer Kendrick Scott are all leaders in their own right, but add bright and inventive accompaniment that perfectly matches the pristinely hopeful sounds Parlato expresses. The music taps from many sources, including a cute vocal variation of Herbie Hancock's funky "Butterfly," Wayne Shorter's "E.S.P." with rain forest imagery, scat, and quirky 6/8 beats, or Duke Ellington's "Azure" in adapted 5/4 time with Loueke's guitar and Hodge in late. Stevie Wonder's "I Can't Help It" is a pining, crossover, Latin-tinged love song as Parlato sings and Loueke scats and add mouth pops, while Dori Caymmi's skittering "Doralice" is easily representative of expanded tropicalia sensuality. Parks, much like his peer Robert Glasper, has the modern spirit song, loose-repeat-phrased-and-deep-harmonic piano style down pat. As you listen to the Glasper/Parlato joint composition "In a Dream," or the 7/8 meter of "Turning into Blue," you are enveloped in this thin veneer of cloudy, dream sequence sound that identifies the heart and soul of these unique musicians. "Weak" turns this concept into a rock/funk beat emphasized by Fender Rhodes electric piano juxtaposing choppy rhythms versus Parlato's sweet voice, whereas "On the Other Side" flips the script in a shuffle with percussion in shades of renewal and retrial. A muffled, taped recording of Parlato singing at age two is tacked on two tracks, emphasizing the growth curve she has experienced, but more so how she appreciates the child-like wonder that her music clearly retains. Gretchen Parlato is going to be a major player on the contemporary vocal music scene, jazz or not. In a Dream already shows vast potential realized, and is easily recommended to those who appreciate vocal music with an instrumentalist's concept. Michael G. Nastos
Tracklist :
1.    I Can't Help It    4:49
 Susaye Greene / Stevie Wonder
2.    Within Me    5:34
 Francis Jacob
3.    Butterfly    5:02
 Herbie Hancock / Jean Hancock / Bennie Maupin
4.    In A Dream    5:30
 Robert Glasper / Gretchen Parlato
5.    Doralice    3:22
 Antonio Almeida / Dorival Caymmi
6.    Turning Into Blue    5:13
 Alan Hampton / Gretchen Parlato
7.    E.S.P.    4:05
 Wayne Shorter
8.    Azure    4:17
 Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
9.    On The Other Side    3:58
 Francis Jacob
10.    Weak    5:10
 Brian Alexander Morgan / Roger / Larry Troutman
Credits :
Acoustic Bass – Derrick Hodge (tracks: 2, 4, 6, 8)
Arranged By – Alan Hampton (tracks: 6), Gretchen Parlato (tracks: 1, 3 to 8, 10), Lionel Loueke (tracks: 8), Robert Glasper (tracks: 4, 10)
Drums – Kendrick Scott (tracks: 2, 4, 6, 9, 10)
Electric Bass – Derrick Hodge (tracks: 3, 7, 9, 10)
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Aaron Parks (tracks: 4, 7, 9, 10)
Glockenspiel – Aaron Parks (tracks: 6)
Guitar – Lionel Loueke (tracks: 1 to 5, 7 to 9)
Organ – Aaron Parks (tracks: 4, 6)
Percussion – Gretchen Parlato (tracks: 7, 9), Kendrick Scott (tracks: 2)
Piano – Aaron Parks (tracks: 2, 6, 8)
Synthesizer – Aaron Parks (tracks: 10)
Vocals – Gretchen Parlato, Lionel Loueke (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 8, 9) 

YEAHWON SHIN - Lua ya (2013) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

South Korean singer Yeahwon Shin’s ECM debut, “Lua ya” is a gentle album of songs and lullabies, recorded in 2012 in the spacious acoustics of Mechanics Hall, near Boston. It’s a very intuitive set, shaped by “improvising, listening to our childhood memories and letting the music flow”, as Yeahwon says. Shin and pianist Aaron Parks played together just once before the present recording, finding “an instant improvisational connection” which is further explored here. Accordionist Rob Curto shares with Yeahwon an affinity for Brazilian music and has collaborated with her previously (in contexts including her Latin Grammy-nominated album “Yeahwon” on ArtistShare). But this new disc is a project beyond the idiomatic borderlines: Korean children’s songs are amongst the inspirational sources, and jazz has influenced the phrasing and imagination of all three participants, yet “Lua ya” seems to emerge from a place of pure music and a common reservoir of feeling. Yeahwon Shin dedicates the set to mothers and children everywhere. ecm
Tracklist :
1    Lullaby 2'31
(Rob Curto, Aaron Parks, Yeahwon Shin)
2    Moving Clouds 3'34
(Lee Soo Yin, Chung Keun)
3    Island Child 4'14
(Lee Hong Ryeol, Han Yin Hyun)
4    Mysteries 3'11
(Aaron Parks, Yeahwon Shin)
5    The Moonwatcher And The Child 4'15
(Yoon Seok Jung, Hong Nan Pa)
6    The Orchard Road 2'20
(Kim Gong Sun, Park Wha Mok)
7    Remembrance 1'26
(Park Tae Jun, Choi Soon Aeh)
8    Beads Of Rain 3'59
(Kwon Oh Soon, Ahn Byung Won)
9    A Morning Song 3'08
(Aaron Parks, Yeahwon Shin)
10    Travel Blue 3'12
(Aaron Parks, Yeahwon Shin)
11    Beads Of Rain, var. 3'22
(Ahn Byung Won, Kwon Oh Soon)
12    The Orchard Road, var. 2'43
(Kim Gong Sun, Park Wha Mok)
13    Sunrise 2'28
(Aaron Parks, Yeahwon Shin)
Credits :
Yeahwon Shin - Voice
Aaron Parks - Piano
Rob Curto - Accordion

AARON PARKS - Arborescence (2013) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

There is no shortage of fine solo piano offerings on ECM, going all the way back to Paul Bley's classic 1973 Open, To Love. Twenty-nine-year-old pianist Aaron Parks is notable in jazz circles for the skill he displayed in bands led by Terence Blanchard and Kurt Rosenwinkel, as well as on his own wonderful Invisible Cinema for Blue Note in 2008. Arborescence, his first solo recording for ECM, marks his second appearance on the label. His first was backing South Korean vocalist Yeahwon Shin on her lovely collection of ballads and lullabies, Lua Ya, recorded in 2012 and released in September 2013. Arborescence is a collection of 11 improvised pieces recorded at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. Though two works, "Elsewhere" and "Homestead," were taken from previously composed works, here mere elements and themes were used as jumping-off points into exploration. This set is very much in the moment, though its atmosphere is more internal and restrained. A listen to its mysterious opener, "Asleep in the Forest," evidences this. The piano's sounds and harmonies are investigated not as process, but as a deeply connected emotional dialogic relationship between instrument and music, to reveal a "voice." The use of repetition in many of these pieces isthe polar opposite, with the much more dynamic "In Pursuit" as an example, revealing the sound of the pianist digging inside the emotional and sonic geography where harmony, space, tone, and silence commingle. "Toward Awakening" commences haltingly, one carefully placed note and chord at a time, but gradually develops movement as its timbral palette expands, never losing its intuitive elegance. "River Ways" comes from several directions at once, as the left hand articulates a repetitive sequence, the right hand conjures it further in another register, both of them meeting on a seam where dissonance, multiple tonalities, and several voices are articulated invidiously in directions that diverge after their initial meeting. Arborescence is as mercurial after ten listenings as it is after one. The only "strategy" that these pieces seem to share is Parks' determination to remain open as improviser and listener. This requires discipline. He never runs off with his discoveries, but remains present to them as they whisper, move, and slowly dance, seemingly never imposing his will against the suggestion of the music itself. The innate, quiet grace displayed on Arborescence is far from static, but an intricate, ever-evolving labyrinth of sonic communication and elocution.
(This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa')
Tracklist :
1    Asleep In The Forest 4'16
(Aaron Parks)
2    Toward Awakening 6'16
(Aaron Parks)
3    Past Presence 4'28
(Aaron Parks)
4    Elsewhere 7'04
(Aaron Parks)
5    In Pursuit 5'32
(Aaron Parks)
6    Squirrels 2'21
(Aaron Parks)
7    Branchings 5'08
(Aaron Parks)
8    River Ways 3'06
(Aaron Parks)
9    A Curious Bloom 3'24
(Aaron Parks)
10    Reverie 4'17
(Aaron Parks)
11    Homestead 3'59
(Aaron Parks)
Credits :
Aaron Parks   Piano

AARON PARKS | BEN STREET | BILLY HART - Find the Way (2017) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Arborescence, pianist Aaron Parks' 2013 debut for ECM, was a solo record showcasing 11 improvised pieces recorded at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. Find the Way, his trio debut for the label, is its opposite, a collection of eight originals and one cover (the title track) that all rely heavily on assonant harmonic exchanges and intimate but dynamic interplay with drummer Billy Hart and bassist Ben Street; they open these compositions up with an uncommon breathability. The rhythm section is well acquainted, having worked together on three albums by the drummer, including his two ECM outings All Our Reasons (2012) and One Is the Other (2014). This set was cut over three days in 2015 in a studio in the south of France. Since his mid-twenties, Parks has revealed a canny sense of melodic, spatial, and tonal inventions, but the most remarkable aspect of this date is how Hart is the hub in the wheel of each tune. Amid wide chordal statements and elliptical lyric sentiments that open the field in first track "Adrift," Hart's double-times snare, hi-hat, and cymbal work add considerable drama and weight as Street holds the middle ground between the poles. "Hold Music" spends its first minute as a drum solo, with circular patterns on tom-toms before Street's pulsing line and Parks' dark chords enter the frame. Hart dances around his kit, allowing cymbal flourishes to underscore the modal melody. Street's moment comes during "The Storyteller" as he equates the pianist's romantic post-bop lyricism with Hart's syncopations by playing on both. His woody tone and melodic richness offer an expanded sense of dimensionality. The tune "Alice" was composed after the influence of Alice Coltrane's "Ptah, the El Daoud." The modal sequence is based on crossing rhythmic principles, which in turn create new lyric possibilities. They flirt with the outside but never quite arrive there, instead maintaining a mysterious but defined sense of spiritual swing. The closing title track is a cover by Ian Brennan that resonated with the pianist after hearing it on an LP by Rosemary Clooney and Nelson Riddle. The melody's bittersweet tenderness is made all the more poignant by Hart's brushwork highlighting Parks' and Street's spectral yet pervasive romanticism. On Find the Way, this piano trio offers subtle and innovative shifts between the interconnected relationships of its members, but delivers what is ultimately a songlike collection.
(This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa')
Tracklist :
1    Adrift 5'46
(Aaron Parks)
2    Song For Sashou 6'22
(Aaron Parks)
3    Unravel 4'43
(Aaron Parks)
4    Hold Music 4'19
(Aaron Parks)
5    The Storyteller 4'52
(Aaron Parks)
6    Alice 7'09
(Aaron Parks)
7    First Glance 5'41
(Aaron Parks)
8    Melquíades 5'27
(Aaron Parks)
9    Find The Way 5'58
(Ian Bernard)
Credits :
Aaron Parks   Piano
Ben Street   Double Bass
Billy Hart   Drums