ROBERTA GAMBARINI — Easy to Love (2006) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Roberta Gambarini was a virtual unknown outside of Europe before coming to the United States and dazzling both seasoned jazz musicians and critics alike. Under the wing of Benny Carter for several years prior to his death in 2003, the Italian singer with an expressive, clear, and consistently swinging vocal style has seen her reputation spread widely, culminating in this initial American release. Her delightful take on the standard "Easy to Love" includes a bit of soft scatting in tandem with Chuck Berghofer's bass. Her expressive interpretation of "On the Sunny Side of the Street" finds her scatting to each of the demanding solos from a recorded collaboration by Sonny Stitt, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sonny Rollins, as well as adding some original vocalese to each of the solos. She is just as effective handling Bill Evans' bittersweet ballad "The Two Lonely People" and Billy Strayhorn's overlooked gem "Multi-Colored Blue." Tenor saxophonist James Moody is a special guest on "Lover Man" and the swinging "Centerpiece," on the latter playing in unison with Gambarini and engaging in a friendly, often hilarious scat duet with her as well. With this first-rate 2006 release, Roberta Gambarini makes a strong case for consideration as one of the most impressive jazz vocalists to arrive on the scene over the previous two decades; her attractive voice, impeccable taste, and skills as an arranger make her impossible to resist. Ken Dryden
Tracklist :
1 Easy To Love 4:48
Written-By – Cole Porter
2 Only Trust Your Heart 4:11
Written-By – Benny Carter, S. Cahn
3 Lover Man 5:59
Written-By – Davis, Sherman, Ramirez
4 On The Sunny Side Of The Street 5:39
Written-By – D. Fields, J. McHugh
5 Porgy, I's Your Woman Now / I Loves You, Porgy 7:25
Written-By – Dubose Heyward, G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin
6 Lover Come Back To Me 5:44
Written-By – O. Hammerstein II, S. Romberg
7 The Two Lonely People 6:12
Written-By – Bill Evans, Carol Hall
8 Centerpiece 5:21
Written-By – H. (Sweets) Edison, J. Hendricks
9 Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry 5:58
Written-By – J. Styne, S. Cahn
10 No More Blues 3:13
Written-By – A. C. Jobim, J. Hendricks
11 Smoke Gets In Your Eyes / All The Things You Are 5:53
Written-By – J. Kern, J. Kern, O. Hammerstein, O. Harbach
12 Too Late Now 5:09
Written-By – A. J. Lerner, B. Lane
- Bonus Tracks -
13 Multi-Colored Blue 6:30
Written-By – B. Strayhorn
14 Monk's Prayer / Looking Back 5:24
Written-By – J. Hendricks, T. Monk
Credits :
Bass – Chuck Berghofer (tracks: 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14), John Clayton (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 8, 11)
Drums – Joe LaBarbera (tracks: 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13), Willie Jones III (tracks: 1 to 3, 5, 8, 11, 14)
Piano – Gerald Clayton (tracks: 2), Tamir Hendelman (tracks: 1, 3 to 14)
Tenor Saxophone, Vocals – James Moody (tracks: 3, 8)
Vocals – Roberta Gambarini

CHARLES LLOYD - Wild Man Dance (2015) Digipack | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Wild Man Dance marks Charles Lloyd's return to Blue Note after nearly 30 years. The work, a six-part suite, was commissioned by the Jazztopad Festival in Wrocĺaw, Poland in 2013 and premiered and was recorded there. The composer is accompanied by an international cast. The American rhythm section -- pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Joe Sanders, and longtime drummer Eric Harland -- are appended by Greek lyra player Sokratis Sinopoulos and Hungarian Miklos Lukacs on cimbalom. The music here seamlessly melds creative, modally influenced jazz and folk forms, a near classical sense of dynamics, and adventurous improvisation. The long opener "Flying Over the Odra Valley" opens with mysterious interplay between cimbalom and lyra before the bass, drum, and Clayton's elliptical piano enter in a collective rhythmic improvisation on folk drones. Lloyd begins his solo a little over three minutes in. He finds a melody from the heart of the droning center and begins to elaborate upon it as the other instruments gradually rise to meet him. Harland's gently rolling tom-toms, kick drum, and whispering cymbals accent Sanders, who takes a woody solo. It is framed by gently dissonant piano chords that erect themselves into a labyrinthine solo flight. When Lloyd re-enters, it is to re-establish the melodic modal center before Sinopoulos takes it out and helps to introduce "Gardner." Throughout the suite, Lloyd juxtaposes jazz with vanguard textures and the ghosts of sounds and musics from antiquity. Clayton introduces "Lark" with a solo that recalls the meditative yet expressive questioning of Olivier Messiaen's bird songs before bowed bass, lyra, and cimbalom lushly illustrate it without sacrificing the tune's spectral quality. "River" contains a gentle intro, which becomes the vehicle for knotty, swinging post-bop, and later, pulsing free group improvisation highlighted by killer playing by Clayton, Harland, and Lukacs. And while the title track closer also begins slowly, with gorgeous Webster-esque ballad playing from Lloyd, it winds out into a kinetic, freewheeling exploration of tone, timbre, and color and a wonderful solo by Sinopoulos. Wild Man Dance is a success on virtually every level. Its vision is vast, but never indulgent; Lloyd's music is relatable and communicative throughout. It spreads farther than ever before to embrace other musical forms without forsaking jazz. Though Wild Man Dance is on Blue Note, it nonetheless reflects the spiritual and aesthetic qualities nurtured during Lloyd's 16-album tenure at Manfred Eicher's ECM, and extends them with musical restlessness and fearless willingness. This inspiring suite is a landmark in an already extensive creative journey that readily
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Tracklist :
1    I. Flying Over The Odra Valley    11:00
2    II. Gardner    8:12
3    III. Lark    13:21
4    IV. River    16:08
5    V. Invitation    10:34
6    VI. Wild Man Dance    15:15
Credits :
Bass – Joe Sanders
Cimbalom [Cymbalom] – Miklos Lucaks
Drums – Gerald Cleaver
Lyre [Lyra] – Sokratis Sinopoulos
Piano – Gerald Clayton
Producer [Produced By], Management, Design, Photography By – Dorothy Darr
Producer [Produced By], Tenor Saxophone, Composed By – Charles Lloyd

CHARLES LLOYD - 8 : Kindred Spirits Live at the Lobero Theatre (2020) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Saxophonist and composer Charles Lloyd celebrated his 80th birthday in 2018. His wife and manager Dorothy Darr decided to commemorate it with a series of shows that would, in and of themselves, be remarkable celebrations. 8: Kindred Spirits Live at the Libero was cut at the 150-year-old Libero Theater in Santa Barbara on March 15 (his actual birthday). Lloyd was in the company of a stellar band that included longtime drummer Eric Harland, and more recent companions pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Reuben Rogers, and guitarist Julian Lage. He was joined during the second set by organist Booker T. Jones and Blue Note boss Don Was. The full show was released as an expensive, limited-edition package that included three LPs, two compact discs, and a DVD of the entire performance, along with a whopping 96-page hardcover book and a pair of photo prints. This standard version contains both an audio disc and a DVD (or a pair of LPs) and a visual disc that features the concert’s first set sans guests, but it's quite strong on its own.

It opens with Lloyd's biggest "hit," a 20-plus minute version of "Dream Weaver," originally recorded in the mid-'60s. Its first five minutes are spent in warm yet abstract improvisation; Lloyd engages sound more than song. Clayton's ostinato ring & roll prompts Lage to deliver tight arpeggios atop Rogers' modal bass and Harland's intricate cymbal and snare play. At five minutes, Lloyd delivers a mantra-like phrase three times then engages the tune's melody. The band finds it quickly and settles into a simmering, song-like exchange; all players wind through and around one another, taking turns soloing before returning to the lucid groove. "Requiem," issued on Notes from Big Sur in 1992, finds the saxophonist delving deeply into the blues in both the intro and his solo, while Lage delivers a shadowy exercise in post-bop's scalar harmonics. The Mexican folk standard "La Llorona" has been with Lloyd since the beginning, though he didn't cut it in the studio until 2016. The frontline of Clayton (who at times gets his piano to sound like a marimba) and Lage offers a quiet drama and tension like a spell, until Harland sets it all free with his consummate fills and accents. The saxophonist enters at 5:33 and moans through his own lyric statement of the theme, adding whispers and wails, and turning it into an emotional watershed, especially when he quotes form "'Round Midnight." The closer, "Part 5: Ruminations," is a relatively new tune. Its early minutes are spent in improvisation, with Lloyd touching on mentors Coltrane, Rollins, Ben Webster, and Coleman Hawkins before Lage and Clayton push into the melody and swing it as Rogers states the groove. There are duo improvs between Lloyd and Lage (the latter's solo is magnificent), the guitarist and Clayton; Harland and Lloyd; Rogers and Lloyd, etc. At over 18 minutes, it is at once exploratory and accessible. This edition comes with its own 40-page hardbound book of photos that include stirring moments of now-absent figures from Lloyd's long life: pianist Michel Petrucciani, guitarist John Abercrombie, and drummer Billy Higgins. Arguably, this edition of 8: Kindred Spirits, though only a first set, is one of Lloyd's strongest live offerings to date.
|>This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<|
Tracklist :
1     Dream Weaver 21:05
Charles Lloyd    
2     Requiem 11:32
Charles Lloyd    
3     La Llorona 9:03
Traditional    
4     Ruminations, Pt. 5 18:09
Charles Lloyd
Credits :
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Julian Lage
Piano – Gerald Clayton
Saxophone – Charles Lloyd

CHARLES LLOYD - Trios : Ocean (2020) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Ocean is the second volume in saxophonist Charles Lloyd's 2022 Trios series, all recorded with different personnel. This one finds Anthony Wilson on guitar and Gerald Clayton on piano. Both men are members of his Kindred Spirits ensemble. The set was livestreamed during the pandemic on September 9, 2020 from the stage of the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California sans audience. Lloyd has spent his career integrating jazz, blues, and American styles with the music of other global traditions. One of his qualities is that no matter how far afield he travels, his clear, emotive tone keeps the music, no matter how exotic, readily and honestly accessible.

There are four long tunes here, all originals by Lloyd. Opener "The Lonely One" commences with spectral resonance as the tenor emits long breathy notes, Clayton builds sparse minor shapes as Wilson delivers soft, flamenco-esque arpeggios. After two minutes, Lloyd's horn introduces another theme that winds around the guitar as Clayton flows purposefully and distinctly around them with a deeply inquisitive solo. Moods and dynamics shift, shorter accents and solos emerge and retreat, and the band gels around Lloyd's mysterious, Latin-tinged modal assertions. The saxophonist pulls out his mostly neglected alto in "Hagar of the Inuits." He improvises solo for a couple of minutes before a call-and-response exchange with Clayton -- whose knotty chords deliberately draw on Monk -- before Lloyd quotes briefly from John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Wilson slips in spiky blues runs dictating the pianist's shift to a 21st century take on boogie woogie. "Jaramillo Blues (For Virginia Jaramillo and Danny Johnson)" was composed for two artists -- she's a painter,he's a sculptor. Lloyd leads this swinging 12-bar blues with the flute. Wilson's chordal vamps bridge Clayton's rhythmic keyboard. It's bright, with lots of subtle movement and tonal shading underneath. The sequential exchanges and turnarounds between pianist and guitarist are canny. Wilson's massive wall of shapes offers abundant textural support for Clayton's punchy, walking chordal solo. He seamlessly shifts to comping as the guitarist offers an elegantly articulated solo that touches on the jazz guitar's history from Charlie Christian to T-Bone Walker to Jim Hall. Lloyd rejoins for the last few minutes as the conversation becomes sprightly and jovial. Closer "Kuan Yin" is titled for the Chinese goddess of mercy and compassion -- she is known as Tara in Tibetan Buddhism. Clayton introduces it by playing percussively, dampening the lower strings from inside the piano. He follows by establishing a minor-key rhumba rhythm with Wilson before Lloyd tentatively introduces the melody. Before long, he ratchets its intensity as the pianist cascades single-note runs and illustrative chords with colorful, gorgeously toned rhythmic articulation from the guitarist. Behind Lloyd they build to a dynamic group crescendo before whispering to a fade. Ocean offers a document of spontaneously created music-making of a very high order. A snapshot of a moment in time, the energy, creativity, and surprise offered here are a delight.
|> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <|
Tracklist :
1    The Lonely One    12:18
2    Hagar Of The Inuits    8:53
3    Jaramillo Blues (For Virginia Jaramillo And Danny Johnson)    10:03
4    Kuan Yin    10:07
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Alto Flute – Charles Lloyd
Artwork [Cover], Photography By, Design – Dorothy Darr
Guitar – Anthony Wilson
Piano – Gerald Clayton
Written-By [All Songs Written By] – Charles Lloyd