TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON | ADAM ROGERS | JIMMY HASLIP | GREG OSBY — Structure (2004) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The combination of Greg Osby with Terri Lyne Carrington is quite logical. Altoist Osby, an original innovator with the M-Base movement (which explored free-form funk) has a very original improvising style. Since Carrington has always loved funk, as has electric bassist Jimmy Haslip (of the Yellowjackets), this match-up works quite well. Osby's interplay with guitarist Adam Rogers is also a major plus. Other than a Joni Mitchell piece ("Ethiopia") that the drummer sings, the repertoire is comprised of group originals. Whether it be overt funky pieces, brooding ballads or the well-titled "Fire," the music is explorative, unpredictable and usually grooving. Well worth exploring by fans of creative funk/jazz. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1    Mindful Intent 5:31
Composed By – Terri Lyne Carrington
2    Black Halo 6:25
Composed By – Greg Osby
3    Ethiopia 6:18
Composed By – Joni Mitchell
4    The Invisible 6:22
Composed By – Adam Rogers
5    Spiral 6:22
Composed By – Jimmy Haslip
6    Facets Squared 4:30
Composed By – Greg Osby
7    Solace 5:22
Composed By – Terri Lyne Carrington
8    Fire 8:31
Composed By – Ed Barguiarena, Terri Lyne Carrington
9    Omega 5:19
Composed By – Jimmy Haslip
10    Columbus, Ohio 4:47
Composed By – Adam Rogers
Credits:
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Adam Rogers
Alto Saxophone – Greg Osby
Bass – Jimmy Haslip
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Terri Lyne Carrington

FLORA PURIM - Speak No Evil (2003) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Two realities are abundantly clear from listening to this Brazilian songstress legend's latest mix of standards and originals -- she swings magnificently with great jazz company (including her husband, percussion legend Airto Moreira) and she's far more emotionally effective singing in her native Portuguese than in her heavily accented English. Her phrasing is solid on classics like "You Go To My Head" and the samba flavored "I've Got You Under My Skin," but her thick accent keeps the ears distracted somewhat from the message her heart seeks to convey. Fortunately, on these and other English language tunes by Don Grusin, Wayne Shorter and the vastly underrated L.A. keyboardist/songwriter Bill Cantos, she's surrounded by bandmates that propel her to great heights. On the opener "This Magic," that includes Moreira's jamming with flutist Gary Meek and members of The Yellowjackets. The same crowd turns "Speak No Evil" into a similarly wild trad-jazz affair. But compare her strained vocals on those tracks with her effortless vocal magic on Brazilian classics like "Tamanco no Samba" and "O Sonho" and the distinction between mere very good and close to perfection is clear. Another gem is the samba-lite tune written by Airto and Yutaka Yokokura, "Primeira Estrela," which rolls along on the strength of Purim's vocal harmonies with Yutaka and Oscar Castro Neves' beautiful acoustic guitar. To truly speak no musical evil, Purim should concentrate on mas Portugues. by Jonathan Widran  
Tracklist :
1     This Magic 5:06
Don Grusin
2     You Go to My Head 3:54
J. Fred Coots / Haven Gillespie
3     Speak No Evil (All for One) 5:13
Wayne Shorter
4     I've Got You Under My Skin 2:52
Cole Porter
5     Tamanco No Samba 5:05
Orlann Divo
6     Don't Say a Word 6:28
Bill Cantos
7     Primeira Estrela 5:01
Airto Moreira / Yutaka Yokokura
8     It Ain't Necessarily So 5:22
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
9     I Feel You 4:37
Bill Cantos
10     O Sonho (Moon Dreams) 6:39
Egberto Gismonti / Chummy MacGregor
Credits :
Jimmy Branley - Percussion
Gary Brown - Bass
Bill Cantos - Arranger, Composer, Keyboards
Oscar Castro-Neves - Arranger, Guitar (Acoustic), Keyboards
Russell Ferrante - Arranger, Keyboards
Jimmy Haslip, Trey Henry - Bass
Christian Jacob - Keyboards
Gary Meek - Arranger, Clarinet, Clarinet (Bass), Flute, Producer, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)
Airto Moreira - Composer, Drums, Percussion, Vocals (Background)
Flora Purim - Voices
Michito Sánchez - Percussion
Yutaka Yokokura - Arranger, Assistant Engineer, Composer, Keyboards, Producer, Vocal Treatments 

CAROL WELSMAN - Carol Welsman (2007) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

If this self-titled CD had more of a straight-ahead jazz outlook, it would be easy to describe Carol Welsman as a member of the Cool School; the Canadian singer favors the type of relaxed, subtle phrasing that June Christy, Helen Merrill and Chris Connor were known for in the '50s. But for the most part, this 2007 release (which was produced by Jimmy Haslip of Yellowjackets fame) is not straight-ahead jazz but rather, is best described as jazz-tinged pop/NAC singing along the lines of Basia, Marilyn Scott and Sade. The 50-minute CD does have its improvisatory moments; the Brazilian-flavored "Café" (a Welsman original) demonstrates that Welsman can scat and improvise effectively when she puts her mind to it. But pop dominates the album, and that isn't a problem because Welsman's pop -- although certainly light -- is not lightweight. For all her subtlety and understatement, Welsman gets her emotional points across whether she is putting her spin on the Doobie Brothers' "What a Fool Believes," Madonna's "Live to Tell" or the Latin standard "Nosotros." Welsman has no problem performing in Spanish on "Nosotros"; in fact, she performs in a total of five languages on this disc -- not only English and Spanish, but also in Portuguese on "Eu Vim de Ahia," in Italian on "Ora" and in French on "Dans Cette Chambre." The latter is an example of a familiar melody with new lyrics; "Dans Cette Chambre" is Welsman's French-language interpretation of Gordon Lightfoot's "Beautiful." A Lightfoot melody and French lyrics might seem an unlikely combination, but it works for Welsman. This disc falls short of exceptional, although it's a pleasing, likable effort that is worth hearing if one has spent a lot of time listening to NAC favorites like Basia and Scott. by Alex Henderson  
Tracklist :
1    Brazasia    4:30
Oscar Castro-Neves
2    Hold Me    3:55
Carol Welsman
3    Dans Cette Chambre    4:00
Gordon Lightfoot
4    What A Fool Believes    4:00
Kenny Loggins
5    Eu Vim De Bahia    2:49
Carol Welsman
6    Café    3:53
Carol Welsman
7    Live To Tell    4:58
Patrick Leonard / Madonna
8    Nosotros    4:02
Julio Acosta / Nelson Rodriguez
9    Too Close For Comfort    5:01
Jerry Bock / Larry Holofcener / George David Weiss
10    With Me    2:27
Jeremy Lubbock
11    Dans Mon Ile    3:34
Henri Salvador
- Bonus Tracks -
12    Beautiful    3:54
Gordon Lightfoot
13    Ora    3:54
Carol Welsman
Credits :
Vocals, Co-producer – Carol Welsman
Guitar – Pierre Côté
Producer, Bass – Jimmy Haslip
Saxophone – Eric Marienthal, Vern Dorge

YELLOWJACKETS - Samurai Samba (1985) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

T he hive is alive with the sound of saxophones, but it’s still all about the groove on Samurai Samba. Keyboardist Russell Ferrante chooses soft keyboard textures, the rhythm section of Haslip and Lawson keep things funky, and Russo’s saxophone comments on the action but doesn’t drive it the way he would on Shades. Otherwise, there’s not much that separates this Samba from their other moves: you have the crossover pop song (“Lonely Weekend”), intoxicating grooves (“Homecoming,” “Deat Beat”) and soulful, smooth jazz (“Daddy’s Gonna Miss You,” “Silverlake”). Since I’m naturally distrustful of jazz, I tend to watch a band that will slip a “Sylvania” and “Silverlake” onto the same album with a raised eyebrow. 

My tastes tend to run more traditional, which is to say I favor the sly dissonance of bop and its related offspring. Yellowjackets do that too, on the closing “Samurai Samba” of all places, but making an album with a little something for everyone only makes everyone a little happy. Of course, as I’ve said before, I have a big blind spot when it comes to jazz, and the ‘80s saw a transitional period where jazz, funk and pop music got swirled together into a kind of supermarket samba that initially attracted new listeners to jazz. If you ask me, the new listeners were people in silly turtlenecks with unpronounceable audiophile components (“The D is silent...”) who were convinced that jazz was the audio equivalent of wheat germ, but I don’t know why you would ask me. It is interesting, however, that jazz critics who would pore over every note recorded by Miles Davis or John Coltrane and gush at the achievements of Weather Report and Pat Metheny would seldom devote a fraction of the energy to breaking down the work of Yellowjackets or Tom Scott. But then I tend to lump jazz into one big bucket, and clearly there’s a little jazz elf at work in the bucket rolling some of the jazz grapes to one side and some to another. And that’s how I started with a hive analogy and ended up with a grape-rolling elf in a bucket. web

Tracklist:

1. Homecoming 5:13

Russell Ferrante

2. Deat Beat 5:25

Russell Ferrante / Jimmy Haslip / Ricky Lawson / Marc Russo

3. Daddy's Gonna Miss You 4:33

Russell Ferrante / Jimmy Haslip / Ricky Lawson / Marc Russo

4. Sylvania 4:14

Russell Ferrante / Jimmy Haslip / Ricky Lawson

5. Silverlake 5:45

Russell Ferrante

6. Lonely Weekend 4:20

Bobby Caldwell / Joseph Curiale / Russell Ferrante / Ricky Lawson

7. Los Mambos 4:24

Paulinho Da Costa / Russell Ferrante / Marc Russo

8. Samurai Samba 5:18

Russell Ferrante

Credits:

Vocals – Bobby Caldwell, Carl Caldwell, Marilyn Scott, Paulinho Da Costa

Bass [5-string] – Jimmy Haslip

Drums, Drums [Electric] – Ricky Lawson

Guitar – Carlos Rios, Michael Landau

Keyboards – Russell Ferrante

Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa

Saxophone [Alto] – Marc Russo

YELLOWJACKETS - Lifecycle (2008) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

If the Yellowjackets needed a guest guitarist, who would be the best person for the job? Pat Metheny would be an excellent choice, as would Al di Meola, John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, or John Scofield. Well, the Yellowjackets did hire a guest guitarist for Lifecycle -- an excellent and well-known guitarist, in fact -- and they feature him extensively on this 2008 release. The guitarist is Mike Stern, who enjoys a strong rapport with the Yellowjackets' 2008 lineup: Russell Ferrante on acoustic piano and electric keyboards, Jimmy Haslip on electric bass, Bob Mintzer on tenor and soprano sax and bass clarinet, and Marcus Baylor on drums and percussion. Stern and the Yellowjackets are a perfectly logical combination -- especially in light of the hell-bent-for-jazz direction the Yellowjackets have favored since 1991's Greenhouse. With Greenhouse (which was Mintzer's first album with the outfit), Ferrante and Haslip made it clear that they wanted the Yellowjackets to be considered a serious, heavy-duty jazz combo instead of a group that pandered to smooth jazz stations. That isn't to say that the Yellowjackets' 1980s output lacks merit -- many of their '80s recordings are quite creative -- but with Greenhouse, Ferrante and Haslip really emphasized their Weather Report/Miles Davis/Return to Forever heritage. And that mindset continues to serve the Yellowjackets well 17 years later on Lifecycle. Jazz purists and bop snobs, of course, would argue that if you use electric instruments and have been influenced by rock or funk in any way, you aren't playing jazz, but the truth is that Stern and the Yellowjackets do bring a serious jazz improviser's mentality to engaging tracks like Haslip's bluesy "Country Living," Mintzer's mysterious "Falken's Maze," and Ferrante's probing, somewhat John Coltrane-ish "Measure of a Man." With its blend of electric and acoustic instruments, Lifecycle is relevant to both fusion and post-bop -- and it is also proof that collaborating with Stern was a very wise move for the Yellowjackets. by Alex Henderson

Tracklist:

1 Falken's Maze 6:25

Written-By – B. Mintzer

2 Country Living 6:24

Written-By – J. Haslip

3 Double Nickel 6:42

Written-By – M.Stern

4 Dreams Go 6:49

Written-By – M.Stern

5 Measure Of A Man 7:33

Written-By – R.Ferrante

6 Yahoo 4:52

Written-By – B. Mintzer

7 I Wonder 6:01

Written-By – B. Mintzer

8 3 Circles 7:30

Written-By – B. Mintzer, J. Haslip, M. Baylor, R.Ferrante

9 Claire's Closet 5:05

Written-By – R.Ferrante

10 Lazaro 5:15

Programmed By [Programming], Sequenced By [Sequencing] – Jimmy Haslip

Written-By – B. Mintzer, J. Haslip

Credits:

Marcus Baylor : Drums, Percussion

Russell Ferrante : Keyboards, Percussion, Piano

Jimmy Haslip : Bass (Electric), 

Bob Mintzer : Clarinet, Clarinet (Bass), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)

Jerry Mitkowski : Piano Technician

Mike Stern : Featured Guitar 

BOB MINTZER - One Music (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This saxophonist's best small-group work, with fellow Yellowjackets. The best cuts are the title and "Look Around." Ventures funky and creative into neo-bop modes.  by Michael G. Nastos 
Tracklist 
1  One People  4:07
Composed By – Mintzer
2  One Music  6:37
Composed By – Mintzer
3  City Of Hope  5:44
Composed By – Mintzer
4  Navajo  5:45
Composed By – Haslip, Ferrante, Kennedy
5  Old Friends  6:05
Composed By – Ferrante
6  Rich & Poor  5:18
Composed By – Mintzer
7  Look Inside  5:07
Composed By – Mintzer
8  The Big Show  4:12
Composed By – Mintzer
9  The Song Is You  5:30
Composed By – Kern, Hammerstein
10  The Challenge 5:55
Composed By – Mintzer
Credits 
Bass – Jimmy Haslip
Congas – Don Alias
Drums – William Kennedy
Keyboards – Russell Ferrante
Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Electronic Wind Instrument, Producer – Bob Mintzer