AL JARREAU — My Old Friend : Celebrating George Duke (2014) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Al Jarreau got his start playing in a jazz trio led by pianist/keyboardist George Duke, so it is fitting that Jarreau pays tribute to Duke, who passed away in 2013, on his 2014 album My Old Friend: Celebrating George Duke. It was while working as a vocal rehab counselor at a hospital in San Francisco in the late '60s that Jarreau began singing with Duke's trio. It was also due in part to the popularity of these early performances that both musicians' storied solo careers were launched. On My Old Friend: Celebrating George Duke, Jarreau delves into a batch of Duke compositions with a select group of guest artists, many of whom also had connections to Duke. Joining Jarreau here are such luminaries as Gerald Albright, Lalah Hathaway, Jeffrey Osborne, Dianne Reeves, and others. Similarly, backing Jarreau at various times is a superb ensemble of musicians including bassist Stanley Clarke (who also produced the album), keyboardists John Beasley and Patrice Rushen, guitarist Paul Jackson, Jr., and drummer John "J.R." Robinson. In fact, Duke himself makes an appearance here via the wonders of modern technology on the languidly romantic "Bring Me Joy." Elsewhere, Jarreau turns his sonorous, joyful voice to such Duke songs as "Sweet Baby," "No Rhyme, No Reason," "You Touch My Brain," and more. Ultimately, My Old Friend: Celebrating George Duke is a heartfelt tribute album that, as with many of Jarreau and Duke's previous albums, feels fresh, warm, and full of love. Matt Collar  
Tracklist :
1 My Old Friend 4:57
Backing Vocals – Jeffrey Osborne, Katriz Trinidad, Patrick Lundquist, Porcha Clay
Bass – Stanley Clarke
Drums – John Robinson
Featuring – Gerald Albright
Guitar – Paul Jackson Jr.
Keyboards, Piano – Patrice Rushen
Producer – John Burk, Stanley Clarke
Saxophone – Gerald Albright
Vocals – Al Jarreau
Written-By – John Lang, Richard Page, Steve George
2 Someday 4:21
Bass – Marcus Miller
Drums – John Robinson
Featuring – Dianne Reeves
Guitar – Jubu
Keyboards – John Beasley
Producer – John Burk, Marcus Miller
Vocals – Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves
Written-By – George Duke
3 Churchyheart (Backyard Ritual) 4:56
Bass, Bass Clarinet, Programmed By – Marcus Miller
Drums – John Robinson
Featuring – Marcus Miller
Guitar – Jubu
Keyboards – John Beasley
Lyrics By – Al Jarreau
Music By – George Duke
Producer – John Burk, Marcus Miller
Trumpet – Mike Cotton
Vocals – Al Jarreau
4 Somebossa (Summer Breezin') 4:41
Backing Vocals – Patrick Lundquist
Bass – Stanley Clarke
Drums – John Robinson
Featuring – Gerald Albright
Guitar – Paul Jackson Jr.
Keyboards – Greg Phillinganes
Lyrics By – Al Jarreau, George Duke, Patrick Lundquist
Music By – George Duke
Percussion – Lenny Castro
Producer – John Burk, Stanley Clarke
Saxophone – Gerald Albright
5 Sweet Baby 4:31
Backing Vocals – Patrick Lundquist
Bass, Backing Vocals – Stanley Clarke
Drums – John Robinson
Featuring – Lalah Hathaway
Guitar – Paul Jackson Jr.
Keyboards, Piano – Greg Phillinganes
Percussion – Lenny Castro
Producer – John Burk, Stanley Clarke
Vocals – Al Jarreau, Lalah Hathaway
Written-By – George Duke
6 Every Reason To Smile / Wings Of Love 3:51
Backing Vocals – Fred Martin, Katriz Trinidad, Patrick Lundquist, Porcha Clay
Bass – Stanley Clarke
Drums – John Robinson
Featuring – Jeffrey Osborne
Guitar – Paul Jackson Jr.
Keyboards, Piano – Patrice Rushen
Producer – John Burk, Stanley Clarke
Vocals – Al Jarreau, Jeffrey Osborne
Written-By – George Duke, Jeffrey Osborne, Peter Schless, Stanley Clarke
7 No Rhyme, No Reason 4:05
Drums – Rob Bacon
Featuring – Kelly Price
Keyboards – Brandon Coleman
Percussion – Lenny Castro
Producer – Boney James
Programmed By – Boney James
Vocals – Al Jarreau, Kelly Price
Written-By – George Duke
8 Bring Me Joy 4:36
Bass – Alex Al
Drums – Omari Williams
Featuring – Boney James, George Duke
Guitar – Rob Bacon
Keyboards – George Duke
Percussion – Lenny Castro
Producer – Boney James
Tenor Saxophone – Boney James
Vocals – Al Jarreau
Written-By – George Duke
9 Brazilian Love Affair / Up From The Sea / It Arose And Ate Rio In One Swift Bite 4:46
Backing Vocals – Fred Martin, Katriz Trinidad, Patrick Lundquist, Porcha Clay
Bass – Stanley Clarke
Drums – John Robinson
Featuring – Dianne Reeves
Guitar – Paul Jackson Jr.
Keyboards – Patrice Rushen
Percussion – Lenny Castro
Producer – John Burk, Stanley Clarke
Producer [Additional] – Chris Dunn
Vocals – Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves
Written-By – George Duke
10 You Touch My Brain 4:44
Backing Vocals – Patrick Lundquist
Bass – Marcus Miller
Drums – John Robinson
Featuring – Dr. John
Guitar – Jubu
Keyboards – John Beasley
Producer – John Burk, Marcus Miller
Vocals – Al Jarreau
Vocals, Piano – Dr. John
Written-By – George Duke

NILS LANDGREN & JOE SAMPLE — Creole Love Call (2006) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Swedish trombonist and vocalist Nils Landgren joins forces with Joe Sample and friends in New Orleans for this studio session, which mixes up a hot gumbo of R&B, jazz, and Crescent City down-home fun. The play list draws from many styles, including works by local legend Allen Toussaint, Ray Charles, rocker Stephen Stills, and even Willie Nelson, as was as originals by Sample and one from jazz master Duke Ellington. The duet tracks are the most fun as Landgren shares the vocals with Ray Parker, Jr. ("Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay") and Charmaine Neville (on the funky "With You in Mind"). The guitar and percussion-heavy take of "Love the One You're With" leans more toward Stills' original conception than the Isley Brothers' overdone interpretation, though Sample's playful licks keep things loose and the heavy overdubs of the composer are missing in this version. The only dull track is the monotonous "I Can't Get Enough of Your Love," which wears out its welcome quickly. "Creole Love Call" adds the Piety Street Brass Band for a slightly modern twist on an early jazz favorite from the 1920s. When he's not singing, Landgren plays a mean trombone. Fortunately, this CD was completed several months before the unwelcome arrival of Hurricane Katrina. Ken Dryden

 More about the album:
The man with the red trombone is always on the look out for new challenges. This is what has made Nils Landgren one of the most creative, many-sided and also most successful artists to be currently found in the European jazz scene. Since 1994 he has been under contract to the ACT Label from Munich, releasing over this period 12 albums in his own name. Seven have received the golden German Jazz Award, with two even going platinum! Meanwhile, his role as producer of Swedish singers Rigmor Gustafsson and Viktoria Tolstoy has brought him two further gold awards.

With "Mr Redhorn" Nils Landgren, who "for a long time has been at the forefront of European jazz trombonists" (Spiegel), you don't only associate the frenetic celebrated concerts of his groovy Funk Unit, which has been ceaselessly on the road for the past year with the successful project FUNKY ABBA (ACT 9430-2). You also know him from his intimate duos with Esbjörn Svensson where they would rework Swedish folk songs, from his chamber concerts of religious music or from his collaborations with big bands.

One first came across Nils Landgren as the sensitive interpreter of ballads on his 1999 album Ballads (ACT 9269-2) from which can be appreciated his gentle and touching voice and "hypnotic charm" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). Following this he released his platinum disc Sentimental Journey (ACT 9409-2) and produced the exceptionally successful album I Will Wait For You (ACT 9418-2) by Rigmor Gustafsson. In 2005 the journey has now taken him to the southern states of USA, leading him to New Orleans.

There are many reasons for this. Karl-Erik Landgren would habitually tell his young son: ”Listen to this music, it’s the real stuff”, whenever he took up his cornet to rehearse the swinging tunes from the New Orleans era with his band or played his shellac discs. The enthusiasm spread from father to son and the fascination for the sounds and rhythms of the cradle of jazz was passed on to the young Nils. It was a lifelong dream of his father to set foot in the hometown of jazz at least once in his life. Nils made the journey in his place in spring 2005, in order to realise a project devoted to the music of the American South. A project that could only be recorded in one town and with one man in particular: in New Orleans and with Joe Sample: Creole Love Call.

Born in Houston, Texas, Joe Sample grew up exposed to the usual Southern mix of jazz, blues and gospel. He is known above all as a founder member, pianist, keyboardist and composer of the legendary funk jazz band The Crusaders, with which he wrote musical history over the decades. So many of his songs became worldwide hits, such as "Street Life" sung by Randy Crawford in 1979. Many of these can be rediscovered on Creole Love Call. Since the late Seventies, Joe Sample has also followed a parallel career as solo pianist and accompanied stars such as Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, B.B. King, Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker on numerous albums and tours.

Nils Landgren and Joe Sample have known each other for at least 20 years, from when Nils accidentally found himself in the middle of a recording session of The Crusaders in Los Angeles and then played together with Randy Crawford in Santa Barbara the following summer. Years later, after three of the original Crusaders got back together in 2003, Joe Sample invited Nils at the beginning of 2005 to join him on a major Japan tour - and thus Creole Love Call was sealed with a simple handshake.

The band which Nils and Joe specially put together for this album mainly consists of musicians from New Orleans. With a famous exception: the pop and soul star Ray Parker Jr., especially known for the title song for the Ivan Reitman film "Ghostbusters" (1984). Here he plays guitar and duets with Nils Landgren on the Otis Redding hit "Dock Of The Bay". The rhythm section includes bassist Chris Severin, who is known amongst others from many Dianne Reeves albums, Raymond Weber (drums), and Lenny Castro (percussion). Weber was in the 90s a member of Harry Connick Jr.'s Big Band and is to be seen on screen in the film "Ray" as the drummer in the band of Ray Charles. The busy percussionist Lenny Castro has worked together with greats such as Al Jarreau, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, Ricky Lee Jones, Diana Ross and Quincy Jones, and is also known for work with Joe Sample and The Crusaders.

Charmaine Neville, a member of the famous Neville Brothers clan, appears as "special guest", interpreting with Nils Landgren Allen Toussaint's classic "With You In Mind", which lyrics are written by her uncle Aaron Neville. Also appearing on Creole Love Call is one of New Orleans' most famous musicians, the sousaphone player Kirk Joseph, arguably the most important and most creative innovator of his instrument. Together with trombonist "Big Sam" Sammie Williams, leader of the New Orleans funk band "Big Sam's Funky Nation", he is a member of the legendary New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band. ACT
Tracklist :
1        Get Out Of My Life Woman 4:16
Written-By – Allen Toussaint
2        (Sittin' On The) Dock Of The Bay 4:31
Written-By – Otis Redding, Steve Cropper
3        Nightlife 4:33
Written-By – Willie Nelson
4        Soul Shadows 5:15
Written-By – Joe Sample, Will Jennings
5        The Brightest Smile In Town 6:21
Written-By – Barry de Vorzon, Ray Charles, Bob Sherman
6        Don't Take Your Love To Hollywood 3:13
Written-By – Joe Sample, Will Jennings
7        One Day I Fly Away 4:00
Written-By – Joe Sample, Will Jennings
8        With You In Mind 3:11
Written-By – Allen Toussaint
9        I Can't Get Enough Of Your Love 5:32
Written-By – Joe Sample
10        Love The One You're With 3:19
Written-By – Stephen Stills
11        Same Old Story 4:38
Written-By – Joe Sample, Will Jennings
12        Creole Love Call 2:52
Written-By – Duke Ellington
Credits :
Nils Landgren – Trombone and Vocals
Joe Sample – Grand piano, Fender Rhodes
Ray Parker Jr. – Guitar and Vocals
Chris Severin – Acoustic Bass
Raymond Weber – Drums
Lenny Castro – Percussion

Special Guest:
Charmaine Neville – Vocals

JOE SAMPLE — Roles (1987) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist & Credits :

JOE SAMPLE — Spellbound (1989) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

With the supremely funky rhythm section of Marcus Miller (bass), Lenny Castro (percussion) and Omar Hakim (drums) propelling his piano most of the way -- the other ringers on a few tracks aren't bad either -- you would think that Joe Sample couldn't miss on this solo outing, Spellbound. Indeed, his distinctive piano cannot be mistaken for anyone else's, free of the usual mainstream influences and always a pleasure to groove to. And yet there is something too comfortable, too settled, too automatic about the musicmaking here, as if the grooves are being smothered by a warm, snuggly electric blanket. Another problem is the material; not much leaps into your memory banks. Nor is it meant to, perhaps, since the gently sustained electronic textures suggest that this is, above all, high-class background music. Al Jarreau, Michael Franks and Take 6 -- all Warner Bros. signees, natch -- put in characteristic cameo vocal appearances on one track apiece, and a background choir sings "Luna en New York" in Spanish. Richard S. Ginell
Tracklist & Credits :

JOE SAMPLE — Ashes to Ashes (1990) WV (image+.cue), lossless

Joe Sample's recordings throughout much of his career have been consistent and quite interchangeable. Backed by a semi-metronomic if usually grooving rhythm section, Sample's acoustic piano on this Warner Bros. CD is almost always in the lead, playing easy listening jazz-pop; nothing memorable or unique occurs. The lightweight melodies are quite easy to take (serving as excellent background music), but it is a pity that Joe Sample has often seemed satisfied to stay at this unimaginative level, emulating Ramsey Lewis. Scott Yanow   Tracklist & Credits :

JOE SAMPLE — Invitation (1993) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A luscious outing from piano great Joe Sample, this disc includes beautiful interpretations of ten standards and near standards. Featuring plush orchestral arrangements by Dale Oehler wrapped over and around Sample's piano trio, Invitation is simply one of the loveliest recordings of Sample's career. With a rhythm section made up of bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Victor Lewis, augmented by Lenny Castro on percussion, the music is of a piece from start to finish. Producer Tommy Lipuma has found a wonderful setting for Sample to show his gorgeous, acoustic piano stylings, and the orchestra feels like part of the trio instead of an add-on. When Sample uses synths, they are indistinguishable from the orchestra. Overall, a smooth, romantic, highly recommended recording. Jim Newsom     Tracklist & Credits : 

MARILYN SCOTT — Nightcap (2004) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Over the course of seven previous recordings, while establishing herself as a premier adult contemporary singer/songwriter, Marilyn Scott has carried on a quiet but steady love affair with the Great American Songbook. Her rendition of "The Look of Love" (from 1998's Avenues of Love) earned producer George Duke a Grammy nomination for Best Arrangement with vocals. Earlier recordings feature stunning versions of the classics "Let Me Be the One," "The Summer Knows," and "You Don't Know Me." On this much too short but still very satisfying collection, Scott's flirtation with pop standards evolves beautifully into a life-changing romance with the help of some of Los Angeles' most acclaimed studio musicians and jazz performers -- Brandon Fields (sax), Rick Baptist (trumpet), Ray Fuller (guitar), Brian Bromberg (upright bass), Dan Higgins (flute), Brazilian guitarist Dori Caymmi, and Vinnie Colaiuta (drums). Nightcap also marks the first time that frequent collaborator Duke has produced and arranged an entire Scott recording. The choices are inspired, from the coolly swinging Brazilian romance of "I Wished on the Moon" (from the Billie Holiday catalog) to the tender trio arrangement of "Smile" and understated poetry of "Stardust" (featuring Duke on piano and Rhodes). Scott skips through a nice variety of moods -- the heartfelt melancholy of "Here's that Rainy Day" balancing the optimistic "Isn't This a Lovely Day," with her bright vocal cruising gracefully over Bromberg's throbbing bass. The soulful big-band brass textures on "If It's the Last Thing I Do" adds a classy closing touch. Jonathan Widran 
Tracklist :
1 I Wished on a Moon 5:02
Dorothy Parker / Ralph Rainger
2 Smile 4:00
Charlie Chaplin / Geoffrey Parsons / John Turner
3 Here's That Rainy Day 4:59
Johnny Burke / James Van Heusen
4 Stardust 5:28
Hoagy Carmichael / Mitchell Parish
5 Isn't This a Lovely Day 4:04
Irving Berlin
6 Here's to Life 5:15
Artie Butler / Phyllis Molinary
7 Yesterdays 5:04
Jerome Kern
8 If It's the Last Thing I Do 6:10
Sammy Cahn / Saul Chaplin
Credits 
Alto Saxophone – Brandon Fields
Bass – Brian Bromberg
Drums – Vinnie Colaiuta
Guitar – Dean Parks, Ray Fuller
Guitar, Vocals – Dori Caymmi
Keyboards, Producer – George Duke
Percussion – Lenny Castro
Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Dan Higgins
Trumpet – Rick Baptist
Vocals – Marilyn Scott