PATTI AUSTIN — Avant Gershwin (2007) Two Version | APE (image+.cue), lossless + FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A staple of pop, R&B and jazz over the past thirty years, this impossibly versatile singer's 16 album career during that time rolls like a fascinating journey through those genres while also drawing wisdom and inspiration on occasion from The Great American Songbook. Avant Gershwin, Patti Austin's shimmering hour-plus tour de force through both familiar and obscure -- but always intriguing -- selections from the catalog of George & Ira Gershwin, is, for the record, not the first time she's dazzled with their songs. Her 1998 masterpiece The Real Me included "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and "They Can't Take That Away from Me." And her 2002 tribute album For Ella included "Love Is Here to Stay," "But Not for Me" and "The Man I Love." Recorded live before an audience at the Kölner Philharmonic in Köln, and Westfalenpark Dortmund, Germany over two evenings in 2006, Avant Gershwin is in many ways an extension of the Fitzgerald tribute; both find her performing with the vibrant, brassy and swinging backing of the WDR Big Band. Its centerpieces are the "Overture/Gershwin Medley" -- a twelve-minute, moodswinging romp through the big rhythm songs, "Clap Yo' Hands," "Fascinating Rhythm" and "I Got Rhythm" -- and the dramatic 17-minute "Porgy and Bess Medley," which casts Austin as the consummate musical theater performer. The latter begins with a gentle orchestral overture and a tender read of "A Woman Is a Sometime Thing" and a lush twist on the familiar "Summertime" before shifting into full swing mode on "There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York" and back to port for the start of "It Ain't Necessarily So" ahead of a theatrical finish. Beyond right on the money arrangements and Austin's always colorful phrasing, perhaps the most inspired element of the project is her impeccable song choice. Rather than settle for the songs everyone's heard ad nauseum, with the exception of "Swanee," she puts her own stamp on the lovelorn "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise," the witty and delightful "Who Cares"and "Funny Face," and the heartbreaking "Love Walked In/Love Is Sweeping the Country." "Lady Be Good" provides a rousing, bold and brassy finish, with Austin doing the kind of sizzlin' scat that would do her idol proud. Who could ask for anything more? This CD was nominated for a Grammy award in 2007 for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Jonathan Widran
Tracklist :
 1. Overture/Gershwin Medley (12:19)
2. I'll Build A Stairway To Paradise (6:14)
3. Who Cares (6:34)
4. Funny Face (4:02)
5. Love Walked In/Love Is Sweeping The Country (5:35)
6. Swanee (5:13)
7. Porgy And Bess Medley (17:08)
8. Lady Be Good (6:52)
Credits :
Featuring – WDR Big Band Köln
Vocal - Patti Austin
Producer, Arranged By, Conductor – Michael Abene

TOWER OF POWER — Tower Of Power (1973-1990) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The Tower of Power finally found their ideal lead singer on this album. Lenny Williams came aboard and gave them both the up-tempo belter and convincing balladeer they had previously lacked. They landed their biggest single hit, "So Very Hard to Go," and also had two other top tunes in "What Is Hip" and "This Time It's Real." The arrangements and production were also excellent, and the horn section was at its explosive best. Ron Wynn
Tracklist :
1    What Is Hip?    5:03
 Emilio Castillo / David Garibaldi / Stephen "Doc" Kupka
2    Clever Girl    2:52
 Emilio Castillo / Stephen "Doc" Kupka
3    This Time It's Real    2:52
 David Bartlett / Emilio Castillo / Stephen "Doc" Kupka
4    Will I Ever Find A Love?    3:48
 Emilio Castillo / Stephen "Doc" Kupka
5     Get Yo' Feet Back On The Ground    4:51
 W. Fulton
6    So Very Hard To Go    3:37
 Emilio Castillo / Stephen "Doc" Kupka
7    Soul Vaccination    5:10
 Emilio Castillo / Stephen "Doc" Kupka
8    Both Sorry Over Nothin'    3:22
 Emilio Castillo / Stephen "Doc" Kupka / Lenny Williams
9    Clean Slate    3:20
 Emilio Castillo / Stephen "Doc" Kupka
10    Just Another Day    4:38
 Bruce Conte
Credits :
Arranged By, Conductor [Strings], Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Vocals – Greg Adams
Bass – Francis Rocco Prestia
Congas, Bongos – Brent Byars
Drums – David Garibaldi
Guitar, Vocals – Bruce Conte
Lead Vocals – Lenny Williams
Organ, Vocals – Chester Thompson
Producer [Production Supervision], Saxophone [2nd Tenor Sax], Vocals – Emilio Castillo
Saxophone [1st Tenor Sax], Flute, Clarinet, Vocals – Lenny Pickett
Saxophone [Baritone Sax], Oboe, Vocals – Stephen Kupka
Trumpet, Trombone, Flugelhorn, Baritone Horn, Vocals – Mic Gillette

MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO — The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams (2003) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Say what you will about bassist, songwriter, singer, bandleader, and arranger Meshell Ndegeocello, any box you attempt to put her into is not possibly big enough to hold her creativity and restless, unwieldy aesthetic vision. On "The Sloganeer: Paradise," a tune in which she equates the bland, complicit nature of blindly living modern life with committing suicide, she sings: "To know me is to know I love with/My imagination." It's a summation of her entire career thus far, and this album furthers that notion exponentially. The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams is Ndegeocello's debut for Decca; it is wilder than Cookie: An Anthropological Mixtape, or her last recording, The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel. The latter set was a project that indulged her love of postmodern jazz and engaged in improvisation. She directed an ensemble that included Oliver Lake, Don Byron, Jack DeJohnette, Kenny Garrett, Ron Blake, Brandon Ross, Lalah Hathaway, Cassandra Wilson, and others. It walked a line between tight song-oriented material and longer jam-based tunes, and she didn't really sing on it. That's remedied here, and her sultry, smoky voice is heard on virtually every cut. Musically, this albums walks through walls. There are funky soul tunes whose backdrops are full of psychedelic music that would make the latter-day Jimi Hendrix smile in delight (think the material from Cry of Love). There are jazz-oriented tunes that slip toward pop, folk, and whole-tone folk songs. The lyrical content engages spiritual concerns and carnal love more often than not in the same song. And while she once more employs a wildly diverse collection of collaborators that include everyone from Ross and Lake to Pat Metheny, Oumou Sangare, Robert Glasper, Mike Severson, Daniel Jones, Doyle Bramhall, David Gilmore (not the one from Pink Floyd), James Newton, and Graham Haynes, she also cut two songs ("Evolution" and the bonus cut "Soul Spaceship"), playing all the instruments herself. So what does it sound like? The future arriving fully formed on the doorstep. It opens provocatively enough with noted American Muslim teacher and Islamic scholar Shiek Hamza Yusuf reciting the predictions of Mohammed to a backwash of Ross' guitar and ambient sounds. (Yusuf was the man who appeared with George W. Bush after 9/11 and denounced the attacks and all religious violence, and is working for a return to Islamic sciences as well as assisting Western governments in understanding Islamic culture and Muslims.) It moves into a rock & roll dreamscape called "Sloganeering: Paradise" awash in keyboards, a drummer playing drum and bass breaks that would make Prince jealous. "Evolution" is a spaced-out psychedelic dirge with few lyrics and a sound field worthy of Hendrix (and indeed her guitar playing is influenced in that direction). The sci-fi jazz of "Virgo," with Lake, Newton, and trombonist George McMullen, hovers and floats in vanguard space before turning into a dreamy pop song with acoustic guitars, synth washes, and samples but is held together with a gorgeous melody and vocal performance (and contains a funky little solo by Lake on alto saxophone). "Shirk" is a gorgeous spiritual duet between Sangare and Ndegeocello with Hervé Sambe and Metheny on acoustic guitars. Metheny also appears on "Article," the following cut with a guest appearance by Thandiswa Mazwai singing with Ndegéocello, but this time out she pops that bass of hers in response. It's a dizzying cut with shifting rhythms and textures, and call-and-response vocals that feel more like counterpoint as different sonic and textural motifs move across the front of the tune. All this and the record is just over halfway. The deep spirituality at work here has been present in Ndegeocello's work arguably since the beginning, but it has become more pronounced in recent years. That said, the beautiful and poetic expressions of desire as it encounters both flesh and the divine are soulful, without pretension or artifice. "Michelle Johnson" is a freewheeling exploration of electronic outer realms, tough guitar, and bass-heavy funk, with killer drum kit work by Deantoni Parks and hand percussion by Gilmar Gomes. The sonic treatments by Scott Mann and Chad Royce are all structure to fill the space around the artist's basslines and expressive belly-deep voice -- and you can be the judge as to which Michelle Johnson she's speaking of here. "Solomon" is among the most beautiful songs this woman has ever written. It is presented in a painterly way, illustrated and framed inside a warm bubbly electronic backdrop that gives way to languid melody, a spine-moving bassline that grooves low and slow on this futuristic soul lullaby. The official album closes with the completely out-to-lunch "Relief: A Stripper Classic," which is the true missing link between urban soul, heavy metal, and slow, downtempo funk -- all of it with a pronounced hook and refrain. "Soul Spaceship" is the place where Sly Stone, Amp Fiddler, and Millie Jackson meet in a big bass sci-fi wonderland presided over by Rick James and Teena Marie! The basslines and synth lines are huge, drum machines abound and skitter, and all the while Ndegéocello and Sy Smith make a beautifully grooving mess with the vocals. Ultimately, The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams, with its irony, sincerity, seeming contradiction, and elliptical paradox, is the most expansive, complex record yet released by this always provocative artist. It will take more than a single listen to warm up to, but once you actually take it in, it will be one of her recordings you go back to over and again because while it gives up its secrets slowly, it gives the listener something new each time too. Wild, visionary, and marvelously tough, this is a groover that will turn you inside out.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Haditha 1:31
Engineer – Erik Dyba
Guitar – Brandon Ross
Mixed By – Fran Cathcart
Programmed By [Additional] – Neil McLellan
Voice – Hamza Yusuf
2    The Sloganeer: Paradise 5:05
Drums – Deantoni Parks
Engineer – Stephen Joseph
Guitar – Mike Severson
Mixed By – Neil McLellan
Producer [Additional] – Chad Royce, Scott Mann
3    Evolution 3:45
Engineer – Erik Dyba
Mixed By – Bob Power
Vocals [Additional] – Daniel Jones
4    Virgo 2:52
Engineer – Erik Dyba
Flute – James Newton
Guitar [Additional] – Scott Mann
Keyboards [Additional] – Scott Mann
Mixed By – Chad Royce, Scott Mann
Percussion [Additional] – Chad Royce
Saxophone – Oliver Lake
Trombone – George McMullen
5    Lovely Lovely 3:28
Engineer – Erik Dyba
Flute – James Newton
Guitar – Hervé Sambe, Rhamis Kent
Percussion – Gilmar Gomes
6    Elliptical 5:35
Cornet – Graham Haynes
Engineer – Erik Dyba
Guitar – Brandon Ross
Mixed By – Erik Dyba
Percussion – Davi Vieira
Programmed By – Amatus-Sami
Vocals – Sy Smith
7    Shirk 2:53
Engineer – Erik Dyba
Guitar – Hervé Sambe, Pat Metheny
Mixed By – Eric Elterman
Vocals – Oumou Sangare
8    Article 3 3:33
Drums – Deantoni Parks
Engineer – Erik Dyba
Guitar – Pat Metheny
Mixed By – Fran Cathcart
Percussion – Davi Vieira
Vocals – Thandiswa Mazwai
9    Michelle Johnson 5:03
Drums – Deantoni Parks
Engineer – Erik Dyba
Guitar – David Gilmore, Doyle Bramhall, Hervé Sambe
Keyboards – Daniel Jones
Keyboards [Additional] – Chad Royce, Scott Mann
Mixed By – Bob Power
Mixed By [Additional] – Chad Royce, Scott Mann
Percussion – Gilmar Gomes
Vocals – Sy Smith
10    Headline 1:53
Drums – Deantoni Parks
Engineer – Erik Dyba
Keyboards – Jason Lindner
Mixed By [Additional] – Fran Cathcart
Producer [Additional] – Fran Cathcart
11    Solomon 4:04
Drum Programming [Additional] – Chad Royce
Drums – Rhamis Kent
Engineer – Eric Elterman, Erik Dyba
Mixed By – Chad Royce, Scott Mann
Voice – Jack Bean
12    Relief: A Stripper Classic 4:28
Bass – Mark Kelley
Drum Programming [Additional] – Chad Royce
Engineer – Stephen Joseph
Guitar – Mike Severson
Keyboards [Additional] – Chad Royce, Scott Mann
Mixed By – Chad Royce, Scott Mann
Piano – Robert Glasper
Synthesizer – Daniel Jones
Vocals – Sy Smith
– BONUS TRACKS –
13    Soul Spaceship    4:35
Credits :
    Bass – Meshell Ndegeocello
    Drums – Meshell Ndegeocello
    Guitar – Meshell Ndegeocello
    Keyboards – Meshell Ndegeocello
    Producer – Chad Royce, Erik Dyba, Meshell Ndegeocello, Scott Mann
    Vocals – Meshell Ndegeocello

ANOUSHKA SHANKAR — Traces of You (2013) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

For sitarist and composer Anoushka Shankar's second offering for Deutsche Grammophon, she stays closer to home musically than she did on 2011's widely celebrated Traveller. That said, she carries what she learned from studying flamenco with producer Javier Limon and integrates it fully into these proceedings. Producer Nitin Sawhney, a fine recording artist in his own right, is an integral part of Traces of You. He wrote one of these 13 cuts, co-authored five more, and arranged and played on several others. This is easily the most intimate and emotional offering in Shankar's catalog. Though the album was planned earlier and its basic ideas outlined by Shankar and Sawhney, the music is indelibly informed by a life-changing event, the death of her father, Ravi Shankar. Opener and first single "The Sun Won’t Set" is one of three tracks to feature the voice of half-sister Norah Jones, whose haunting, bluesy vocal is adorned only by Shankar's sitar, a classical guitar, and Ghatam (a percussion instrument). The title track evokes the loss and spirit of her father in an uplifting way. A sprightly, syncopated rhythm track undergirds Jones' drifting vocal as Shankar's sitar alternately drones and accents alongside a tabla, glockenspiel, and guitar. It is one of the set's standout tracks. "Indian Summer" is a piano and sitar duet where flamenco and Indian classical music sit side by side. Three tracks -- "Lasya," "In Jyotyi's Name," and "Chasing Shadows" -- are squarely inside the Indian classical tradition, while several others, including "River Pulse," "Monsoon," and "Metamorphosis," use it in a context framed by electronic rhythms and loops without breaking the overriding lineage thread. Closer "Unsaid" features Jones' melody, vocal, and piano accompanying Shankar's lyrics and sitar. A poignant pop ballad, Sawhney adds just enough of Ian Burdge's cello to deepen its emotional impact. Throughout Traces of You, Shankar allows her vulnerability as a human being -- even in the instrumentals -- to freely converse with her authority as a musician and composer. Sawhney is an empathic producer balancing the sides, allowing her wide-ranging and integrative musical ideas to take root and flower even as they express tenderness, sadness, grace, and gratitude.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    The Sun Won't Set 3:35
Ghatam – Pirashanna Thevarajah
Guitar – Nitin Sawhney
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Vocals – Norah Jones
2    Flight    3:38
Cello – Ian Burdge
Programmed By, Arranged By [Strings] – Nitin Sawhney
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Steel Drums [Hang] – Manu Delago
3    Indian Summer    4:54
Piano, Programmed By – Nitin Sawhney
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
4    Maya    5:05
Cello – Ian Burdge
Programmed By – Nitin Sawhney
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Steel Drums [Hang] – Manu Delago
5    Lasya    4:39
Mridangam, Jew's Harp [Moorsing], Vocals – Pirashanna Thevarajah
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Steel Drums [Hang] – Manu Delago
Tambura [Tanpura] – Kenji Ota
Udu – Bernhard Schimpelsberger
6    Fathers    2:30
Piano – Nitin Sawhney
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
7    Metamorphosis    4:47
Bass Guitar, Programmed By – Nitin Sawhney
Shenai – Sanjeev Shankar
Sitar, Vocals – Anoushka Shankar
Tabla – Tanmoy Bose
Tambura [Tanpura] – Kenji Ota
Vocals – Anil Narasimha, Sandhya Chandrachood
8    In Jyoti's Name    3:33
Mridangam, Ghatam – Pirashanna Thevarajah
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Tambura [Tanpura] – Kenji Ota
9    Monsoon    3:40
Programmed By – Nitin Sawhney
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Tambura [Tanpura] – Kenji Ota
10    Traces Of You 3:45
Glockenspiel – Manu Delago
Guitar, Bass Guitar, Percussion, Ukulele, Programmed By – Nitin Sawhney
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Tabla – Tanmoy Bose
Vocals – Norah Jones
11    River Pulse    3:04
Cello – Ian Burdge
Ghatam, Shaker, Percussion, Jew's Harp [Moorsing] – Pirashanna Thevarajah
Guitar, Programmed By – Nitin Sawhney
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Tabla – Aref Durvesh
12    Chasing Shadows    8:17
Bansuri – Ravichandra Kulur
Mridangam, Ghatam, Kanjira – Pirashanna Thevarajah
Shenai – Sanjeev Shankar
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Tabla – Tanmoy Bose
Tambura [Tanpura] – Kenji Ota
13    Unsaid 4:28
Arranged By [Strings] – Nitin Sawhney
Cello – Ian Burdge
Sitar – Anoushka Shankar
Vocals, Piano – Norah Jones

FOURPLAY – Elixir (1995) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The third outing from Fourplay (Lee Ritenour, Nathan East, Bob James, and Harvey Mason clubbing together) is another lightly sautéed jazz offering, low-key and relaxed. Vocals this time are contributed by Phil Collins, East, Patti Austin, and Peabo Bryson (the latter two on an undistinguished version of "The Closer I Get to You"), but the main attraction for most is likely to be Ritenour's flexible guitar work. Steven McDonald
Tracklist :
1    Elixir    7:23
 Nathan East / Bob James / Lee Ritenour / Harvey Mason, Sr.
2    Dream Come True    5:15
 Nathan East / Ricky Lawson
3        Play Lady Play 4:36
 Bob James / Lee Ritenour
Arranged By – Lee Ritenour
4        Why Can't It Wait Till Morning 5:17
 Phil Collins
Arranged By – Bob James
Vocals – Phil Collins
5    Magic Carpet Ride    6:27
 Lee Ritenour
6    Whisper In My Ear    6:12
 Bob James
7    Fannie Mae    5:31
 Harvey Mason, Sr.
8    The Closer I Get To You 5:01
Arranged By – Fourplay
Producer [Vocals], Arranged By [Vocals] – Nathan East
Vocals – Patti Austin, Peabo Bryson
9    East 2 West    5:56
 Marcel East / Nathan East
10    Licorice    5:12
 Bob James
11    In My Corner 6:56
 Harvey Mason, Jr. / Harvey Mason, Sr.
Arranged By [Vocals] – Harvey Mason, Jr.
Credits :
Bass – Nathan East
Drums, Percussion, Marimba [Acoustic & Electric], Bongos, Jew's Harp – Harvey Mason
Executive Producer, Keyboards, Arranged By [Synth Orchestrations] – Bob James
Guitar [Guitars], Programmed By [Additional Computer & Synth], Recorded By [Additional] – Lee Ritenour
Producer – Fourplay
Programmed By [Computer & Synth], Recorded By [Additional] – Harvey Mason, Jr.