Thursday, April 30, 2015

NEW RELEASES: ALESSANDRO SCALA GROOVOLOGY TRIO - GROOVE ISLAND; MELBOURNE'S WOMEN OF SOUL; GUIDO MANUSARDI TRIO - METAMORPHOSIS

ALESSANDRO SCALA GROOVOLOGY TRIO FEAT. FLAVIO BOLTRE - GROOVE ISLAND

An island of groove from reedman Alessandro Scala – a player who mostly leads a core trio on the set, but also gets help on half the record from trumpeter Flavio Boltro! We're well-known for our love of Boltro – so we'll just take that as a given – and instead focus on the tight work of the group, which includes loads of great lines on Hammond, plus a bit of Fender Rhodes, from keyboardist Leo Corradi – and just the right kind of short, sharp, focused work on drums from Stefano Paolini – who can give things a soul jazz punch when needed, but also open up in a modal groove too. Scala plays tenor, soprano, and baritone sax – and titles include "Hello & Goodbye", "Viaggio Stellare", "Game Over", "Sottospra", "Minghe", and "The Belin".  ~ Dusty Groove

MELBOURNE'S WOMEN OF SOUL (VARIOUS ARTISTS)

Melbourne, Australia may not instantly come to mind as a center of soul music – but in recent years the city's seen a huge growth in its deep funk scene – which has also produced lots of great soul singers as well! This great package is a strong overview of the female soul going down in the city right now – vocalists who are very much in the vein of other contemporary funk singers – like Alice Russell or Sharon Jones – only one of whom, Kylie Auldist, we've ever heard before! There's a core band to the project – and all cuts are exclusive to this set, with the singers swapping out from track to track while the funky combo grooves on. Titles include "Beautifully Broken Heart" by Candice Monique, "More Than A Mouthful" by Kylie Auldist, "Who Told You" by Chelsea Wilson, "Love Connection" by May Johnston, "I Need A Man" by Rita Satch, "Accelerate" by Lisa Faithful, "What We Had Back Then" by Candice Monique & Chelsea Wilson, and the long "Women Got Soul" track, with all the singers in the collection, and more!  ~ Dusty Groove


GUIDO MANUSARDI TRIO - METAMORPHOSIS

A wonderfully sensitive record from Italian piano legend Guido Manusardi – a record that still has a swing at all the right moments, but which also has these darker currents we especially love! The trio here really seems to follow Guido's lead – and sometimes the pianist is working around the moody corners of a song, the bursts out more strongly – other times almost seems to elliptically shade in the tune with these flowing colors that are especially marvelous! The group features Marco Vaggi on bass and Luigi Bonafede on drums – and titles include "Gea", "Autumn Promenade", "Chrysalis", "This Was Tomorrow", "Missing Her", and "Phrases".  ~ Dusty Groove


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