ARTIST PROFILE: CARMEN SOUZA

Carmen Souza was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1981 within a Christian family of Cape Verdeans. She grew up in a mixed language environment of Creole (the Cape Verde dialect her parents spoke at home) and Portuguese, and was always surrounded by the Cape Verdean way of life. In her teens she sang professionally in a Lusophone Gospel choir. Being a strongly spiritual person, Carmen always saw music as her mission and felt privileged to have the opportunity to express herself through it, working hard every day to deserve that opportunity. Musicians like Luis Morais, Theo Pas'cal, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, and Diana Krall are among those that truly inspire her evolution and search for a unique personal style. Theo Pas'cal, her producer, mentor and one of the best bass players in Portugal, discovered her talent and introduced Carmen to jazz, fusion and other contemporary sounds that influenced her musical development.

In 2003, Carmen began working with Theo on the compositions that would be included on her debut album, Ess e nha Cabo Verde. Using the Creole dialect of her ancestors and featuring traditional African and Cape Verdean rhythms (Batuke, Morna, Cola djon, and others), Carmen mixed in her contemporary jazz influences to create a more intimate and acoustic vibe, different from the traditional festive environment of Cape Verdean sounds. Ess e nha Cabo Verde was released in 2005 to critical acclaim and led to her international breakthrough performance at the WOMAD Festival in Reading, England that same year. Verdade, her second album, was released in 2008. In addition to co-producing the album, Verdade featured Carmen’s talents on Wurlitzer organ and guitar, as well as an exciting and melodically vibrant vocal repertoire in Creole. Verdade received glowing reviews from the international press worldwide.

Carmen Souza returned in 2010 with the impressive recording Protegid (Protected), blending the elegance and sophistication of African and Cape Verdean traditional rhythms with contemporary jazz and Afro-Latin music. Once again the two composers, Carmen Souza and Theo Pas’cal, present an album that pushes the limits of what constitutes the Cape Verdean music, world music and jazz even further. Carmen co-produces, plays guitar and Fender Rhodes, and sings eleven of the twelve songs on the album.

On Protegid, Carmen Souza’s singular vocal approach and musical choices have earned her being compared with Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Cleo Laine, Eartha Kitt, and Marie Daulne. Her unique talent as a singer, composer and musician sets her apart from the crowded Cape Verdean scene and is gradually carving her own space in world music and jazz. Protegid is receiving outstanding reviews worldwide. World Music Central considers the album “a landmark that will prompt you to embrace and at the same time rethink everything you know and love about the sounds of Cape Verde.” NPR said the album “opens a window to another world entirely” and The Independent declares: “the poetic voice is as original as the musical one.” In 2010, Protegid received a nomination for the German Record Critic’s Award, and entered the World Music Charts Europe (WMCE). A new edition of Verdade, re-released by Galileo Records, also entered the WMCE and, by the end of the year, the album was included in several lists of “Best World Music Album” for 2010.

Carmen Souza has been touring extensively around the world since 2005. In 2010, she performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, the London African Music Festival and the Leverkusener Jazztage Festival in Germany. Her concerts have been broadcast around the world by major TV and radio stations including the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, the Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, Radio 6 in the Netherlands, WDR/3SAT TV in Germany, and more. Her unique sound has been recognized by ethnomusicologists Gerhard Kubik and Fernando Arenas; a closer look into Carmen Souza’s groundbreaking work is included in Beyond Independence: Globalization, Postcolonialism, and the Cultures of Lusophone Africa, a new book by Fernando Arenas, published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2011.

RETURN TO FOREVER – THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION

Available now is the most complete package to date of Return to Forever’s Columbia albums. The set includes 3 great albums on 5 CDs, with each individual album is packaged in a replica mini-LP sleeve reproducing that album’s original cover art. The booklet includes full discographical info., rare photos, and liner notes by Grammy-winning producer Bob Belden, plus a complete reproduction of the original 12 page booklet from the Return To Forever Live box.

Pianist, keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader Chick Corea (b. 1941) flaunts his eclectic musical nature like a badge of honor. Moving fluidly within the realms of jazz, classical, fusion and Latin-Jazz, Corea’s stylistic identity cannot be pinned down; his musical personality is defined only by the consistent excellence of his multifarious endeavors. Fifty years into his career, Corea is unquestionably a jazz icon, beloved by devoted listeners, and as influential with fellow musicians, as he has ever been.

After important early experience with both Latin music bands and jazz ensembles, including those of Mongo Santamaria, Stan Getz, and Sarah Vaughan, Corea gained significantly wider recognition when he replaced Herbie Hancock in Miles Davis’s acclaimed quintet in 1968. His work with Davis and his own recordings, including the brilliant Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, positioned Corea as one of the premier post bop pianists of his generation. Yet his eclecticism was about to blossom. After delving into free jazz with the band Circle, Corea turned to the electric piano and formed Return to Forever, which in its original incarnation, took Latin jazz as its focus. Return to Forever would then quickly morph into a highly successful fusion band, one that found Corea making extensive use of synthesizers and electronic keyboards.

From the mid-1970s onwards, the musically peripatetic Corea has formed new ensembles – both acoustic and electric – collaborated with a dizzyingly diverse cast of prominent musicians (Gary Burton, Bobby McFerrin, and Bela Fleck, among them), composed works that range from classical extravaganzas to children’s songs, and has continued to exert wide influence as an adventurous improvising pianist who is nonetheless thoroughly grounded in the jazz tradition. Recent tours with John McLaughlin and a reunited Return to Forever proved that Corea’s popular esteem is rock solid.

The ultimate Return To Forever statement was the 1977 4LP box Return To Forever Live. This version is the first time that the entire concert has been released on CD in the U.S. Unavailable for some 20 years the complete 2 and 1/2 hour concert is heard here remastered by multi Grammy-winning engineer Mark Wilder.

Albums included:

Romantic Warrior (1976)

Musicmagic (1977)

Return To Forever Live (1977) [3 CDs]

http://www.popmarket.com/

JACK JONES – LOVE BALLAD

Four-time nominated and two-time Grammy-winning recording artist Jack Jones is back front and center with a new album titled Love Ballad, a very personal take on love found and lost. Love Ballad was launched September 20 by Aspen Records and available via BFM Digital Music Services on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Napster, and Nokia, among others, as well as in stores. “You can imagine how hard we all cried at the end of it.”

“There is a personal story behind each of the songs,” Jones says. “The title song, ‘Love Ballad,’ was being played as my wife Eleonora and I were first introduced. It expresses the hope of finding the perfect lifetime partner, who must exist somewhere. “Being a parent, I see ‘Not While I’m Around’ as a wonderful adult version of ‘Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf?’ from ‘Sweeny Todd,’ with a much darker meaning.”

Jones considers one of the most moving moments in his life when he sang “The Impossible Dream,” for hundreds of wives of MIAs at the Washington Armory. “We were all wearing wristbands with MIAs’ names on them,” he recalls. “You can imagine how hard we all cried at the end of it.”

“Call Me Irresponsible” came about after Sammy Cahn asked Jones to come to Jimmy Van Heusen’s house to hear a song they wanted him to record. When he got there they played Frank Sinatra's recording of the song, which caused Jones to ask, “What do you need me for?” They explained that Sinatra’s performance was too realistic and too good to be a hit, which is why they called him. Choosing not to take issue with this, Jones recorded the song - and “was subjected to having a major hit record on his hands!”

Jones, who has always been actively involved in the creation of his records, is credited as producer, personally selected all the songs and did the in-studio mixing and mastering of all the tracks. Jones continues a busy schedule of live performances in performing arts centers throughout the year. He just completed appearances in front of 12,000 people in the Philippines; the McCallum theater; the South Point Casino Hotel and Spa in Las Vegas; and is scheduled for his biennial tour of Great Britain this fall.

Love Ballad Track Listing:
1. Love Ballad (Pat Tuzzolino & Carl Saunders)
2. I Can't Get Started With You(Vernon Duke & Ira Gershwin)
3. I Can't Wait To Miss You (Jack Jones & Tom Garvin)
4. Sit Down And Write Myself A Letter (Fred E. Ahlert & Joseph Young)　　
5. Speaking Softly (Pat Tuzzolino & Carl Saunders)
6. Not While I'm Around (Steven Sondheim)
7. Don't You Quit Now (Johnny Mercer & Jimmy Rowles)
8. People (Jule Stein & Robert Merril)
9. The Lorelei (Barclay Allen, Jerry Goldstone, Rosetta Bent)
10. All Or Nothing At All (Arthur Altman, Jack Lawrence)
11. Lollypops And Roses (Tony Velona)
12. Wives And Lovers (Burt Bacharach & Hal David)
13. Call Me Irresponsible (Sammy Cahn & Jimmy Van Heusen)
14. If (David Gates)
15. The Impossible Dream (Joe Darion, Mitch Leigh)
16. Love Ballad Epilogue (Pat Tuzzolino & Carl Saunders)

Produced by Jack Jones
Under the musical direction of Mike Renzi
Arranged by Mike Renzi
Bass: Chris Colangelos
Drums: Kendall Kay
Keyboards: Patrick Tuzzolino, Frankie Randall, Gary Nesteruk
Sam Most featured on Sax (Love Ballad)
Mixdowns, Vocals, Sweetening and Mastering at the Orchard Engineer: Jack Jones
Rhythm tracks recorded at Umbrella Media Inc.
Recording Engineer: Nady Waterman
Second Engineer: Luke Fackler

Upcoming Jack Jones Tour Dates:
October 22, 2011 – Opera House, Buxton, UK
October 23, 2011 – York Barbican Centre, York, UK
October 24, 2011 – Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, UK
October 25, 2011 – The Sage, Gateshead, UK
October 27, 2011 - Town Hall, Birmingham, UK
October 29, 2011 – Cliffs Pavillion, Southend, UK
October 30, 2011 – Fairfiled Hall, Croydon, UK
October 31, 2011 – London Palladium, London, UK

November 1, 2011 – Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, UK

November 2, 2011 – The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, UK

December 3, 2011 – Private Event, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

December 16, 2011– Wichita Country Club, Wichita, KS

January 17-22, 2012 – The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikki, San Fran, CA,

January 31-February 4, 2012 - Riverside Resort, Laughlin, NV

February 25, 2012 – Wold Performing Arts Center, Boca Raton, FL

March 5, 2012 – Private Event, Tampa, FL

April 17-May 12, 2012 –The Oak Romm at The Algonquin Hotel, New York, NY

September 24-29, 2012 – Andy Williams Moon River Theatre, Branson, MO

TAKE A LOOK: ARETHA FRANKLIN COMPLETE ON COLUMBIA

Columbia Records has assembled the most complete package to date of Aretha Franklins Columbia albums. The collection celebrates the 50th anniversary of Aretha’s pop performance career spanning her electrifying output spanning 1960-1965. Included are master takes, unissued performances, rare mono mixes and studio conversations, in one deluxe 12-disc (11 CDs + DVD) box set. The 12 discs are housed in a beautiful box and are accompanied by a lavish 64-page, full color book. The book features extensive new liner notes, complete discography, and incredible, rare photography of a young Aretha. The bonus DVD contains soul-stirring TV performances not available in years.

Take A Look begins with expanded editions of Aretha’s seven original Columbia albums:
Aretha (with the Ray Bryant Combo) (released February 27, 1961)
The Electrifying Aretha Franklin (1962)
The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin (1962)
Laughing On The Outside (1963)
Unforgettable – A Tribute To Dinah Washington (1964)
Runnin’ Out Of Fools (1965)

Yeah!!! In Person With Her Quartet (in two sequences: the original 1965 album recorded live in the studio with overdubbed applause, followed by a new previously unreleased version without the nightclub ambience)

Two CDs reflect Aretha’s collaborations with the influential producers Bobby Scott and Clyde Otis -- collaborations that were either shelved or issued as singles, but never on LP:

Tiny Sparrow: The Bobby Scott Sessions (1963)

Take A Look: The Clyde Otis Sessions (1964)

Two CDs are new compilations:

A Bit of Soul (the full album as it was compiled in 1965, but never released)

The Queen In Waiting (includes Aretha's last Columbia recordings produced by Bob Johnston, noted for his work during this period with Bob Dylan; and songs that Columbia "sweetened" with new musicians after Aretha left the label)

A bonus DVD, Aretha '64! Live on The Steve Allen Show, features Aretha singing and playing piano on the legendary comedian's television program in the spring of 1964. The performances include “Lover Come Back to Me,” “Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody,” “Won’t Be Long,”

SATCHO: LOUIS ARMSTRONG, THE AMBASSADOR OF JAZZ

Satchmo: Louis Armstrong, The Ambassador of Jazz contains 10 CDs, a 200-page hardcover book by Richard Havers and an assortment of sheet music reproductions, all housed in a replica of Armstrong’s travel trunk. Seven of the CDs will cover previously released Armstrong classics derived from his work at a cross-section of labels including OKeh, Columbia, Vocalion, Victor, Verve, Decca, Mercury and ABC-Paramount . An eighth disc will consist of previously unreleased and rare session material, a ninth will present his 1956 concert at California’s Hollywood Bowl, and a tenth will feature a 1965 interview with Armstrong conducted by Dan Morgenstern. The release is from Universal Music U.K.

Armstrong recorded for a variety of labels over his long career: as the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens period (1925-1928) and the rest of his OKeh period through 1932, as well as his stints at RCA Victor (1932-1933 and 1946-1947) and Columbia (1954-1956). He recorded for Decca for roughly fifteen years between 1935 and 1949. In 1956 he began a tenure at Verve, where he had monumental collaborations with Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson. Following his Verve stint, he briefly returned to Decca and recorded for the original Audio Fidelity label as well as for MGM and Roulette. The 1960’s saw Louis hit a commercial peak with 1964′s Hello, Dolly! on Kapp, but he also was heard on ABC-Paramount, Mercury, EMI, Bluebird, Avco Embassy and Buena Vista. This release is being described as the “the definitive version of the Amstrong legacy” as it cross-licenses tracks from Armstrong’s many label affiliations over his nearly 50 years of recording.

Louis Armstrong, Satchmo: Louis Armstrong, The Ambassador of Jazz Track List:
Disc 1
Just Gone – King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band (4/5/23)
Chime Blues – King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band (4/5/23)
Dipper Mouth Blues – King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band (4/6/23 or 6/22-29/23)
Tears – King Creole’s Creole Jazz Band (10/23)
New Orleans Stomp (Clean Version) – King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band (10/16/23)
Shanghai Shuffle – Ma Rainey Accompanied by Her Georgia Jazz Band (10/16/24)
Copenhagen (Single Version) – Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra (10/30/24)
Everybody Loves My Baby – Clarence Williams’ Blue Five or Josephine Beatty with The Red Onion Jazz Babies (both rec. 11/6/24)
Cake Walking Babies (From Home) – The Red Onion Jazz Babies (12/22/24) or Eva Taylor with Clarence Williams’ Blue Five (1/8/25)
St. Louis Blues – Bessie Smith (1/14/25)
Sugar Foot Stomp – Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra (5/29/25)
Santa Claus Blues – Eva Taylor with Clarence Williams’ Blue Five (10/8/25 or 10/16/25)
Georgia Grind – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (2/26/26)
Heebie Jeebies – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (2/26/26)
Cornet Chop Suey – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (2/26/26)
Muskrat Ramble (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (2/26/26)
Stomp Off, Let’s Go – Erskine Tate’s Vendrome Orchestra (5/28/26)
He Likes It Slow – Butterbeans and Susie (6/18/26)
Chicago Breakdown – Louis Armstrong and His Stompers (5/9/27)
Potato Head Blues – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven (5/10/27)
New Orleans Stomp – Johnny Dodd’s Black Bottom Stompers (4/22/27)
Hotter Than That – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (12/13/27)
Savoy Blues – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (12/13/27)

Disc 2
West End Blues – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (6/28/28)
Skip the Gutter – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (6/27/28)
Symphonic Raps – Carroll Dickerson’s Savoyagers (7/5/28)
Weather Bird (12/5/28)
Muggles – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (12/7/28)
Tight Like This – Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five (12/12/28)
Knockin’ A Jug – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (3/5/29)
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love – Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five (3/5/29)
Mahogany Hall Stomp – Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five (3/5/29)
Ain’t Misbehavin’ – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (7/19/29)
Black and Blue – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (7/22/29)
When You’re Smiling – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (9/11/29)
After You’ve Gone – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (11/26/29)
Rockin’ Chair – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (12/13/29)
St. Louis Blues – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (12/13/29)
Blue Turning Grey Over You (2/1/30)
Tiger Rag – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (5/4/30)
I’m a Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas – Louis Armstrong and His New Sebastian Cotton Club Orchestra (7/21/30)
Blue Yodel No. 9 (1996 Remaster) – Jimmie Rodgers (7/16/30)
Body and Soul – Louis Armstrong and His New Sebastian Cotton Club Orchestra (10/9/30)
You’re Lucky To Me – Louis Armstrong and His New Sebastian Cotton Club Orchestra (10/16/30)
Memories of You – Louis Armstrong and His New Sebastian Cotton Club Orchestra (10/16/30)
Sweethearts on Parade – Louis Armstrong and His New Sebastian Cotton Club Orchestra (12/23/30)
When Your Lover Has Gone – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (4/29/31)

Disc 3
Lazy River – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (11/3/31)
Chinatown, My Chinatown – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (Single Version) (11/3/31)
Stardust -  Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (11/4/31)
You Can Depend on Me – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (11/5/31)
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea- Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/25/32)
All of Me – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/27/32)
Lawd, You Made the Night Too Long – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (3/11/32)
That’s My Home (1996 Remaster) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (12/8/32)
I’ve Got the World on a String – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/26/33)
I’ve Gotta Right to Sing the Blues (1996 Remaster) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/26/33)
Basin Street Blues – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/27/33)
Laughin’ Louie – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/24/33)
I’m In the Mood For Love- Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (10/3/35)
Old Man Mose – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (10/21/35 or 10/22/35)
Thanks a Million – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (Single Version) (12/19/35)
Shoe Shine Boy (Single Version)- Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (12/19/35)
Ev’ntide (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (5/18/36)
Swing That Music (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (5/18/36)
The Skeleton in the Closet (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (8/7/36)
On a Cocoanut Island (Original Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with the Polynesians (8/18/36)
The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River) – Louis Armstrong and the Mills Brothers (6/29/37)
Jubilee (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/12/38)
Struttin’ with Some Barbeque (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/12/38)
I Double Dare You (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/13/38)
When The Saints Go Marching In (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (5/13/38)

Disc 4
Nobody Knows De Trouble I’ve Seen – Louis Armstrong with the Decca Mixed Choir (6/14/38)
Jeepers Creepers (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/18/39)
I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You) (Single Version) (4/25/39)
Wolverine Blues (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (3/14/40)
Perdido Street Blues (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (5/27/40)
I Cover the Waterfront – Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven (3/10/41)
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (11/16/41)
I Never Knew (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (4/17/42)
I Wonder (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1/14/45)
Snafu (Single Version)  – Esquire All-American 1946 Award Winners (1/10/46)
You Won’t Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart) (Single Version) – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong with Bob Haggart’s Orchestra (1/18/46)
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans – Louis Armstrong and His Dixieland Seven (10/17/46)
Pennies From Heaven (2001 Remaster, Live)- Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars (5/17/47)
Back O’Town Blues (Album Version, Live) – Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars (5/17/47)
Rockin’ Chair – Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars (6/10/47)
Jack-Armstrong Blues (1996 Remaster) – Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars (6/10/47)
Muskrat Ramble – Parts 1 & 2 – Louis Armstrong and The All-Stars (Live, 1947 Symphony Hall) (11/30/47)
That’s My Desire (Live, 1947 Symphony Hall) – Louis Armstrong and The All-Stars (11/30/47)
That Lucky Old Sun (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra (9/6/49)
Blueberry Hill (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra (9/6/49)
You Can’t Lose a Broken Heart (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday with Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (9/30/49)

Disc 5
New Orleans Function – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (4/26-27/50)
That’s For Me (Parts 1 & 2) – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (4/26-27/50)
Panama – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (4/26-27/50)
C’est Si Bon (It’s So Good) – Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (6/26/50)
La Vie En Rose (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (6/26/50
You Rascal You (I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead) (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five (8/23/50)
Dream a Little Dream of Me (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with Ella Fitzgerald and Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (8/25/50)
You Can Depend On Me – Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars (Live, Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 1951) (1/30/51)
Baby, It’s Cold Outside (Parts 1 & 2) – Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars (Live, Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 1951) (1/30/51)
Gone Fishin’ (Live Radio Version) – likely with Bing Crosby from The Bing Crosby Chesterfield Show (4/19/51)
A Kiss to Build a Dream On – Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (7/24/51)
(When We Are Dancin’) I Get Ideas (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (7/24/51)
Because Of You – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (9/17/51)
Indian Love Call – Louis Armstrong with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra (11/28/51)
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South (Alternate Lyric Version) – Louis Armstrong with Gordon Jenkins’ Orchestra (11/28/51)
It Takes Two to Tango (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (8/25/52)
Your Cheatin’ Heart (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (2/23/53)
Someday You’ll Be Sorry (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with the Commanders (10/22/53)
The Gypsy (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong with the Commanders (10/22/53)
The Whiffenpoof Song – Louis Armstrong with the All-Stars (4/13/54)

Disc 6
Beale Street Blues – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (7/12/54)
Chantez Les Bas (Sing ‘Em Low)  (7/14/54)
Back Home Again in Indiana (Live)  (1955 Crescendo Club) (1/21/55)
Blue Turning Grey Over You (Edited Alternate Version) – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (4/27/55)
Mack the Knife (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (9/28/55)
The Faithful Hussar (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (12/19/55)
Royal Garden Blues – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (1/24/56)
My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (Live, 1956)
St. Louis Blues (Concerto Grosso) – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars, with Leonard Bernstein, conductor (Live, Lewisohn Stadium, New York) (7/14/56)
Stars Fell on Alabama – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (8/16/56)
They Can’t Take That Away From Me – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (8/16/56)
The Nearness of You – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (8/16/56)
On the Sunny Side of the Street (1983 Satchmo Album Version) (12/11/56)
When You’re Smiling (Without Intro) (12/12/56)
King of the Zulus (1983 Satchmo Album Version) (1/25/57)

Disc 7
Stompin’ at the Savoy – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (7/23/57)
Love Is Here to Stay – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (7/23/57)
I Get a Kick Out of You – Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson (7/31/57)
Stormy Weather – Louis Armstrong with Russell Garcia and Orchestra (8/14-16/57)
Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen (Re-Record) – likely Louis Armstrong and Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (2/4/58)
Summertime – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (8/18-19/57)
Bess Oh Where Is My Bess – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (8/18-19/57 & 10/57)
There’s No You – Louis Armstrong and the Oscar Peterson Trio Plus One (10/14/57)
Let’s Fall in Love (Take 2) – Louis Armstrong and the Oscar Peterson Trio Plus One (10/14/57)
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child – Louis Armstrong with Sy Oliver’s Orchestra (2/7/58)
Summer Song – Louis Armstrong and His Band (9/13/61)
Hello, Dolly! –Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (12/3/63)
A Lot of Livin’ to Do – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (12/3/63)
I Still Get Jealous – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (4/18/64)
Moon River – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (4/18/64)
So Long Dearie – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (9/3/64)
Mame (Single Version)- Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (5/66)
Cabaret (Single Version) – Louis Armstrong and the All-Stars (8/25/66 or 8/16/67)
What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong’s Orchestra and Chorus (8/16/67)
Blueberry Hill – 1970 Newport Jazz Festival
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South – 1970 Newport Jazz Festival

Disc 8
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South
Indiana
The Gypsy
Ole Miss Blues
My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It
Perdido
You Made Me Love You
Mack the Knife
Stompin’ at the Savoy
You Can Depend On Me
Mop Mop
You Won’t Be Satisfied
Undecided
When the Saints Go Marching In

Disc 9
Dan Morgenstern Interview with Louis Armstrong, 1965

Disc 10
Yeh (Take 5)
Mm-Mm (Take 10)
Indiana (Studio Warm-Up)
Makin’ Whoopee (Breakdown)
Makin’ Whoopee (Take 1)
I Get a Kick Out of You (Take 1)
I Get a Kick Out of You (Run-Through)
I Get a Kick Out of You (Takes 3 & 4)
I Get a Kick Out of You (Takes 9-12)
I Get a Kick Out of You (Take 13)
Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) (Breakdowns)
Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) (Take 3)
Willow Weep For Me (Take 1)
Willow Weep For Me (Take 4)
Oh Bess Where Is My Bess  (Takes 5 & 6)
Oh Bess Where Is My Bess (Take 7)
Redheaded Woman
Let’s Fall in Love
Basin Street Blues (Take 1)
So Long, Dearie (Rehearsal Take)
So Long, Dearie (Take 1)
Pretty Little Missy (Take 1)

Pretty Little Missy (Take 4)

MARIO BIONDI & THE HIGH FIVE QUINTET – A HANDFUL OF SOUL [DELUXE BOXSET EDITION]

In celebration of Schema Records’ 20th anniversary they have just recently release a deluxe boxset edition of Mario Biondi’s Handful Of Soul. This re-release includes a double gatefold sleeve 180 gram heavy vinyl and a CD of the original acclaimed Handful Of Soul album; an extra CD entitled Change Of Scenes with new and unreleased bonus recordings; five black & white portrait photographs of Mario Biondi; and the original promotional poster announcing the release of  Handful Of Soul in 2006.

Handful Of Soul original track list – 2LP Gatefold Sleeve 180gr:
SIDE A
1.A Child Runs Free
2.No Mercy for Me
3.Slow Hot Wind

SIDE B
1.This is What You Are
2.I Can’t Keep From Cryin’ Sometimes

SIDE C
1.Rio De Janeiro Blue
2.A Handful of Soul
3.On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)

SIDE D
1.Never Die
2.Gig
3.No Trouble on The Mountain

Handful Of Soul original CD track list:
1.A Child Runs Free
2.No Mercy for Me
3.This is What You Are
4.Rio De Janeiro Blue
5.Slow Hot Wind
6.A Handful of Soul
7.Never Die
8.On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
9.Gig
10.I Can’t Keep From Cryin’ Sometimes
11.No Trouble On The Mountain
12.I’m Her Daddy

 Change Of Scenes CD remixes track list:
1.A Little Piece of My Life*
2.No Mercy for Me - “re-worked by A. Magnanini”
3.On a Clear Day (You can See Forever) - Today Mix “Performed by Was-A-Bee”
4.A Handful of Soul - Takin’ The Live Mood
5. I’m Her Daddy - Daddy’s Point of View Version
6.This is What You Are - The Brazilian Rime
7. I Can’t Keep From Cryin’ Sometimes - “Inner Mix Part 1”
8. I Can’t Keep From Cryin’ Sometimes - “Walk in Blues part 2”
9.Slow Hot Wind (Slow Hot Version)
10.Rio De Janeiro Blue - In “The Invisible” Club Mix Extended
11.This is What You Are - Dim’s Hipster Jazz Version by “Dimitri From Paris”
12.But Not For You - Vocal Demo Version*

*Unreleased Tracks

GROVER WASHINGTON JR. – THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION

From the archives of Columbia Records comes to us the the most complete package to date of Grover Washington Jr.’s complete Columbia Albums collection. Includes are 9 great albums on 9 CDs with each individual album is packaged in a replica mini-LP sleeve reproducing that album’s original cover art. The most beloved of all Smooth Jazz artists, and one of its very best sellers, in his most prolific period

Whether he was playing R&B-infused jazz pop or straight-ahead swing, saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. always made one thing clear: he knew how to blow his horns. A thoroughly schooled musician who later learned to play genuine funky jazz with such masters as Johnny “Hammond” Smith and Charles Earland, Washington perfected a saxophone style that blended melodic elegance with soulful grit. His work on alto, tenor and soprano was a model of authentic communication; when he played, you listened, entranced by his from-the-heart tone and singing phrasing.

His work for Columbia made a good case for his diversity. There are plenty of fine albums that mix R&B, jazz and pop into a heady brew, including Strawberry Moon, Time Out of Mind, Next Exit and Soulful Strut. On these popular recordings, Washington shares space with the likes of icons Nancy Wilson, Ramsey Lewis and B.B. King; singers Lalah Hathaway and Levi Stubbs, and A-list players including Marcus Miller and Joey DeFrancesco.

But there were also special projects where Washington made sure that his instrumental prowess was fully noted. Then and Now and All My Tomorrows are straight up jazz albums on which Washington’s no nonsense playing was set off by such illustrious supporting musicians as bassist Ron Carter, pianists Herbie Hancock, Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan, trumpeter Eddie Henderson and singer Freddy Cole. But there were even more dimensions to Washington’s musicianship. His way with a lyrical ballad is demonstrated on the Christmas album, Breath of Heaven: A Holiday Collection. The biggest surprise of all may have been Aria. On this selection of immortal classical works beautifully adapted for saxophone, Washington asserts that he was every bit the accomplished musician that some, blinded by his commercial success, may have been unaware of.

Included in the package are four great Smooth Jazz albums: Strawberry Moon, Time Out Of Mind, Next Exit, and Soulful Strut; a bonus album: the long unavailable House Full Of Love / Music From The Bill Cosby Show on which he is the featured soloist. All in all this collection features seven Top 5 Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz and Top Jazz Albums! It’s his most stylistically diverse collection including projects of Smooth Jazz, Straight Ahead Jazz, Christmas, Classical and Television.

Albums Included:

House Full Of Love (Music from The Cosby Show) Featuring Grover Washington, Jr. (1986)

Strawberry Moon (1987)

Then And Now (1988)

Time Out of Mind (1989)

Next Exit (1992)

All My Tomorrows (1994)
Soulful Strut (1996)
Breath of Heaven: A Holiday Collection (1997)
Aria (Sony Classical) (2000)

NINA SIMONE – THE COMPLETE RCA ALBUMS COLLECTION

If you are a fan of Nina Simone you can now have the best of Nina Simone all in one bundle! This new release includes 9 great albums on 9 CDs! 7 of them fully re-mastered for the first time in the U.S. by multi-Grammy winning engineer Mark Wilder. Each individual album is packaged in a replica mini-LP sleeve reproducing that album’s original cover art. All albums feature bonus tracks - a total of 35 in all! Rare recordings of Nina at her very best. The package also includes a stand-alone booklet includes full discographical info., rare in-studio photos, and liner notes by Grammy-winning box producer Richard Seidel.

As unclassifiable as she was forthright, Nina Simone (1933-2003) went her own way; it was up to her devoted audience to keep pace with her stylistic wanderings. Defiantly outspoken and willfully eclectic in her music, Simone electrified listeners with artfully intense performances. Trained as a classical pianist but thwarted in her ambitions, Simone turned to singing out of economic necessity. The 1950’s and 60’s witnessed Simone gaining success with her involving blend of blues, gospel, and jazz, classical, R&B, and popular song. Her wide-ranging musical nature and smoldering delivery captivated listeners fascinated by her scope and emotional involvement.

Politically radicalized in the early 1960s, Simone took her music in yet another direction. Now recording songs that addressed the civil rights movement as well as folk and recent pop songs, Simone aligned herself with a contemporary audience. Her RCA albums were stocked with songs that ran the gamut from “I Wish I Knew What It Was Like to Be Free” by Billy Taylor and “Ain’t Got No (I Got Life)” from the Broadway hit, Hair, to Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” and Burt Bacharach’s “The Look of Love.” It was this ability to endow work from Langston Hughes to the Bee Gees with equal intensity that drew legions of mesmerized fans to her.

Simone’s outspoken nature and confrontational personality may have caused havoc with her career, but, from today’s perspective, her forthrightness can be seen as a model for a new generation of take-no-guff performers. Simone had something to say, she made sure you heard it, and judging from the myriad artists who cite her as an influence, many did.

The collections contains her hits “ I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”, “I Loves You Porgy”, “I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl”, “Young, Gifted And Black”, “I Ain’t Got No - I Got Life”, “Mississippi Goddam” and more. The 20th Century’s most eclectic musician explores Blues, Folk, Pop, Rock, Gospel, Art Songs, Broadway, African, Jazz, Protest Songs, and more in her uniquely individual style. Nina’s powerful and moving versions of classics by Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Willie Dixon, The Bee Gees, Gershwin, The Beatles, Jerome Kern, Randy Newman, and more are all here.

Albums included:

Nina Simone Sings The Blues (1967)

Silk & Soul (1967)

‘Nuff Said (1968)

Nina Simone & Piano (1969)

To Love Somebody (1969)

Black Gold (1970)

Here Comes The Sun (1971)

Emergency Ward (1972)

It Is Finished (1974)

ANTONIO ADOLFO - CHORA BAIAO

Antonio Adolfo has long been an integral and influential behind-the-scenes player as a producer, composer, arranger, label entrepreneur, and educator—in his native Rio de Janeiro and beyond. In recent years, however, he has thankfully been devoting more time to recording his own music. First came a critically acclaimed collaboration with his vocalist daughter, 2007’s Antonio Adolfo and Carol Saboya Ao Vivo/Live. Last year’s Lá e Cá (Here and There), also featuring Saboya, tapped into standards by Americans and Brazilians such as Cole Porter and Antonio Carlos Jobim. For his new CD, Chora Baião, which was released September 27 on his AAM Music label, Adolfo chose to focus on the Brazilian music styles choro and baião, specifically the works of two brilliant and innovative Brazilian composers, Guinga and Chico Buarque.

“I wanted to record an album of material that forces me to play differently,” Adolfo says. “My passion is for their harmonies and melodies, which are not just sophisticated, but quite unusual in Brazilian music. When you play American or Brazilian standards, you tend to stay in familiar territory. But with their harmonies you cannot use clichés. It requires you go into some really different directions.” The fact that Adolfo’s original pieces (“Chicote,” “Chorosa Blues,” “Chora Baião”) fit so comfortably alongside the music of Guinga and Buarque shouldn’t be surprising. From Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, and Herb Alpert to Elis Regina, Beth Carvalho, and Sergio Mendes, some of the world’s most popular artists have recorded his songs. His title track announces the thread of choro and baião running through the album, drawing on both forms while opening with a bracing jolt of maracatu percussion.

“This is a different kind of music, not Jobim,” Adolfo says. “Guinga is very inventive with choro and baião. Before Guinga everyone played choro very traditionally. He uses chords like Piazzolla. He’s never been played by jazz musicians, but his harmonies are very unexpected.”

As for Buarque, “I wanted to show him as a musician,” says Adolfo. “There’s no doubt he’s one of the three most important lyricists in Brazil, but he’s also a composer who ranks alongside Jobim and Edu Lobo. He chooses different chords and different bass lines. You can hear in songs like ‘A Ostra e o Vento’ (The Oyster and the Wind) that the harmonies are very sophisticated. As a composer, as a musician who writes songs, he and Guinga do things that nobody else does in Brazilian music, with chords and melodies that are unexpected.”

Produced and arranged by Adolfo, Chora Baião features the same basic cast heard on last year’s Lá e Cá: Uruguayan-born guitarist Leo Amuedo (a frequent collaborator with Ivan Lins), bassist Jorge Helder (often heard with Chico Buarque and Maria Bethânia), drummer Rafael Barata (Edu Lobo, Rosa Passos, Mônica Salmaso), and—on two tracks—vocalist Carol Saboya. The formidable Marcos Suzano (Lenine, Gilberto Gil, Zizi Possi) is added on percussion.

Besides his prolific work as a pianist, composer, and arranger, Adolfo, 64, continues to be a leader in music education. The Centro Musical Antonio Adolfo in Rio and a new experimental Brazilian music school in Hollywood, Florida, where he resides, are a big part of his current professional life. “Nadia Boulanger and all the other teachers I had were my inspiration to become a music educator myself,” says Adolfo. “My involvement in education is a result of my interest in always trying to go deeper and to deal technically with different music subjects, which has helped my own development and growth as a musician.”

CHRISTIAN McBRIDE – CONVERSATIONS WITH CHRISTIAN

On his eight CDs that precede Conversations With Christian, bassist Christian McBride has framed himself in ensemble contexts, most recently on the widely lauded 2009 Mack Avenue release Kind of Brown, which showcases the Inside Straight quintet (his return to the acoustic jazz format as a leader) and The Good Feeling, released in September, comprising a suite of well-wrought charts for an A-list 17-piece big band.

Although McBride's leader and sideman c.v. includes no small number of pungent duos with various game-changers-to name two, McCoy Tyner and Jim Hall-he has heretofore refrained from devoting an entire recording to the genre. That discographical gap is now rectified with Conversations with Christian, on which the 39-year-old maestro places himself in the forefront of the flow on a duet apiece with "13 of my closest musical friends and cohorts"-singers Angélique Kidjo, Sting and Dee Dee Bridgewater; pianists George Duke, Eddie Palmieri and Chick Corea, as well as Dr. Billy Taylor and Hank Jones (who both passed away in 2010); violinist Regina Carter; trumpeter Roy Hargrove; guitarist Russell Malone; tenor saxophonist Ron Blake; and actress Gina Gershon. In the process, McBride unleashes the full measure of his already legendary skills, crafting as complete a portrait of his diverse interests-different vibrations of the blues and African-American church experience, bebop, the American Songbook, the Latin Tinge, the Freedom Principle, even comedy-as he has ever presented.

"I love and appreciate so many different styles and cultures," he remarks. "Changing hats, going from one project to another, from a straight-ahead session to an R&B session to a pop session, has always fueled my activity. I try to put all those different sounds into one pot and make it a coherent, jazz-inflected sound."

McBride first considered a proposal to do a duet project during the latter '90s, when he was signed to Verve. "At the time," he recalls, "I didn't feel I was ready, or that it was the project I wanted to do. I had other things in mind. But as time progressed, I got to do other projects-putting together the Christian McBride Band and experimenting with a lot of different sounds and layers-and my focus returned to the duets idea."

This renewed interest coincided with McBride's involvement with the National Jazz Museum In Harlem (he is co-director), where he launched a still ongoing series of public talks and interviews. "My manager, Andre Guess, and my wife, Melissa Walker, noticed that I had a good rapport with almost everyone I interviewed," recalls McBride, whose warmth comes through as palpably in conversation as in notes and tones. "They both suggested that it might be time."

In conjunction with the project, McBride conducted videotaped interviews with each participant. Available as discrete podcasts since 2009, this series eventually led to the popular Sirius-XM radio show, The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian.

"I think the duet is a logical extension of the nature of the bass itself," McBride says. "It's the root. Joe Zawinul once stated that the drums are the father of all music, and the bass is the mother. I had a hard time disagreeing. The bass has the rhythm and the pulse, and also the notes and harmonies. That would seem to make it the ideal instrument for any sort of duet."

If the bass is the ideal instrument to perform the duo function, McBride would seem to be its ideal practitioner. He immersed himself in the genre directly after arriving in New York City from Philadelphia, his hometown, in 1989. Then 17, just out of high school, he entered the rarefied atmosphere of such New York piano saloons as Bradley's, the Knickerbocker and the Village Gate, learning the tools of the trade on drummer-less gigs with such elder masters as Larry Willis, John Hicks and George Cables.

"Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, and Oscar Pettiford were my main favorite bass soloists, plus Jaco Pastorius on the electric side," McBride says. "Their articulation was so clean and so sharp, and you wondered why all bass players didn't play with that clarity. It seemed to me that musicians across the board were learning the language of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane and more modern geniuses like Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson, and that as a bassist I should also learn that language. With the exception of a few people, most bass solos I heard seemed a little uncertain and ambiguous, and I didn't buy that the reason was the instrument's frequency. I wanted every single, solitary note I was playing on the bass to be as crystal clear, as articulate and precise, as any other instrument, while still keeping the full tone.

Such formative experiences, as well as extended tours with "arena" acts like Pat Metheny, Chick Corea and Sting, many years playing with the drummer-less three-bass unit Super Bass with Ray Brown and John Clayton, and consequential engagements with pop icons like James Brown, Queen Latifah and The Roots, gave McBride the confidence to eschew the original material that he "had ready for almost all of the duets." He realized that, "since everything is exposed in a duet, my partner should be as comfortable as humanly possible, whether it meant doing a song of theirs or some mutually-agreed upon standard. I knew that I could feel comfortable with just about anything."

McBride transcends the challenge, crafting one eyebrow-raising solo after another, and conjuring a lexicon of apropos, state-of-the-art bass-lines. On Kidjo's anthemic "Afirika," which opens the proceedings, he adapts the band arrangement into a surging, metrically complex bass part, rendered with the huge sound that is his trademark, complementing to perfection the Beninoise diva's over-the-barline phrasing. Later, with Sting on the 1985 hit "Consider Me Gone" from the film Bring on the Night, he sets up a gentle 4/4 vamp to blanket and complement the singer's keening tenor and self-comping guitar; still later, he signifies with good-humored, "filthy" expertise to Dee Dee Bridgewater's lusty interpretation of "It's Your Thing" by the Isley Brothers.

Observe the intense, contemplative mood that McBride's arco introduction sets for "Spiritual," a late-in-life composition by Dr. Billy Taylor; his comfort zone swinging through the changes on songbook standards "Alone Together" (Hank Jones) and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" (Roy Hargrove); the soulfulness he imparts to his own "Sister Rosa" (Russell Malone) and up-tempo "McDukey Blues" (George Duke). He surefootedly explores the open spaces with Chick Corea on "Tango Improvisation," a spur-of-the-moment creation, and finds a path into Eddie Palmieri's singularly Afro-Caribbean universe on "Guajeo Y Tumbao." On "Fat Bach and Greens," he and Regina Carter morph seamlessly from a well-wrought reading of Johann Sebastian Bach's Double Violin Concerto into extemporaneous highbrow back-and-forth on the blues, while on "Shake 'n Blake" he engages in informed variations on rhythm changes with tenor saxophonist Ron Blake, his long-time partner.

The operative principle throughout is McBride's dictum, "Most of what I enjoy doing is based in, around, and upon the groove; I want to hold down the fort-but have the ability to visit the roof if I want." Conversations With Christian will assume its place as a masterpiece of the duo idiom.

Christian McBride · Conversations With Christian
Mack Avenue Records · Release Date: November 8, 2011
christianmcbride.com

WALTER MCCARTY - EMOTIONALLY

Former NBA Star Walter McCarty is about to turn the heat up with sultry smooth music from his sophomore effort Emotionally. The album includes ten passionate cuts with most of the selections written, produced and performed by McCarty. Also on the album is a cover version of “How Deep is Your Love,” from the Bee Gees. The album has a variety of smooth soul, R&B and jazz influences. The album is on Hit Boys Entertainment and is presently available in all digital downloading sites. A native of Evansville, Indiana, Walter is famous for drilling 3-Pointers from the corner. He has played for The New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers. His NBA career lasted for a decade and he was an assistant coach for The Pacers as recent as last year. Music was a great balance for him throughout his NBA career. Being involved in this career provided the means for him to invest time in learning to play the piano and creating music tracks. However, music was always an important part in Walter’s early life. Walter started singing in church around the age of five and he participated in musical activities through middle school all the way to high school. His major influences are Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, and during heyday of Boys II Men and Jodeci, he was inspired to pursue music with every chance he had.

Over the years Walter has worked with numerous industry insiders, including the hit-making production team The Underdogs, R&B singer/songwriter Tank and co-writing on such songs as “Come Back To Me Shawty,” performed by Tyrese. After honing his songwriting style on the Los Angeles music scene, Walter returned to do his own projects with renewed focus. “I’m so fortunate to have this platform to express all the things that I’ve experienced and put them into song. All I’ve ever wanted to do is perform and be heard musically”. Emotionally is a testament to Walter’s emergence of reconnecting with his first love, which is music. He contends that this album will be pleasing to everyone who listens to it regardless of what genre of music they like and it makes a great gift to share with others for the upcoming holiday season.

www.waltermccarty.com/#all

ADELE CANCELS U.S. TOUR

Adele has been forced to cancel her upcoming 10 city sold-out tour of the U.S. due to a hemorrhage into her vocal chord. Vocal chord issues forced the British singer to postpone dates earlier this year as well. Adele has just wrapped up touring around the UK and was preparing to kick off her US tour on October 7 in Atlantic City, NJ when her illness reappeared (see below for full list of cancelled US tour dates). Renowned for her powerful live vocal performances, Adele has been advised by doctors that she'll need an extended rest period in order to begin to recuperate properly. Further details to follow regarding these cancelled dates. Refunds may be obtained at point of purchase. Adele recently posted the following on her site about the cancellations: "Singing is literally my life, it's my hobby, my love, my freedom and now my job. I have absolutely no choice but to recuperate properly and fully, or I risk damaging my voice forever. I have great confidence in believing you know how much this upsets me, how seriously I take it and how truly devastated and annoyed I am by this. wanting to do something so bad and not being able to is the most frustrating thing as I'm sure you know! my voice is weak and I need to build it back up. I'm gonna be starting up vocal rehab as soon as, and start building my over all stamina in my voice, body and mind. i will be back and I'm gonna smash the ball out the park once I'm touring again. I apologise from the bottom of my heart, sincerely I do. I know its not only disappointing because of the show, but it's plane tickets, hotel bookings, birthdays, anniversaries and time wasted. but please have faith in me that this is the only thing I can do to make sure I can always sing and always make music for you to the best of my ability. truly yours and yours only forever, 'Adele xx "

October 7 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata Spa & Resort

October 8 Durham, NC Durham Performing Arts Center

October 10 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium

October 11 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

October 13 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live

October 14 Miami, FL Waterfront Theater at American Airlines Arena

October 16 Atlanta, GA Fox Theatre

October 18 Spring, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

October 19 Austin, TX Frank Erwin Center

October 21 Grand Prairie, TX Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie

http://www.adele.tv/

http://www.columbiarecords.com/

MONTY ALEXANDER –HARLEM-KINGSTON EXPRESS

In a career spanning five decades, pianist Monty Alexander has distinctively bridged the worlds of jazz, popular song, and the music of his native Jamaica. With over 70 albums to his name, Alexander celebrates his 50th year in music with his newest release - Monty Alexander: Harlem-Kingston Express: Live, his debut on the innovative Motéma label. The album presents Alexander's most 'reggaefied' touring group yet, which for past few years has defined a bold new chapter in his life-long journey of uniting jazz with reggae and a wide array of other Island musical idioms that he holds dear.

Alexander has been on the express track his whole life and now, in this 50th year of phenomenal musicianship, he shows no sign of slowing down. In 1961, the urban sophistication of jazz and the American songbook, and an invitation to accompany none other than Frank Sinatra, lured the teen prodigy Alexander away from Jamaica and the art form most associated with that nation. The move led to an extraordinary career in jazz, reggae and popular song including collaboration with greats such as Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson, Sonny Rollins, Quincy Jones, Bill Cosby and Bobby McFerrin.

Though for a long while, Alexander left behind the down-home, one-love spirit of Island music, through the years - encouraged in part by the emergence of reggae as an international force - he began incorporating Jamaican references into his jazz performances, eventually recording several Bob Marley songbook reggae focused projects in the 1990s. Those efforts involved bringing Jamaican melodic themes into a jazz context, as opposed to reaching for an authentic reggae sound.  He has also recorded several specifically reggae focused projects, but this is the first recording to fully incorporate the 'Full Monty' spectrum from authentic jazz to authentic reggae and all of the shadings in between.

Though his widest reputation is as a jazz artist, Alexander actually grew up deep inside the Jamaican "yard" movement. His first band, "Monty and The Cyclones," was focused on native Jamaican music (mento, ska and R&B and his performances can be heard on seminal reggae recordings from Federal Recording Studio (that later launched the careers of Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley, among others). To this day, 'Commander 'Zander' [as his reggae mates have called him since the Jamaican government bestowed the national honor of "Commander in the Order of Distinction" upon him in 2000]  - maintains close ties with top figures in the genre, including Ernest Ranglin, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, as well as distinguished producers such as Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd and Duke Reid as well as Island records impresario, Chris Blackwell.

 With Harlem-Kingston Express: Live, Alexander returns to his roots, extending all the way into reggae dance-hall territory, while also utilizing the full spectrum of jazz composition and performance that has earned him his moniker as a legend of jazz. A photo of his stage set up in the centerfold of the CD booklet reveals the secret to his new sound: On his left sits "Harlem," a traditional jazz rhythm section featuring Obed Calvaire on drums, Hassan Shakur on acoustic bass, and Yotam Silberstein on guitar; and on his right sits "Kingston," a roots-rock posse featuring the seasoned reggae artists, Karl Wright on drums, Hoova Simpson on electric bass, Andy Bassford on electric skank guitar and Alexander's long-time compadre, Robert "Bobby T" Thomas on hand drums, stretching out across center stage with a dance-hall worthy percussion arsenal. In the middle of these two units sits "Commander 'Zander" happily at the helm, 'driving' his piano and swinging the sound seamlessly from jazz quartet to reggae five-some to nine-piece fusion and back again throughout the night according to his musical whim and design.

Alexander's infectious joy of performing reaches yet a new height in this new configuration.  "It was a while before I said [to myself], 'If I want to do this music and [be free to] pick from the whole palette - everything from my own piece to Duke Ellington, to Bob Marley - then I need to bring two rhythm sections together,'" explains Alexander. "That way, it all can be available to me, whatever I feel, the whole time. Because I feel American and I feel Jamaican, and the rhythms that come from the street and the country in America are just as meaningful to me as the vibrations that come from Jamaica. It's like, [my] left hand and [my] right hand."

Monty's Harlem-Kingston Express band configuration is an international crowd-pleaser, as can be heard from the robust and spontaneous applause outbursts peppering the proceedings on this release consisting of tracks drawn from live performances in five countries - U.S., Jamaica, France, Germany, and Holland - over the course of four years (2006 through 2010), and seamlessly assembled into a 'one world' traveling concert that reflects not only Alexander's life experience, but also his life philosophy. The majority of the album was recorded live during the group's triumphant week at New York City's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Jazz At Lincoln Center) in June 2010. The Wall Street Journal's Pia Catton hailed that engagement as "an outrageously good time," and later published the performance as number one on his "Top Five" list of favorite New York concerts of that Summer.

Motéma label founder and president Jana Herzen, (a long-time reggae fan who once played professionally in the genre) also caught Alexander at Dizzy's and loved the show. It was Todd Barkan - the distinguished producer, presenter and Dizzy's Artistic Director - who introduced Herzen to Alexander and suggested that Motéma would be a perfect home for Alexander's Harlem-Kingston Express: Live disc.

Says Herzen of the signing, "This is a quintessential 'Motéma' project: it's unique, it bridges cultures and generations, and Monty is a musical genius with an ultimate 'feel-good', vibe." Herzen's label, named after an African word meaning both 'heart' & 'love,' especially selects artists like Alexander who have a distinctive artistic voice and a commitment to positivity." The campaign for this project is aimed at helping Monty expand his touring circuit into world music and jam-band territory."

WAYNE SHORTER – THE COMPLETE COLUMBIA ALBUMS COLLECTION

Columbia’s complete collections release series continues with the best of Wayne Shorter’s electric era all in one bundle. Included are 4 original albums plus two bonus discs. Each individual album is packaged in a replica mini-slleve reproducing the album’s original art, and it covers nearly 20 years of his greatest electric solo and co-leader performances of his own songs. It’s the most complete package to date of Wayne Shorter’s Columbia albums. Enigmatic, often inscrutable, Wayne Shorter (b. 1933) doesn’t give much of himself away to the public. Thankfully, he’s given the world more than plenty in terms of beautiful music.  A brilliant tenor and soprano saxophonist, an outstanding composer, and, at present, a bandleader of rare distinction, Shorter is finally basking in the adoration he’s long deserved.

 

The journey started in Newark, New Jersey where Shorter began drawing attention to his musical prowess as a teenager.  His five year stint, starting in 1959, with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers alerted the jazz world to Shorter’s compelling voice on the tenor saxophone and his beguiling compositions.  On joining Miles Davis in 1964, Shorter solidified what came to be called “The Second Great Quintet,” alongside the trumpeter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams.  Shorter’s tunes – “Footprints,” "E.S.P.", and "Nefertiti" among them – and his alluringly elliptical playing were decisive elements in the critical success of the Davis band.  Shorter’s own concurrently released albums as a leader have proved to be just as inspiring to subsequent generations of players as his work with Davis.

 

With Davis’s initial fusion foray, In a Silent Way, Shorter turned to the soprano saxophone, instantly cementing a new and highly influential voice on the instrument. After participating on the epochal Bitches Brew, Shorter joined forces with Joe Zawinul, forming Weather Report. Increasing commercial success, particularly after the innovative bassist Jaco Pastorius joined, marked the fusion super group’s notable fifteen-year run. Shorter’s own Native Dancer (1974), effectively introduced North American audiences to singer and composer Milton Nascimento.

 

With the dissolution of Weather Report in 1985, Shorter, the musician, was on his own for the first time. His albums Atlantis, Phantom Navigator and Joy Ryder found him delving deeper into extended composition while continuing to investigate electric fusion. Approaching his eighth decade, Shorter reverted to an acoustic setting once more, forming a highly lauded quartet noted for its risky improvisational ethos. Shorter remains what Hancock dubbed him: “the master.”

• Includes the long unavailable albums -- Atlantis, Phantom Navigator , and Joy Ryder
• Two unique bonus discs featuring Shorter performing all of the compositions he wrote for the premiere jazz/fusion band Weather Report -- 23 tunes , 90 minutes of music 
• Plus his all-time best-selling solo album, Native Dancer, with Brazilian superstar Milton Nascimento 
• Nearly 20 years of his greatest electric solo and co-leader performances of his own songs

 Albums Included:

• New bonus disc -  Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 1
• New bonus disc -  Weather Report Recordings of Wayne Shorter Compositions 2
• Native Dancer w/ Milton Nascimento (1974)
• Atlantis (1985)
• Phantom Navigator (1986)
• Joy Ryder (1988)

ROBERT FLACK TO RECORD BEATLES TRIBUTE ALBUM

Roberta Flack, the four-time Grammy Award-winning artist, has long been known as an unparalleled musician who effortlessly inhabits the worlds of pop, soul, R&B, jazz and folk.  From her very first recording, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" which hit #1 in the U.S. across all charts, Flack has created strong emotional bonds with her listeners through her poignant musicality and unerring stylizations while also shining an uncompromising light onto the culture and politics of the times.  Back in the spotlight after performing a memorable duet with Maxwell at the 2010 Grammy Awards, Flack is putting the finishing touches on her new album—her first in over 8 years.  Newly signed to a partnership of 429 Records, Sony ATV Music Publishing and Flack's RAS Records, the album, which was produced by Sherrod Barnes, who has also produced Beyonce and Angie Stone, with contributing producers Jerry Barnes and Barry Miles, is slated for early February 2012 release worldwide (Sony Music will release the album in Japan).  A single from the collection will be released this month—her interpretation of "We Can Work It Out".  The single will be available worldwide September 27th exclusively at iTunes.

Since bursting onto the scene in 1969 with the blockbuster album "First Take" (produced by the legendary Joel Dorn), she's followed her fiercely uncompromising lyrical and musical muses earning her a place alongside pioneering artists such as Aretha Franklin, Elton John, and Nina Simone.  A multiple Grammy winner, she is the only artist along with U2 to win "Record of the Year" in consecutive years (for "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly").  Although she's taken some time between recordings, she's never stopped performing having constantly toured worldwide.  Flack, a national treasure, gives her time freely to a host of charitable and humanitarian causes--among them, the ASPCA (spokesperson of the year for 2011) and the Roberta Flack School of Music in Bronx, NY (which she founded in 2006).

Says Roberta:  "My passion for this project comes from the magical genius of the greatest songwriters of all time.  Love, inspiration, friendship and my own life's lessons come together when I sing the songs they created.  I am honored to be a part of the fabulous legacy of the Beatles."

Says Steve Vining, President of 429 Records/Savoy Label Group: "It's rare that a record project has so much going for it—a legendary, Grammy Award-winning vocalist, the most recognized songs in our lifetimes, a gifted production team and the combined support of Sony/ATV, SLG/429 and our distribution partners world-wide.  We're honored Roberta and Danny have placed their faith in our team and we all are looking forward to spreading the word about this truly extraordinary recording."Says Danny Strick, Co-President of Sony/ATV Music Publishing: "To hear Roberta Flack's unique interpretations of some of the most important songs in pop culture is wonderful.  We are very excited to be working with Steve Vining and the Savoy team as we expose these wonderful recordings to lovers of music around the world."