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Jazz in Its Present Tents
ByBossaCucaNova
arrangerThe Best of Bossacucanova
Six Degrees Records
2016
Few bands have built upon the legacy of their chosen field the way that
BossaCucaNova
arranger
Roberto Menescal
guitarb.1937
History mashes up into the modern nearly everywhere you turn. The opening "Berimbau" features Os Cariocas, a Brazilian vocal group founded in 1942. "Berimbau" is named for one of Brazil's oldest, most revered stringed instruments; Marcio grounds this track in his father's original recording of this tune (you can even hear needle dropping onto vinyl) and then reshuffles its sonic deck. Os Cariocas returns for "Adeus América" with vocal shadings that cool the tropical heat of Marlon Sette's trombone solo and brilliant horn arrangement.
You also often meet the legendary

Antonio Carlos Jobim
piano1927 - 1994

Sergio Mendes
piano1941 - 2024

Thievery Corporation
band / ensemble / orchestra
Bebel Gilberto
vocals
George Benson
guitarb.1943
"?ndio Quer Apito," a new tune written for Carnival but rooted in a traditional carioca song from the '60s, honors Brazil's Indian heritage with echoing chants and war cries that shimmer into icy reflections through swirling, electronic dancing sound.
"Our great references are still the music and culture of the sixties through eighties," Marcio allows. "Brazilian music is very richit has several rhythmic styles, an abundance of harmonies, and extraordinary musicians. But we will always feel like we need to improve and refresh what has come before." In this way, Bossacucanova has changed the face of Brazilian music for the better, and forever.


Dewa Budjana
guitar, electricb.1963
Zentuary
Favored Nations Entertainment
2016
Indonesian composer, guitarist and bandleader

Dewa Budjana
guitar, electricb.1963
Steve Vai
guitar, electric
Peter Erskine
drumsb.1954

Joe Locke
vibraphoneb.1959

Larry Goldings
organ, Hammond B3b.1968

Jack DeJohnette
drumsb.1942

Tony Levin
bassb.1946

Gary Husband
drumsb.1960
It's tempting to write that, by surrounding himself with such exceptional playersand guests including saxophonist

Tim Garland
clarinet, bassb.1966

Bill Bruford
drumsb.1949

Chick Corea
piano1941 - 2021
As you listen to "Suniakala," which features the CSO, you feel yourself drawn into something as alive and deep as mysterious as an ocean. Levin's "Rerengat Langit (Crack in the Sky)" features Indonesian flute and percussion around Saraswati's lush Sudanese vocal, her voice as the lead actress' soliloquy against the band's instrumental chorus, until Budjana's soaring guitar threatens to actually put a "crack in the sky." "Dedariku" also features Indonesian flute, to introduce an Indo-Chinese sound.
DeJohnette rolls and tumbles through disc two like a rock drummer in his jazzman's chair. He and Levin grab "Pancaroba" by the throat and plunge it into metallic rock power chords. You could build an entire skyscraper atop his rhythmic foundation to "Manhattan Temple," thundering and explosive lines which conjure the primal force that was drummer

Elvin Jones
drums1927 - 2004

Cecil Taylor
piano1929 - 2018
"I conceived the term 'Zentuary' by combining the words Zen and Sanctuary. For me, it summarizes my lifelong journey through my life and along my musical path," Budjana writes in this set's notes. "Uncle Jack, Mr. Tony and Brother Gary, thank you for accompanying me on this fabulous musical adventure!" Zentuary is an enduring postcard of snapshots from their fantastic voyage.


Club d'Elf
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1998
Live at Club Helsinki
Face Pelt Records
2017

Club d'Elf
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1998
The other challenge reads like a cop-out but it's nonetheless true: These cats aren't just musicians, they're magicians. Good luck explaining magic.
(Very) Loosely directed by drummer
Dean Johnston
drums
Mike Rivard
bass, acoustic
Either/Orchestra
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1985

Grateful Dead
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1965

John Medeski
organ, Hammond B3b.1965
Duke Levine
guitar
Brahim Fribgane
oud- 2024
One disc one, Rivard lays down the melody of "Mogador" then hands it over to Medeski, whose solo on grand pianoa

McCoy Tyner
piano1938 - 2020
On disc two, "Green Screen" upshifts and downshifts through Levine's crashing chords and concludes with a good ol' four on the floor psychedelic funk stomp

Buddy Miles
drums1947 - 2008

Jimi Hendrix
guitar, electric1942 - 1970
"Zeed Al Maal" sounds like the

Jerry Garcia
guitar, electric
Ennio Morricone
composer / conductor1928 - 2020

Booker T. Jones
keyboardsb.1944
Live at Club Helsinki closes with a spoken sample from one of the band's inspirations, Terence McKenna, which also sums up Club d'Elf's purpose, vision and music: "There is a hidden dimension to reality. Call it a plan, a purpose, a loving god, a cosmos instead of a chaos. And psychedelics, I believe, reveal a greater order than the normal world."


Akua Dixon
celloAkua's Dance
Akua's Music
2017
My ears are not accustomed to hearing cello as the lead instrument in an ensemble, and so Akua's Dance by cellist and baritone violinist

Akua Dixon
celloDixon took quite a circuitous route to her third release: After graduating from New York's Fame High School of the Performing Arts, then studying at the Manhattan School of Music, one of her first jobs was in the pit band at the world-famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, where she supported acts from Reverend James Cleveland to Barry White to

James Brown
vocals1933 - 2006

Max Roach
drums1925 - 2007
Akua's Dance presents jazz concepts in classical sound. "The music moves forward from where I was to where I'm going," Dixon explains. "On this one, I'm out front with the rhythm section." Actually, she's "out in front" with two rhythm sections: She performs on baritone violin with her working quartet of bassist

Kenny Davis
bassb.1961

Victor Lewis
drumsb.1950

Freddie Bryant
guitar
Russell Malone
guitar1963 - 2024

Ron Carter
bassb.1937

Archie Shepp
saxophone, tenorb.1937
Dixon's third release hits its stride upon "Orion's Gait" with Carter and Malone, a gently rocking sing-song waltz inspired by the walking pace of Dixon's son in which her cello sounds playfully, almost whimsically, affectionate. "Orion's Gait" turns into the melancholy sharp tango of Akua's Dance, which the cellist describes as, "A cycle, mostly in seven, but with a couple of bars in six floating around" that dances on the Latin feel from Lewis' peppery percussion and Bryant's acoustic guitar solo.
Akua's Dance also transposes two covers into Dixon's unique voice.

Sade
vocalsb.1959

Abbey Lincoln
vocals1930 - 2010
"I Dream a Dream" and the title track are repurposed from Dixon's in-process opera about New Orleans' legendary 19th century voodoo queen Marie Laveau.


Notes Over Poetry
Far Out Recordings
2017
Notes Over Poetry is

Notes Over Poetry seems to grow more beautiful as you progress through each track into a blossoming flower of Brazilian sound. Powell is the son of composer and guitarist Baden Powell de Aquino, a legendary founding father of bossa nova. But he sounds as a pianist more like the music heir to

Antonio Carlos Jobim
piano1927 - 1994
The gentle melody and supple rhythm underlying the acoustic jazz trio piece "Quem Sabe?" reflects Jobim's brillianceespecially Powell's hesitatingly tender vocal, which sounds like he was singing this quietly to himself. The pianist's vocal also adores this bouncy and bright "Chica," tart but smooth pop frosted by the horns' cool shade and topped with Powell's suave piano solo. Another acoustic piano trio piece, "For You To Know," is this set's sparkling gemstone, as Powell's dexterous touch suggests the asymmetrical musings of

Keith Jarrett
pianob.1945

Burt Bacharach
composer / conductor1928 - 2023

Bill Evans
piano1929 - 1980
Two other Powell originals cast quiet but potent spells. An insistent thump from bassist " data-original-title="" title="">Rafael Paseiro and French jazz drummer

André Ceccarelli
drumsb.1946

Aretha Franklin
vocals1942 - 2018

Michel Legrand
piano1932 - 2019

Bebel Gilberto
vocals
Sade
vocalsb.1959

David Linx
vocals
Chick Corea
piano1941 - 2021
Powell explains Notes Over Poetry in his own notes: "The great Brazilian poet and old family friend Vinicius de Moraes used to say that, 'Life is the art of encounter,' and that is what this album is about."


Sonny Rollins
saxophoneb.1930

Horace Silver
piano1928 - 2014
Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series 40: Zurich 1959
The Montreux Jazz Label
2016
The quantity and quality of music released in 1959 have led many to call it a watershed year for modern jazz. Even just cursory research calls up such landmark titles as

John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967

Ornette Coleman
saxophone, alto1930 - 2015

Dave Brubeck
piano1920 - 2012

Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991

Sonny Rollins
saxophoneb.1930

Horace Silver
piano1928 - 2014
Rollins' set with drummer

Pete La Roca
drums1938 - 2012

Henry Grimes
bass, acoustic1935 - 2020
Recorded so well that you can hear Rollins count off, "One, twoone, two, three" to start, this hot romp through "Oleo" further supports the notion that Rollins named one of his most famous (and most slippery) compositions after the oil- based margarine of the same name, and he trades such explosive closing fours with La Roca that the saxophone and drums sound determined to blow the other off the bandstand.
Any opportunity to hear

Horace Silver
piano1928 - 2014

Junior Cook
saxophone1934 - 1992

Blue Mitchell
trumpet1930 - 1979

Gene Taylor
bassb.1929

Louis Hayes
drumsb.1937
"Cool Eyes" flutters on the warm wings of Mitchell's tight grooving, and although some of Silver's contemporaries such as

Red Garland
piano1923 - 1984

Cedar Walton
piano1934 - 2013
"Ecaroh" and the concluding "Se?or Blues" shimmy with the "Spanish tinge" that Silver enjoyed playing most of all. The rhythm section spreads out "Ecaroh" like a warm Latin blanket beneath the cool shade of the swinging bop quintet horns, and the leader's famous introduction to "Se?or Blues" leaps and bounds like something

Joe Zawinul
keyboards1932 - 2007
Tracks and Personnel:
The Best of Bossacucanova
Tracks: Berimbau; Consola??o; Medita??o; Bye Bye Brasil; ?gua De Beber; Brasilidade; Essa Mo?a Tá Diferente; Previs?o; ?guas De Mar?o; Adeus América; ? Preciso Perdoar; Balan?a (Nao Pode Parar!); ?ndio Quer Apito; Waldomiro Pena (Dalata Remix).
Personnel: Nema Antunes: bass; José Arimatéia: trumpet; Luiz Avellar: keyboards; Brother Dado: drums, percussion, tambourine; Adriana Calcanhotto: vocals; Os Cariocas: vocals; Oscar Castro-Neves: acoustic guitar; Danilo Caymmi: flute; Sílvio César: vocals; José Alves Da Silva: violin; Cris Delanno: vocals; Laudir DeOliveira: percussion; DJ Dalua: beats, reco- reco, scratching; Glauco Fernandes: violin; Severino Filho: piano; Chris Franck: bass, guitar, keyboards, programming; Pedro Frederico: violin; Leo Gandelman: flute, tenor saxophone; Diogo Gomes: trumpet; Daniel Guedes: violin; Carlos Eduardo Hack: violin; Marcelinho Da Lua: programming, scratching; Pedro Luis: vocals; Altair Martins: trumpet; Pascoal Meirelles: drums; Flavio Mendes: guitar; Thais Mendes: viola; Márcio Menescal; bass, fender jazz bass, guitar, programming; Roberto Menescal: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals; Fernando Merlino: piano; Alex Moreira: fender rhodes, keyboards, hammond organ, piano, programming, sampling; Sidinho Moreira: percussion; Orquestra Criola: vocals; Leo Ortiz: violin; Jesuina Passaroto: viola; Iura Ranevsky: cello; Pantico Rocha: drums; Rene Rossano: guitar; Wanda Sá: vocals; Claudia Grosso Couto Salles: cello; Emilio Santiago: vocals; Marlon Sette: trombone; Wilson Simoninha: vocals; Carl Smith: congas; Marcos Suzano: pandeiro; Tiago Torres: drums; Reginaldo Vargas: percussion.
Zentuary
Tracks: Disc One: Dancing Tears; Solas PM; Lake Takengon; Suniakala; Dear Yulman; Rerengat Langit (Crack in the Sky). Disc Two: Pancaroba; Manhattan Temple; Dedariku; Ujung Galuh; Uncle Jack; Zentuary.
Personnel: Dewa Budjana: guitars, soundscapes; Jack DeJohnette: drums, acoustic piano; Tim Garland: tenor sax; Guthrie Govan: guitar; Gary Husband: drums, keyboards, acoustic piano; Tony Levin: electric upright NS Design bass, Chapman Stick; Danny Markovich: curved soprano saxophone; Risa Saraswati: vocals; Saat Syah: Indonesian flute; Ubiet (Nyak Ina Raseuki): vocals.
Live at Club Helsinki
Tracks: Disc 1: Mogador; Africa; The Booloolu; Hegaz; Secret Atom; Berber Song. Disc 2: Al-Hadra; Zeed Al Maal; Power Plant; Salvia; Green Screen; Sidi Rabi.
Personnel: John Medeski: Hammond B3, piano, electric piano, clavinet, mellotron, melodica; Brahim Fribgane: oud, vocals, percussion; Duke Levine: guitar; Mister Rourke: DJ; Mike Rivard: bass, sintir, bass kalimba; Dean Johnston: drums; Thomas Workman: flute.
Akua's Dance
Tracks: I Dream a Dream; Dizzy's Smile; If My Heart Could Speak to You; Orion's Gait; Akua's Dance; Throw It Away; Afrika! Afrika!; The Sweetest Taboo; I'm Gonna Tell God All of My Troubles; Don't Stop.
Personnel: Akua Dixon: baritone violin, cello; Victor Lewis: drums; Freddie Bryant: guitar; Russell Malone: guitar; Kenny Davis: bass; Ron Carter: bass.
Notes Over Poetry
Tracks: Vamos Donatear?; Notes Over The Poetry; For You To Know; Hues; Chica; The Lonely Dreamer; Recado Pra Você; Salvadora; Quem Sabe?; State of Music.
Personnel: Philippe Baden Powell: acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes; Rafael Paseiro: acoustic bass, electric bass; André Ceccarelli: drums; Ruca Rubord?o: percussion; Amir Mahla: tenor saxophone; Marlon Moore: vocals; David Linx: vocals; Alexandre Vaz: acoustic guitar; Paula Tesser: vocals; Sidney Rodrigues: electric guitar; Renata Neves: viola; Delphine Blanc: vocals; Rubinho Antunes: trumpet and brass arrangements.
Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series 40: Zurich 1959
Tracks: Sonny Rollins Trio: I Remember You; I've Told Every Little Star; It Could Happen to You; Oleo; Will You Still Be Mine? Horace Silver Quintet: Nica's Dream; Cool Eyes; Shirl; Ecaroh; Se?or Blues.
Personnel: Sonny Rollins Trio: Sonny Rollins: tenor saxophone; Henry Grimes: bass; Pete LaRoca: drums. Horace Silver Quintet: Horace Silver: piano; Blue Mitchell: trumpet; Junior Cook: tenor saxophone; Gene Taylor: bass; Louis Hayes: drums.
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