Maureen Thing For Yuh

While female jazz vocalists outnumber male jazz vocalists five to one, it would be a fallacy to believe there is not a wealth of talent among the men singers. With Louis Armstrong and Chet Baker now memories, and Mark Murphy vocalist and Jon Hendricks in twilight, as Kurt Elling ascends their throne, there exists a vocal diaspora of the most refined and sonically appealing voices singing, and they are all men. Andy Bey, Beat Kaestli, Henry Darragh and John Proulx all have beautifully sweet and slightly androgynous voices that are able to flatter a broad range of song types…

This one-and-only recorded collaboration between jazz greats Geri Allen and Kurt Rosenwinkel took place live at the famed Philharmonie de Paris in 2012—the two play as if with one mind. Geri often spoke of her desire to do a studio recording to document the ‘flow and freedom” she experienced playing with Kurt that night in Paris. Unfortunately, we lost her before that date never materialized, and fortunately, that concert was recorded. The acoustics in this hall are magnificent, This album, produced by Kurt Rosenwinkel and Motéma's Jana Herzen is dedicated to Geri's memory and is truly a 'lovesome thing' for fans of Geri, of Kurt, and of piano and guitar jazz.

This compilation has all of the music formerly on singer June Christy's two 1957 Capitol LPs, Fair and Warmer! and Gone for the Day, both of which have Pete Rugolo arrangements. The former set (which is actually programmed second) finds Christy joined by a 12-piece group of mostly West Coast all-stars. The backup players include trumpeter Don Fagerquist, trombonist Frank Rosolino, altoist Bud Shank, and Bob Cooper on tenor, but they are mostly restricted to short statements. Christy is in excellent form on such numbers as a definitive (but very brief) "I Want to Be Happy," "When Sunny Gets Blue," and "It's Always You." Three different groups are used on the Gone for the Day set, two of which have string sections, while the other uses five trombones.

Nino Rota (1911-79) is best known for his many film scores. That doesn't mean that he couldn't write great music for other purposes, as this highly interesting program demonstrates. His idiom is conservative harmonically but highly imaginative, full of melody and mood. All three of these pieces have been recorded before. If you don't have them yet, these performances are done with conviction. Bronzi is a good conductor as well as a fine cellist; and his reading of the Concerto for Strings is intense and well balanced ………

Fanfare, Raymond Tuttle, Nov/Dec 2009