Scott Robinson

Frank Kimbrough - Monk's Dreams: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Sphere Monk (2018) {6CD Set Sunnyside SSC4032}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Official Digital Download (bandcamp.com) -> 1.86 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 802 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Sunnyside Records | SSC4032
Jazz / Modal Music / Post Bop / Piano / Jazz Quartet

The genius of pianist and composer Thelonious Monk is unassailable. Since his death in 1982, he has become recognized as one of the greatest composers of jazz – and of the wider world of music. The year 2017 was the centennial of Monk’s birth, and brought scores of tributes, including a well-received stay of pianist Frank Kimbrough’s quartet at the Jazz Standard club in New York City.

A shamelessly contrived effort, Keep This Love Alive is, for the most part, yet another tremendous waste of Tom Scott's talents. There are a few enjoyable moments here, including guest Dianne Schurr's sensuous vocal on "Whenever You Dream of Me" and Scott's gritty jazz-funk blowing on "Mis Thang." But on the whole, this CD is a throwaway by both jazz and pop standards. R&B/pop singer Brenda Russell is anything but memorable on the bloodless adult-contemporary song "If You're Not the One for Me," and most of the instrumentals would sound boring and lackluster even in a dentist's office. Throwing creativity to the wind, Scott leaves no doubt that his only concern is commercial radio airplay. The saxman recorded more than his share of stinkers for GRP in the 1980s and '90s, and Keep This Love Alive is at the top of the list.

There's a wealth of information to be found inside the beautiful packaging that accompanies this release, but a brief Theodore Roosevelt quote may be the most telling piece of text to be found there. It reads: "There is nothing more practical in the end than the preservation of beauty, than the preservation of anything that appeals to the higher emotions in mankind." That really says it all about this artist and her work, for there is nobody more capable of harnessing emotions in music and projecting and preserving the beauty and power of the natural world in sound than Maria Schneider. She's demonstrated that time and again, and she does it once more on this awe-inspiring release…

Maria Schneider Orchestra - The Thompson Fields (2015) {ArtistShare AS0137}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 415 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 188 Mb
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© 2015 ArtistShare / Maria Schneider | AS 0137
Jazz / Experimental Big Band / Post-Bop / Modern Big Band / Progressive Jazz

There's a wealth of information to be found inside the beautiful packaging that accompanies this release, but a brief Theodore Roosevelt quote may be the most telling piece of text to be found there. It reads: "There is nothing more practical in the end than the preservation of beauty, than the preservation of anything that appeals to the higher emotions in mankind." That really says it all about this artist and her work, for there is nobody more capable of harnessing emotions in music and projecting and preserving the beauty and power of the natural world in sound than Maria Schneider. She's demonstrated that time and again, and she does it once more on this awe-inspiring release.

Ron Carter - Ron Carter's Great Big Band (2011) {Sunnyside}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 361 Mb
Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2011 Sunnyside / Crazy Scot Rec. | SSC 1293
Jazz / Modern Big Band

Ron Carter is one of the most recorded bassists in jazz. In his mid-seventies at the time of these sessions, he is very much still at the top of his game as he leads the first big-band date of his own, with potent arrangements by conductor Robert M. Freedman and including some of New York's busiest musicians, including Jerry Dodgion, Steve Wilson, Wayne Escoffery, and Scott Robinson in the woodwind section, brass players Steve Davis, Douglas Purviance, and Greg Gisbert, plus pianist Mulgrew Miller and drummer Lewis Nash, among others.

Tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton is something of a jazz anomaly. Young enough to be part of the generation of players influenced by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Ornette Coleman, he draws his primary inspiration from an earlier generation of saxophonists. Don Byas, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and, of course, Lester Young–the big-toned, warm, breathy tenor giants of the '30s and '40s–are the icons that fire Hamilton's approach. BALLAD ESSENTIALS is a superb cross-section of his work, recorded with various lineups for the Concord label between 1977 and 1995…