Clark Tracey - The Jazz Champions

Styles: Contemporary Jazz

Year: 2025
Time: 40:28
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 92,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:06) 1. Matrix
(8:10) 2. A Sound for Sore Ears
(8:03) 3. CUCB
(6:06) 4. Euphony
(6:37) 5. Snap Crackle
(5:25) 6. We Are the Champions

Drummer Clark Tracey leads a group of outstanding quality featuring saxophonists Art Themen and Simon Allen, pianist Dave Newton and bassist Andrew Cleyndert, performing new arrangement of music by Chick Corea, Jimmy Heath, Bobby Wellins, Stan Tracey and Freddie Mercury. "In April last year I had a 24 date UK tour booked - but no band. I turned to some of my oldest and most trusted friends, and we've been playing to sold out houses ever since.

I've known saxophone legend Art Themen for over 50 years; we began playing together in 1978. Simon Allen, a remarkable musician I first met in the mid-1990s, later joined my Father's ensembles until 2013. Dave Newton, the UK's most awarded pianist, and I first worked together in the early 1980s and have shared many stages since. Andrew Cleyndert, our outstanding bassist, joined my first group as a teen and later my Father's bands in 1995.

Unwilling to call yet another band "The Clark Tracey Quintet", I wanted to show off the fact I now had the cream of a generation nearer my own. I eventually settled on "The Jazz Champions". It was later that I was listening to Freddie Mercury's lyrics on "We Are The Champions", when it dawned on me that his simple words had a poignancy to my predicament at that time. I decided to ask Simoon to write a modern arrangement of it and invite a vocalist to sing it for us for a recording. Sylvia McEwen is someone I was aware of and, knowing she'd cut it superbly, I was delighted that she agreed to record it with us." https://propermusic.com/products/clarktracey-thejazzchampions

Clark Tracey: drums

Art Themen: reeds

Simon Allen: reeds

Dave Newton: piano

Andrew Cleyndert: bass

Sylvia McEwen: vocal (track 6)

The Jazz Champions (mp3 320)
The Jazz Champions (FLAC)

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Joel Ross - Gospel Music

Styles: Post-Bop, Straight-Ahead Jazz, Vibraphone/Marimba Jazz
Year: 2026
Time: 78:22
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 180,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:33) 1. Wisdom Is Eternal (For Barry Harris)
(7:20) 2. Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit)
(8:15) 3. Protoevangelium (The First Gospel)
(7:23) 4. Hostile
(5:14) 5. The Shadowlands
(3:23) 6. Nevertheless
(5:00) 7. Word for Word
(6:55) 8. Repentance
(3:04) 9. The Sacred Place
(1:25) 10. A Little Love Goes A Long Way
(3:20) 11. Praise To You, Lord Jesus Christ
(5:55) 12. Calvary
(2:56) 13. The Giver
(4:24) 14. To The Throne (The Mercy Seat)
(3:46) 15. Be Patient
(2:25) 16. The New Man
(2:57) 17. Now & Forevermore

If the title has you looking for “Take My Hand Precious Lord” on organ in 12/8, this ain’t it. In fact, vibraphonist Joel Ross’ Gospel Music is nearly two-thirds through before it shows any of the traditional hallmarks of, well, gospel music. What we hear instead is Joel Ross music: contemplative, sometimes intricate, often moody 21st-century post-bop with subtle emotional colorings.

All that said, Gospel Music is a musical retelling of the Bible, placing an epigram up top (the thoughtfully patterned “Wisdom Is Eternal (For Barry Harris)”) before diving into an analogue of Genesis 1:1 (“Trinity (Father, Son And Holy Spirit)”) and continuing through Revelation (“Now And Forevermore”). But one need not know the Old Testament to recognize the troubled mien saxophonists Josh Johnson (alto) and Maria Grand (tenor) project on “Hostile,” corresponding to humanity’s growing corruption before the Flood — though schooling in jazz probably helps one recognize the echoes of Bud Powell’s “Tempus Fugit.” The transition into hope and peace offered by “The Sacred Place,” with Jeremy Corren’s gentle piano line over Kanoa Mendenhall and Jeremy Dutton’s light bass and drums. The album liners offer chapter-and-verse citations that provide perspective, but the message is clear without them.

In that final third, not only do the familiar gospel music tropes resound (beginning with the short but quietly joyful “A Little Love Goes A Long Way”), but so do vocals. Laura Bibbs offers soft plaintiveness on “Praise To You, Lord Jesus Christ”; Ekep Nkwelle brings stately grandeur to “Calvary”; guitarist Andy Louis quietly declaims in an intimate and profoundly moving duo with Corren on “The Giver.” Gospel Music is rewriting the rules of gospel music; these moments simply place it more firmly in our grasp. https://downbeat.com/reviews/detail/gospel-music

Gospel Music (mp3 320)
Gospel Music (FLAC)

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Gerry Mulligan - Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1960/2013
Time: 33:03
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 76,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:44) 1. Bunny
(3:41) 2. What's The Rush
(7:23) 3. Back Beat
(3:57) 4. What It's All About
(5:13) 5. 18 Carrots For Rabbit
(7:03) 6. Shady Side

Gerry Mulligan's 1959 studio date with Johnny Hodges is one of the most satisfying sessions of his various meetings with different saxophonists for Verve, yet it was inexplicably the last to be made available on CD. With a hand-picked rhythm section consisting of pianist Claude Williamson, bassist Buddy Clark, and drummer Mel Lewis, and three originals contributed by each of the two leaders, everything gels nicely, though several tracks took more than three takes (in spite of liner note writer Nat Hentoff's assertions) to reach their final form. Mulligan contributed the gorgeous ballad "What's the Rush" (where he sat back to enjoy Hodges' solo and never plays his own horn), the easygoing swinger "Bunny," and the brisk cooker "18 Carrots (For Rabbit)," the latter which its composer would revisit with his Concert Jazz Band. The veteran alto saxophonist contributed the low-key ballad "Shady Side," the sassy blues "Back Beat" (later re-recorded by Hodges during a still unreleased 1960 studio meeting with Ben Webster), and "What It's All About," another potent blues. Throughout the date, the two saxophonists blend beautifully and complement one another's efforts, even though this was their only opportunity to record together in the studio. Sadly, no alternate takes or unissued numbers (at least two of which exist) have been added to this long anticipated reissue. ~ Ken Dryden http://www.allmusic.com/album/gerry-mulligan-meets-johnny-hodges-mw0000029368

Personnel: Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone); Johnny Hodges (alto saxophone); Claude Williamson (piano); Buddy Clark (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges (mp3 320)
Gerry Mulligan Meets Johnny Hodges (FLAC)

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