What are you listening to? June 2020

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Marie Powers - In Concert (1951)

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This is the very first LP released on Atlantic that didn't consist of old 78's. The label that brought us Ray Charles and The Coasters started out with this contralto. Marie, born in Pennsylvania, studied in Milan at age 17 and even married an Italian Count before WWII.

Download of the Day, courtesy of YouTube.

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Repercussions - Earth and Heaven (1995)

jazz-inflected R&B, soul and funk presented sunny side up... Some folks will be reminded of Rufus (Chaka Khan's old outfit), ... worth its weight in platinum, which is what its sales ought to be
In addition to Rufus, I'd also compare the lyrics to the unabashedly positive vibe of EWF and the Bar-Kays. Great stuff.
 
Skyjack - The Hunter (2019)

What do you get when you take a couple of Swiss musicians and mix them with three South African musicians? Some deeply melody, very groovy Jazz! That's what.
AllAboutJazz said:
:4.5: Slippery riffing, raucous rejoinders and sly winks all contribute to the high times that surface. ... How Skyjack hasn't attracted broader notice remains something of a mystery. ... If the ears are The Hunter's true prey, they're an easy mark. This music simply needs to get within striking distance.
 
Jonathan Finlayson - 3 Times Round (2018)

NextBop said:
Matt Mitchell has always been an interesting, complicated player who fits best in groups who apply his particular style of play to give form to his abstraction. Yet it’s Finlayson who plays so assuredly not only because he has something to say but because he so well arranged with whom he is saying it. One should have little doubt that Jonathan Finlayson can deliver, he always has, but the immense charm of 3 Times Round is still very much a surprise at the level at which Finlayson does
This is abstract Jazz performed at the edge of order. Edgy, but not broken. Matt Mitchell is a pianist who confounds me by pushing abstraction to the perfect point as a sideman, but losing his freaking mind when he's a leader and running wild where I can't follow. Here, everyone keeps in check just enough to give beautiful form to the abstraction.
 
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