Bob Mintzer Quartet: In the Moment (2006)

Though Bob Mintzer normally works in the big band tradition, the tenor saxophonist does the occasional small combo session as well. In the Moment is one of those rare sets, recorded in one December 2004 session with the rhythm section of pianist Phil Markowitz, bassist Jay Anderson and drummer John Riley. A completely straightforward mainstream jazz set in the post-bop tradition, In the Moment mostly consists of originals (the highlight of which is Markowitz's lovely ballad "Forgiveness"), with a respectful take on the ballad standard "Time After Time" and a playful, swinging version of Eddie Harris' soul-jazz hit "Listen Here" thrown in for variety.

Tracklist:
01. Straight Ahead 4:35
02. Listen Here 5:20
03. Time After Time 5:35
04. Aha 5:24
05. Simple Song 5:29
06. What's The Word 4:50
07. Play Pretty 6:31
08. Blues 5:56
09. Forgiveness 6:18
Personnel:
Bob Mintzer - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Jay Anderson - acoustic bass
Phil Markowitz - piano
John Riley - drums
Produced by Paul Kohler and Bob Mintzer
============
320K
Depositfiles
Turbobit
password: musicontop

Bob Mintzer Big Band: For the Moment (2012)

The Grammy Award–winning Bob Mintzer Big Band has explored diverse styles of music in its illustrious 25-year recording history—from New York and Afro-Cuban to Count Basie and John Coltrane. On the band’s new MCG Jazz CD, "For the Moment," which was released on June 19, saxophonist/composer/arranger/bandleader Mintzer puts the spotlight on Brazilian music.

Tracklist:
1. Aha
2. Um Filme
3. Irrequieto
4. For All We Know
5. Berimbau
6. For The Moment
7. Recife
8. Corcovado
9. Ouro Preto
Personnel:
Bob Mintzer - Tenor Saxophone, Flute
Chico Pinheiro - Vocals, Guitar
Lawrence Feldman - Alto Saxophone, Flute
Mike Tomaro - Alto Saxophone, Flute
Bob Malach - Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet
Frank Basile - Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet
Steve Hawk - Trumpet
Tony Kadleck - Trumpet
James Moore - Trumpet
Scott Wendholt - Trumpet
Jay Ashby - Trombone
Keith O'Quinn - Trombone
Michael Davis - Trombone
Max Seigel - Bass Trombone
Russell Ferrante - Piano, Keyboards
Marty Ashby - Guitar
Lincoln Goines - Bass
Peter Erskine - Drums
Alex Acuna - Percussion
============
FLAC
Rapidgator - Part 1 - Part 2
Depositfiles - Part 1 - Part 2
password: musicontop

Bob Mintzer Big Band: The Art of the Big Band (1991)

Some Bob Mintzer fans may disagree with me but even though the Big Band ensemble here includes superb sidemen, an excellent technical recording/sound quality and an interesting rendition of Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" as well as some other very fine moments throughout especially on the festive "Brazilian Affair", the great Big Band workout on "Christopher Columbus", the smooth "Easy Living" and the jumpin' title track, the overall CD lacks a touch of adventure making the overall feel a bit stiffer with "safer" material than you would want to hear in order to make 1991's "The Art Of The Big Band" worthy of a "classic" 5-Star rating. 1988's "Spectrum", is 5-Star Mintzer Big Band at its best from top to bottom. That is more like it with a bit more adventure to spice it up to substantiate continued enjoyable interest even more over and over. Still however, "The Art Of The Big Band" is absolutely worth having in your collection.

Tracklist:
1. Without A Song 
2. Brazilian Affair 
3. Christopher Columbus 
4. Easy Living 
5. Art Of The Big Band 
6. Moonlight Serenade 
7. Elvin's Mambo 
8. Weird Blues 
9. Paul's Call 
10. But Not For Me

Personnel:
Trupmets: Marvin Stamm, Randy Brecker, Laurie Frink, Bob Millikan
Trombones: Dave Bargeron, Keith O'Quinn, Mike Davis, Dave Taylor (Matt Finders (2,3,8,9)
Woodwinds: Bob Mintzer, Peter Yellin, Lawrence Feldman, Scott Robinson, Roger Rosenberg
Rhythm: Phil Markowitz (piano), Lincoln Goines (electric bass), Michael Formanek (acoustic bass), Peter Erskine (drums), John Riley (drums; 5,9,10), Frankie Malabe (congas), Chuck Loeb (guitar)

==============
320k

Rapidgator
Depositfiles

Bob Mintzer: Bop Boy (2002)

Recorded over two days in 2002, Bop Boy was previously only available in Japan on the Cheetah label. Thanks to Explore and their excellent catalog of diverse jazz and classical recordings, it is now available in the United States as well. Unlike Bob Mintzer's '80s offerings on Cheetah (Source and Papa Lips), the band used on this session is a quartet made up of star talent: bassist Eddie Gomez, the elegant pianist Steve Kuhn, and drummer Steve Gadd. On first glance it might appear that Gadd is out of place among these more subtle members of the rhythm section. Being a consummate professional as a studio musician, Gadd is an excellent jazz drummer adding grace, subtlety and tension to a very sophisticated rhythm section. Mintzer a generation younger than Gomez, and Kuhn leads this band through killer arrangements of a fine batch of standards and a trio of top-flight originals. Beginning with Kenny Dorham's and Wynton Kelly's "Blue Bossa," the swing quotient is high here. Kuhn is at his most muscular on this hard bop gem, pushing his minors and thirds right into the rim shots by Gadd. Mintzer's solo is full of deep blues feeling and economy. Mintzer wrote the title track; it is what it claims to be: bebop pure and simple. Beginning with a galloping pace set by Gomez, Gadd's ride cymbal provides fuel and Kuhn plays selectively angular chords, moving right into Mintzer's stating the head and solo. Kuhn's playing around the beat as the tune goes on reveals excellent counterpoint to what's being laid down by the tenor player. The tenderness with which an edgy player like Mintzer approaches "Embraceable You" is remarkable, and here Kuhn's utterly moving pianism is at its best. This is followed by a lovely soft samba called "Francisca" written by Toninho Horta. "Invitation" brings the harder edge of bluesy, post-bop into the area, and the interplay between Gomez and Gadd is nearly symbiotic. Two Mintzer originals follow, and the stroll of "Re-Re" is contrasted in a mirror with the knotty twist and turn sprint of "Runferyerlife." The reading of "St. James Infirmary" brings the tune back to the kind of mournful blues ballad it began is. Mintzer's tone on the bass clarinet is startling. He goes underneath the melody for his phrasing and fills as Kuhn offers a constant, slowly evolving wash of minor chord voicings underneath him. The ballad "Why Did I Choose You" is a perfect way to send things off as it puts on shining display the intuitive interaction between Kuhn -- a sublime melodist through his wide array of textured chord shapes and his sense of space and economy with the right hand in his solo. Gomez is wonderful here, flowing into the body of the tune, allowing for Gadd to lay out and enter at will. Mintzer's solo is an emotive one, but never undercuts or overwhelms the tune. Bop Boy is one of the most satisfying dates in his long career as a leader, a composer, and as an arranger.

Tracklist:1 Blue Bossa
2 Bop Boy
3 Embraceable You
4 Francisca    
5 Invitation    
6 Re-Re   
7 Speak Low    
8 Runferyerlife    
9 St. James Infirmary   
10 Why Did I Choose You
Personnel:
Bob Mintzer - Tenor sax, bass clarinet
Steve Kuhn - Piano
Eddie Gomez - Bass
Steve Gadd - Drums
============
WMA Lossless
Uploaded
Depositfiles
@ 320K
Turbobit
Mediafire

Bob Mintzer: Source (1982)

Source is Bob Mintzer's second album as a leader. Recorded in 1982 for the Cheetah label, it was previously released only in Japan. Source was recorded with an alternating larger ensemble that includes in various places keyboardists Don Grolnick and Mark Gray, guitarist Hugh McCracken, bassists Jaco Pastorius (with whom Mintzer had tenured on the Word of Mouth big band LP), and Will Lee, drummers Peter Erskine and Brian Brake, and horn players Lew Soloff, Randy Brecker, and Alan Rubin, among others. In many ways this foreshadows the work that Mintzer would do with the Yellowjackets eight years later. It's sheeny studio jazz-funk and contemporary knotty big band work. This set contains a number of vocal performances by Carter Cathcart, on the soulful opener "Late Night with You," and the now dated funk of the title cut -- it's the vocoders, the compressed saxophone sound and particularly, the flat drums. This isn't a stellar date by any stretch of the imagination, but hearing Pastorius on the title cut redeems it somewhat. There is also the Afro-Latin groove on "I Don't Know" which has teeth and a killer arrangement, but the production is a little sterile. "Mr. Fone Bone" fares far better with Pastorius and a melody that could have been written by him and performed by Weather Report. Grolnick's B-3 underneath all those horns is particularly wonderful. Mintzer begins a solo only to interrupt it with a knotty horn arrangement that changes the color of the tune while it cooks on the strength of the rhythm section. It's the album's best moment. "Centering" is a small group ballad with a lovely solo from Mintzer on tenor. The final cut, "Spiral," begins almost classically with the winds and horns playing delicately before opening into a funky jazz romp, again with Pastorius' bass leading the charge. But the tune doesn't stay there; it's nuanced, with an assortment of textures and dynamics that make it one of the great exercises of restraint in Mintzer's career. It's a fine finish. Musically, there is a lot to enjoy here, and if the '80s over-production doesn't get in your way as a listener, it's easy to recommend this.

Personnel: Bob Mintzer (vocals, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, drums, background vocals); Randy Brecker (horns); Don Grolnick (keyboards); Jaco Pastorius (electric Bass); Will Lee (electric bass); Frank Malabe, Manolo Badrena, Frank Malabe (percussion); Corey Davidson (programming); Carter Cathcarte (background vocals); Hugh McCracken, Bill Washer (guitar); Carl Poole (flute); Tom "Bones" Malone, Alan Raph (trombone); Alan Rubin, Lew Soloff (horns); Mark Gray (keyboards); Tom Barney (electric bass); Peter Erskine, Brian Brake (drums); Chuggy Carter (percussion); Lillias White (background vocals).

Tracklist:
1 Late Night With You   
2 Don't Lock the Door   
3 Source   
4 I Don't Know   
5 Mr Fone Bone
6 Centering   
7 Spiral
=============
WMA Lossless
Uploaded
Mediafire
320K
Depositfiles
Turbobit

Peter Erskine: Sweet Soul (1991)

Six of the 11 selections on this CD (most of which were written by drummer Peter Erskine, Vince Mendoza, or Kenny Werner) feature Joe Lovano on tenor (and in one instance soprano) in a quartet with pianist Werner, bassist Marc Johnson, and Erskine; Lovano (who would soon hit it big) already sounds quite mature and creative. Three of the other numbers have slightly larger groups (with guitarist John Scofield, tenor saxophonist Bob Mintzer, and trumpeter Randy Brecker appearing on some of the cuts), Dave Brubeck's "In Your Own Sweet Way" is taken by the Werner-Johnson-Erskine trio, and the brief "But Is It Art?" is a drum solo. Throughout the date, the solos uplift the material and make this CD a worthy purchase for listeners who enjoy challenging but sometimes accessible post-bop music.

Tracklist:
01. Touch Her Soft Lips And Part 6:58
02. Press Enter 8:24
03. Sweet Soul 9:41
04. To Be Or Not To Be 9:18
05. Ambivalence 4:58
06. Angels And Devils 6:05
07. Speak Low 5:48
08. Scolastic 7:40
09. Distant Blossom 6:20
10. But Is It Art? 2:00
11. In Your Own Sweet Way 7:03
Personnel:
Peter Erskine - drums
Marc Johnson - bass
John Scofield - guitar
Bob Mintzer - tenor sax
Kenny Werner - piano and synths
Joe Lovano - tenor and soprano saxes
Randy Brecker - trumpet
============
320K
Uploaded
Depositfiles

Yellowjackets: Greenhouse (1991)

The Yellowjackets' first release for GRP, Greenhouse, is a real gas. The disc starts innocently enough with "Freedomland," the kind of smart smooth jazz song that marked The Spin. It's on the following "Greenhouse" that listeners glimpse a change in the air: Strings (!) set the stage for dreamy, exotic jazz that melts in your mind, music that goes well beyond similar experiments on earlier Yellowjackets sessions. From this point on, the band travels back in time: Russell Ferrante's piano, the understated rhythm section, and Bob Mintzer's saxophones (Marc Russo had left, though Mintzer wasn't an "official" member yet) smoke with the fire of cool jazz. There are still some electronics employed, but generally they're arranged in a subordinate role to give the acoustic sounds an added presence. It would be tempting to call Mintzer the catalyst of change -- his saxophone playing is more note-filled and squeakier than Russo's, a style that evokes traditional jazz -- but the new direction in sound is just as evident in the piano playing of Ferrante, the softened attack of William Kennedy (plenty of cymbals, quieter snare hits), and the articulated playing of Jimmy Haslip (best heard on "Indian Summer"). The fresh start allows the Yellowjackets to escape from under the cloud of smooth jazz and expose their "serious" side, all while continuing to place composition and melody over individual musicianship. Calling this the band's most mature work to date belies a natural distrust of smooth jazz, so better to say that Greenhouse is loaded with personality. Mintzer's spooky bass clarinet on "Brown Zone," the wild bop workout unleashed on "Liam/Rain Dance," and the violin jig on "Freda" are among their most memorable musical moments. The Yellowjackets haven't changed the way they approach their music, but the newfound ability to communicate in a more traditional jazz setting casts them in a whole new (and flattering) light.

Tracklist:
1. Freedomland (ferrante)
2. Greenhouse (ferrante, haslip)
3. Seven stars (ferrante, haslip, kennedy)
4. Indian summer (ferrante)
5.Spirits (mintzer)
6. Browne zone (khan)
7. Liam/Rain dance (ferrante, haslip, croes)
8. Invisible people (ferrante, haslip, kennedy)
9. Freda (baker, wynwood)
10. Peace (gable)
=============
320K
Hotfile
Uploading

Randy Brecker: Toe to Toe (1990)

Randy Brecker is essentially a fine hard bop trumpet soloist, but one versatile enough to fit into nearly any setting, including in the pop world, funk bands, and electronic fusion. He studied classical trumpet and attended Indiana University. Brecker was with Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1967, and spent 1968-1969 playing with Horace Silver's quintet. He also appeared with the big bands of Clark Terry, Duke Pearson, Frank Foster, and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra. After playing with the early fusion group Dreams in 1969, he worked with Larry Coryell's Eleventh House and Billy Cobham, in addition to keeping very busy with studio work. He teamed up with Michael Brecker in the popular funk-oriented Brecker Brothers (1974-1979); in the '80s he often collaborated with his wife, pianist/vocalist Eliane Elias; and in the '90s he toured with the reunited Brecker Brothers. But Randy Brecker still sounds best when in a freewheeling bebop combo, and fortunately he occasionally records in that type of spontaneous setting.

Tracklist:
1.Mr. Skinny [Brecker] 5:36
2.Trading Secrets [Brecker] 5:10
3.It Creeps up on You [Brecker] 4:53
4.The Glider [Brecker] 6:04
5.Toe to Toe [Brecker] 4:54
6.It's up to You [Brecker] 5:50
7.What Is the Answer [Brecker] 4:41
8.Lost 4 Words [Brecker] 6:14
Personnel:
Victor Bailey - Bass (Electric)
Jim Beard - Arranger, Bass, Drum Machine, Drum Programming, Keyboards, Mixing, Producer
Regina Belle - Vocals (Background)
Michael Brecker - Sax (Tenor)
Randy Brecker - Arranger, Electric Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Mixing, Producer, Trumpet, Vocals
Dennis Chambers - Drums, Drums (Snare)
Dag Haeggqvist Executive Producer
Jon Herington Guitar
Bashiri Johnson - Percussion
Darryl Jones - Bass
Mark Ledford - Arranger, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Bob Mintzer - Clarinet (Bass)
============
320K
Uploading
Fileserve
Depositfiles