Kenny Garrett | Songbook

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African American, Jazz, Kenny Garrett, Saxophone

In the early nineties, I had the pleasure to see the talented virtuoso and saxophonist Kenny Garrett perform at a local jazz festival nettled in the mountains of western North Carolina. The noble journeymen Kirkland, Reeves, & Watts performed with him as they also appear on this amazing project titled “Songbook.” Perhaps, much like on “Songbook,” Garrett’s gutty and definitive sound was punctuality numbing as if Coltrane where playing the set. The interplay by his cohorts was simply splendid that evening as their cohesiveness transcended into a transparent state as they enveloped a stage presence that exalted passion and unyielding conviction. In the meantime, this ensemble performance emboss a profound impression of what great jazz is really all about in the heart, mind and spirit of the concert goers that evening. ~ The Urban Flux

Kenny Garrett | Songbook – [ Warner Bros/WEA, 1997]

Kenny Garrett, Songbook

Although I am merely a 19-year-old, I have spent the last 9 years living, learning, and breathing jazz. About a year ago, I had known who Kenny Garrett was but had not heard any of his music. It was at this point that a friend of mine played me “Songbook“. About a week later, I had this album in my possession.

Ever since I have had this album, I have not been able to stop listening to it.

Each track provides a different ambiance, in such away that alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett, along with fellow performers Nat Reeves on bass, Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums, and the late Kenny Kirkland on piano, is trying to tell a story or perhaps bring the listener on a journey.

Every solo taken by both Garrett and Kirkland is captivating, both with Kirkland’s more mainstream, and Garrett’s eastern influences evident at parts.

The tunes on “Songbook“, all of which are Garrett originals, each possess their own unique feel and characteristics, everything from A funk tune, to syncopated swing, to eastern-influence, to a modified blues, to ballads.

This album clearly deserves 5 stars! There are no flaws in any part of the recording; clearly the former Miles Davis saxophone player’s best work!!! —Adam Janjigian, 2002

Source: Amazon.com

Chick Corea on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

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Chick Corea, Jazz, TV

According to “Concord Music Group,” the legendary keyboardist Chick Corea will appear on LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON! The jazz icon Corea will sit in with Late Night House Band and Hip Hop Legends The Roots!

Source: Concord Music Group on Twitter/Facebook.com

Resonance Records to Release Angela Hagenbach’s Label Debut

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African American, Angela Hagenbach, Female Vocalist, Jazz, Jazz Vocalists

The Way They Make Me Feel, A Collection of Tunes from the Songbooks of Michel Legrand, Henry Mancini and Johnny Mandel!

Angela Hagenbach

For Angela Hagenbach’s debut album on Resonance Records, The Way They Make Me Feel, producer George Klabin devised a unique approach: most contemporary jazz vocal albums are a hodge podge of various songs by different writers, while others are songbooks devoted to a single composer or lyricist. The Way They Make Me Feel, contrastingly, combines the best songs of three venerated musical giants whose work collectively defines a key era of American music: Michel Legrand, Henry Mancini, and Johnny Mandel. Hagenbach reports that Klabin thought of the album title – a play on the Legrand classic “The Way He Makes Me Feel” (from Yentl) even before the two of them had finished selecting the songs. Pre-selecting the title was a new approach for the Kansas City-based singer who served as producer and AR director on each of her five previous albums for her own label, Amazon Records® “My methods are quite different,” she says, “yet each of my projects has its own uniqueness. I’m certainly pleased with the results of this debut.”

Tony Dungy | Uncommon

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African American, Coach Dungy, Motivational Speaker

“Success is uncommon, therefore not to be enjoyed by the common man. I’m looking for uncommon people.”

Tony Dungy | Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance – [Tyndale House Publishers, 2009]

Tony Dungy, Uncommon

Super Bowl–winning coach and #1 New York Times best selling author Tony Dungy has had an unusual opportunity to reflect on what it takes to achieve significance. He is looked to by many as the epitome of the success and significance that is highly valued in our culture. He also works every day with young men who are trying to achieve significance through football and all that goes with a professional athletic career—such as money, power, and celebrity.

Coach Dungy has had all that, but he passionately believes that there is a different path to significance, a path characterized by attitudes, ambitions, and allegiances that are all too rare but uncommonly rewarding. Uncommon reveals lessons on achieving significance that the coach has learned from his remarkable parents, his athletic and coaching career, his mentors, and his journey with God. A particular focus of the book: what it means to be a man of significance in a culture that is offering young men few positive role models.

If you haven’t, check these books by Coach Dungy … You Can Do It!, Quiet Strength New Testament with Psalms & Proverbs NLT and Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life

Source: Amazon.com

Adrian Cohen | Delphic

Tags

Ensemble, Jazz, Piano

Adrian Cohen | Delphic [Adrian Cohen, 2008]

Adrian Cohen

The latest release from Upstate New York jazz pianist Adrian Cohen. featuring all original instrumental modern jazz played by first rate musicians.

Adrian Cohen’s 2008 release ‘Delphic‘ is a kaleidescope of sonic texture. While firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, Delphic also draws heavily from modern jazz, rock, Latin, classical, and even Indian, Jewish, and middle eastern styles. Cohen’s inspired writing and creative production is augmented by the first rate musicianship of his sidemen. All this is presented in a variety of formats from trio to sextet, and it marks the beginning of an exciting new direction in Adrian Cohen’s music.

Source:CDBaby.com