Wayne Shorter | Speak No Evil

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African American, Jazz, Saxophone, Wayne Shorter

Most contemporary & jazz fusion lovers know him as co-founder, composer, arranger and horn-man for Weather Report, which they’re still and arguably so ahead of the pack as visionaries in the jazz fusion genre. With that said, the consummate voice of saxophonist Wayne Shorter speaks for itself as in the preceding years he performed with the greatest players in the history of jazz on his Blue Note recording “Speak No Evil.” ~ The Urban Flux

Wayne Shorter | Speak No Evil – [Blue Note Records, 1964]

Wayne Shorter, Speak No Evil

Wayne Shorter’s compositions helped define a new jazz style in the mid-’60s, merging some of the concentrated muscular force of hard bop with surprising intervals and often spacious melodies suspended over the beat. The result was a new kind of “cool,” a mixture of restraint and freedom that created a striking contrast between Shorter’s airy themes and his taut tenor solos and which invited creative play among the soloists and rhythm section. The band on this 1964 session is a quintessential Blue Note group of the period, combining Shorter’s most frequent and effective collaborators.

Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Elvin Jones merge their talents to create music that’s at once secure and free flowing, sometimes managing to suggest tension and calm at the same time. —Stuart Broomer /Amazon

..:: Source: Amazon.com ::..

Dapp Theory | Layers of Change

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Andy Milne, Bass, Dapp Theory, Jazz, Keyboards, Piano, Saxophone

Dapp Theory | Layers of Change – [Contrology/ObliqSound, 2008]

“The idea behind Dapp Theory is to create complete musical compositions that groove as hard as they express melodic and poetic lyricism.”— Andy Milne

Dapp Theory is a quintet that blends “contemporary funk, groove and hip-hop into jazz with such seamless, casual precision it’s almost freaky.” (LA Weekly) Recipient of Chamber Music America’s New Works commission, French-America Jazz Exchange award, and voted “Rising Star Keyboardist” by Down Beat Magazine, leader, pianist/composer, Andy Milne is one of the most important and respected voices in jazz today. With Dapp Theory, Milne combines the talents of percussive poet John Moon, saxophonist John Beaty, bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Kenny Grohowski, collectively helping to re-draw and extend the boundaries of jazz.

Jazz Times Magazine describes the band’s “remarkable chemistry . . . [as] . . . so impeccable, it’s practically a musical Unified Field Theory”.

..:: Source: AndyMilne.com ::..

Nicola Conte | Rituals

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Bossa Nova, Emarcy Records, Guitar, Jazz, Jose James

Nicola Conte | Rituals – [Emarcy, 2009]

The follow-up to the classic “Other Directions” takes a more vocal route. Featuring mostly live instruments, Nicola Conte is joined by a multitude of players that include Timo Lassy on sax and flute, Fabrizio Bosso and Till Brönner on trumpets, Pietro Lussu on piano. Vocals are by Alice Ricciardi, José James, Chiara Civello, and Kim Sanders. The whole thing is just so classy.

The style (though not the vocal) resembles Mario Biondi’s wonderful Handful of Soul from a couple years back especially on Ellington’s “Caravan” and the Eastern vibe of “The Nubian Queens“, the latter featuring José James and standout solos by Timo Lassy. Nicola Conte knows “his” jazz and he has written or co-written all the tracks here except two and in an outstanding fashion.