Artist: Uri Caine
     Album: The Sidewalks Of New York
     Year: 1999
     Label:Winter Moon
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 kb/s
     Size: 174 Mb

Pianist Uri Caine's work is always intriguing but this CD is something very different. This unusual release comes off like the soundtrack to an as yet unmade documentary about Tin Pan Alley at the turn of the century, complete with sound effects of horses and people on the street, folks celebrating in a rowdy saloon, and so on. "The Sidewalks Of New York" serves as a recurring theme, first as a dreamy solo by Caine, later with Ralph Alessi's distant trumpet, and finally in a bar with a determined singer. Other familiar pieces include Eubie Blake's still challenging "Charleston Rag," a low fidelity "Memphis Blues" that's made to sound as if it's being played on an ancient Victrola, and the timeless "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." There are some hilarious long forgotten pieces like "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" and Irving Berlin's whimsical "Cohen Owes Me Ninety Seven Dollars; " as well as revivals of once popular but now long forgotten tunes like the tear jerking "After The Ball" and the draggy narrative "Nobody." The talented supporting cast includes clarinetist Don Byron, trumpeter Dave Douglas, and violinist Mark Feldman, among a large cast. As a concept package complete with period photographs it is very successful, but the numerous sound effects make repeated listening a little more difficult. Perhaps Uri Caine should introduce himself to documentary maker Ken Burns and suggest a Tin Pan Alley project.

     Artist: Dave Burrell
     Album: Margy Pargy
     Label: Splasc(H) Records
     Year: 2005
     Quality: mp3; 320 kb/s
     Size: 117 mb





     Distinguished composer-pianist Dave Burrell is a performing artist of singular stature on the international contemporary music scene. His dynamic compositions, with blues and gospel roots recall the tradition of Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson and Duke Ellington, as well avant garde composers Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. After majoring in music at the University of Hawaii, he enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in 1961. After graduating with degrees in composition/arranging and performance in 1965, he moved to New York City, where he quickly established himself as one of the most innovative and original pianists, collaborating with the emerging leaders in contemporary jazz, joining the groups of tenor saxophonists Marion Brown, Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp. ~ daveburrell.com

     Artists: Dave Burrell Full - Blown Trio
     Album: Expansion
     Label: High Two Recordings
     Year: 2003, release: 2004
     Quality: MP3;VBR
     Size: 75 mb

Recorded at the tail end of 2003, Expansion features pianist/composer Dave Burrell's new Full-Blown Trio, which includes drummer Andrew Cyrille and the nearly ubiquitous William Parker on bass. These seven selections -- all but one composed by the pianist -- range in mood, tone, and focus. The title track opens the disc; it's a knot-like composition that swings on a round of post-blues concerns and vanguard explorations of harmony. Parker's bass playing is the force of transition from one motif to another throughout. The delightful version of Irving Berlin's "They Say It's Wonderful," is the literal centerpiece of the record. A solo piece, it holds to the original's melody while stretching its rhythmic dynamic to the breaking point without changing the actual time signature. Burrell's fills between the lyric lines are humorous, warm, and dazzling. Parker opens "In the Balance," by playing the kora, offering both mode and melody, while Cyrille shimmers on the cymbals behind him and Burrell extrapolates the harmonics in the upper register of the piano. It's the most beautiful -- and non-"jazz" track -- on the set. Expansion closes with the nearly straight-ahead swing of "Coup d'Etat," with Burrell pacing the rhythm section in angular (though not dissonant), Lennie Tristano-esque intervals. Expansion is a lovely record of short to mid-length pieces by a trio versed in understatement and nuance. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

     Artist: Dave Burrell
     Album: Momentum
     Label: High Two Records
     Year: 2005, release: 2006
     Quality:mp3 320 kb/s
     Size: 107 mb


Spiky and challenging but only rarely moving into the rhythmic and tonal fearlessness of some of his more outside work, Dave Burrell's Momentum finds the veteran modern creative pianist working with a new pair of sidemen, the hot young drummer Guillermo E. Brown (part of the David S. Ware/William Parker axis who has also played with turntablist DJ Spooky) and bassist Michael Formanek, who has recorded as a leader since the turn of the '90s. With the 66-year-old Burrell in charge, there are three full generations of progressive jazz players on display, so what's most impressive about Momentum is how timeless it feels: these seven tracks sound like they could been recorded at any point since the early '60s. The majority of the album was originally composed to accompany a restored French silent film from the '20s (Burrell has spent much of his working life as a jazz expat in Paris), which goes a long way toward explaining its general straightforwardness. Formanek's elegant solo opening the graceful "Fade to Black" recalls some of Jimmy Garrison's showcases with John Coltrane, answered by Burrell's doomy, portentous low-register chords; elsewhere, "4:30 to Atlanta" is a showcase for Brown's improvisational skills, letting the drummer take the instrumental lead while Formanek and Brown spend most of the track placidly comping behind his controlled but fierce attack. Overall, however, this is Burrell's album fully, featuring solos that swing effortlessly from Bill Evans lyricism to Cecil Taylor atonality and back, sometimes within just a few bars. Burrell is often called an inside/outside pianist for this duality of his playing, and Momentum is that tendency in its purest form. ~ Stewart Masonì°°, All Music Guide

     Artist - Tony Scott
     Album - Dedications
     Label: Line
     Years - 1958-1960
     Quality - MP3@256kbps
     Size - 99,0mb

     Artist - The Sextet of Orchestra USA
     Album - Mack The Knife
     (an other Berlin Theatre Songs of Kurt Weill)
     Label - BMG Music, release - 1998
     Quality - MP3@256kbps
     Size - 91,0mb

     Kurt Weill anticipated in this repertoire some of the same thoughts that lie behind the formation of Orchestra USA. By 1927, when the first of these compositions was written, Weill was one of the established young serious composers in Germany. But he was also deeply interested in the popular music of his time, including American Jazz as he herd it on records...Weill's music made deliberate use of the materials of cabaret and dance music, just as Brecht's librettos used the speech cadences of the man in the stree.
Zwerin tried to keep this feeling by using the melody as background for the improvising soloist are often closely related to the melody of the song.

     Artist:Irene Kral
     Album:Where Is Love?
     Label:Candid
     Release:1996
     Studio/Live:Studio
     Mono/Stereo:Stereo
     Format/Bitrate:MP3/256
     Size:77 MB
     Time:39:03
     AMG Rating:



     This is a haunting program, Irene Kral's best; it sticks in one's memory long afterwards and can be considered one of the finest sets of ballads ever recorded. Essential music.(Scott Yanow-allmusic.com)