Gregory Porter "All Rise" (2020)

All Rise

release date: Aug. 28, 2020
format: 2 lp vinyl (gatefold, pink vinyl) / digital (16 x File, FLAC - Deluxe)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: Kamau Kenyatta, Troy Miller, Gregory Porter
label: Blue Note / Decca Records - nationality: USA

6th studio album by Gregory Porter is originally released on Blue Note and Verve in the US and on Blue Note / Decca in the EU. The album comes in many formats and in at least two versions as far as track numbers concern. The various cd versions contain 13 tracks as does the European - traditional and pink vinyl - 2 lp editions, but it also comes in a Dutch 3 lp version and a cassette edition both containing two bonus tracks, and it also comes as a 16 tracks digital Deluxe album (Qobuz). This rises a bit of a negative aspect about his releases, I think, 'cause with a running time at just over one hour, the thirteen tracks could be fitted on a normal 1-disc issue, and fifteen tracks would then be "the excuse" to release the Deluxe edition as a double album - though only on vinyl - but it has become a bit of a habit that Porter's album's are released as standard double albums despite not running that long. Three tracks on each side of the vinyl issue results in short playing times at approx. 15 mins. It's hardly compressed adding one or two tracks to each side.
Another thing is the cover art.... and let's just get straight to the point: Porter's front covers have never been about art, or attempts at making great art work, but let's be frank, it has never been this poor, and a triangle with the title alone would even be an improvement.
That bit aside, and speaking entirely of the musical qualities, All Rise is yet another strong evidence of Porter's composer and vocal qualities that simply makes him the king of contemporary vocal jazz. Gregory Porter has relaunched jazz as an everlasting and very modern genre by adding stylistic elements from contemporary popular music - be it funk, pop, or soul. It's remarkable how this man is able to write and compose songs of near classic status over and over again, and that's perhaps where this new collection may feel like an exercise in treading water.
Recommended.

Gregory Porter "Take Me to the Alley" (2016)

Take Me to the Alley
release date: May 6, 2016
format: 2 lp vinyl (gatefold) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: Gregory Porter and Kamau Kenyatta
label: Blue Note Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: A) 1. "Holding On" - 2. "Don’t Lose Your Steam" - 3. "Take Me to the Alley" - - B) 2. "Consequence of Love" - - C) 2. "In Heaven" - 3. "Insanity" - - D) 1. "Don't Be a Fool" - 2. "Fan the Flames"

4th studio album by Gregory Porter is released as a double gatefold vinyl lp containing 12 tracks with three compositions on each side and a total running time at just above 51 mins. The cd release comes in various issues where most contain 13 or 14 tracks. Porter has already established himself as a shining star and a renewer of jazz, and he obviously likes to work with familiar collaborators. Producer Kenyatta has taken part as either producer, engineer or studio musician on all his albums and many others are old friends found on his previous albums, including Chip Crawford, Aaron James, Emanuel Harrold, Keyon Harrold, Yosuke Sato, Tivon Pennicott and Ondrej Pivec.
Porter has successfully relaunched the jazz genre into popular music by combining it with soul and rhythm & blues and this is also what he does on this with the continued style found on his two previous fine albums, Liquid Spirit from 2013 and Be Good from 2012.
The album has, like Porter's other albums, been met by international acclaim, and it's really no big surprise. You may argue that the album doesn't provide much new other than repeat the formula he delivered on his 2013 album, where he brought his jazz and pop soul combo into popular music territory, but it's not a mere reproduction of the blueprint to success rather than a display of musical ingenuity. He sings like a prodigy and he has written and composed the majority of the tracks - why shouldn't he be allowed to dwell on what he does better than anyone else. Porter is a gift - and not just to jazz, but to the world of popular music.
A highly recommended album.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, 👍The Guardian, The Telegraph 4 / 5, AllAboutJazz, PopMatters 4,5 / 5 stars ]

David McAlmont "A Little Communication" (1998)

A Little Communication
release date: Oct. 12, 1998
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,85]
producer: Tommy D
label: Hut Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "A Little Communication" - 4. "Honey" - 5. "Who Loves You?" - 6. "The Train" - 7. "Love & Madness" - 8. "It's Enough" - 9. "Sorry"

2nd solo album by David McAlmont released four years following his fine debut album McAlmont - here produced by Tommy D (aka Tom Asher Danvers). Since the debut, McAlmont released the acclaimed McAlmont & Butler collaboration album The Sound of... McAlmont & Butler (1995), which may have influenced McAlmont to record an album of slower and more jazz-influenced material than one will find on his dance-pop debut. This is quite different from his first solo release, and if he hadn't made the album with Bernard Butler, many would find it hard to tell this is the same guy, who gave us uptempo pop-songs like "Either" and "It's Always This Way".
Stylistically, it's slow pop soul ballads with a strong vocal jazz tone, and the songs are almost the opposite of the multi-layered compositions you'll associate with his first album out but which also characterises his McAlmont & Butler collaboration material.
As was the case with the debut where McAlmont worked with Saul Freeman, McAlmont has written the songs in collaboration with various musical composers featuring especially Graham Kearns who is co-writer on four songs and who plays guitar on three compositions. Gary Clark and Peter Gordeno are both credited for musical score on two songs each, and also Guy Davies contributes as composer of one song and is credited as keyboardist on half of the album's ten tracks. Aside from producing the album, Tommy D is credited for keyboards and programming as well as for mixing an album, which shows us a new side to McAlmont's talent. I remember listening to the album at a local record store back in '98 or '99 and my rejection of the album as I found it too soft and for lyrically displaying too much Christian appraisal - in other words, my preconception stood so much in the way that I just couldn't appreciate it for what it is... Another decade later I returned to the album after having heard his fine 2005 album, and I was surprised how I could have rejected it then.
The album is a very delicate but beautiful collection of slow ballad-like pop soul and modern vocal-jazz compositions that once again demonstrate what a gifted vocalist, David McAlmont truly is. It's also an album where the highs are more than ordinarily hard to pin out 'cause McAlmont shines here, there - practically all over the album. To me, this outshines both of his collaboration albums with Bernard Butler (the second followed this album in 2002) but unfortunately, it's nearly an unknown release to the public.
Highly recommended.

Nina Simone " 'Nuff Said!" (1968)

'Nuff Said! (live)

release date: Oct. 1968

format: cd (2011 RM) / vinyl (2015 reissue) (MOVLP1028)

[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,38]

producer: Joe René

label: RCA Victor / Music On Vinyl - nationality: USA

Live album by Nina Simone succeding the album Silk & Soul (Oct. 1967) is a eleven-track album with 8 tracks being recorded live at Westbury Music Fair, Long Island, New York on Apr. 7, 1968. Three songs (tracks #1, #8, and #11) are studio recordings from May '68. The song "Why?" is with strong memory of and a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., who passed away three days prior to the concert - it's a song written on the day of the recording by jazz bassist Gene Taylor (aka Calvin Eugene Taylor) and Simone handles this with supreme quality.

'Nuff Said! is Nina Simone in an exquisite performance, and the 2015 vinyl reissue by Music On Vinyl is a great pressing.

Highly recommended.

Nina Simone "Nina Simone Sings the Blues" (1967)

Nina Simone Sings the Blues

release date: 1967

format: cd (2011 reissue) / vinyl (2013 reissue) (MOVLP878)

[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,32]

producer: Danny Davis

label: RCA Victor / Music On Vinyl - nationality: USA

Studio album by Nina Simone following High Priestess of Soul (1967) is her first release with RCA Victor in long series of acclaimed albums with that label, who understood better to showcase her multifacetted talents more directly than the management at Coolpix Records and Phillips had succeded in.

The album is both a return to the musical sources to her acclaimed debut and also a turn to a more personal expression, where she gives new stylistic twists to familiar vocal jazz staples with soul, with folk, and of course with a strong element of blues. On top of that, the album also showcases Simone as composer of five original compositions.

Nina Simone Sings the Blues is a natural part of the Holy Grail of jazz alogside a handful of her albums.

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, All About Jazz 4 / 5 stars ]

Nina Simone "Little Girl Blue" (1959)

Little Girl Blue [debut]

release date: Feb. 1959

format: cd (2013 remaster) / vinyl (2021 remaster)

[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,26]

producer: ? (arr. by Nina Simone)

label: Bethlehem Records / BMG - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Mood Indigo" - 2. "Don't smoke in Bed" - 3. "He Needs Me" (5 / 5) - 4. "Little Girl Blue" (5 / 5) - 5. "Love or Leave Me" (5 / 5) - 6. "My Baby Just Cares for Me" (5 / 5) (TV performance) - 7. "Good Bait" (instr.) - 8. "Plain Gold Ring" - 9. "You'll Never Walk Alone" (instr.) - 10. "I Loves You Porgy" - 11. "Central Park Blues" (instr.)

Studio album debut by Nina Simone (aka Eunice Kathleen Waymon) with 11 tracks stemming from the only recording sessions she did while associated with Bethlehem Records. Regardless, the label would go on for many years after by issuing releases from these recordings - be it compilations, or single releases, and all without Simone's consent. Despite the label did little to promote this album, it soon crept up on the charts and in people's consciousness. The album is one of jazz' great classics, and only one of many outstanding by Nina Simone. Although recorded in 1957, the sound is remarkably dynamic - perhaps due to great remastering, and even though Simone herself alledgedly wasn't thrilled with the compositions, the selected style, the album is a fine document and proof of her eneormous versatility. She may have seen herself as a classic pianist at the time, but the recordings are luckily there to show that she could perform on highest level in any genre and style. Here, she performs as jazz vocalist, as an outstanding interpreter, arranger, and pianist. It's just... mindblowing 'waow'!

Highly recomended.

EDIT 2021:

The 2021 Bethlehem / BMG vinyl remaster is a fine pressing, although, it's in stereo and remastered, but it sounds like a studio recording, although there's probably a lot of adjustments involved, you need to appreciate the end result, and thats quite an accomplishment.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Van Morrison "A Night In San Francisco" (1994) (live)

A Night In San Francisco (live)
release date: May 17, 1994
format: 2 cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Van Morrison
label: Exile / Polydor - nationality: Northern Ireland, UK

Double disc live album by Van Morrison - which could've been called "Two Nights in California", are the recordings from two live concerts in Dec. 1993 in California - one night at the Mystic Theater, Petaluma, Dec. 12, and another night at the Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, Dec. 18 - the 2008 Remaster contains the bonus track "Cleaning Windows" recorded at the Masonic Auditorium, Dec. 17, 1993.
A handful of special guests appear on some of the 23 songs, which represent many covers as well as familiar Morrison compositions. The guest artists are John Lee Hooker, Candy Dulfer, Junior Wells, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Morrison's daughter, Shana Morrison. Aside from these, a strong group of handpicked supporting musicians appear throughout all compositions: Ronnie Johnson on guitar, James Hunter on guitar & vocals, Brian Kennedy on vocals, Nicky Scott on bass, Georgie Fame on keyboards & vocals, John Savannah on piano & vocals, Geoff Dunn on drums, Teena Lyle on percussion & vibraphone, Kate St. John on soprano & tenor saxophone, and Haji Ahkba on flugelhorn. And this bunch really back Morrison in the best possible way.
The album is full of individual performances as well as tight, spontaneous and delightful playing, and on top of it all, Van Morrison swims in, with, against the streams of sound in the most natural manner. The album contains more than 2½ hours of music, which may seem like a long time, but frankly, it doesn't feel one minute too long. Also, the recordings and the production sound is just like being there.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Miles Davis "The Collection" (1990)

The Collection (compilation)
release date: 1990
format: vinyl 2 lp (gatefold - CCSLP 243)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: various
label: Castle Communications - nationality: USA

Compilation album by Miles Davis released on Castle Communications in "The Collector Series".

Bobby McFerrin "Simple Pleasures" (1988)

Simple Pleasures
release date: Aug. 5, 1988
format: vinyl / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: Linda Goldstein
label: EMI Manhattan Records - nationality: USA

2nd studio album by vocal artist Bobby McFerrin and his commercial breakthrough thanks to the hit single "Don't Worry, Be Happy", also included in the American comedy film "Cocktail" by Roger Donaldson featuring Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown.
The album was my first experience with a studio release by McFerrin, and as I admit to have purchased it after listening to the aforementioned hit, I didn't find it nearly as good as I had hoped for, but upon listening to his second album, his first live release, The Voice, I immediately became a fan.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Gregory Porter "Liquid Spirit" (2013)

Liquid Spirit
release date: Aug. 30, 2013
format: 2 lp vinyl (gatefold) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,04]
producer: Brian Bacchus, Kamau Kenyatta
label: Blue Note - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "No Love Dying" (4 / 5) (live) - 2. "Liquid Spirit" - 4. "Water Under Bridges" (4 / 5) - 5. "Hey Laura" - 7. "Wolfcry" (4 / 5) - 9. "Brown Grass" (4 / 5) - 11. "The in Crowd" - 12. "Movin' " - 14. "I Fall in Love Too Easily"

3rd studio album by Gregory Porter and his first on a major label after signing with Blue Note Records. The album is entirely made with the same musical partners, who stood behind Porter on his last album with Motéma Music, Be Good from 2012. The album is released only 1½ years after his last studio album and this time counting a total of 14 tracks - 11 of these new songs are composed by Porter.
It's no wonder Porter has been lauded with prizes with this new album. It continues his take on jazz, but this time he has made a small change of style in that he has abandoned much of the original free jazz universe, which made room for individual instrumentalists.
Liquid Spirit presents a very fine combination of jazz and soul that renews the whole genre of popular jazz and the American 'standards'. Porter has composed the majority of tracks on his own but the entire album sounds like classic American standards. He has such a great crisp vocal with hints of Isaac Hayes and Otis Redding and the most striking element on this new outing is his original blend of traditional jazz, vocal jazz and soul that has "class" written all over the place.
The album gained its biggest success in Europe as it sold Platinum in several EU countries (3 x Platinum in Germany and Platinum in the UK) and it reached #2 on the Top Jazz Albums list in the US (#187 overall). Nationally, it sold just above 40.000 copies, whereas Platinum in the UK is more than 300.000 copies and in Germany alone, the album sold more than 600.000 albums. For Liquid Spirit, Gregory Porter won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2014.
For people who loved his commitment to a traditional jazz sphere may consider this album as closer to mainstream pop, but given the fine reviews and sales numbers I'm also certain that a bigger crowd of people find the album more digestible and a highly welcomed change of style. Imho, this is porter's so far best album and one the best album of 2013 making it highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com, Daily Express, PopMatters 4 / 5, All About Jazz, Contactmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Van Morrison "Poetic Champions Compose" (1987)

Poetic Champions Compose
release date: Sep. 1987
format: cd (1998 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]
producer: Van Morrison
label: Exile / Polydor - nationality: Northern Ireland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Spanish Steps" - 2. "The Mystery" (4 / 5) - 3. "Queen of the Slipstream" - 4. "I Forgot That Love Existed" - 5. "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" - 7. "Someone Like You" - 8. "Alan Watts Blues" - 10. "Did Ye Get Healed?" (5 / 5)

17th studio album by Van Morrison following 14 months after No Guru, No Method, No Teacher originally released on Mercury follows closely the same stylistic formula as found on the predecessor, although, with Van Morrison nothing is exactly as before. The album is unique in more than one sense. For a start, it contains three instrumentals (tracks #1, #6, and #11), and then there's a stronger tone of jazz all over the album. One more thing is that Morrison is normally credited vocals, at times guitar, more seldom piano parts, but here, he also plays the saxophone much more than, probably, on any other of his many studio albums, which is shame 'cause he does that with the same touch and elegance as when playing his most renowned instrument.
The album is one of his warmest and most sentimental studio albums, and he performs with mature finesse. The album is yet another fine release from Van the Man.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 ]