Chihiro Yamanaka - Somethin' Blue (2014)

Chihiro Yamanaka is an internationally renowned, hard-swinging jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader, whose fluid, athletic technique has drawn rave reviews and very favorable comparisons to legends such as Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum. She is based in New York. At age four she began formal piano studies. While she began with classical music and still practices it, she shifted her focus to jazz studies in high school. After graduation she attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She played with a wide range of musicians in Boston and in New York before heading back home to Japan after she graduated from Berklee in 2000 with honors. In 2014, Yamanaka moved from Verve to the Universal-owned Blue Note label just in time for its 75th anniversary. Her debut, Somethin' Blue, was a sextet offering, and in addition to originals offered striking renditions of Bud Powell's "Un Poco Loco" and Herbie Hancock's "I Have a Dream." It reached into the Top Five on the jazz charts. ~ Extract by Thom Jurek, AMG. 

I've always felt that Yamanaka's music is very aggressive. However, unlike aggressive musicians who tend to focus on technique or miss the mark, she tries to play the melody well, which I think that's why I never get tired of Yamanaka's music, even if I keep buying more of her albums. ~ kazukazu, Amazon.com. [Translated From Japanese] 

Blue Note Records, UCCQ-1016, 2014
Recorded 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd April, 2014 at Eastside Sound, New York City 

Musicians:
Chihiro Yamanaka - Piano, Keyboards
Benny Benack III - Trumpet
Jaleel Shaw - Saxophone
Lage Lund - Guitar
Yasushi Nakamura - Bass
Kendrick Scott - Drums
Mark Whitfield Jr. - Drums (#11) 

Tracks:
01. Somethin' Blue {Chihiro Yamanaka} (8:31)
02. Orleans {Chihiro Yamanaka} (4:32)
03. I Have A Dream {Herbie Hancock} (5:58)
04. Un Poco Loco {Bud Powell} (5:51)
05. Funiculi Funicula {Traditional} (6:29)
06. A Secret Code {Chihiro Yamanaka} (4:56)
07. Pinhole Camera {Chihiro Yamanaka} (5:44)
08. For Real {Chihiro Yamanaka} (5:30)
09. On The Shore {Chihiro Yamanaka} (6:43)
10. You're A Fool, Aren't You {Chihiro Yamanaka} (5:55)
11. Go Go Go {Chihiro Yamanaka} (4:41) 

Total Time: 64:54 

Credits:
Producer, Arranger - Chihiro Yamanaka
Recording & Mixing Engineer - Lou Holtzman
Recording, Mixing, Photography - Eric Elterman
Mastering Engineer - Greg Calbi
Photography - Kana Doi
Art Direction - Hibiki Tokiwa 

Pinhole Camera

Chihiro Yamanaka Somethin' Blue Quintet - Live At Blue Note Tokyo (2014)

Popular pianist Chihiro Yamanaka is visiting Japan with her latest album, Somethin' Blue. Her fellow performers are Benny Benack (trumpet), Jaleel Shaw (alto sax), Yoshi Waki ​​(bass), and Kendrick Scott (drums). I was able to enjoy a fun and thrilling performance with her familiar New York friends. She is often seen playing in a piano trio, so it was refreshing to see her leading a two-horn quintet. Benack is a rising star who was praised by Wynton Marsalis in 2011 as "one of the jazz greats of the next generation." Although he still retains the appearance of a boy, his ability to freely play anything from a deep bass to a bursting high note is top-notch. Something Blue also commemorates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the prestigious Blue Note Records. In the former, Jaleel plays alto sax, while drummer Kendrick adds further momentum to the band with a variety of beats. The audience was thrilled by Yamanaka's incorporation of glissandos to get the crowd excited, and Kendrick's cymbal legato, reminiscent of Billy Higgins, one of the house drummers of Blue Note in the '60s. ~ Extract by Kazunori Harada, bluenote.co.jp. 

Blue Note Records, none, 2014
Recorded 26th September, 2014 at The Blue Note Tokyo, Japan 

Musicians:
Chihiro Yamanaka - Piano, Keyboards
Benny Benack III - Trumpet
Jaleel Shaw - Saxophone
Yoshi Waki - Bass
Kendrick Scott - Drums

Tracks:
1. For Real {Yamanaka} (11:55)
2. Funiculi Funicula {Traditional} (9:40)
3. Pinhole Camera {Yamanaka} (9:21)
4. Somethin' Blue {Yamanaka} (2:11)
5. Yagibushi {Traditional} (11:17) 

Total Time: 44:24 

N.B.
This rip is converted from DSD64 > WAV > FLAC [DR16]
Applause has been edited for improved listening pleasure.
Artwork taken from DVD [Blue Note UCBJ-1007] 

Credits:
Producer - Chihiro Yamanaka, Arranger
Executive-Producer - Hirokazu Tanaka, Yoshihisa Saito
Recording & Mixing - Atsushi Fujita
A&R - Hajime Isogai
Art Direction, Design - Kanako Okajima
Photography - Asami Hoshino

Blue Note Tokyo 2014 Trailer

Patrick Cornelius - While We're Still Young (2016)

An alumnus of Berklee School of Music, saxophonist Patrick Cornelius has now released his sixth album containing a very fine suite of his own compositions, inspired by the poetry of A.A. Milne, the British children's author of When We Were Very Young. A brief horn introduction, reminiscent of the slow movement in Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 opens "Sand Between The Toes," rapidly ensued by a lively full ensemble section, and solos by Gerald Clayton on piano, Patrick Cornelius on alto sax, Nick Vayenas on trombone and Miles Okazaki on guitar, before returning to a robust ensemble finale. "Water Lilies" is redolent of a Kenny Wheeler tune with the initial melody played by Jason Palmer on trumpet, then taken-up by the ensemble. Palmer and Patrick Cornelius on soprano saxophone both produce excellent solos. "Jonathan Jo" is a feisty number with the ensemble sounding like a cross between the medium-sized bands of Charles Mingus and George Russell. The groove here, along with an incisive riff, sticks to the memory banks like glue. "The Invaders," by contrast, is sedately Ellingtonian, the melody led by the reeds followed by the ensemble and an appropriately mellifluous bass clarinet solo by John Ellis. The short and bop-infused "Lines and Squares" leads into an engaging guitar solo from Mike Okazaki whose amplified archtop guitar evinces a satisfyingly intriguing acoustic tone which is followed by breezy interplay between the brass. "Vespers," the longest piece at nearly eleven minutes, begins serenely with Okazaki's engaging guitar work soloing over piano, bass and drums, then moving into an ensemble section featuring solos from trumpet and alto sax and resolving with some frenetic ensemble blowing and finally more delicate guitar. Special mention should also be made of Alban Low whose delightful artwork tastefully adorns the six-panel digipak CD, respectfully channeling the Ernest Howard Shepard illustrations which, amongst many others, famously embellished A.A. Milne's most renowned book, Winnie the Pooh. This album was written with the aid of a commission from Chamber Music America and a grant from the Doris Duke Foundation, but crucially this work shouldn't just be labelled "chamber jazz" since it's very much more than that. Like its elegant cover, it's actually a work of art. ~ Roger Farbey, AAJ. 

Whirlwind Recordings, WR4682, 2016
Recorded 14th December, 2013, Avatar Studios, New York City 

Musicians:
Patrick Cornelius - Alto & Soprano Saxophones, Flute, Arranger
Jason Palmer - Trumpet
Nick Vayenas - Trombone
John Ellis - Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet
Gerald Clayton - Piano
Miles Okazaki - Guitar
Peter Slavov Jr. - Bass
Kendrick Scott - Drums 

Tracks:
1. Sand Between The Toes (9:22)
2. Water Lilies (9:43)
3. Jonathan Joe (7:11)
4. Invaders (7:49)
5. Lines And Squares (2:47)
6. Vespers (10:39) 

All Compositions by Patrick Cornelius 

Total Time: 47:37

Credits:
Producer - Patrick Cornelius, Kyle Saulnier
Executive-Producer - Michael Janisch
​Engineering,​ M​ixing & M​astering - Tyler McDiarmid, New York City
Album Art & Design - Alban Low

Terence Blanchard - Flow (2005)

Two years before Flow, Terence Blanchard released Bounce, a departure from anything he had done in his already storied career. It was a seminal album, with the ideas of a musician 20 years his junior, but the skill and command of the jazz great that he had become. As a follow-up, Flow exhibits that no one better balances traditionalism, provincialism and contemporary aesthetics like Blanchard. This is almost immediately evident and highlighted on "Wadagbe," the album's third cut. Blanchard’s instantly recognizable, clarion-call horn-tone is still there, as is the native New Orleanian's homage to the Nola stomp and mardi gras Indian chants, plus a classically lyrical jazz-head and an end-song coda that singes. Guitarist Lionel Loueke, still in his early 30s at the time, wrote "Wadagbe" and Benny Golson tribute "Benny's Tune." Young drummer Kendrick Scott wrote album-standout "The Source." In fact, Blanchard handles sole writing duties of just one song on the album, "Wandering Wonder," allowing his younger sidemen's voices to shine. It is this young energy that keeps Blanchard and the album's producer, Herbie Hancock, sounding so vibrant and current. Hancock, years into receiving Social Security, turned in the piano solo of the year on "The Source" - a percussive display so cerebral, violent and dramatic that it almost defies belief. Few of Blanchard's Young Lion peers from the 1980s are still relevant in any fresh way, which makes Flow, together with its predecessor Bounce, such a revelation. Blanchard isn't stuck making 60s tribute albums or recycling the sound of his youth. Instead, he's hooking up with the hip kids, sometimes directing traffic, sometimes going with the Flow. ~ by Vincent Thomas, AMG.

Blue Note, 7243 5 78274 2 3, 2005

Recorded 11^th-14^th December, 2004 At Henson Recording Studios, Hollywood, California

Personnel:

Terence Blanchard - Trumpet, Programming, Synthesizer Programming

Brice Winston - Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Yamaha WX5

Lionel Loueke - Guitar, Vocals

Aaron Parks - Piano (#2,3,5,8,9,11)

Herbie Hancock - Piano (#4,7)

Derrick Hodge - Bass

Kendrick Scott - Drums

Howard Drossin - Programming, Synthesizer Programming

Gretchen Parlato - Vocals (#8,9)

Tracks:

01. Flow, Part 1 {Terence Blanchard, Derrick Hodge} (5:29)

02. Wadagbe [Intro] {Lionel Loueke} (4:14)

03. Wadagbe {Lionel Loueke} (10:27)

04. Benny's Tune {Lionel Loueke} (7:43)

05. Wandering Wonder {Terence Blanchard} (5:46)

06. Flow, Part II {Terence Blanchard, Derrick Hodge} (3:38)

07. The Source {Kendrick Scott} (8:02)

08. Over There {Derrick Hodge} (7:32)

09. Child's Play {Brice Winston} (6:12)

10. Flow, Part III {Terence Blanchard, Derrick Hodge} (2:45)

11. Harvesting Dance {Aaron Parks} (11:43)

Credits:

Producer, Audio Production - Herbie Hancock

Executive Producer - Bruce Lundvall

Engineer - Don Murray

Assistant Engineer - Glenn Pittman

Mixing Assistant - Seth Presant

Mastering - Robert Vosgien

Concept, Photography - Nitin Vadukul

Art Direction, Design - Burton Yount