Respecta.is - The Ultimate Hip Hop Portal

Genre/Style: Jazz / Soul-Jazz / Fusion / Flute / Spiritual Jazz
Format: mp3

The first thing to know about Lloyd McNeill is that his are the very best soul-jazz flute LPs, and each is first-rate, a masterpiece of self-direction. The second thing to know is there is much more to him than his recorded legacy. He is one of those incredible, super-sensitive people who excels at every artistic idiom and endeavor; making wonderful music is just part of his flowing creativity. A professor (at Rutgers University, earlier Dartmouth), he has much to say about music and creativity as well as an impeccable gift for saying it...sensibly. McNeill's writings on his musical experiences provide invaluable documents of "the period" (late 1960s-1970s) as well as a rare glimpse at the joy of a relatively unsung master.

Born in Washington, DC in 1935, McNeill earned his B.A. at Morehouse College in Atlanta and also studied painting at Howard University in his home town and lithography at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He has taught variously painting, illustration, and music at Dartmouth, Howard, Spelman, and Livingston College at Rutgers University. Films he has scored include "To Market, To Market," "TV Education in Samoa," and "Summer in the Parks." Also his quartet provided the music for the Spoken Arts LP "The Dream Awake."

McNeill has played with jazz legends --Andrew White (his longtime collaborator/producer), Eric Dolphy, Sabu Martinez, Mulatu Astatke, among many others-- and he has had a significant hand in the arts scene of Washington, D.C. The major galleries of art, including those of the Smithsonian, sponsored multi-media "happenings" that soared far above the hippie caricature of acid rock with light show. During the first flowering of post-Civil Rights, African-American culture, the Lloyd McNeill Quartet's improvisitory, simultaneuous jazz and large-scale painting "happened" while a lucky, perhaps unsuspecting public drank it in.

McNeill believes his influences and their results in his art, music, and poetry are inseparable and mutually reinforcing. Time spent with Picasso in Cannes, 1965 led to new expressions in all three, for instance. And when one brushes against a force such as Picasso, just the idea of "meeting Picasso" has a certain momentum, never mind the inevitable casting of rays of a different kind of light. Canvas, vinyl, the stage, paper, and books of poetry offer a few key imprints of McNeill, and McNeill consistently pays tribute to many illustrious peers.

There are six principal albums, all produced and entirely under the artist's control. Each title surpasses anything comparable on the major labels, even Blue Note. The Black Jazz label may be roughly similar in style, but Asha and Baobab are wholly Lloyd McNeill. The records reflect none of the usual external trends from the decade in which they were recorded; all sound like 1971 rather than 1979. The final record even reprises the first (the exotic, broodingly moody "Asha"), and the sound throughout remains somewhat interchangeable and timeless. But each record has its own themes and currents, and even improvisation has its signatures and fingerprints.

Touch 'N Go — британский поп-джаз коллектив, членами которого являются Ванесса Ланкастер и Джеймс Линч.

В 1998 году продюсеры Чарли Жилет и Гордон Нелки предложили композитору Дэйвиду Лоу (работающему преимущественно для телевидения, в частности, с каналом BBC-News) создать новый проект, сочетающий джазовые вариации популярных мелодий с минимальным семплированным вокалом. Дэйвид Лоу совместно с трубачом Джеймсом Линчем записали первый сингл Would You...?. В качестве вокалистки была приглашена модель и актриса Ванесса Ланкастер.

В октябре 1998 года Would you...? занял третье место в британских поп-чартах. Сингл приобрел большую популярность в Европе, а затем и по всему миру, было продано более полумиллиона копий. После сингла был издан успешный дебютный альбом Touch 'N Go «I Find You Very Attractive», включающий хиты Straight To Number One, So Hot и Tango In Harlem. Для ремейков использовались мелодии таких различных исполнителей, как Луи Армстронг, Manu Chao Чао и рок-группа The Champs.

Музыка Touch & Go используется такими брендами, как Nokia, Apple, Carlsberg, Bacardi и др., регулярно звучит в различных саундтреках для кино. Коллектив продолжает сохранять популярность, особенно в странах Восточной Европы, где до сих пор выступает с концертами.

13 композиций на альбоме «Nikki» позволяют пристально присмотреться к Яновски, этому молодому дарованию, «джазовой сенсации» последних лет.
В альбом входят широкоизвестные джазовые стандарты, такие как «Take the «A» Train» Билли Стрейхорна, «I Got Rhythm» Гершвинов, «Over the Rainbow» Хэрольда Эрлена, которые Никки сумела исполнить совершенно свежо и неповторимо. Также в альбом входят и шесть новых оригинальных композиций, в которых Яновски выступает в качестве соавтора совместно с Джесси Харрисом и канадским композитором Роном Сексмитом. Эти композиции показывают любовь молодой певицы не только к джазу и блюзу, но также и к популярной музыке. А также и то, что ей одинаково хорошо удаётся исполнять как старые стандарты, так и современные ритмы. Хотя, конечно же, наиболее сильное впечатление от её исполнения оставляют именно «вечнозелёная» классика, входящая ранее в репертуар Эллы Фитцджеральд, Билли Холидей и Джуди Гарланд.

The ladies are taking over ... or at least that's the case on this great compilation from the folks at Goldmine! This package pushes away a bit from their usual Northern Soul bag, and explores the world of female soul in the '60s, still in a way that's very much in the rare indie mode we've come to expect from Goldmine, but with a focus on tunes that mix uptempo soul with sweeter girl group numbers. Put aside any fears you may have about this stuff being too pop, or too oldies-focused, because the set's hip soul all the way through, with a good mix of standout names from the indie scene, plus a few others yet to be discovered. 20 tracks in all, with titles that include 'Bad Love' by Marlene and the Debanettes, 'Third Time Under' by Third Tuesday, 'I Only Cry Once a Day Now' by The Puffs, 'What's Wrong with Me Baby' by The Toys, 'Just As Much' by Kris Peterson, 'Stoney Face' by Barbara and The Castles, 'In My Life' by Linda Carr, 'GI Joe We Love You' by The Fantasions, 'Head and Shoulders' by Marlina Mars, 'Ooh Boy' by Adorables, 'Your Love' by Miller Sisters, 'Look What I Got' by Gerri Thomas, 'Girl Crazy' by Gigi and The Charmaines, 'Sweet Talkin' Willie' by Teri Nelson Group, 'Give Him Up' by Vicki Hill, 'You're Something Else' by Chris Calloway and 'It's Good Enough for Me' by The Sensations, among others.

New Thing! tells the story of Deep Jazz in the USA. Post-Civil Rights, Post- Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, Post-John Coltrane, this album shows how radical musicians developed musically, politically and spiritually at this time.

New Thing! shows how these musicians redefined themselves and their music to present a new Black American music that encompassed Jazz with Eastern music and philosophies, space travel, classical music, ballet and African music alongside other American musics such as Gospel, Funk, Soul and Blues.

The period of music covered on New Thing is from 1970-1985. (One exception and a forerunner to much of this music, the Sun Ra track "Angels and Demons at Play" is from 1957! and clearly shows a man ahead of his time in his music and ideas).
New Thing! features heavyweight Jazz artists such as Alice Coltrane, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra and Archie Shepp alongside many other less-well known, but equally important artists such as Rashied Ali (who played alongside John Coltrane) and Stanley Cowell (who started one of the first independent labels for this music, Strata-East Records, along with Charles Tolliver).
The music on New Thing! ranges from the deep street funk of "Street Rap" and "Funky AECO" to hypnotic eastern-influenced tracks such as "Tibetan Serenity" and radical left-field tracks such as Rashied Ali and Frank Lowe’s "Duo Exchange".(Soul Jazz Records)