Alex Bugnon: Going Home (2010)

"I really liked that idea of doing a a '60s inspired record, with a Les McCann/Eddie Harris or Jazz Crusaders vibe. , but I wanted to include a little more jazz than that, more towards a Herbie Hancock/Blue Note era Quintet or Sextet kind of vibe. You know, with two horns or three horns. That's what I was going for. The first three months of 2009 found me home practicing every day, anywhere from 4 to 6 hours a day, which is something that I haven't done since I was at Berklee. The rest of the time I was listening to a lot of music, especially Ahmad Jamal, Herbie's whole Blue Note catalog, Les McCann, Horace Silver, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans Dave Brubeck - I realized that in the sixties, this music was the popular, commercial music of the time. Back then, this sound was really hip and underground!and very commercial. You don't need synthesizers, drum machines and nursery rhymes to be marketable. Watermelon Man and Cantaloupe Island were huge hits. Musicians were really playing on those records. So, you can see the concept for Going Home came from a lot of listening and practicing. At a certain time in April, I started to come up with new material. Something unlocked in me, because of all that listening and practicing that I did. the writing for the new record came from that. It was totally natural. I didn't have to sit down and scratch my head for hours. The tunes just came in minutes. That's how this record came about."

Personnel: Alex Bugnon (piano); Vincent Henry (flute, saxophone); Barry Danielian (trumpet, flugelhorn); Greg Boyer (trombone); Victor Bailey (acoustic bass, electric bass); Poogie Bell (drums, percussion).

Going Home
Rapidshare / Hotfile @ 320K

Bill Evans/Randy Brecker: Soul Bop Band Live [2 cd]

During the summers of 2004 and 2005, saxophonist Bill Evans and trumpeter Randy Brecker co-led the Soul Bop Band on tours. The music that they created was funky, heartfelt, and full of strong jazz solos. With a top-notch and versatile rhythm section comprised of guitarist Hiram Bullock, keyboardist David Kikoski, bassist Victor Bailey, and drummer Steve Smith, the sextet performed consistently stirring music. This two-CD set has plenty of heated instrumentals along with occasional ballads, all of it original music coming from either Evans, Brecker, or Bullock. Unfortunately a few of the selections have vocals from Brecker that are primitive at best and an acquired taste although the words to Bullock's "Greed" are worthy. If it were not for the singing, this two-fer would be rated higher, but it does contain some of the best playing of the era from Bill Evans and Randy Brecker, who consistently bring out the best in each other.

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Live - Part 1 - Part 2 (RS) / Part 1 - Part 2 (HF) @ 320K

Lenny White: Edge (1999)

A versatile drummer, Lenny White is still best-known for being part of Chick Corea's Return To Forever in the 1970's. White was self-taught on drums and he largely started his career on top, playing regularly with Jackie McLean (1968) and recording "Bitches Brew" with Miles Davis in 1969. White was soon working with some of the who's who of jazz including Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Gato Barbieri, Gil Evans, Stanley Clarke and Stan Getz among others. As a member of Return To Forever during 1973-76, White gained a strong reputation as one of the top fusion drummers, but he was always versatile enough to play in many settings. After the breakup of RTF, Lenny White headed several fusion projects but none of the recordings (for Nemperor and Elektra) have dated well at all, emphasizing commercial funk. However his work with the Echoes Of An Era and Griffith Park all-star groups were been more successful and he has been a valuable sideman for a wide variety of projects.
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Edge