Legendary Mott the Hoople front man and renowned solo artist, Ian Hunter, is out with his new work Man OverboardWith Mott the Hoople, Ian Hunter quickly established himself as an incredibly inventive songwriter with his gritty and thought provoking songs which paved the way for the original wave of punk rock. The 1972 David Bowie produced breakthrough album All The Young Dudes catapulted the band into the British Top 10 and the American Top 40. Additionally, the band was the first act to ever sell out a week of Broadway concerts in New York City. Ian Hunter’s autobiography, Diary Of A Rock and Roll Star, written during the band’s 1972 US Tour and published in 1974, was also acclaimed by Q Magazine as “the greatest music book ever written.”
As a solo artist, Mr. Hunter has been responsible for instantly recognizable classics as “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” “Cleveland Rocks” (which went on to be the theme song for ABC’s hit series The Drew Carey Show), and many, many more. Both Ian Hunter and Mott the Hoople have been cited as major inspirations for numerous artists including The Clash, Kiss, R.E.M., Oasis, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Motley Crue, Blur and Primal Scream among others. Hunter’s influence on modern rock and roll music has been immeasurable, with over 150 different cover versions of his songs.
Man Overboard is Ian Hunter’s 13th solo album since his eponymous debut in 1975. Recorded in late 2008 in Pawling, NY, the 11-song set is a stunning follow up to the overwhelmingly critically acclaimed Shrunken Heads album. Man Overboard was produced by Andy York (veteran guitarist for John Mellencamp) and Ian Hunter and features a backing band of superstar talent comprised of Steve Holley on drums and percussion (Wings, Joe Cocker), Paul Page on bass (Dion), Jack Petruzzelli on electric guitar (Rufus Wainwright, Joan Osbourne), James Mastro on electric guitar (Patti Smith, John Cale), Andy Burton on piano and organ (The Db’s) and Producer Andy York on guitar and backing vocals. Many of the band members are returning from the Shrunken Heads sessions. Regarding Man Overboard, Ian Hunter stated, “When we did Shrunken Heads, I felt like we had a good thing going so I wanted to revisit the experience before anything changed, and that’s what we did.”
Ian Hunter has worked with many musical legends such as the members of Queen, David Bowie, Mick Jones of The Clash, Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Mick Ronson and Ringo Starr’s All Star Band.
The musician plays with the scent of music to make the mix of notes, of structures, accents, phrases, dynamics into a superfine dish and original. A collection which presents itself as a careful choice, with Middle Eastern fragrances, remote echoes of folk, brave and unexpected visits into musical passageways and along paths seldom, or never explored.
Three years after the release of “Night Dancers”, Boston based Italian drummer Paolo Lattanzi presents an entirely renewed group with an absolutely original repertoire. These captivating and flowing arrangements highlight the improvisational skills of the sextet, enriched by the presence of acclaimed trombonist Robin Eubanks (known, among things, for his works with Dave Holland).
Frammenti ('fragments') is a peculiar work which deserves attention, no doubt. This music spreads an inner power and a modernity that being inside the border of Jazz language it allows to express fresh, original and surprising ideas.
"It seemed that the living soul of the colors released a musical calling, when the relentless will of the brush took away part of their lives. Sometimes I would hear the quiet chattering of the colors as they would mix; it was a mysterious experience;
This project is witness of the artistic growth of Stafno Pastor, also confirmed by the many reviews he got (for instance, his duo CD with Borah Bergman by “All About Jazz New York”) and above all from the excellent ranking on Top Jazz 2009, with votes from the italian critics.
“Serving an Evolving Humanity” is a suite in 3 parts, totally improvised in a concert recorded in Noci, Italy, in a summer night.
Pieta Brown is a striking poet-songwriter with a haunting voice and an unmistakable style. Her unique blend of alt-country, folk, blues and indie-rock speaks to music fans around the world and has garnered rave reviews from the likes of the BBC and Boston Globe, as well as a variety of hip music blogs and indie radio stations. Even her own musical hero Iris DeMent is a fan, saying she is “the best poet I’ve heard in a long damn time.” An artist with cross-genre appeal, Pieta has toured with such diverse artists as John Prine, Ani Difranco, Calexico, J.J. Cale and Mason Jennings.
In the early 60s, pop was a hidden industry whose interface with the public existed only at performance level. The big money wasn’t around then and the record game wasn’t seen as a legitimate vocation for sons and daughters. In this subterranean milieu, income depended on factors that were both difficult to predict and control and it seemed a safer bet becoming a lawyer, a doctor or a dentist.
Of every instrument that Sly Stone has mastered during his long and colourful career in music, perhaps the most significant is the recording studio. 20 years before the advent of computer-based recording, this maverick was pushing available recording technology to its limit. When he finally tired of the restrictions imposed by official facilities, Sly built his own, to satisfy his creative urge when, where and how he saw fit. It was the ultimate manifestation of the impulse that had transformed Sylvester Stewart of Vallejo, California into Sly Stone, titan of popular music.
The town of Salinas is located two hours south of San Francisco in Monterey Country, an area colloquially known as America’s Salad Bowl, thanks to its rich soil. In the 1950s, the region was also the fertile fiefdom of “Lord Luther” McDaniels, a unique personage who rose from leader of respected vocal group the 4 Deuces to assume the mantle of Bay Area rock royalty. Luther started at the top with ‘W-P-L-J’, but true to his self-effacing demeanour, the man was never hung up on the what-ifs of becoming a record star, and for most of his fifteen years as an entertainer, remained resolutely focused on just that: entertainment.
Ace Records’ link with Golden Crest dates back to 1993. That was when I travelled to picturesque Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, to discuss a licensing deal specifically for the Wailers’ enduring hit instrumental, ‘Tall Cool One’, which duly appeared on “The Golden Age of American Rock’n’Roll, Vol 6” (CDCHD 650). Label-founder Clark Galehouse had died 10 years earlier, so his daughter Shelley came along with her trusted adviser – none other than the great but notorious Hy Weiss of Old Town Records. I couldn’t believe my “luck” in coming up against one of the sharpest and most conniving minds in the business. Eventually I ended up with two contracts: one for Ace; the other in marriage to Shelley.
The Ars3 trio (Grossi, Zanchi and Castiglioni) returned with their own collective intelligence, their own collective sensitivity, their own patterns, harmonies, melodies, their unrestrained curiosity, their osmosis, and that special aftertaste of melancholy savoured with those jazz musicians who do not give in to the tyranny of swing, but prefer its sound, colours, atmospheres and mood. Here they are, for the delight of music, back again with a work that involves the "rasping" voice of Gian Maria Testa and, in conclusion, the exciting - and in a way - excited voice of Sheila Jordan. A celebration of peace that is not ideological, not factious. It is instead an ontological, intellectual peace, one of feelings, peace in music, meant not as a battle hymn but as a dream-like spur. Opening with “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan and closing with “Peace” by Horace Silver. This is what makes this CD a new and different transition from pop music to great jazz something that is also difficult to define, but that is certainly an example of sophistication, sensitivity and creativity. 
Antonio Zambrini is esteemed one of the best italian composer. The last three recordings by Antonio Zambrini , “Quartetto”, “Due colori” and “Musica” ( all by Abeat records ) have been of great success either in critics and sales all around many countries. It’s the first time that Antonio Zambrini is recording some songs by other people’s.
A TIME REMEMBERED” is a project of extraordinary artistic force that revisits some between more celebrates compositions of Bill Evans in occasion of the thirty-year period from his disappearance, mixing two languages, that of jazz and classic music without to deprive them of their natural expressive characteristics. The formation combine traditional jazz piano trio with the addition of a guitar and a classic strings quartet. The arrangements are particularly fresh and effective. The fresh sound , the propulsive charge of the rhythmic section, contribute to giving the feeling of a work that pulls down every clichè and every element of adhesion to any style in order to give to the listeners only limpid sonorous forms. High audiophile profile.
Third work of Roberto Demo published by Abeat. His previous cds, “La porta” ( 2001) and “ Sono Un bluff ” ( 2005), have been very successful. Roberto Demo had been widely recognized by public and critics, also pointed to the top of the emerging talent at the top jazz referendum.
Since many years Abeat is publishing some appealing cds with world famous musicians. A stellar cast honors their cultures and musical traditions reinterpreting some of the most famous and significant immortal melodies of the italian and french repertoire : “Estate” by Bruno Martino, “La canzone di Marinella” by De Andrè e “Fiore di maggio” by Fabio Concato, “Tu t’laisses aller”and “Jolies momes de mon quartier” by Charles Aznavour, “What are you doing the rest of your life?” and “ You must believe in spring” by Michel Legrand, “Les feuilles mortes” by Kosma. Four musicians of immense value confirm that jazz has no boundaries. “Canzoni” is a disc of rare elegance and pleasure.
Rosario Di Rosa, one of the most creative italian reality of the last years. This new project with the double bass player Paolo Dassi and the drum player Riccardo Tosi takes its inspiration from Cabaret VOLTAIRE , the famous place, where in 1916, some intellectuals gave birth to the artistic movement called "Dada ". This becomes a pretext for un ironic reading of the today's reality that very often celebrates the superfluous and the ephemeral one. To serve as scenography to the all, the metropolitan and frantic rhythms of a great city that they become very often sonorous column of various reported histories in music. Every composition shows of it different angolature and perspectives through the use of references, cultures and worlds very distant among them as the room music, the drum'n'bass, the rock and the contemporary music. Rosario Di Rosa creates a music full of references to the past but, at the same time, he proposes a new suggestion, a strong and energetic motion of rebellion. A real work of art not only for the musical contents, Cabaret Voltaire dips the listener in a dense atmosphere of colors and tastes that postpone to the wealth of the earth of Sicily. A contemporary jazz that reassumes some typical Italian flavours and peculiarity , thanks to the talent of the rhythmic partners and the ingeniousness of the compositions.
Vittorio Mezza, is considered one of the most interesting and original pianist on the new italian jazz scene. With the help of two “supermusicians” as Massimo Moriconi and Ettore Fioravanti gave birth to a musical project of extraordinary artistic depht, great novelty both stylistic and of ideas. It’s remarkable a strong component of swing and interplay, a quality is becoming rarest.
Max De Aloe, an ingenious and atypic musician within the italian jazz survey, regarded among the most meaningful harmonica-players in the European jazz scenery,carries out his new musical project, entitled "APNEA", involving one of the most accredited american pianists, Bill Carrothers.Two strong and leading personalities joined to create the coming shortly CD "Apnea", published by Abeat Records ( ABJZ 0072) ,in which all songs were entirely composed for this special purpose and are based on the novels of Haruki Murakami, a great japanese writer. A tribute hanging between literature and a contemporary jazz ,enriched with crosswise kinds of music ,that will surely enchant either the jazz novices and people keen on japanise literature.
Etta Cameron is best known as a gospel vocalist with a contagiousenthusiasm, which can distill the ardor in any choir and lead them to rock even the smallest country church. When on the panel of one of TV’s many talent contests, lovable Etta