Melbreeze I Love Paris

Melbreeze - "I Love Paris" -  Blue Canoe Records

Born in Turkey but now residing in Los Angeles, vocalist Melbreeze has collaborated with Bill Cunliffe Big Band, Jimmy Haslip, and Alan Pasqua. She has also collaborated with Scott Kinsey for several years, including two recent albums. "I Love Paris" is the first co-produced album between the two, with Kinsey handling the keyboards and Trilian bass. Other notable persons playing on this set included Tim Hagans on trumpet, guitarists Yotam Silverstein, Josh Smith and Pedro Martins, Doug Webb on tenor sax, and Gary Novak on drums.

Melbreeze sings in a sultry, evocative manner, half-spoken at times and at other times sung with a soft purr, like a cottony Eartha Kitt. Kinsey has surrounded her usually with atmospheric settings that suggest some of these performances would fit in on a film noir. An unusual halting rhythm and Hagans' haunting trumpet provide the ambiance for "Autumn Leaves." It is an introduction to an unusual repertoire of mostly standards. Brad Dutz's marimba and percussion, along with Hagans' electrified muted trumpet, lend a distinctive tone to her sorrowful singing on "I Fall in Love Too Easily." There is a unique arrangement to her elucidation of Oscar Brown's lyrics to Bobby Timmons' "Dat Dere." 

With train sounds in the opening, there is a touch of nostalgia in her rendition of "Sentimental Journey" with Webb's tenor sax solo. Her vocal includes a mash-up with a Turkish children's game song. On "Don't Explain," her restrained speak-song vocal is framed by Dutz's percussion with Silverstein's nuanced guitar solo. She engages in some storytelling on the title track, which is followed by a smokey rendition of "My Funny Valentine" with Josh Smith's blues-inflected guitar solo. Then there is the Joey Heatherton-like flirty sexiness of the performance of "What Lola Wants," with Hagans' trumpet adding musical color.

Melbreeze has produced an entertaining and intriguing recording with considerable charm.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is Melbreeze singing "What Lola Wants."

Artur Menezes Keep Pushing

Artur Menezes
Keep Pushing
Self-Produced

Menezes is a mainstay of the blues scene in his native Brazil who is based in Los Angeles. He was third place finisher in the band category at the 2018 International Blues Challenge where he winner of the Gibson/Albert King Award for Best Guitarist. This is his fourth album with a band that includes Carey Frank on keyboards, Daniel Aged on bass, Gary Novak on drums, Jamelle Adessa on brass and Dan Boisey on saxophones with producer Josh Smith adding rhythm guitar to several selections.

This is a strongly performed set of originals, mostly in a modern urban blues vein such as the opening "Now's the Time," although several tracks are in a rock vein including the driving "Keep On Pushing," where he plays some shattering guitar and "Come With Me," with perhaps too heavily distorted guitar. Much better is a nice slow "Any Day, Anytime," a tune that evokes classic Stax blues from Johnnie Taylor and Little Milton. His singing is outstanding without any hint of an accent and his guitar here is superb with its lean, clean tone. It iss followed by a sharp Albert Collins styled blues, "Should Have Never Left," with guitar that evokes the late legend.

"Love'n'Roll" is a rollicking jump blues styled with his jazzy single note playing evoking the likes of Johnny Rogers on some classic Roy Milton recordings along with a scorching trumpet solo. Then there is the funky groove of "Pull it Through," with his fuzz-toned effective, and the straight urban blues "Give My Money Back," with his string bending suggesting Albert King. "Can't Get You Out Of My Mind" is a low-key, late night blues with  nice jazzy playing, intriguing tempo changes and horn backing. "Till The Day I Die," which is too rock-based for my taste,  closes this recording. I was less enamored with the rock-rooted performances here, although they are well played. However, most of this recording had strong, impressive blues performances with his excellent singing and playing, as well as an terrific band.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review appeared originally in the July-August 2018 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 379), although I made minor stylistic edits to that review. Here Artur Menezes performs "Should Have Never Left."

Ron King Triumph

Ron King
Triumph
Perseverance Distribution

While classically trained, Ron King has taken his brass chops to a variety of settings working with such artists as George Benson, Ricki Lee Jones, and Marvin Gaye, performing with the Tonight Show Orchestra as well as with Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and others, while doing studio work for films and the like. Currently he leads a quartet as well as a big band, and now has a new album with a variety of grooves and the like with him overdubbing on a variety of instruments while joined by Jeff Lorber and others on this.

The title track opens things up with its tuneful (if programmed) backing and lyrical trumpet along with wordless vocal backing. He switches to flugelhorn on "Luv Vibe" and displays impressive facility and invention. Support on this includes Jeff Lorber on piano (who solos), Bennett Brandeis on guitar and Preston Shepard on French Horn with a easy listening veneer. With full band and strings, "Celtic Horizons," sports lovely flugelhorn along with pianist Andy Langham's solo and Bob Sheppard's flute with the strings adding sweetening. "A Long Way Home," with King on trumpet, Bob Sheppard on tenor sax and Lenny Castro on congas is spicy, straight-ahead latin jazz (with the bass riff akin to that of Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca") with some of King's most exciting playing here as his trumpet blazes into the upper register followed by some very fervent tenor sax and then Langham in a highly charged manner before some hot percussion from drummer Gary Novak and Castro on congas on a standout performance. The closing "Peace and Love" takes us back to the smooth jazz feel of several selections with programmed rhythm and synthesized strings in support his lovely trumpet.

Ron King plays trumpet and flugelhorn with lyricism and invention although this album mixes a straight-ahead performance with others more in an smooth jazz vein, making for some wonderful playing and relaxing listening.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review appeared in the March-April 2017 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 371).