Sophie Milman - Live In Montreal, Canada (2008)

After topping the jazz charts with her latest release 'Make Someone Happy', Sophie Milman has toured the world, playing night after night of sold-out performances to her adoring fans from Tokyo to New York. The sultry, smooth vocals of this young, beautiful, Russian born Israeli have characterized her concert performances bringing fans to their feet time and time again. For the first time on DVD, 'Sophie Milman- Live in Montreal' captures 2008 Juno Award winner Sophie Milman at her best, delivering a knock-out performance at the place that started it all, the world renowned Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Performing songs from her chart topping album 'Make Someone Happy' including Stevie Wonder's hit 'Rocket Love', The Guess Who's 'Undun', as well as favorites like 'Ochi Chornye' and `People Will Say We're In Love', this DVD is a must have for jazz fans everywhere.

1. It Might As Well Be Spring [4:01]
2. People Will Say We're In Love [4:18]
3. Something In The Air Between Us [4:38]
4. Rocket Love [5:46]
5. So Long, You Fool [3:56]
6. (It's Not Easy) Bein' Green [6:12]
7. Ochi Chomye [4:58]
8. Reste (Stay) [3:05]
9. Fever [5:09]
10. Matchmaker, Matchmaker [4:21]
11. Undun [4:16]
12. Bye Bye Love [6:14]
13. Eli, Eli [4:59]

Nikki Yanofsky - Ella...Of Thee I Swing - Montreal, Canada (2008)

Nikki Yanofsky - Ella......Of Thee I Swing (2008)

The debut release from one of the most talked about young vocalists in the country! Ella... Of Thee I Swing, features a DVD capturing the 14 year-old jazz sensation in a sold-out show in Montreal, Canada. After four packed concerts at the 2007 Montreal Jazz Festival, Nikki Yanofsky returned, by popular demand, to Place des Arts to reprise her tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, entitled Ella... Of Thee I Swing. This magical night resulted in one of Nikki's most memorable performances. Owning the stage, she captivated her audience like a veteran performer three times her age.

1. Lullaby of Birdland - 3:24
2. It Don't Mean A Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing) - 4:41
3. Swingin' on the Moon - 3:25
4. You've Changed - 3:47
5. Flyin' Home - 2:28
6. Relax Max - 2:55
7. Old MacDonald - 2:16
8. Hear Me Talkin' to Ya - 3:59
9. Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues - 4:41
10. At Last - 2:56
11. The Way You Look Tonight - 3:35
12. A Tisket, a Tasket - 2:18
13. Somewhere Over the Rainbow - 4:57
14. Deed I Do - 2:57

Diana Krall - Jazzaldia Festival, San Sebastián, Spain 24 July 2008

Diana Krall was born in British Columbia, Canada. She was raised in Nanaimo, a small community on Vancouver Island, where she began performing professionally at age 15 as a jazz pianist. In 1981, Diana won a Vancouver Jazz Festival scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston and, after a year and a half of serious study, she returned to British Columbia. Renowned bassist Ray Brown heard her playing one night in Nanaimo and convinced Diana to move to Los Angeles where she obtained a Canadian Arts Council grant to study with Jimmy Rowles. Jimmy encouraged Diana to explore her vocals to supplement her already blossoming piano skills. With several successful CDs to her credit, Diana has won numerous awards including Canada's Juno Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album (2000) and a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance (2000). She received the Order of British Columbia in 2000 for being a good-will ambassador for British Columbia and epitomizing Canadian culture. The greatest talent in the jazz field to come along in a generation, she frequently acknowledges her roots in Nanaimo where she began . She epitomizes Canadian culture and is an outstanding citizen and good-will ambassador for British Columbia.

James Taylor - Live at the BBC , England -1970

James Taylor was the pre-eminent singer/songwriter of the Seventies and has remained a solid musical craftsman and performer. Born in Boston in 1948, Taylor grew up in the university town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He summered with his family on Martha’s Vineyard, where he met fellow guitarist/songwriter Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar and began performing. Beset by drug problems, he voluntarily institutionalized himself and began writing songs during his

stay. Moving to New York , Taylor formed the Flying Machine with Kortchmar in 1966. After their breakup, he headed to London, where he lived for a year. He cut a demo tape that got him signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records by A&R man Peter Asher, who became his manager and producer. The debut album James Taylor (1968) contained Taylor’s classic “Carolina in My Mind.”

In 1969, he signed to Warner Bros. and moved to California, where he recorded the classic Sweet Baby James with a band that included guitarist Kortchmar and Carole King on piano. Released in March 1970, the album offered its share of signature songs, including “Fire and Rain,” “Sunny Skies,” “Country Road” and “Sweet Baby James.” Its phenomenal success helped usher in an age of “new troubadours"--including such singer/songwriters asJoni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and Crosby, Stills and Nash--who pointed popular music in a quieter, more introspective direction after the turbulent Sixties.

His third album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (1971), found Taylor-mania in full swing. It was certified platinum the month of its release and reaches #2 on Billboard’s album chart. Taylor’s version of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” became his first--and, to date, only--#1 single. It won Grammys both for Taylor (Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male ) and King (Song of the Year). A 1971 cover story in Rolling Stone proclaimed James Taylor and his musical siblings--sister Kate and brothers Livingston, Alex and Hugh--"the first family of the new rock.”

Taylor remained a prolific recording artist throughout the Seventies, releasing a string of solid albums: One Man Dog (1972), Walking Man (1974), Gorilla (1975) and In the Pocket (1976). Such breezy, soulful singles as “How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You)” and “Mockingbird,” a duet with Carly Simon, made the Top Five. His reign as a pop icon culminated in the December 1976 release of Greatest Hits, which has sold more than 11 million copies. Taylor’s combined catalog has sold an astonishing 30 million copies to date.

In 1977, Taylor moved to Columbia Records, where he debuted with JT, an album that found him in peak form as a folk-pop stylist whose songcraft cut deeply. The pace of his releases has slowed over the years, but his work has intensified in its depth and craft. His later albums, notably New Moon Shine (1991) and Hourglass (1997), rank with his best. In fact, Hourglass won Taylor a coveted Grammy for Best Pop Album in 1998. Taylor’s hit-filled live shows are renowned for their exquisitely polished musicianship. James Taylor (LIVE), A double CD released in 1993, was a career-spanning triumph that documented his exacting artistry onstage.

Here in this video you will see him singing - Sweet Baby James. The entire video featured the very talented James Taylor. Held at BBC Studios, England during the 70's. Everybody would probably notice that James still has his precious long blonde hair. Which matches his very unique voice and perhaps the best composer of all time. Just love seeing and hearing his voice again! An hour of singing through the old melodies of James Taylor.....

Richard Galliano Trio, feat. Gary Burton28th Leverkusener Jazztage, Leverkusen/ Germany, 4th November 2007

Fifteen years after his death, tango legend Astor Piazolla influence continues to be felt. Both accordionist Richard Galliano and vibraphonist Gary Burton have released tributes to the late composer/performer, and so it's no surprise that the two have joined up to mine Piazolla's music.

They explore the paradoxical romanticism and melancholy of tango, but also delve into music as far-reaching as singer Edith Piaf, composer J.S. Bach and pianist Bill Evans. Defined by elegance and grace, it possesses the kind of near-perfection that defined both musicians careers.

Bassist Philippe Aerts, a well-traveled but often undervalued player, works alongside drummer Clarence Penn, whose breadth as a player becomes more evident with every new project. Here Aerts and Penn are all about support and subtlety, with Penn playing so lightly at times that it feels like he's breathing on his drums rather than hitting them. If one sign of the complete musician is the ability to place music ahead of ego, then it would be hard to find a better rhythm section.

With Aerts and Penn providing the kind of support that leaves Burton and Galliano in a position of complete trust, the vibraphonist and accordionist are able to deliver dramatic performances that never become melodrama, and lyrical simplicity that never becomes mundane or predictable. When in accompanist role, each works with Aerts and Penn to explore dynamic nuances in ways that are, at times responsive, at other times driving. It may begin as a brooding and spacious slow-tempo tango but Burton's vivid solo on Piazolla's Milonga is Coming� builds in intensity—with Galliano and Aerts pushing the beat—before dropping out for Burton as acapella spot that is a remarkable mix of understatement and virtuosity.

It's not all about melancholy, however, though it often finds its way into even the most buoyant of tunes. Piazolla's genius was the evolution of a relatively straightforward dance form into near-classical episodic complexity, with the shifting tempos and moods of the relatively brief melody endings. Galliano and the quartet navigate Piazolla's complex material with natural and effortless aplomb. 1 hour of pure quality jazz music!

TOKYO JAZZ FESTIVAL - 2008 - VOLUME - 1-2-3-4-5

Since 2002 the Tokyo Jazz Festival is the largest International Jazz Festival in Japan. The main program focus is jazz, and all its varying styles and beyond. The festival features four days of music with a diverse program of leading artists ranging from funk, fusion, to big band jazz.

An all Star studded jazz concert held in Tokyo, Japan. Witness and see all your favorite jazz artists gathered here in this yearly Jazz event. The entire Jazz concert held in different scheduled dates last August of 2008 were fully attended by jazz fans all over the world. It was an spectacular Jazz concert. The entire Tokyo Jazz Festival concert lasted for 4 days and were all captured in HD video. 5 dvd's and each dvd disc has the capacity of atleast an hour of playing. Overall run is upto to 5 hours of endless jazz.....

Trijntje Oosterhuis Sings Burt Bacharach with the Metropole Orchestra and Conductor - Vince Mendoza

This is a Dutch singer. Hence the name, all those consonants and just two vowels in the first name. I know it may seem strange but hold on.


Judith Katrijntje Oosterhuis was born on February 5, 1973 in Amsterdam. She is currently the leading vocalist in The Netherlands.

The short story is that she started out and became a major success in Holland working with her brother in a pop band called Total Touch. As their bio notes: they sold “more than a million records over a four-year period (1996-1999) – in a small country where 80.000 is already considered platinum.” Total Touch was all the rage until Trijntje decided that was not the way she wanted to go with her career.

The short story is t all the rage until Trijntje decided that was not the way she wanted to go with her career.

So she did some solo outings in her transition from the fame/fortune of Total Touch to her next plateau. Another platinum seller was her live album of Stevie Wonder songs. And then record companies showered her with offers. She ended up on EMI/Blue Note.

She produced two albums that had a contemporary urban pop sound. Representative of that direction I’ve included one cut, “All Around The World” from her 2003 self titled album, Trijntje Oosterhuis.

She could have easily gone that way except she was more interested in two other genres: soul and jazz.

Trijntje did a jazz album that focused on the music of Billie Holiday and George Gershwin, big band arrangements with strings. The music was buffed to a radio-friendly sheen and again enjoyed great success.

The cut “Man I Love” is from her 2004 Strange Fruit album which, despite the title, had a romantic and optimistic sound. The album went double-platinum. Then another adult pop album. Back and forth, all commercially successful.

For me this music is one (medium) step removed from expensive wallpaper, by which I mean there is a certain attractiveness to it as background but I don’t find it particularly engaging for serious listening. Nevertheless, I am clearly in the minority of those who have been exposed to these recordings. I suspect my hard jazz heart just doesn’t respond to this direction, which sounds suspiciously like a kissing cousin of smooth jazz.

Next came a major development an album of Burt Bacharach songs—they even got Bacharach to play piano on a couple of cuts. That was both safe and dangerous for a female singer to undertake—safe because so many Bacharach songs had been hits, dangerous because so many of them are indelibly associated with Dionne Warwick.

The gamble paid off big time with a major selling album, 2007’s Look of Love: Burt Bacharach Songbook. “The Look of Love,” “Alfie” and “Anyone Who Had A Heart (Live)” are all from that album. The live version of “Anyone” is a bonus cut on the second edition of Look of Love. FM radio loves this stuff and, to be fair, the production is first rate: real strings, professional arrangements, there is nary a miscue or mistake.

Listen to the intro of “Alfie.” With an eye toward international sales, Trijntje Oosterhuis is now billed as “Traincha.” This is music for baby boomers and the challenge is how does one keep this stuff fresh, especially as its designed to stay on the shelf for years with a long period of appealing to folks in their late forties to early sixties who remember these songs as the music of their youth.

The live cut, “Anyone Who Had A Heart” has a bit more bite to it and as such is more to my taste. Sales were so brisk that Blue Note did what most majors do when they have a winner: they double down and try to cash in. In Trijntje’s case they produced a second album of Bacharach songs, Who’ll Speak For Love (2008).

Enjoy 1 hour of good jazz concert from the no.1 jazz singer of Netherlands and beautiful arrangements of Vince Mendoza. Vince has been notably known from some of the best jazz artists he has been with. Like Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Joe Zawinul and so on....