This Week at The Café:
… it's Konstantin
in the spotlight. We're featuring a trio of tracks from the cd Groove
Jazz N Chill#1 as part of the showcase segment. In the second half,
we're turning back the hands of time for another exciting Vintage
Collection - this installment is highlighted by Quintana + Speer
and Vangelis with one of the biggest instrumental hits of the 80s.
Also included are tunes by Andrew Glover and David Garfield then
capping things is keyboardist Alan King. So it's lights camera action
as we're ready to roll on the radio show that continues to explore
new directions in jazz!
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Showcase CD
Groove Jazz N Chill #1 - Konstantin:
The
well-travelled Konstantin comes to us from The Ukraine by way
of Venezuela and various other locales. The producer and contemporary
saxophonist began his studies in jazz at the State College in
Kiev before relocating to Venezuela. He had a chance to play the
Montreux Jazz Festival and then by the year 2000, he'd settled
in Holland. There Konstantin resumed his training while earning
a Masters in Music from the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag.
Further tours through Spain, France, Germany, and other European
countries, further broadened his perspectives and in due course
led to a 2004 debut. In the intervening years, there have been
a series of well received albums with inroads made on the smooth
scene. Always a fan of Paul Hardcastle and The Jazzmasters, a
couple of years back Konstantin decided to pursue a parallel path
- so it was that Kool&Klean came into being - a studio project
issued in two volumes.
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Konstantin
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Now Konstantin launches his Chillaxing Jazz KolleKtion with a project
which may be his best yet. Titled Groove Jazz N Chill #1, this latest
album is a select blend of chill out, electro jazz, relaxing grooves
and some of the sweetest melodies!
So it is that album & author now find themselves as the subject
of the showcase feature - and to begin we have a tune with the somewhat
autobiographical title of Smooth Journey. The gentle hue of Colors
nicely tints the lead-off set in hour two. In the meantime the last
track of the day shares the same title as an old Frank Sinatra ballad,
but this Summer Wind is no fickle friend, blowin' in like a zephyr!
With Groove Jazz N Chill #1 and an album that blurs the lines between
electronica and smooth, Konstantin is set to move squarely into
the smooth jazz lime light!
CD: Groove Jazz N Chill
#1 (2011)
Label: KVK Music
Links: 
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| Vintage Collection: Part One |
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Titles - Vangelis:
Academy
award winning Vangelis was born Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou and with
a catalogue of nearly 40 albums, he is considered one of the greatest
electronic music composers of all. After gaining renown back home in Greece,
he moved to Paris in 1968. Shortly after, he formed the band Aphrodite's
Child and had his first major hit. He then went on to record on his own
with moderate success. For a time it was rumored that Vangelis was joining
the band Yes, and even though this never came to pass, he did later collaborate
with Yes vocalist Jon Anderson for several albums as Jon & Vangelis. Relocating
to London, Vangelis set up Nemo Studios, his own state-of-the-art recording
facility. What followed was a steady stream of records, parts of which
were used as the theme to the PBS series Cosmos. After scoring a couple
of documentaries, Vangelis came to the attention of British director Hugh
Hudson - Hudson wanted to use the 1979 tune L'Enfant as the theme for
his film Chariots of Fire. Vangelis convinced Hudson he could create a
new and stronger piece for the film's main title sequence. What followed
was an Oscar-winning score with the soundtrack single called Titles (aka
Chariots of Fire) as one of the biggest instrumental hits of the 80s!
LP: Chariots of Fire (1981)
Label: Polydor Records
Links: 
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E Minor Shuffle - David Garfield:
For
many years David Garfield has been one of the most respected musicians
on the LA music scene. He's scored and recorded for film, he's produced
over 25 albums, launched his own label, and he's appeared on about a hundred
additional projects as a session player. The people he's worked with include
Cher, Boz Scaggs, Larry Carlton, and many others; while for a time he
toured with Earl Klugh and for 5 years in the 80s he was the musical director
for George Benson, with whom he still continues to tour on occasion. Garfield
is well known on the club circuit & has issued several projects under
his own name. Additionally he's fronted a couple of high energy fusion
bands in Karizma & Los Lobotomys. In 1997, many of these elements came
together with the release of Tribute to Jeff, named in honor of the late
Jeff Porcaro, formerly with the band Toto, and a top studio drummer who
had played with Garfield as a member of the aforementioned Los Lobotomys.
The project was a star-studded affair with 78 individual musicians contributing
to the effort. From that cd we have E Minor Shuffle, a tune written by
David Paich with an opening riff borrowed from Steely Dan's 'Black Friday'!
CD: Tribute to Jeff (1997)
Label: Creatchy Productions
Links:
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| Vintage Collection:
Part Two |
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Stream
- Andrew Glover:
With
a career that stretches back over 30 years, Andrew Glover is a veteran
musician with a diverse résumé. A graduate of Grant MacEwan Community
College, in the 80s, Glover played with flute legend Moe Kaufman and then
backed Bobby Curtola for a Las Vegas gig. Based in 'wild rose country',
for the better part of ten years, the Edmonton Alberta native toured with
the Big Miller Band while he's also appeared as part of the Alfie Zappacosta
tour entourage. Active in a variety of capacities on the local scene,
Glover has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as the featured
soloist; he's played with many of the best in 'the city of champions'
while he's also backed Sheena Easton as principal keyboardist for the
musical "Grease". In addition, his compositions have been performed and/or
recorded by John Abercrombie, Jean Pierre Zanella, and Alfie Zappacosta
among others. After recording as a member of the group Pazzport, Glover
made his solo debut in 2005 and now has 4 cds under his own name. On this
occasion we're checking the 2007 Smooth release for the easy flow of a
track called Stream!
CD: Smooth (2007)
Label: Independent
Links:
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False
Prophet - Quintana + Speer:
Paul
Speer met up with David Lanz in Seattle in the early 80s and the two connected
for a series of critically acclaimed albums that led to the creation of
Miramar Records. For his part, hailing from Modesto California, Leroy
Quintana was an aspiring composer and a keyboard whiz, who could also
double on percussion. In 1988, Quintana recorded a five song demo and
shopped it around hoping to land a deal that would lead to the release
of many albums worth of material that he had written. Eventually he inked
a deal with Miramar that saw the release of Shades of Shadow and one which
unfortunately proved a one off project. Heralded as one of the great new
age releases of the 90s, the album presented 10 of Quintana's original
and fully orchestrated compositions with contributions from Speer on guitar
and Lanz on piano. From that release and the #11 new age album for the
year, we present the track False Prophet, an artistic masterpiece and
an atmospheric gem!
CD: Shades of Shadow (1990)
Label: Miramar Records
Links: 
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The
Experiment - Alan King:
Born
and raised in Washington D.C., Alan King grew up in a home filled with
the music from his mother's extensive record collection. He started piano
at an early age and later followed that with Latin and African percussion
lessons. In 1991, King performed at the Taste of DC festival and then
in the mid-90s, he began focusing on writing and performing jazz after
his father took him to see Brian Culbertson. Inspired when he saw Bob
James perform with the band Fourplay, King soon became established on
the DC circuit. With stylistic influences drawn from Jazz, Funk, Urban,
Pop and R&B, King issued his debut in 2009. Well-titled The Experiment,
the project was an inspired effort with an unexpected turn or two - from
that release we have the track that lent its name to the disc!
CD: The Experiment (2009)
Label: KMG Records
Links:
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| After Hours ~ Exclusive to our
Site and Select Affiliates : |
… on this chapter of show the stars are perfectly aligned.
It's December and all the selections in this hour have bossa in the title
- so in keeping with these facts we've dubbed the feature December Bossa.
There are 13 selections including Bossalectro by Marc Antoine, David Benoit
with Botswanna Bossa Nova, Who's the Bossa from Patrick Yandall, and Marcos
Ariel's Bossa Love. And first off, it's Gold Coast with the very tune
which lent its name to this December Bossa edition!  |
