Anthony Branker & Imagine - Beauty Within - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

With a unique combination of depth and accessibility, Branker is able to put forth a jazz perspective steeped in soulful optimism. - All About Jazz. Composer and Princeton Professor Anthony Branker brings together saxophonists Mark Gross & Ralph Bowen, pianist Jonny King, bassist Kenny Davis, and drummer Donald Edwards for a powerful, swinging quintet date on his fourth Origin . Driven by an infectious rhythmic sensibility, lyrical melodies, and sophisticated harmonic underpinnings, this recording of soulful performances is another outstanding addition to Branker's fast growing and musically rich discography. Album Tracks 1. Unity 2. For Woody & Bu 3. Little Rascal 4. Saaremaa 5. That Was Then 6. Song of We

While addressing such themes as intolerance, hate and prejudice, composer Anthony Branker's InchUppityInch strives to remind US of the power and resiliency of the human spirit as we continue the struggle for a truly tolerant and color-blind society. With saxophonist Ralph Bowen, trombonist Andy Hunter, trumpeter Eli Asher, pianist Jim Ridl, bassist Kenny Davis, drummer Donald Edwards, and vocalist Charmaine Lee, Branker has created a thoroughly musical work that will certainly be considered one of his more important projects to date.... a serious composer who does a lot more than write tunes... his music is steeped in the deeper sources of jazzInch - All About Jazz. Album Tracks 1. Let's Conversate! 2. Dance Like No One Is Watching 3. Three Gifts (From a Nigerian Mother to God) 4. Across the Divide 5. Uppity 6. Ballad for Trayvon Martin

Every start is a gamble. Charlote Illinger is young and loves a large repertoire. She gained some experience on stage as a member of the NRW State Youth Jazz Orchestra, the Federal Youth Jazz Orchestra and then during the four years when she studied at the Prins Claus Conservatory in the Dutch city of Groningen. She has also won a few prizes at InchJugend jazzt,Inch the Haestens and the Sparda Jazz Award, and now she is in the finals of the Master's degree program as a Jazz Improvising Artist at Folkwang University in Essen, in other words, shortly before finally taking the scepter in her hand as an independent artist. Consequently, an album, which you present under your own name to the jazz world, has special significance. It is a calling card, maybe even a door opener for the coming years, in any case a self-confident statement, with which a new voice of the German jazz world is making her mark. The direction is clear Illinger loves tradition. All of the songs on this album reject the superficial and focus on the opportunities to develop independent moods and colors.