Artist: Johnny "Hammond" Smith
     Album: Opus De Funk
     Label: Prestige
     Year: 1961, release : 2004
     Genre: Hard Bop; Soul Jazz
     Format, bitrate: MP3/320 kbit/s
     Time: 70:45
     Size: 146 Mb
     AMG Rating:

     Stimulation and Opus de Funk, the two LPs paired herein, were recorded in 1961, when jazz organ groups had reached their initial pinnacle of popularity. Although the masterful organist Johnny "Hammond" Smith (1933-1997) never achieved the wide-scale commercial success of once and future B-3 king Jimmy Smith, he did amass a lengthy discography that’s long on swinging blues and R&B, choice standards, eerie ballads, and, as his career progressed, danceable crossover funk.
     Opus de Funk is the most consistently satisfying of Smith's two-fer CDs currently available, and it's notable for breaking free of the overworked soul jazz formula from the era. It won't steam up your glasses, but it will be a satisfying listen.

     Artist: Jack McDuff
     Album: Hot Barbeque
     Label: Prestige
     Year: 1965, release: 1998
     Genre: Soul Jazz
     Format, bitrate: MP3/320 kbit/s
     Time: 32:03
     Size: 70 Mb

     McDuff had an excellent quartet for this mid-1960s soul-jazz outing, also including Red Holloway on saxes, George Benson on guitar, and Joe Dukes on drums. Nothing remarkable, just very enjoyable, high-spirited genre music, particularly on the title track, punctuated by shouts of the title phrase. It's mostly McDuff originals here, though they slow things down to cover "Cry Me a River." Benson gets a chance to unveil his best early jazz chops on "The Three Day Thang." The entire album was reissued as part of the 2001 Prestige CD The Soulful Drums, which also includes the entirety of the album The Soulful Drums, cut in 1964 by the same quartet (and billed to Dukes). That CD also has a 1964 track, "Redwood City," featuring the same quartet plus Tommy Shelvin on Fender bass, that didn't appear on either of those two albums originally (it was first released on the compilation LP The Soul/Jazz Giants). Note, however: although the album The Soulful Drums was billed to Dukes when initially released, the CD reissue that includes both it and Hot Barbecue is billed to McDuff. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

     Artist: Toufic Farroukh
     Album: Drab Zeen
     Label: Le chant du monde
     Year: 2002
     Genre: ethno jazz, arabic
     Quality: mp3@320 Kbps
     Total time: 53:12
     Size: 120 Mb (+ scans)

     Drab Zeen represents one of the finest examples of this important emerging new sub-genre, Arab-jazz. The genius of this disc is how Farroukh has effortlessly melded such disparate elements as jazz trombone and saxophone, chill-beats, French vocals, acoustic piano, oud, ney, and accordion into a singly tapestry of unique sounds, all the while retaining the essential elements of each instrumental voice even as he transforms the whole into something entirely new and heretofore unheard. Farroukh has grown in every facet of his music-making: tighter and more evocative compositions, a richer and more varied sound palette, cleaner production, superior sax blowing, and a deeper groove. An altogether remarkable disc. Highest recommendation. -- by Jan P. Denis, amazon.com

     Artists: L. Subramaniam & Stephane Grappelli
     Album: Conversations
     Label: Stax
     Release: 1979
     Genre: Jazz
     Size: MP3 - 122 Mb; Flac - 286 Mb
     Format/Bitrate: MP3@320 kb/s & FLAC
     Total Time: 39:38

     Альбом, без которого любая музыкальная коллекция будет неполной.

     Artist: Miles Davis
     Album: Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud (OST)
     Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
     Original Release Date: December 4, 1957
     Label: Polygram Records
     Format: Soundtrack
     Quality: mp3 CBR 320
     Size: 81+71 MB

     Саундтрек, написанный Майлзом Дэвисом к фильму Луи Малля "Лестница на эшафот" в 1957 году и в 1990 году вышедший в дополненном варианте, включающем альтернативные версии треков. Красивая и, без сомнения, гениальная музыка.

   Artist: Bernard Purdie
   Album: Coolin' 'N Groovin' - A Night At On-Air
   Label: Lexington
   Year: 1993, release 1993
   Genre: Jazz Soul / Funk
   Format, bitrate: MP3/320
   Time: 60:16
   Size: 131 Mo

      Jazz funk live in Japan: the best groove machine.

     Artist: Grant Green
     Album: I Want To Hold Your Hand
     Label: Blue Note
     Recording Date: 1965
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 230 MB & 93 MB
     Time: 41:30
     AMG Rating:

     This album, as one might guess from the title and cover photo — the flavor is less reflective and more romantic and outwardly engaging.

     Green/Young/Jones team produced some of the most sophisticated organ/guitar combo music ever waxed, and I Want to Hold Your Hand is the loveliest of the bunch.

   Artist: Bo Diddley
   Album: Roadrunner
   Label: Geffen
   Release Date: 2007
   Genre: Blues
   Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kb/s
   Size: 64,5+74,8MB

   He only had a few hits in the 1950s and early '60s, but as Bo Diddley sang, "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover." You can't judge an artist by his chart success, either, and Diddley produced greater and more influential music than all but a handful of the best early rockers. The Bo Diddley beat — bomp, ba-bomp-bomp, bomp-bomp — is one of rock & roll's bedrock rhythms, showing up in the work of Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones, and even pop-garage knock-offs like the Strangeloves' 1965 hit "I Want Candy." Diddley's hypnotic rhythmic attack and declamatory, boasting vocals stretched back as far as Africa for their roots, and looked as far into the future as rap. His trademark otherworldly vibrating, fuzzy guitar style did much to expand the instrument's power and range. But even more important, Bo's bounce was fun and irresistibly rocking, with a wisecracking, jiving tone that epitomized rock & roll at its most humorously outlandish and freewheeling.