Artist - Nils Landgren
Album - 5000 Miles
Label - ACT
Years: 1998/99
Quality - MP3@320 kbps
Size : 73,4+71,6

On 5,000 Miles, trombonist Nils Landgren and his "Funk Unit" explore a variety of different types of funk. The opening "Da Funk" is a throwaway with some rap, vocals, and brief trumpet blasts by Roy Hargrove. Rap is also utilized a little on "Stop By," but otherwise this is an instrumental set. Trumpeter Tim Hagans is fine during his two guest appearances, Hargrove has a spot on "Sisters of Arequipa," and trombonist Fred Wesley takes an excellent solo on "Six Beauties on a Rooftop" (as does altoist Per Rusktrask Johansson). The music ranges from early fusion and an atmospheric funk ballad ("5,000 Miles") to some late-'60s-type funk jazz and some rockish vamps. Not everything works equally well (some grooves last a minute too long), but in general this set holds one's interest, and dancers will have nothing to complain about! ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Artist - Nils Landgren
Album - Licence to Funk
Label ACT Music-Vision
Year - 2007
Quality - MP3@320 kbps - frontcover
Size: 78,6+73,7mb
Total time - 63:00

With his smoking, hard-hitting "Funk Unit", the man with the Red Horn has been responsible for a bunch of successful CDs over the past years. His concerts from Stockholm to Beijing have been met with ecstatic acclamation. In duo with pianist Esbjörn Svensson, he has elevated Swedish folk music to the level of subdued works of art. As the artistic director of the 2001 Berlin Jazz Festival, designed a state of the art presentation of Scandinavian trends and moods. In May 2002 Nils was honored with the `Tore Ehrling-prize´ by the Swedish Society Of Popular Composers for "His outstanding contribution to spread swedish jazz music around the globe".
He is a world-class soloist and artist with heart and soul: Nils Landgren.

Artist: Bob Manning
Album: Spotlight On Bob Manning
Label: Capitol
Year: 1994
Genre: Male Vocal
Bitrate: 256 kbps
Size: 96,4 mb

Capitol's roster of pop vocalists in the '50s boasted an incredible number of household names, most of which have been well-served in the reissue market. Bob Manning, one of the label's lesser-known lights, finally received his due with Spotlight On Bob Manning, an 18-track anthology of Manning's Capitol recordings from 1953-55. Strongly influenced by Dick Haymes, Manning is remembered for his definitive version of Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You," which gave Manning a Top 20 hit in 1953 and helped make the song a standard. Capitol's Spotlight On... series is sometimes maddeningly neglectful of hits, striving not to round up hits but to gather up traditional pop vocal performances by some of the label's most esteemed singers. Consequently, Manning's volume omits two of his three hit singles, but contains nine of the 12 songs from his 1955 album Lonely Spell (also available in its entirety on a Japanese import CD). Manning performs standards such as "These Foolish Things" and "P.S. I Love You" with a warmth and intimacy that recalls Dick Haymes' sublime a cappella hits, but Manning's performances feature the orchestrations of Monty Kelly, Sid Feller and Nelson Riddle. Despite overlooking two of Manning's three chart singles, the compiler found room for "My Love Song to You," a novelty ballad composed as a promotional gimmick to tie in with the television series The Honeymooners. As vocalists go, Manning is the equal of many better-known singers who signed with Capitol in the '50s, and his comparative obscurity is no way reflects a dearth of talent. ~ Greg Adams, All Music Guide

Weather Report - Краткая биография

В 60-е и 70-е годы музыкальный мир трудно было удивить очередной супергруппой. Рок-музыка породила целое созвездие сверхгероев с гитарами наперевес. Напротив, в джазе супергруппы всегда были в дефиците. Одним из немногих исключений стала созданная в 1970 году команда Weather Report, феноменальная во многих отношениях. Команда просуществовала 15 лет, не зная периодов упадка и задавая тон всей "пограничной" музыке, обживающей новые музыкальные формы на стыке джаза и рока. Weather Report одними из первых начали интегрировать в американскую музыку ритмы и мелодии народов мира. Они же, как и положено мощной джаз-банде, сплотили вокруг себя ряд выдающихся музыкантов, которые впоследствии и сами сумели сказать свое веское слово в современном джаз-роке.

Artist: Weather Report
Album: Forecast Tomorrow
Label: Sony
Year: 2006
Genre: Jazz Rock, Fusion
Tracks: 12 + 12 + 13
Format: mp3, Bitrate: @ CBR 320
Size: 4 x 99 MB + 97 MB

From 1970 to 1985, the jazz-fusion ensemble known as Weather Report reigned supreme as one the most distinguished and indefinable ensembles of the 20th century, and saxophonist Wayne Shorter and keyboardist Joe Zawinul were the cofounders of this ever-changing group. This superb, three-CD, 37-track collection features the band's incredible cast of musicians: drummers Peter Erksine and Alphonse Mouzon; percussionists Airto Moreira, Alex Acuna, and the late Don Alias; bassists Miroslav Vitous, Alphonso Johnson, and the incredible Jaco Pastorius. The roots of their sound are heard in Zawinul's "In A Silent Way," and their greatest hits--from "A Remark You Made" and an unreleased version of "Nubian Sundance" to their 1976 mega-hit, "Birdland," are included here, along with the lesser known classic, "Indiscretions," a DJ Logic, hip-hop remix of "125th Street Congress," and a sizzling, two-hour DVD concert from Germany, filmed in 1978. This set is a powerful primer to their "folk music of the future."

Read more about this box set HERE

Artist: Hadouk Trio
Album: Shamanimal
Label: Naive
Released Year: 1999
Genre: Jazz
Format/Bitrate: MP3/320
Size: 99614 KB + 30871 KB

France's Hadouk Trio channeled musical elements from across the globe to create a uniquely mystical and evocative sound somewhere between jazz and world pop. The Hadouk Trio was led by Paris-born multi-instrumentalist Didier Malherbe, previously known for co-founding with Soft Machine alum Daevid Allen the famed psych-prog outfit Gong. Malherbe remained with Gong for close to a decade, shepherding the band through myriad personnel and creative changes before exiting in 1978. Throughout his travels Malherbe collected exotic instruments from the far corners of the earth, and after a series of short-lived experimental rock ensembles and a 1980 solo jazz-rock LP, Bloom, in 1994 he embraced world music by forming Hadouk with multi-instrumentalist Loy Ehrlich, a specialist in the hajouj, the African three-stringed bass that, along with the Armenian double-reed instrument the doudouk, gave the project its name. Mahlerbe and Ehrlich initially recorded and toured as a duo, issuing their self-titled debut LP in 1999.

With this LP, Shamanimal, their ranks swelled to a trio with the addition of American percussionist Steve Shehan, a veteran with stints behind Bob Dylan and Paul Simon on his résumé.
Enjoy!!!

Artist: Bessie Smith
Album: Empress of the Blues
Label: Charlie R&B
Released Year: 1993
Genre: Blues
Format/Bitrate: MP3/320
Size: 84mb




This cd contains a lot of curiosities, and several pieces of required listening as well: "Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl," "Do Your Duty," and "Gimme a Pigfoot" are all here. For curiosities, there's the St. Louis Blues soundtrack, from a film short that contains the only footage of Smith.

   Artist:Abby Lincoln
   Album: Who Used To Dance
   Label: PolyGram
   Year: 1997
   Genre: Jazz vocal
   Format: mp3, 320 kbit/s
   Size: 140 MB

   Undoubtedly, Abbey Lincoln is one of the most intelligent, sophisticated singers out there. Everyone, it seems, has noted her way with lyrics -- a commitment to the defiance, wry humor, or lovelessness of the songs' emotional world that surely co-exists with her acting skills. Very few people read a lyric as well as Abbey.