Artist: Roomful of Blues
     Album: The Blues'll Make You Happy, Too!
     Quality: mp3@320Kbps
     Size: 146 MB (scans)
     Year: 2000 (1980-1998)
     Label: Rounder
     Total time: 61:20

     This is one of the first volumes in Rounder Records' Rounder Heritage series, which will celebrate the company's 30-year history with a line of 30 releases that dip into the label's deep catalog of blues, folk, and bluegrass recordings. The Blues'll Make You Happy, Too! compiles 14 tracks from various Roomful of Blues albums released over the past 20 years; the collection focuses on the 1990s but includes tracks from as long ago as 1980, just after the departure of guitarist/leader Duke Robillard and his replacement by Ronnie Earl. At this point, the band took on more horns, and its style was subtly redefined. Although production values have changed since that period, the band's overall sound hasn't -- the Roomful's winning combination of blues, soul, R&B and swing remains pretty much the same throughout the program. Singer Sugar Ray Norcia's original jump blues composition from 1996 (the excellent "If You Know It") could have been written 30 years ago, and when the band covers Memphis Slim (with "The Comeback," featuring Mac Odom on vocal) or Duke Ellington (a fine, slinky interpretation of "Jeep's Blues," recorded in 1980), it's with the immediacy and energy of a band delivering its latest composition. This album is an excellent overview of an ensemble that has been making top-notch blues-based music for over 30 years and that shows no signs of slowing down. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson, AMG

     Artist: Red Garland Quintet
     Album: All Mornin' Long
     Rating AMG: 3
     Recording Date: Nov 15, 1957
     Label: Original Jazz Classics
     Genre: Jazz, Styles: Hard Bop
     Time: 37:10
     Format/Bitrate - mp3, 320 kbps
     Size: 86 Mb (rapidshare)

     Вашему вниманию предлагается запись квинтета Рэда Гарланда (Red Garland). За один день был записан материал для двух дисков: этого и "Soul Junction". Отмечу, что в записи принимали участие John Coltrane и Donald Byrd.
     Приятного прослушивания.
     REPOST по просьбе уважаемого klovius.
     Обновлены ссылки на Rapidshare.

Artist: John Coltrane
Album: Standard Coltrane
Label: Prestige
Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
Size: 221 MB & 78 MB
Time: 34:47



Although the music on this CD reissue is quite worthwhile, the four songs are available along with four others from the same day on The Stardust Session, making this a rather pointless set. But if found at a budget price, the release might be worth picking up for tenor saxophonist John Coltrane is in excellent form on some standards (including "Invitation") played with a quintet also featuring flugelhornist Wilbur Harden, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

Artist: Marian McPartland & Friends
Album: 85 Candles-Live in New York
Label: Concord Records
Year: 2005
Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbps
Time: 124:32
Size: 247.64 Mbytes



It was a love fest at Birdland for esteemed pianist Marian McPartland. The occasion? The Grand Dame of Jazz's 85th birthday party, celebrated in front of a capacity house at the midtown West Side jazz club. The evening was a one-of-a-kind event that could only have happened in New York, where so many of her biggest fans (fellow musicians) reside. During the course of the hugs-and-kisses tribute, dozens of jazz all-stars appeared onstage either with her or in honor of her. Nearly all of the performers had appeared on McPartland's public radio program, Piano Jazz, which was commemorating its 25th anniversary on the air. It was a birthday jubilation the likes of which jazz has never seen. Concord Records, McPartland's home for over a quarter century, thankfully now releases the bulk of the evening's proceedings as 85 Candles. The 2-CD, 22-track collection splendidly captures the spirit and verve of the show. ~ Dan Ouellette

Artist: John Zorn
Album: The Dreamers
Label: Tzadik
Year: 2008
Genre: Rock, Free Jazz, Avant-Garde
Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbps
Time: 52:48
Size: 120 Mbytes




Большую часть композиций, вошедших в программу The Dreamer(«Мечтатели»), композитор создавал для исполнителей ансамбля: гитариста Марка Рибо, клавишника Джэйми Сафта, басиста Тревора Дана, а также музыкантов Кенни Воллесена, Кайро Баптиста и Джоуи Барона. В прошлом году в том же составе была записана альбомная версия The Dreamers, которая вскоре выйдет под знаменитым лейблом Зорна «Цадик», пропагандирующим «радикальную еврейскую культуру».
Несмотря на то, что наибольшую известность Зорну принес проект Masada Songbook – сборник из около 200 клезмерских мелодий, послуживших основой для импровизаций, его работы в области концертной музыки не менее популярны. Авангардиста Зорна всегда отличала любовь к смешению стилей. С конца 70-х его концерты стали ассоциироваться с импровизацией.
Программа The Dreamers не стала исключением из правил: необычные сами по себе переходы от серф-рока к психоделике, кроме того, навевали воспоминания о фильмах Эннио Морриконе. Последнее, очевидно, обусловлено возвращением влияния на композитора его альбома 1986 года The Big Gundown, где он в свободной форме интерпретировал саундтреки к фильмам великого итальянца.
Клезмерские ритмы и интонации слышны в большинстве композиций, например, в композиции «Игрушки» – одном из треков, который Зорн исполняет сам. К еврейским мотивам примешиваются и другие интонации. Так, композиция Of Wonder and Certainty вполне соответствует заявленному посвящению Лу Риду, оказавшему большое влияние на развитие рок-музыки, в то время как композиция Raksasa могла бы стать подходящей для электронной группы Stereolab.
В целом же программа оказалась довольно мелодичной и, как это часто бывает у Зорна, импровизационной. Бестиальные, завывающие «вопли» его альт-саксофона были, пожалуй, единственным элементом вторжения в общую музыкальную атмосферу.

Continuing in the tradition of his popular album The Gift, Zorn again combines a lifetime of musical passions—world music, movie soundtracks, jazz, minimalism, exotica, funk, surf rock and more—to create a vibrant and multifaceted album of instrumental fairy tales. Masterfully performed by the all-star players from Electric Masada, The Dreamers is a project of breathtaking variety and will attract listeners of all backgrounds and ages. Bathed in a lush package created by the acclaimed artist and exclusive Tzadik graphic designer Chippy, and accompanied by a sheet of collectable character stickers, The Dreamersis one of Zorn’s most beautiful and appealing projects. Seductive lyricism, hypnotic grooves, catchy hooks and romantic moods from this genre-bashing master of surprise.

Artist: Natalie Cole
Title Of Album:Still Unforgettable
Year Of Release:Sep-09-2008
Label:DMI Records
Genre:Jazz
Bitrate:256 VBRkbps
Total Time:55:39
Total Size:70,2 MB


Natalie Cole's liner notes for Still Unforgettable make it sound like the Great American Songbook had been collecting dust on her shelf since 1991, when she recorded Unforgettable, the album that shot her into the mainstream. (She had been releasing Top Ten R&B albums since 1975, but Unforgettable was something else, a cultural phenomenon that inspired a Saturday Night Live skit.) Still Unforgettable features another duet with father, "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," but its make-up isn't that much different from albums like Take a Look (1993), Stardust (1996), or Ask a Woman Who Knows. While she has been reinterpreting classics on and off for nearly two decades now, she can't be faulted for phoning it in; in fact, she seems to be having more fun with the songbook than before. If you're keeping score at home, Nat King Cole was 32 when he recorded "Walkin' My Baby Back Home"; Natalie was in her late 50s when she recorded the duet with her father's vocals -- which would, for the sake of the song here, make her old enough to be her father's mother. ~ Andy Kellman

Artist: B.B. King
Album: In London
label: MCA
Year: 1971, release - 1993
Quality: mp3 @320 kbps
covers: all
size: 90 mb

The plodding rhythms laid down by a coterie of British rock stars for In London make one long for B.B. King's road-tested regular band. But it was the fashion in 1971 to dispatch American blues legends to London to record mediocre LPs with alleged rock royalty (the lineup here includes Ringo Starr, Peter Green, Alexis Korner, and Klaus Voorman). [This version of the album includes bonus material.] ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide

     Artist: Nina Simone
     Album: 'Nuff Said! (Live)
     Label: RCA Victor
     Format, bitrate: mp3 320Kbps
     Size: 71,28 Mb
     Time: 33:43



     The record 'Nuff Said! was recorded live the day after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. Nina Simone's performance is a unique testament of that era combining an excellent performance with genuine emotions. Her voice delivers the songs with dignity, achieving a quality I haven't heard on any of her other live recording since. Nearly forty years onwards it proves the outstanding qualities of this often misunderstood lady. (By James Voster - amazon.com)

Artist: Lou Rawls
Album: Portrait of the Blues
Label: Capitol
Year: 1993
Genre: Blues
Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kb/s
Size: 115,7MB

A wholesome blues effort by the native Chicagoan. Though these are bona fide blues numbers, Rawls confronts each song with an elegant touch. His delivery and articulation give the songs an uptown flair. Of the 15 numbers, only four ("Baby What You Want Me to Do," "Hide Nor Hair," "My Babe," and "Saturday Night Fish Fry") have that up-tempo, boogie-woogie fever. The latter, a classic Louis Jordan jump, is the most notable. It features Lionel Hampton on vibes and Rawls shares vocal duties with Joe Williams. The other selections have that cozy café ambience. Rawls also does a duet with Phoebe Snow on the calypso-seasoned "A Lover's Question." This is an all-star cast from the penmanship of greats like Duke Ellington, Ivory Joe Hunter, and others to the creative musicianship of Hank Crawford, Houston Person, Junior Wells, and company. Craig Lytle, All Music Guide.