Artists - Stephane Grappelli & Stuff Smith
     Album - Violins No End
     Label - OJC/Pablo
     Year - 1957, release - 1996
     Quality - MP3VBR320
     Size - 104 mb
     Total time - 46:13


     Since Joe Venuti was in the middle of a long off-period, this CD reissue features arguably the two top jazz violinists of the 1950s: Stephane Grappelli and Stuff Smith. Joined by pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jo Jones, the two masterful violinists share four songs ("Don't Get Around Much Anymore," "Chapeau Blues," "No Points Today" and "The Lady Is a Tramp") in a fine studio session that contrasts the styles of the fairly complementary fiddlers. In addition, although this set has been reissued under Grappelli's name, there are three songs from a Paris concert that took place the same day without Stephane. Stuff sounds in peak form on his "Desert Sands," "How High the Moon" and "Moonlight In Vermont." This fun set is easily recommended. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Charlie Byrd
     Album: Blues Sonata
     Format: FLAC & mp3 (320k/s)
     Label: OJC (2001, 20bit remastered)
     Size:241 mb; 94 mb
     Total time: 40:46

     Though recorded on one day, at standard length for an LP, this is really two albums in one sleeve, showcasing two rather different formats for this highly original guitarist to pursue. "The Blues Sonata" is set up in a pseudo-classical three-movement manner, with a polonaise, ballad, and scherzo, and the liner notes refer to a sonata form of development. Well, sorry, but the classical trappings, if any exist, are worn very lightly by Byrd, his bassist Keter Betts, and drummer Buddy Deppenschmidt. "Polonaise Pour Pietro" t'ain't nothin' the blues, and a very fluid blues workout at that. "Ballade in B Minor" is Chopinesque in melodic influence only, including the brush-stroked improvisation segment, and "Scherzo for an Old Shoe" sets up as a Latinish number, then stays on one chord with an Andalusian strain. On side two, the scene abruptly becomes very urbane as Byrd switches to electric guitar, takes on Barry Harris' comping, bopping piano, and engages in straightforward swinging and balladeering without any textbook definitions getting in the way. "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Jordu," and "Zing! Went the Strings on My Heart" are the merry swingers, "That Ole Devil Called Love" the relaxed ballad showcase. Whatever you call the music, the whole CD goes down easily and musically. ~ Richard S. Ginell, AMG

     Artist: Art Pepper
     Album: Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section
     Label: Contemporary/OJC
     Year: 1957 (release 1991)
     Format, Quality: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Size: 100 Mb
     Time: 43:38



By the time of this, Art Pepper's tenth recording as a leader, he was making his individual voice on the alto saxophone leave the cozy confines of his heroes Charlie Parker and Lee Konitz. Joining the Miles Davis rhythm section of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones made the transformation all that more illuminating. It's a classic east meets west, cool plus hot but never lukewarm combination that provides many bright moments for the quartet during this exceptional date from that great year in music, 1957. A bit of a flip, loosened but precise interpretation of the melody on "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" gets the ball rolling, followed by a "Bags Groove" parallel with "Red Pepper Blues," and a delicate, atypical treatment of "Imagination." A compositional collaboration of Pepper and Chambers on the quick "Waltz Me Blues" and hard-edged, running-as-fast-as-he-can take of "Straight Life" really sets the gears whirring. Philly Joe Jones is a great bop drummer, no doubt, one of the all-time greats with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach. His crisp Latin-to-swing pace for "Tin Tin Deo" deserves notice, masterful in its creation and seamlessness. Pepper makes a typical "Star Eyes" brighter, and he goes into a lower octave tone, more like a tenor, for "Birks Works" and the bonus track "The Man I Love." It's clear he has heard his share of Stan Getz in this era. Though Art Pepper played with many a potent trio, this one inspires him to the maximum, and certainly makes for one of his most substantive recordings after his initial incarcerations, and before his second major slip into the deep abyss of drug addiction. ~ Michael G. Nastos, AMG

     Artist: Louie Bellson
     Album: Live from New York
     Label: Telarc Jazz /20 bit
     Year: rec.Dec 16, 1993/rel.Jan 20, 1994
     Format: MP3@320 Kb/s
     Time:59:40
     Size:95.4+32.9 Mb
     

     Посвящаю этот пост моему большому другу и соратнику по jazzbluesclub.com, уважаемому lex.
     Я знаю, что этот альбом довольно памятный для него и еще он очень хороший по музыке.
     Тем более, что завтра воскресенье. А еще на этом альбоме в качестве гостя играет великолепный Clark Terry.
А еще почему-то вспомнился летний парк и в нем играет духовой оркестр! Как давно это было. А сейчас у меня снег за окном, на улице холодно.
Но эта чудесная музыка просто согревает меня. Короче говоря, слушаем этот замечательный альбом и всем хорошего настроения.
     Приятного прослушивания.

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     Artist: London Studio Orchestra
     Album: All Night Long: 16 Love Themes
     Label: Laser
     Year: 1985 [Digital Remastered]
     Genre: Big Band, Easy Listening
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbps
     Time: 57:08
     Size: 128.8 Mb


  

Composer: Franz Liszt
Artist: Jorge Bolet
Album: Piano Works (7 cd)
Label: Decca
Release 2001
Format, bitrate: mp3, 256 kbps
Time: 6h, 19 min, 56 sec
Size: 87+139+99+67+96+112+130 mb.

Итак, друзья мои, очередной выпуск "Фиалок" я решил посвятить творчеству выдающегося пианиста, композитора, одного из ярчайших представителей романтизма - Ференца Листа.
А поможет нам в этом занимательном деле американский пианист кубинского происхождения (нет-нет, не Артуро Сандоваль) Хорхе Болет.
Итак...

     Artists - Herb Ellis, Oscar Peterson
     Genre - swing, bop
     Label - Verve
     Years - 1955/56, release - 2006
     Quality - MP3@320kbps
     Size - 52,4mb
     Total time - 36:44



In the midst of his tenure with the Oscar Peterson Trio, Herb Ellis had the chance to turn the tables on his boss and employ him as a sideman, though the keyboard virtuoso strangely reigns in his chops and pretty much stays in the background. This pair of sessions was first issued on a Norgran LP and finally reissued as a Verve CD in early 2006. The first four tracks add Jimmy Giuffre (alternating between baritone sax, tenor sax, and clarinet) and trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison, along with fellow Peterson sideman Ray Brown and drummer Alvin Stoller. Ellis' originals include the easygoing "Sweetheart Blues" and the cooking bop vehicle "Pogo," where both the leader and Edison eclipse Giuffre's efforts on sax. "It Could Happen to You" focuses exclusively on Ellis, with Peterson and Edison sitting out and Giuffre adding some background color on clarinet. Alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano is added for the latter date. The well-known "Detour Ahead" (jointly credited to Ellis and his former Soft Winds bandmates Lou Carter and Johnny Frigo, though Frigo has long maintained that it was his composition alone) has a chamber-like setting, with the band primarily providing background for Ellis, though Ray Brown gets in a snappy solo toward the end. The session picks up with the bubbly "Ellis in Wonderland" and a snappy rendition of "Have You Met Miss Jones?" Giuffre's loping "A Simple Tune" reflects Ellis' Texas roots in a bluesy setting, with Peterson finally getting a chance to stretch out for a chorus. This early album by Herb Ellis is well worth acquiring. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide

     Artist: Oscar Peterson
     Album: Somebody Loves Me (Quadromania)
     Label: Quadromania
     Year: 1950 - 1954
     Release: 2005
     Format Mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
     Time: 3:36:15
     Size: 498 Mb

     The selections, recorded between 1950 & 1954, are mostly standards, and mostly 3-4 minutes. CD1, except for one track, are duets with bassist Austin Roberts. Most of CD2 is with the trio consisting of the impeccable Ray Brown on bass and Barney Kessel on guitar. There are a few longer tracks, giving Oscar a chance to stretch out a little, and featuring an uncredited Lester Young on tenor sax. Things pick up on CD3, where halfway through we suddenly get a beautiful "Bounce Blues" featuring Ben Webster on tenor. Then the remaining trio sides feature a more swinging Herb Ellis replacing Barney Kessel on guitar. CD4 is the best: most renditions stretching over 4 minutes. The last track really shines; a 15 minute jam on "What Is This Thing Called Love", featuring Charlie Parker, Charlie Shavers, Benny Carter, Flip Phillips, Ben Webster, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown, and J.C.
     Sound quality is better than most Quadromania CDs, coming as it does from a later time period than most of them. Bass could be more solid, the better to hear Ray Brown with. And like most Q disks, the high end seems a bit dull, especially impacting the tracks with horns. The guitar seems too far pushed back in the mix on a lot of the trio sides.
     The otherwise well-designed 4 disk jewel case frequently fails to hold the disks in place during transport.
   Johnny Hodges, Amazon.com

     Artist: The Bluesmakers, Harmonica Man Petrovich (Михаил Петрович Соколов)
     Album: Live
     Label: Landy Star Music
     Year: 2007
     Genre: harmonica blues
     Format, bitrate: mp3 320 kbps
     Size: 160 Mb

     Михаил Петрович Соколов ака Петрович известный московский блюзмен и харпер. Лидер и основатель целой кучи проектов, от первой команды Удачное Приобретение до группы The Hot Rod Band. Данный альбом - живая запись с группой The Bluesmakers.
Цитата из интервью: "....Я сам музыкант, я сам играю на губной гармошке, я влюблен в этот инструмент, но я ни в коем случае не собираюсь превозносить ее до небес. Есть и более богатые инструменты по возможностям и по красоте звука... Губная гармошка - это есть губная гармошка. У нее - своя аура!"

     Artist: Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown
     Album: Just Got Lucky
     Year: rec.1973, 1977; rel. Feb 03, 1993
     Label: Evidence
     Genre: Texas Blues
     Time: 59:15
     Format: M3@320/kbs
     Size: 134.17 MB

     Originally released on the French record label Black and Blue, Evidence's re-issue of 1973's JUST GOT LUCKY showcases the always impressive--and widely varied--roots music wizardry of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. This unclassifiable guitar maverick is as likely to strike up a spicy zydeco as he is a steamy down-tempo blues. JUST GOT LUCKY kicks things off with versions of three of Brown's Peacock tunes from the '50s in the blues/swing mold. These include the title track and "Sad Hour," on which Brown's guitar skill is matched by the cool ivory tickling of Jay McShann.
     Four rollicking versions of well-known Louis Jordan numbers show the ensemble at ease in the jump blues style, as does a sizzling version of Bill Doggett's "Honey Boy," with Brown's six-string ministrations spotlighted throughout. With a couple of exceptions, the Gate's guitar approach is mellower and more nuanced than the brash, rock-inflected sound of his '50s sides, as can be heard on the relaxed, jazzy "It's Mean," which features support from bassist Milt Hinton and J.C. Heard. Here, as always, Brown's conversational singing, impressive multi-instrumentalism (check out the fiddle solo on "Someday"), and deep, bluesy feeling, tie the whole enterprise together.

     Artist: Sonny Rollins
     Album: Alternatives
     Year: 1962-64 (RCA)
     Format: FLAC & mp3 (320k/s)
     Size: 347 & 147 MB (scans)
     Label: Bluebird (1992)
     Total times: 63:02

     Sonny Rollins's RCA recordings of 1962-64 found him really stretching out his style, listening to and learning from Ornette Coleman without losing his own musical personality. This CD, in addition to two numbers with bassist Bob Cranshaw and the congos of Candido ("Jungoso" and "Bluesongo") that were originally on the album What's New, has four selections from Now's the Time along with four very different alternate takes. For example, the original version of "52nd Street Theme" was four minutes long but the alternate is 14. The personnel also differs much of the time with cornetist Thad Jones and pianist Herbie Hancock making appearances, but the emphasis is on the exciting improvisations of Rollins, one of the great tenorsaxophonists of all time. - by Scott Yanow, AMG

     Artist: Jazzanova
     Album: Blue Note trip vol.4: Lookin' back - Movin' on
     Year: 2005
     Label: Blue Note
     Quality: VBR hq + covers
     Size: 227 mb


     Berlin's Jazzanova collective formed in 1995 after DJing with one another at a club called Delicious Doughnuts. Alexander Barck, Class Brieler, Roskow Kretschmann, Stefan Leisering, Axel Reinemer, and Jurgen von Knoblauch shared a common goal of blending their collected inspirations together to create a new, sophisticated sound with debts owed to nearly every form of dance-oriented music from the past several decades. Like a lot of upstart producers and underexposed jazz-funk ghosts of the past, Jazzanova got their first major break from BBC disc jockey Giles Peterson who played the group's first production, "Fedime's Flight" on his program in 1997. This helped set off a series of remix projects and the Jazzanova name became known for inspired DJ sets as well. The collective has now compiled an album for Blue Note Records based totally on its catalog. In this particular Blue Note 'DJ set' comprised of vintage tracks, Jazzanova created distinctly different moods on the two discs. Generating energetic moments with melodies and arrangements, Jazzanova displays that Blue Note has released all kinds of different styles of music, avoiding the jazz stereotype. Their selection of tracks was based on two main criteria: club sensibility and radio affinity. Blending these aspects has been the core of the Jazzanova idea of music.

     Artist: Paul Winter
     Album: Rio
     Label: Columbia CL
     Year: 1964
     Genre: Ethnic Fusion, Folk-Jazz
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 220 MB & 83 MB
     Time: 36:46

     Winter first came to public prominence in 1961 as the winner of a collegiate jazz festival held at Notre Dame University; one of that event's judges, John Hammond, subsequently signed the group to a Columbia recording contract. In 1962, the band was sent on a State Department tour of Latin America. That venture planted the first seeds of change in Winter's concept. In 1967, he abandoned traditional jazz format in favor of a lineup that featured non-Western instruments. The Paul Winter Consort, as the band was renamed, became one of the earliest exponents of world music, combining elements from various African, Asian, and South American cultures with jazz. Members of the Consort interested in extending the music's experimental component — guitarist Ralph Towner, oboist Paul McCandless, sitarist and percussionist Collin Walcott — broke away from Winter's leadership in the early '70s to form the group Oregon. Meanwhile, Winter became increasingly involved with environmental issues. He participated in activities with the Greenpeace organization, and worked towards a successful integration of music and nature. Winter recorded his attempts at communication with whales off the coast of California, and used the tapes as the foundation of his 1977 album, Common Ground. Since 1980, Winter has headed a non-profit group dedicated to increasing public awareness of music's relationship to spiritual and environmental health. He continues to perform in support of his organization, frequently in settings conducive to the production of (and interaction with) ambient sound, such as the Grand Canyon, or New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine; in 1998, he also teamed with Oscar Castro-Neves to record Brazilian Days. Celtic Solstice followed a year later; Journey with the Sun appeared in early 2001. ~ Chris Kelsey, AMG