Artist: Oscar Peterson
   Album: NewPort 1959
   Label: Bootleg
   Year: 1959
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 192 kb/s
   Time: 30:22
   Size: 41,9 Mb
   Bubu's Rating: *****



   On July 3, 1959, the great jazz pianist Oscar Peterson played the Newport Jazz Festival stage in Rhode Island together with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen and introduced by the famous jazz radio commentator (from Voice of America) Willis Conover.
   They delivered a short but breathtaking set.
   Amazingly this set although comes from a bootleg it has an exceptional sound quality, for its time and it is a complete mystery how such a wonderful recording it didn't surface on a official recording, yet.
   A beautiful performance, as usual, warmly recommended to all jazz lovers.
      Bubu Hans

   Artist:Hiromi Uehara
   Album: Brain
   Label:Telarc
   Year: 2003
   Quality:mp3/229Kbps
   Size: 108 mb
   AMG rating

   Japanese pianist and composer Hiromi Uehara dazzled the jazz world with her 2003 debut, Another Mind. Its mash of keyboard pyrotechnics and range of compositional styles was multiplied exponentially by her irrepressible energy. On that set she used variously sized ensembles to articulate her compositions. On Brain, Hiromi strips it back to a trio and offers a more intimate look at her wide musical universe, utilizing drummer Martin Valihora, bassist Tony Grey (both fellow Berklee College of Music alums), and alternately bassist Anthony Jackson. The album opens with the wacky "Kung-Fu World Champion" with its mйlange of sequenced keyboards. It's a fusion tune to be sure, but it's so kooky and funky that it transcends the label despite its reliance on staggering time signatures and stop-on-air turnarounds and changes. It's a careening tour de force where electronic keyboards and pianos are layered over a scattershot rhythm that pulls and pushes the deep pocket funk and strafes it with a post-bop sensibility. Grey's bassing here is so choice, so utterly fluid and physical. But it's back to jazz on "If..." with Jackson taking the bass chair. It's a strolling soul-jazz figure, bubbling over a series of chromatically arranged ostinati. Its beauty is crystalline despite all the activity. "Wind Song" is a mid-tempo ballad with beautiful ringing lines in the middle register. Its repetitive figure shifts and shapes an alternate melodic line in the solo. The knottiness of the title track offers a close, scrutinizing view of Hiromi's mad muse; using her piano to articulate a figure she creates a warped and angular counterpoint with electronic keyboards keeping the rhythm section striating in between, with precise interstitial motifs before the entire cut gives way to a blessed out of minor key prelude on the piano and her rhythm section dancing around the changes in hushed tones. The centerpiece of the set is a stunningly beautiful tune called "Green Tea Farm." A solo piece, it is pastoral. In sum, Hiromi has built upon her previous effort by stripping down her band and showcasing the less physical but no less ambitious side of her improvisational and compositional flair. Her sound might still be confounding to the purists, but who cares? Hiromi is a jazz pianist for the new century, one whose "yes" to the wealth of musical styles that are available to her is only eclipsed by her ability to work them into a unique whole that bears her signature.
   ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

     Artist: Ray Noble, Al Bowlly
     Album: HMV Sessions, Vol. 3: 1930-1934
     Label: Dutton Vocalion UK
     Year: 1930-1934
     Release: 1999
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbps
     Time: 72:00
     Size: 90 + 76.5 Mb



This is the third volume in Mike Dutton's CD series of the complete 1930-1934 HMV recording sessions by the wonderful Ray Noble orchestra with top vocalist Al Bowlly. Though some of these cuts have appeared on various compilation albums over the years, the Dutton Labs have assembled ALL of the Noble/Bowlly recordings in chronological order, so this series is a must for any fan of British dance band music! Noble's orchestra was one of the best of the era, equally adept at both sentimental songs and hotter, jazzier numbers. Either way, their sound is always warm, rich, and bright, and Al Bowlly proves time and again to be the perfect vocal match for the band.

This particular volume contains better-known songs such as "Blues in my Heart" and "Goodnight, Vienna," as well as gorgeous, lively arrangements of unjustly forgotten tunes like "Must It End Like This" and "There's a Ring Around the Moon."

The only flaw in this otherwise stellar and welcome CD series is that none of the songwriters are credited, unless they happen to get a mention in the liner notes ~ Laura Strom (Los Angeles, CA)

     Artist: Vanessa Rubin
     Album: Vanessa Rubin Sings
     Label: Novus(Sony BMG)
     Year: 1995
     Format: FLAC+Front Image
     Size: 259 MB

     Vanessa Rubin has an excellent voice which lends itself to jazz. One that surprised me was "All For One" which is apparently the vocal version of Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil". "Morning" is one I associate with the late Cal Tjader. Steve Turre plays conch shells on this one .....and it works. He also makes three other appearances on trombone. Toots Thielemans appears on "Once Upon A Summertime" and "Close Enough For Love". Amazon.com

     Artist: Terje Rypdal
     Album: Skywards
     Label: ECM Records
     Year: 1997
     Format: FLAC+CUE+LOG+Covers
     Time: 49:22
     Size: 218 MB

     Deciding to celebrate his 25 year association with ECM records, Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal assembled a sort of dream band for himself this time out. The seven piece ensemble features players he's worked with over the years. On keyboards ... Full Descriptionis Christian Egger, who served as conductor on this album's predecessor, IF MOUNTAINS COULD SING. The bass-less septet is a rich instrumental mix (trumpet, violin, cello, drums, percussion, keyboards, and of course electric guitar) that projects a deeply symphonic resonance. The subtle coloring on "Into The Wilderness" is a quietly dazzling portrait of the frozen north of Rypdal's homeland. This set never gets too raucous, focusing instead on the deeply introspective side of Rypdal's composing. The solo voicings of cellist David Darling and trumpet player Palle Mikkelborg add a key identity to this set. Along with Rypdal's guitar, they float above the gorgeously undulating foundations, taking flight like solitary birds in winter.

   Artist: Bud Freeman
   Album: Chronological (1928-1938)
   Label: Classics
   Recording Date: Dec 3, 1928-Nov 30, 1938
   Size: 155 mb
   Format/bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
   AMG rating


   Bud Freeman was virtually the only key tenor saxophonist of the 1928-35 period who did not sound heavily influenced by Coleman Hawkins. Freeman, whose style fell between Dixieland and swing and who has long had a distinctive sound, is heard on this Classics CD at the head of several classic groups. Although this music has been reissued in many different settings through the years, it is certainly essential (in one form or another) to all historical jazz collections.

     Artist - Charlie Parker
     Album - Complete Legendary Rockland Palace
     Label - Jazz Classics
     Year - 1952, release - 1996
     Quality - MP3@320 kbps
     Size - 170 mb
     Total time: (54:66)+(51:46)

     Artist: Yosuke Yamashita
     Album: Chiasma
     Label: MPS (Japan) POOJ-2552 1998
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 261 MB & 90 MB
     Time: 39:47

     Stunning free jazz work from Japan! Pianist Yosuke Yamashita leads a trio that includes altoist Akira Sakata and drummer Takeo Moriyama -- and the group has clearly absorbed a lot of influences of the free jazz scene developing in Europe during the late 60s. Most of the record is free and hard-blowing -- sounding more like a classic FMP session than one on MPS -- and two tracks feature slightly more introspective (although still challenging) work from Yamashita on piano. Titles include "Chiasma", "Double Helix", "Horse Trip", and "Hachi". Dusty Groove America, Inc
Influenced by Cecil Taylor. For special tastes only.

     Artist: Various
     Album: Ray Genius a Night for Ray Charles
     Year: 2004
     Genre: R&B
     Format Bitrate: DVD-rip | AVI/XVID, 720 x 480 |
     Audio: Mp3, 320 kbps
     Size: 700 Mb

     A meld of legendary performers and contemporary artists of today that have been influenced by Ray's music, perform in this concert extravaganza.

     This special contains the extended tribute, tracing Ray's rise to stardom through a climate of adversity, and celebrates his major contribution to several generations of music. Together with his longtime friends and co-musicians, Quincy Jones, B.B. King and David "Fathead" Newman, we can reminisce about his true genius life.

     Artist: Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley
     Album: In The Land of HiFi
     Label: MGEmArcy
     Year: 1956
     Bitrate: Vinyl Rip-Mono 380 LP-24 Bit/96 KHz
     Format: FLAC+CUE+LOG+Covers
     Size: 107 MB

     Just a glance at the list of musicians participating in the recording session in June 1956, is enough to send your blood racing through your veins..This recording fulfils all expectations and offers undiluted, swinging jazz of the very best order, the very best of its day! The glorious music-making of this "condensed" big band offers an ideal background for "Cannonball's" on the whole carefree, racy solo passages, the solo contributions from Jimmy Cleavland on the trombone, Jerome Richardson on the flute, and of course Junior Mance on the piano are sheer joy. Not to forget "Cannonball's" brother, Nat Adderly, who was often left in the shadows, whose brilliance on the cornet is heard loud and clear on this recording.
   Amazon.com

     Artist: Cassandra Wilson
     Album: Closer to You: The Pop Side
     Label: Blue Note
     Year: 2009
     Bitrate: Lossless
     Format: FLAC+CUE+LOG+Covers
     Size: 348 MB
     Time: 57:55 min

     When most jazz singers do standards, they come from the "classic" American songbook, the one that includes show tunes and pop songs from a bygone era, one that was powered by names such as Gershwin, Lerner & Loewe, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Sammy Kahn, Johnny Mercer, and so many others. That said, Cassandra Wilson is not just any jazz vocalist, and her Blue Note catalog -- the label she's been with since 1993 -- proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Wilson has explored her deep love of jazz and blues to be sure, covering everyone from Robert Johnson to Miles Davis, but along the way she's also covered tunes by modern composers, those who have stormed the pop charts in the last 30 years or so, and those who are still on them. Closer to You: The Pop Side is a retrospective collection that looks at this side of Wilson's complex musical persona, and offers a selection of 11 tunes from her Blue Note albums, all of them focusing on songs from the rock, pop, and soul genres, and all executed in her own idiosyncratic manner.

     Artist: Lew Tabackin Quartet
     Album: Desert Lady
     Label: Concord
     Year: 1989
     Genre: Jazz, Hard Bop
     Format, rate: mp3, 320kbs
     Size: 149MB
     Time: 63:55


     The great tenor saxophonist and flutist Lew Tabackin is joined by pianist Hank Jones, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Victor Lewis on this well-rounded program. The Concord CD has many highlights, including "Hot House," Duke Ellington's "Serenade to Sweden," Tabackin's "A Bit Byas'd," and "You Leave Me Breathless"; the leader's tenor in particular is in top form. Highly recommended to fans of straight-ahead jazz, this release gives one a strong sampling of Lew Tabackin's talents. ~ Scott Yanow, AMG Review

     Artist:Wayne Shorter
     Album:JuJu
     Label:Blue Note
     Year: 1964
     Genre: Post Bop
     Format, bitrate: Mp3"320kbps
     Time: 56:12
     Size: 123.48 MB
     Rating:

      Fulfilling the potential promised on his Blue Note debut, Night Dreamer, Wayne Shorter's Ju Ju was the first really great showcase for both his performance and compositional gifts. Early in his career as a leader Shorter was criticized as a mere acolyte of John Coltrane, and his use of Coltrane's rhythm section on his first two Blue Note albums only bolstered that criticism. The truth is, though, that Elvin Jones, Reggie Workman, and McCoy Tyner were the perfect musicians to back Shorter. Jones' playing at the time was almost otherworldly. He seemed to channel the music through him when improvising and emit the perfect structure to hold it together. Workman too seemed to almost instinctively understand how to embellish Shorter's compositions. McCoy Tyner's role as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time was played here as well, and his light touch and beautiful, joyful improvisations would make him a much better match for Shorter than Herbie Hancock would later prove to be.
     JuJu rests in the uphill portion of Shorter's creative peak. While the sidemen may have been an even better match for him than the ensembles he would put together for later albums, he was just beginning to find his footing as a leader. His performances were already showing evidence of great originality -- yes, they were influenced by Coltrane, but only in the way that they broke apart the structures of the bop sound to create a sound that had all of the variety and flexibility of the human voice. On later albums like Speak No Evil and The Soothsayer, however, Shorter would rise to an even higher level as a performer with more powerful, confident playing that reached farther afield in its exploration of melodic textures.
     What really shines on JuJu is the songwriting. From the African-influenced title track (with its short, hypnotic, repetitive phrases) to the mesmerizing interplay between Tyner and Shorter on "Mahjong," the album (which is all originals) blooms with ideas, pulling in a world of influences and releasing them again as a series of stunning, complete visions. by Stacia Proefrock