Artist: Joe Sample
   Album: Rainbow Seeker
   Label: ABC Records
   Year: 1978
   Quality: 320 kb/s
   Size: 97,2 mb




   Back in 1978 when this set was recorded, fusion (the mixture of jazz improvisation with rock rhythms) was declining. Keyboardist Joe Sample, best-known for his work with the Crusaders, was in the process of being one of the founders of "contemporary jazz," an idiom that has since solidified into smooth jazz. Sample emphasized catchy melodies, light funk rhythms, appealing chord changes and a pop sensibility. For this accessible release, Sample is joined by the late legendary guitarist Billy Rogers, bassist Pops Popwell, his old Crusaders drummer Stix Hooper, a horn section and several guest guitarists. All eight tunes (which include "Fly with the Wings of Love" and "Islands in the Rain") are by the leader, who is heard throughout in melodic form, setting up a variety of light grooves that serve as superior background music.
   ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

   Artist: Herbie Mann
   Album:Gagaku & Beyond
   Label: Rhino/ Atlantic
   Year: 1976
   Quality: mp3;320kb/s
   Size: 106 МБ



   This is easily the strangest record Herbie Mann ever made and that's saying something. Released as an import-only in 1976, Gagaku & Beyond had Mann working in the world music fusion genre with great success long before new age or "world music" were ever marketing catch phrases. This set puts the "family of Mann" that included bassist Tony Levin, drummer Steve Gadd, guitarist Sam T. Brown, as well as Pat Rebillot on keyboards in close proximity to the stellar Japanese ensemble Minuro Muraoka. Muraoka's group concentrated on performing the royal court music of Japan, gagaku, with original instruments that include samisen, koto, riu teki, kakko, shoko, shakuhachi, and the big drums, taiko o-daiko and the wa-daiko. In addition, on track one, "Shomyo," the two bands are joined by Modern Shomyo Study, a quartet of chanting zen monks. Exotic, huh? Yes, and so stirring and beautifully textured it's a wonder that hundreds of recordings were not modeled on its subtle ambiences, gloriously rich charts, and tasteful engagements. Mann's group doesn't try to be Japanese, nor do the Japanese musicians try to be jazzers. They engage each other in a place of respect, frankness, and hauntingly similar intentions: to articulate inner spaces using spare structures to illuminate timbre, breath, space, and tonalities. Yes, the music is melodic, though some may find "Shomyo" a little jarring with its chants, but they are seamless, edgeless, warm, and full. The two ensembles don't play together all the time there are various configurations at work over the album's five cuts but those details are for listeners to sort on their own. For now, this is, along with Mann's more soul- and bossa-oriented recordings, one of his most essential works: groundbreaking, heartrendingly beautiful, and full of deep, contemplative soul.
   ~ Thom Jurek, AMG

   Artists: Double duo ''Ma.Gr.Ig.Al''
   Album: Tchaikovsky. Seasons
   Release year: 2007
   Subgenre: Crossover
   Label: Bomba-Piter
   Size: 60 Mb
   Quality: MP3, VBR



   «Ма.Гр.Иг.Ал.» - «двойной дуэт» народных инструментов - балалайка, контрабас, домра и баян. Создатель и руководитель коллектива – некогда солист петербургского ансамбля «Терем-квартет» Игорь Пономаренко, собравший музыкантов вместе в апреле 2000 года. «Ма.Гр.Иг.Ал.» - работающая в разных инструментальных жанрах команда, творческие рамки которой простираются от народной и симфонической до джазовой и авангардной музыки. Они перекладывают на народные мотивы музыку Чайковского, Мусоргского, Свиридова, Андрея Петрова, сотрудничают с известными исполнителями, такими как Лариса Луста и Андрей Славный.

   The Double Duo of folk instruments – balalaika, double bass, domra, bayan (Russian accordion). The founder and the leader of the band is Igor Ponomarenko – former musician of TEREM-QUARTET. He has started a new band in 2000 to play music in quite different genres – folk, jazz, avant-garde, classical – with folk arrangements. Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Sviridov, Andrey Petrov played by Ma.Gr.Ig.Al. sound in very unusual and interesting way. Musicians do often cooperate with famous artists – Larisa Lusta and Andrey Slavny.

   Artist: Howard Roberts
   Album: Out Of Sight
   Label: Capitol Records
   Year: 1968
   Quality: mp3@192
   Size: 42mb
   Time: 27:24

   On the sixties Howard was one of the busiest recording artists in the world. He signed a new record deal as a leader with Capitol Records and released an excellent and ecelectic series of albums for the giant label. Landmark recordings of the catalog include Color Him Funky, H.R. is a Dirty Guitar Player, Somethings Cookin', Whatever's Fair, Jaunty Jolly, and Goodies. His work featured solid bebop playing on standards and show tunes, blues, gospel, funk, and even rock and pop numbers. As such Howard Roberts was the prototype fusion guitarist. Who else but Howard could make a pop throwaway like "Winchester Cathedral" swing as hard as anything played by Wes Montgomery or Joe Pass? In the studio Roberts became one of the most listened-to guitarists in contemporary music, lending his unique and musical touch to movie soundtracks and TV shows like The Twilight Zone, The Munsters, I Dream Of Jeanie, and The Beverly Hillbillies. He also recorded with Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis Jr., the Beach Boys, Merle Travis, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny and Cher, the Jackson Five, Rick Nelson, the Supremes, and literally countless other stellar performers on hundreds of session dates. He earned the title of "the fifth Monkee," as he played on virtually everything the group recorded in the 1960s. At that time Howard designed the Epiphone Roberts model guitar and formed the Benson amplifier company. He epitomized the persona of the guitar virtuoso/studio whiz which established the pattern followed by Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather and many others in the ensuing decades. That of living legend, a hot player burning up the studios by day and bringing down the house in jazz clubs by night. Some of this legendary playing thankfully has been captured, preserved and released on CD by V.S.O.P. Records in the Howard Roberts "Magic Band" live sessions from Donte's.

   Artist: Ray Charles
   Album: Genius! The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection
   Year Of Release: 2009
   Label: Concord
   Bitrate: MP3/VBR
   Total Size: 82.5 MB




   Ray Charles — Genius: The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection chronicles the high points in Charles’ catalog. As noted jazz writer Don Heckman writes in his liner notes, ”The first feeling that comes to mind after even a short glance at the titles included here is a sense of wonder. The diversity of the material is impressive in its own right — blues, of course, transformed gospel songs, country tunes, an American Songbook standard, a Beatles classic and a climactic American anthem. But more than that, it’s what he does with all these variegated numbers. Good singers can do great interpretations. Great singers like Charles possess the material in a way that makes a song their own, while remaining true to the essence of each.”

   Artists: Stan Getz & Chet Baker.
   Album: Line For Lyons
   Quality: MP3 @192kbps
   Size: 72 MB
   Year: 1983
   Release: November 18, 1995
   Label: Sonet / Gazell Records

REPOST with new link from Mr. pakospain

     This album found trumpeter Chet Baker guesting with Stan Getz's 1983 quartet (which also included pianist Jim McNeely, bassist George Mraz and drummer Victor Lewis). Although Getz and Baker ended up not getting along very well personally, their cool-toned musical personalities fit together perfectly as can be heard on a brief duet version of "Line for Lyons." The remainder of the set finds them successfully revisiting six standards from the 1950s, making one wish it had not been 25 years since their last collaboration. ~ AMG

     Artists: Paolo Fresu & Richard Galliano & Jan Lundgren
     Album: Mare Nostrum
     Year: 2007
     Release: 2008
     Label: ACT
     Quality: mp3@256 Kbps + MP3 320kbps
     Size: 98,4+22,2 mb + 151 MB

REPOST with new MP3@320 links and info from Mr. pascal.ch

     Paolo Fresu (trumpet - Italy), Richard Galliano (accordion and bandoneon - France) and Jan Lundgren (piano - Sweden) have collaborated for a very sentimental album that can win everybody's heart easily. Fresu's style is somewhere between Chet Baker and Enrico Rava (not as sophisticated as Rava). His "mediterranean touch" is so strong. He generally prefers muted solos to create this effect. Galliano is the top player for accardion and Lundgren presents a perfect base for their solos. Eleven of songs are original compositons, other's from Jobim, Ravel and Trenet. That's a perfect combination altogether. And for me, as a Turkish listener, 12th cut, "Mio Mehmet, forse il destino m'impedira di rivederti" is a real surprise. Because, Fresu's inspiration in this compositon is Nazim Hikmet.Thanks to the universal language of his poetry and Mr. Fresu's in-depth knowledge and sensitivity...
    ~ Ali Haluk