Artist: Bobby Hutcherson
     Album: The Kicker
     Year: 1963
     Label: Blue Note
     Time: 53:49
     Format: MP3 @256kbps + Flac & MP3@320
     Size: 102 mb (RS.com, w/ 5% WinRar File Recovery)
     AMG rating: 4 stars

REPOST with new links for lossless and mp3@320 from Mr. hungaropitecus

     Bobby Hutcherson recorded frequently for Blue Note in the 1960s, though this session remained unissued until 1999. The first half features the vibraphonist in a cooking hard bop session with Joe Henderson and Duke Pearson, starting with an energetic take on the normally slow ballad "If Ever I Would Leave You" and a sizzling Hutcherson original, "For Duke P." Guitarist Grant Green is added for the second half, beginning with the first recording of Henderson's "The Kicker," which became well known from it's later rendition on Horace Silver's highly successful release Song for My Father. Because this is part of Blue Note's limited-edition Jazz Connoisseur series, don't delay in picking it up. -- AMG

   Artist: Various Artists
   Album: Brigitte Jazz for Dinner, Vol. 1 (compilation)
   Label: Boutique
   Year: 2001
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kb/s
   Time: 1:06:36
   Size: 153 Mb
   Bubu's Rating:

   A totally unfit title for a great and inspired compilation of beautiful songs sung by most celebrated jazz singers. The perfect introduction to the casual jazz listener and to everybody who enjoys soft and gentle music. A classy record.
   - Bubu Hans

   This is an extraordinary album with some excellent jazz standards by some unexpected singers, sit back and enjoy; "At last" by Lou Rawls & Dianne Reeves, "Love is here to stay" Dianna Ross, "Solitary moon" by Shirely Horn is absolute heaven, "your song", "Sunny", "you've got a friend" so many great renditions of wonderful songs and as a real bonus this album is worth buying just for James Brown's version "all the way', Absolute heaven, elysium, paradise...
   ~ Haji Mike (Cyprus) at Amazon.com

   Artist: Ruben Hoeke Band
   Album: Sugar
   Label: Munich Records
   Year: 2006
   Quality: mp3 @320
   Size: 124 mb (all scanned covers)



   Ruben Hoeke started playing the guitar at age fourteen. His childhood dreams of being a professional Football player in the Dutch National football team soon disappeared when he heard the guitar intro to Guns 'n Roses classic `Sweet Child O' Mine'. That’s when he realized what he wanted to be. Inspired by this haunting guitar riff, he decided to trade his football for a guitar. It took about six guitar lessons to find out that he would be better off learning to play by listening to records.
   In 2004 Ruben sets up his own bluesband. The Ruben Hoeke Band is a band with a repertoire of easy to hardcore blues, from boogie-woogie and soul to heavy rock. With their enthusiastic performance the band has secured a firm position on the Dutch music scene. They literally rock every stage and festival!
   November 2005 finds Ruben's band recording their debut album ”Sugar” for major record company Munich Records. The album, which wass released in April 2006, features guest appearances by (among others) Jan Akkerman, Kaz Lux, Tineke Schoemaker, Boris van der Lek, David Hollestelle, Wouter Planteijdt and Thй Lau.

   A journalist defined the band as ”a mighty blues-formation with an unique sound" and their performance; ‘sparkling like hell’.
   The band, with blues classics and their own original material, are guaranteed to bring the house down, from small clubs to the largest festivals….. Seeing and hearing is believing! Although Ruben is a guitarist who can relate to several music styles, 'the rhythm & blues' is something that comes to him naturally: straight from the heart, and in May 2008 Ruben is voted Holland’s best guitarist, and receives the prize, ”The Duiveltje” that he holds onto with pride after beating some tough competition.

     Artist: Various Artists
     Album: Greatest Jazz: Swing Collection Best 20
     Label: Jasrac (Japan) R-980247
     Year: 1998
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbps (Artwork)
     Time: 66:10
     Size: 90 + 68.5 Mb

   Artist: Charlie Byrd
   Album: Brazilian Byrd
   Label: Sony
   Year: 1964
   Format: WMA Lossless
   Time: 38:00
   Size: 180MB



   The arrangements by Tommy Newsom for strings, brass, and woodwinds may be a bit sweet and the 13 performances (which on the CD reissue include a previously unreleased take of "Engano") may be overly concise (often under three minutes), but the resulting music is strangely pleasing. Acoustic guitarist Charlie Byrd always had a strong affinity for Brazilian jazz, and he sticks exclusively to Antonio Carlos Jobim songs (including "Sу Danзo Samba," "Corcovado," "Dindi," and "The Girl from Ipanema") during this tasteful and melodic effort. Truly beautiful music.
   ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Chick Corea and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra
     Album: Live in Molde
     Year: 2000
     Release: 2005
     Label: MNJ RECORDS
     Format: MP3 - 320kbps

     Fascinating Combination of Chick & Trondheim Jazz Orchestra Conquers Norway
Not only is Chick Corea’s enlivening piano performance with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra at the Molde Festival 2000 an electrifying moment in time, the showcase of musical prowess has also become one of the great events in the history of the festival. Erlend Skomsvoll’s arrangements for Chick and big band bring out new colours in Corea’s compositions (Crystal Silence, Armando’s Rhumba, Spain, Return to Forever and more) throughout the concert, which is intimately with such crystal clear sound that it feels like you are actually sitting right in the front row.
"Erlend Skomsvoll has made the most creative arrangements of my songs that I’ve heard. He di’n't just do a ‘good’ job. He added his own imaginative views of my songs with the new combination, sounds and constructions and did a magnificent job."Chick Corea

     Artist: Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Ravi Coltrane
     Album: Saxophone Summit: Seraphic Light
     Year: 2007
     Release: 2008
     Label: Telarc
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s

     Это второй альбом проекта. Место выбывшего Майкла Брэккера занял Рави Колтрейн. Пятая композиция, написанная и аранжированная Ренди Брэккером, посвящена памяти брата. Ему же принадлежит партия трубы на двух треках. В основном материал оригинальный, каждый внёс свою лепту в сочинение или аранжировку. Последние три композиции принадлежат Джону Колтрейну, аранжированы Дэйвом Либманом.
     Michael Brecker was an original member of Saxophone Summit, a tenor supergroup including Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman, plus Phil Markowitz (piano), Cecil McBee (bass) and Billy Hart (drums). Ravi Coltrane (tenor) replaces Brecker on the group's second release, Seraphic Light. Continuing its original mission to celebrate the music of late-period Coltrane, this outing features heavy blowing—not exactly free jazz, but jazz 'free-ly.' The first half features compositions by each member, accessible melodies and arrangements that fully exploit Liebman (soprano sax, flutes) and Lovano's (flute, alto clarinet, autochrome) doubling talents, but the heart of the group comes to the fore on the last three cuts: "Cosmos," the title track and "Expression," all Coltrane covers and templates for excursions into ecstatica and dissonance. Liebman really shines here, rolling out blistering manifestos of soul and ice. Brecker is remembered in "Message to Mike," an upbeat romp penned by brother Randy, featuring group soloing and a party vibe—a fitting send-off for one of the tenor saxophone's greatest exponents.

     Artist: Kiyoshi Kitagawa with Kenny Barron & Brian Blade
     Album: Prayer
     Label: Atelier Sawano
     Year: 2005
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Size: 145 MB

     Bassist/Composer Kiyoshi Kitagawa is an integral part of today’s jazz scene. Soon after moving to NYC from Japan, he joined the Harper Brothers. He then toured and recorded with alto great Kenny Garrett. He has gone on to work with many of the leading names in jazz, such as Jimmy Heath, Andy Bey, Tommy Flanagan, Ben Riley, Victor Lewis, Terell Staford, just name a few. Most recently, Kiyoshi has been touring the world with bands led by these jazz greats:the Kenny Barron Trio, the Jon Faddis Quartet, Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Septet.

     Artist: Pink Martini
     Album: Hey Eugene!
     Year: 2007
     Format, bitrate: mp3 320 kb\s, 44,1kHz, Stereo / WMA Lossless
     Time: 44:27
     Size: 71.3 MB


     Выставляю на всеобщее прослушивание мою любимую музыку, определить стиль которой одним словом сложно - Pink Martini!
Pink Martini - это такой полумифический проект, без какой либо рекламы. И популярность у него сродни этому подходу, что называется - из уст в уста.
С продажами более 600, 000 альбомов в Соединенных Штатах и 1.3 миллионом по всему миру (каждый из которых был записан и распространялся независимо), Pink Martini стали обладателями огромной, стремительно растущей базы поклонников только с двумя релизами, не говоря уже о живых выступлениях, ставших неотъемлемой частью их ценной коллекции. Так послушаем же третий альбом! Радости!

     Artist: Yusef Lateef
     Album: 10 Years Hence
     Label: Wounded Bird
     Year:1975
     Release:2008
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Size: 144 MB


     The bottom line is simply this: Ten Years Hence, originally released in 1975 on Atlantic as a double LP, is Yusef Lateef as you've never heard him before -- or since. This set was produced by Joel Dorn and recorded live at San Francisco's legendary Keystone Corner, with some other elements overdubbed later in the studio. The band is stellar: Yusef playing no less than eight instruments, Kenny Barron on piano and cowbell, upright bassist Bob Cunningham (who also plays percussion instruments), Albert "Kumba" Heath on drums and various percussion, and a lone track with Bill Salter on electric bass. The shortest tune here is eight and a half minutes, and it's no less a composition that Barron's classic tune "A Flower"; the rest are all 12 minutes and up -- there are only five tunes for four LP sides! The album kicks off with Cunningham's three-part suite "Samba de Amor." Clocking in at over 22 minutes, it begins as a spiritual percussion orgy with all bandmembers joining in. Lateef uses a shanir to get inside, but also uses it as a percussion instrument. Two minutes in, Cunningham is bowing his bass elegiacally, but the melody is sweet, like a lost, haunted love song. Yusef's flute enters two minutes later and joins him in this slow skeletal song before the percussion section enters again in a joyous route as the second part begins and gives way to the longest section, a proper samba, full of lithe flute blowing, saxophone blowing, kit drums playing insane breaks, and wordless vocals covering the backdrop. This is followed by the tenor burner "Yusef's Mood," which covers soul, jazz, rhythm & blues, and boogie-woogie in its 18 minutes. The band is shouting and chanting a chorus as the audience goes nuts! Think of the audience participation on the Jazz Crusaders live albums times ten. There is a gorgeous reading of Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke's standard "But Beautiful," which ranks as one of the best ever committed to tape. The intuition and ease these players have with one another allows them to go out on ledges and keep melodies and time signatures together, yet experiment wildly with harmonics. The overdubbed strings on Barron's tune don't do much for it, frankly, but his piano improvisation around Lateef's flute is stunning. The encore is Lateef's killer "I Be Cold." There is a female backing chorus that was added later, but Lateef raps and plays call and response with his seal horn, while Cunningham's fuzzed-out bowed bass is gutbucket funky and greasy. The flute solo is so deep, so tight, that it demands the overdubbed trumpets and backing vocals to support and accent it. The funky horns and Heath's breaks set fire to the whole damn thang. This is not an album for everybody, but it is easily one of the most underrated sets in Lateef's vast catalog. Thom Jurek, AMG

     Artist: L.A. Workshop
     Album: Norwegian Wood, Vol. 1
     Label: Denon
     Year: 1988
     Format, bitrate: Mp3 320 Kbps
     Time: 54:25
     Size: 90,01 MB

     L.A. Workshop is a side project for some very prominent musicians, including Steve Lukather of Toto, guitarist Lee Ritenour, Ray Parker Jr., and others. Having once attended a New Year's Eve concert by Beatlejuice, the cover band fronted by Boston's Brad Delp, I feel knowledgable enough to comment.
     There's an attempt here to bridge the gap between rock and jazz, but unfortunately one slip, and you're in Lite-FM "dentist office" territory. What saves the album from slipping into Muzak is often Lukather's piercing rock guitar, particularly on "And I Love Her" and "Blackbird". Some of the other tracks, like "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" just didn't have the same bite for me. Also, "Michelle" and "Fool on the Hill" have a distinct Casio-tone keyboard beat to them, but on the positive side "When I'm Sixty-Four" seems to evoke the Hammond sound of Booker T & The MG's.

     Artist: Nat Adderley
     Album: Work Song
     Label: Riverside/OJC
     Year: 1960
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 39:06
     Size: 91,5 MB

     

     This CD reissue brings back a near-classic by cornetist Nat Adderley. Utilizing a cornet-cello-guitar front line (with Sam Jones and Wes Montgomery) along with a top-notch rhythm section (pianist Bobby Timmons, Percy Heath, or Keter Betts on bass and drummer Louis Hayes), Adderley performs a fine early version of his greatest hit ("Work Song") and helps introduce Cannonball Adderley's "Sack O' Woe." Four songs use a smaller group with Timmons absent on "My Heart Stood Still" (which finds Keter Betts on cello and Jones on bass), "Mean to Me" featuring Nat backed by Montgomery, Betts, and Hayes, and two ballads ("I've Got a Crush on You" and "Violets for Your Furs") interpreted by the Adderley-Montgomery-Jones trio. No matter the setting, Nat Adderley is heard throughout in peak form, playing quite lyrically. Highly recommended. ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

     Artist: Various Artists
     Album: Round Midnight - Original Soundtrack
     Label: Sony Jazz
     Year: 1986
     Release 2002
     Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kb/s
     Time: 1:04:30
     Size: 148 Mb

     Soundtrack buffs may know that this score to director Bertrand Tavernier's alluring jazz period piece inexplicably won the 1986 Oscar for best soundtrack instead of Morricone and his rich, enduring music for The Mission. That injustice aside, it remains a worthy collage of vintage jazz standards, new material, and contemporary performers, as filtered through the spirit of the story's main character (an amalgam of Bud Powell and Lester Young) and the '50s Paris jazz scene. It's also a tribute to Round Midnight musical director Herbie Hancock, with his crucial understanding that jazz--and especially bebop--can never stand on tradition, lest it lose its very reason for being. Thus he lets then-newcomer Bobby McFerrin loose on Monk's moody title track, gives vet Chet Baker's horn and voice a warm turn in the spotlight on "Fair Weather," and allows Lonette McKee and star Dexter Gordon to infuse Gershwin's "How Long Has This Been Going On" with some languorous, subtly sexual heat. Other highlights include a romp through Monk's "Rhythm-a-Ning," Hancock's tense, modernist "Berangere's Nightmare," and the spare, enchanting duet with Bobby Hutcherson, "Minuit aux Champs-Elysees." Remarkably, most of the film's music was recorded live on the set, giving it a compelling warmth and immediacy that's increasingly rare. This new edition features expanded liner notes as well as a bonus cut of the title track performed by Dexter Gordon's quintet live at the Village Vanguard in 1967. --Jerry McCulley at Amazon.com

     Artist: George Benson
     Album: Benson Burner
     Label: Columbia
     Year: 1965
     Format Mp3@320 kbs
     Size: 220 MB



     Some but not all of guitarist George Benson's Columbia records (plus some unreleased songs and other tunes that he recorded under organist Lonnie Smith's name) are included on this out-of-print double-LP. Fitting into the soul-jazz/hard bop idiom, Benson (who at the time was heavily influenced by Wes Montgomery and Charlie Christian, but already had his own approach) is mostly heard in a quartet with organist Smith, baritonist Ronnie Cuber and drummer Jimmy Lovelace, although some selections add horns (including trumpeter Blue Mitchell) and more players in the rhythm section. The majority of the songs are basic originals by Benson or Smith, and the emphasis is on soulful swinging. Fine music. ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

     Artist: Eberhard Weber
     Album:The Following Morning
     Label: ECM
     Year: 1976
     Format: Flac
     Size:146 MB (No Cue - AudioChecker Log, covers)
     Time: 41:07




     The absence of a drummer deprives "The Following Morning" of some of the drive and rhythmic shadings of other Weber releases. In some ways this is a more contemplative work, lingering longer upon the tones of the individual instruments. The title track opens with backwards piano and slides into a pensive rumination between the piano and Weber's bass. There is only the tentative presence of orchestral instruments, and the album is quite subtle and slow to unfold. You might not pick up this album as often as some other Weber releases, but it can reward close listening. ~ Paul Collins, All Music Guide
Enjoy!!

     Artist: Miki N'Doye
     Album: Tuki
     Format: FLAC & mp3 (320k/s)
     Size: 339 & 144 MB (full scans)
     Year: 2003-2005
     Label: ECM (2006)
     Total time: 62:33






     N’Doye composes on the iron-tongued kalimba thumb piano, his hypnotic variations throbbing and buzzing into a vast and numinous sound field across which Per Jorgensens’s searing trumpet lines cut a plangent counter-swathe. If N’Doyes drumming and verbal extemporisations are often unremarkable in themselves, the sheer severity of the album’s sonic conception, with its discordant incursion of John Cage-style prepared piano, creates an entrancing Afro-minimalist feel that you certainly won’t be encountering anywhere else. ~ Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph

   Artist: Jacques Loussier
   Album: Play Bach - The 1989 Munich Concert
   Format: DVD-9 (iso + mds + md5)
         Video: 4:3 color
         Audio: DTS 5.1, PCM stereo
         Time: 83 minutes
         Size: 6,1Gb (rar, 3% for recovery, no password) 60Х99,1Mb + 1Х27Mb
              DVDrip:
         Video: 720*544, 4/3, MPEG-4 Visual, 30fps, 1580kbps
         Audio: DTS, CBR, 48kHz, 768 kbps
         Time: 83 minutes
         Size: 1,36Gb (rar, 3% for recovery, no password) 7Х199,1Mb + 1Х100Mb

   Part of the new feeling about his work is his including longer Bach works in his program, such as the Italian Concerto and Brandenburg No. 5. His arrangements are interesting and clever, and often swing furiously. Bach’s music seems to be forgiving of every sort of of reformulation, but Loussier really has done something unique here. The Italian Concerto‘s three movement are quite a trip, but the final 12-minute movement of the Fifth Brandenburg gets fearlessly into some very hot keyboard chops. The integration of his bassist and drummer into the music is also a factor in producing a very attractive and exciting improvisational product. Definitely worth watching, and the CD is fun listening anywhere.

   Artists: Bobby McFerrin & audience
   Album:Try This At Home '99
   Year: 1999
   Time: 42:32
   Format: DVD5, MPEG 2
   Audio: LPCM 2.0
   Size: 199Mbx18parts + 87Mb - 1 part. (rar 3% for recovery)

   Замечательное видео, очень хорошо передает атмосферу выступления, как будто еще раз побывал на его концерте, очень рекомендую. Бобби легко раскачивает самую разномастную публику. Посмотрите обязательно, этот диск также полезен в "аптечку" для улучшения настроения.

   This performance, shot in front of a concert hall audience, truly shows the trade-marked McFerrin style.

   Best known for a song that fully embraces his mantra on life, "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Bobby McFerrin has carved out a singular career for himself in the music industry. He is captured here performing live for a crowd of devotees, who clearly relish the chance to see McFerrin in full flow. A masterful performer who knows how to capture the imagination of a crowd by delivering a heartfelt performance, this is a great chance to catch Bobby McFerrin in his element.

     Artist - Thelonious Monk
     Album - Thelonious Monk Trio/Blue Monk Vol.2 2LP/1CD
     Label - Ace Recordc / Prestige
     Years 1952,1954
     Release - 1991
     Quality - MP3@320kb/s
     Size - 166 mb
     Total time - 77:53  

Any Thelonious Monk album that kicks off with a seven-minute version of "Blue Monk" is worth listening to. Backed alternately by bassists Percy Heath and Gary Mapp and drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach, Monk unleashes his idiosyncratic piano lines against a spare backdrop. Beautifully rendered, the opening piece is a highlight of the album, oddly combining disharmonic riffs within a melodic and very memorable structure. It's followed, surprisingly, by a rather tepid version of "Just a Gigolo," more lounge than jazz in execution. The set picks up again, however, on "Bemsha Swing" and later with a noisy "Little Rootie Tootie," another fascinating study in dissonance with some great drum work by Blakey. Because the album was pieced together from three different sessions, it's often difficult to identify the supporting players on individual cuts. Nonetheless, the small settings used on all ten pieces feature intricate interplay between bass, drums, and piano. They allow the necessary space for Monk's explorations, which conjure up images of a mathematician working out geometric patters on the keyboard. While mathematical music may sound a bit cold and soulless, pieces like "Monk's Dream" and "Trinkle, Tinkle" evoke a sublime beauty as they build order out of chaos. Intimate, intense, and inspired, Thelonious Monk Trio offers 35 minutes of professional musicians practicing their craft. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide

This CD is a repackaging of several of Thelonious Monk's earliest sessions for Prestige, commencing in November of 1953 and May of the following year, respectively. This era of Monk's recordings is notable as the bridge between his association with Blue Note beginning in 1952 and his most prolific period for Riverside, which began in 1955. "Let's Call This" and the second take of "Think of One" are from the November 1953 date and feature Monk (piano) backed by Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), Julius Watkins (French horn), Percy Heath (bass), and Willie Jones (drums). The remaining tunes present Frank Foster (tenor sax), Ray Copeland (trumpet), Curly Russell (bass), and Art Blakey (drums) from May of 1954. Despite some outstanding improvisation between Rollins and Watkins, neither track from 1953 really gains sufficient headway to be considered primal. That said, they are far from failures. "Let's Call This" has an easy syncopation that seemingly fails to inspire the quintet. "Think of One," however, drives a bit harder and includes a few additional off-kilter accents from Monk as well as a somewhat telepathic sense of timing between the pianist and Rollins. What the first pair of selections may have lacked is considerably recouped on the final pieces. The styles and moods range from the frenetic "Locomotive" and "Hackensack" -- the latter of which is more than just casually reminiscent of "Straight, No Chaser" -- to the sublime and refined cool of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," the only cover tune on the disc. Thelonious Monk enthusiasts are best served by the three-CD Complete Prestige Recordings in order to gather these and the other five sessions that Monk participated in during his brief tenure with the label. ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide

    Artist: Bobby McFerrin
    Album: The Best Of Bobby McFerrin, The Blue Note Years
    Year: 1985-1990
    Release: 1996
    Label: Blue Note
    Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 kbps
    Time: 55:02
    Size: 127 MB
   

Thank you Jazz Blues Club for a wonderful year of great time and incredible music!

   The highlights of vocal acrobat Bobby McFerrin's eclectic career are featured on this collection, which includes samples of his work with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Chick Corea, the Yellowjackets, Manhattan Transfer, and Jon Hendricks. Among the selections are "Spain," "Blue Bossa," and the cloying hit "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
   Jason Ankeny, AMG