Artist - Andre Previn
   Album - Andre Previn Plays Songs By Vernon Duke
   Label - OJC/Contemporary
   Year - 1958, release - 1991
   Quality - MP3@320 kbps
   Size - 93,5 mb
   Total time - 42:21



   A measure of how respected Andre Previn has long been in many musical fields is that this set of unaccompanied jazz piano solos has liner notes by the composer of the ten songs, Vernon Duke. Previn alternates well-known Duke pieces such as "Autumn In New York," "Taking a Chance on Love," "What Is There to Say," and "I Can't Get Started" with a few obscure numbers including "The Love I Long For," "Ages Ago" and "I Like the Likes of You." This CD reissue finds Previn at the peak of his jazz powers, displaying an original yet accessible style that falls between swing and bop. Recommended. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

   Artists: The Manhattan Transfer
   Album: The Definitive Pop Collection
   Label: Rhino
   Year: 2006
   Bitrate: mp3/192kb/s
   Total Size: 170.11 MB




   The ultimate Manhattan Transfer release! Here in this two CD collection are 30 of the fabulous vocal jazz quartet's best recordings spanning the 25 plus years they have been harmonizing together. All the greatest hits are here plus several of the group's personal favorite tracks. The release comes with a insert which includes photos and a history of the group. This is top-knotch four part vocal harmony!

   Artist: Brad Mehldau
   Album: Places
   Year: 2000
   Label: Warner Bros.
   Quality: FLAC
   Size: 326 MB
   Time: 1:09:30

    Brad Mehldau is becoming a more interesting, more thought-provoking, more individualistic musician with each release — breaking away from the same old models, finding new ones to integrate into his own personality. The 11 compositions on this CD were conceived on the road, and only midway through did Mehldau realize that they developed similar ideas. Which indeed they do, seizing upon repeated riffing and vamps that Keith Jarrett has explored and sending them in cogent directions. The designated theme is travel; each selection bears the name of a place or mood, and the catchy, contemplative "Los Angeles" serves as the album's bookends, as well as a solo pit stop in the center. Like Elegiac Cycle, Places works like a song cycle; a unified, beautifully proportioned conception, with lots of rambunctious, swinging outbreaks amidst the contemplation. The titles in themselves mean nothing as far as the content of the music is concerned — or so he writes in another lengthy, provocative liner note. Rather, the album is about the constancy of his personality and musical language, taking all of your personal mental baggage with you wherever you travel. This is an important album, one that anyone interested in piano jazz ought to check out.
   ~ Richard Ginell, AMG

     Artist: Bob James
     Album: Grand Piano Canyon
     Label: Warner Bros.
     Year: 1990
     Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kb/s
     Time: 48:21
     Size: 111 Mb (covers)
     AMG Rating:

     This CD is more jazz-oriented than most of Bob James' recordings and even takes chances in a few spots. The tunes, mostly by James, contain several strong melodies, including a tribute piece for Sarah Vaughan; among the sidemen are guitarist Lee Ritenour, Kirk Whalum on tenor and soprano, and (in a guest spot) tenor great Michael Brecker. The results overall are still poppish in places, but the diverse instrumentation, which changes from song to song, and the wide range of moods covered make this release of some interest.
   Scott Yanow, AMG

     What a hidden treasure! When I finally pulled this CD from my collection and listened attentively, all I could think was 'Bob! Where've you been all this time?' This is a delightful album, full of variety, yet an enjoyable whole. Perhaps permanently fused to my Bose Wave CD alarm, I hear some new detail every morning. My favorite cuts include; 'Far From Turtle' (way mellow waking) 'Xraxse' (hello Hilary James!) and Lee Ritenour's 'Just Listen'. My fave, however, is '....stop that!', which perfectly fits its title! And yes, that IS a jackhammer! Amazing! Jam on, Bob!
   Melrox (Longview, TX USA), Amazon.com

     Artist: Bob James
     Album: An Anthology
     Label: Castle/Windsong
     Year: 2000
     Format Mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
     Time: 2:39:17
     Size: 344 Mb
     AMG Rating:

     Released in 2000, this is often confused with the Warner Bros. two-CD Restoration. While on the surface the two looked nearly identical, there are major differences. Unlike Restoration, Anthology only features James' work from 1974 to 1984. For pure fusion fans, that's the best news of all. To make it better, wonder of all wonders, Anthology actually features the songs that defined James' styles of the era. This also couldn't start off better. Bucking chronology, 1978's "Angela (Theme From Taxi)" is the better introduction to the set. Anthology also offers a heavy amount of James' work with Creed Taylor and CTI. While many surely can live without "Night on Bald Mountain" and the cover of "Take Me to the Mardi Gras," seminal jazz/funk fusion tracks, including "Nautilus" and "Westchester Lady," have more than held up. Although the initial work for CBS was overwhelming, Anthology judiciously picks from classic efforts, including Touchdown and Lucky Seven. The fatuous yet classy fun of Rod Temperton's "Sign of the Times" works as well as anything here. Although essentials "The Genie," "Right As Rain," and "The Afterglow" don't show up here, what is here manages to attain the essence of James' often-underrated '70s and '80s efforts.
   by Jason Elias at All Music Guide

     Artist:Michael Brecker
     Album:Wide Angles
     Label: Verve
     Year: 2003
     Format, bitrate: Lossless, FLAC+CUE+LOG+Covers
     Size:460 MB

     WIDE ANGLES won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. "Broadband" was nominated for Best Instrumental Composition. "Timbuktu" won for Best Instrumental Arrangement. Tenor sax legend Michael Brecker is justifiably showcased this sophisticated, large ensemble release. Brecker's playing is supremely focused here, moving from tender lyricism ("Angle of Repose") to Coltrane-esque runs to the outer registers ("Cool Day In Hell"), and touching on everything in between. Like his range on the sax, Brecker's compositions veer from the coolly cerebral to dramatic intensity. "Timbuktu" appropriates a skewed Latin boogie to anchor its cyclical melodic leads, which Brecker expands and reassembles in his solos. The in-pocket jazz-funk of "Night Jessamine" rubs against the rhythmic kaleidoscope of "Brexterity" and the floating pulse of "Evening Faces."
     WIDE ANGLES is heavily textured via French horn, alto flute, bass clarinet, oboe, viola, cello and English horn, in addition to standard jazz instrumentation. The 14-piece ensemble lends color and dimension to what might otherwise be standard post-bop fare, creating orchestral overtones one moment, chamber music intimacies the next. The album should appeal then both to Brecker enthusiasts and to fans of large ensemble playing.

     Artist: Michael Brecker
     Album: Time Is Of The Essence
     Label: Verve
     Year: 1999
     Format, bitrate: Lossless, FLAC+CUE+LOG+Covers
     Size: 441 MB

     Artist: Bob James
     Album: H
     Label: Tappan Zee
     Year: 1980
     Format Mp3, bitrate: 320 (vinyll rip)
     Time: 36:39
     Size: 84,4 Mb (covers)
     AMG rating

     Bob James H was released in 1981 on his Tappan Zee imprint during his great run that began with Touchdown in 1978. Its immediate predecessor is the One on One duet album with Earl Klugh. James recorded it in the same way he'd been making records since joining CTI in the early 1970s: with a large, all-star studio group paired with a couple of top-flight soloists. The former group included trumpeter Jon Faddis, Randy Brecker, and Eddie Daniels; the latter features Grover Washington, Jr., Hiram Bullock, Airto Moreira, and Buddy Williams. Of course, hovering over everything is James' trademark piano, full of lovely if rote grooves and fills. The music revolves around breezy, easy themes and colorations, where the new contemporary (later, "smooth") jazz met lithe cinematic-style orchestral themes with some neat and tidy funk overtones. "Brighton by the Sea," with a tough soprano solo by Washington is a great example. Airto's hand percussion plays counterpoint to Williams drums, Gary King's deep, fretless, funk bassline holds the groove and Grover moves right into it, and then soars above it. James' solo comes at it from the other side and doesn't hit the actual groove until later. Other notables are the Caribbean-kissed, Latin-flavored "Snowbird Fantasy," where the body of the tune swells to include the large horn section. The gorgeous "Shepherd's Song" follows it with James playing Rhodes and an Oberheim, to whisper in the balladic melody before his acoustic piano enters to articulate it fully. But what makes the tune are the strings and a truly lovely acoustic guitar solo by David Brown. The stone classic from this set though, is the synth driven "Walkman's Song." In solid 4/4 time, it's all dancefloor, albeit with some ambient head space: there's percolating bassline, James' layers of funky dancefloor keyboards, and his high register acoustic piano solo. The track is given added dimension by Bullock's tidy but utterly funky guitar fills, and played and sung solo (а la George Benson). This is all adorned with carefully arranged woodwinds and strings as the cherry on the sundae. H may be typical James from this period, but that doesn't mean the music isn't thoroughly enjoyable. Add to this that it holds up to repeated listening over three decades later, and you've got a stone-cold winner.
   ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

     Artist:Erich Kunzel
     Album:Music Of The Beatles (Featuring King Singers)
     Label: Telarc
     Year: 2001
     Format, bitrate: Lossless, FLAC+CUE+LOG+Covers
     Total Time: 55 minutes
     Size:278 MB

     This is another great recording from the audiophile label Telarc. The Cincinnati Pops was recorded with its full orchestral weight and visceral impact for tracks where the orchestra played exclusively without vocals. The tracks with King'Singers and the Pops collaboration were well mixed, though the orchestra didn't quite as open as in the Pops only tracks. The King'Singers consistently came across clearly with a well centered image spread across the front soundstage in both their a cappella performances and collaborative performances with The Pops. The bubbling water at the beginning of Octopus's Garden is uncannily real. I thought my house sprung a leak. Recording engineer Michael Bishop judiciously used the surround channels in the multi-channel DSD recording for capturing the acoustic environment of the performance, without needless gimmicky re-mixing of effects into the surround channels. Kudos. Audiophiles, audio enthusiasts, and music lovers are sure to enjoy this marvelous recording.

     Artist - Count Basie
     Album - The Count Basie Story 2CD
     Label - EMI/Roulette Jazz
     Years - 1957/1960, release - 2004
     Quality - MP3@320 kbps
     Size: 87,8+94 mb
     Total time: 40:35+43:31


     The Count Basie Story was originally issued as a deluxe double-LP box set in 1961 by Roulette Records. The basic idea was for the modern Basie big band to re-record some its classics from the 1930s and '40s as a celebration of its 25th anniversary. The original band had played host to some of the most legendary names in jazz: Lester Young, Harry Edison, Walter Page, Freddie Green, and Jo Jones. Of these, only Green remained in the 1960s edition of the band, which included Frank Foster, Billy Mitchell, Sonny Payne, Thad Jones, Sonny Cohn, Eddie Jones, Marshall Royal, Charles Fowlkes, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and Frank Wess. Singer Joe Williams had stepped in some years before to replace the great Jimmy Rushing. Co-produced for reissue by Michael Cuscuna and Billy Vera, this set's two discs include the original double LP in gorgeously balanced 24-bit remastered sound and three bonus tracks in the same vein recorded between 1957 and 1959 among them a stomping version of "Moten Swing," nodding to Basie's own roots in Bennie Moten's band in the 1930s. These sides were hotly contested when originally issued because of the contrast in accents between the 1937 band and the later one. The sound is so different that it cannot be compared to the pure and bluesy dance band swing of the originals; it is amped up and brassy, with charts (written by Royal or Neal Hefti) that stress tempo and sophisticated ensemble playing rather than riff-based solos, busyness, and dynamics. For any serious Basie fan, these sides are essential, particularly for the bonus cuts. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

     Artist: Bob James
     Album: One
     Label: Tappan Zee/Koch Records
     Year: 1974
     Release 2005
     Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kb/s
     Time: 34:01
     Size: 86,3 (covers)
     AMG rating

     Bob James's first recording for his Tappan Zee label, which has been reissued on CD along with virtually James' entire output by Warner Bros., is typically lightweight. Although Grover Washington, Jr. has two spots on soprano and trumpeter Jon Faddis is in the brass section, James' dated Fender Rhodes keyboard is the lead voice throughout the six pieces, which include two adaptations of classical works. Only a lightly funky version of "Feel Like Making Love" rises above the level of pleasant background music.
   ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Name: Les McCann.
     Born: September 23, 1935, Lexington, Kentucky
     Styles: Soul-Jazz, Jazz-Funk.
     Instruments: Piano

     Artist: Terence Blanchard
     Album: A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina)
     Release Date: Aug 14, 2007
     Label: Blue Note Records
     Format: MP3@320/kbs
     Rating


     "This moment must be seen," says Blanchard, “has to be seen by those people around the world who don't know what has happened here. What is happening here. Yes. Still."
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans native son Terence Blanchard has created an impassioned song cycle, A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina), as his third album for Blue Note Records. (Since signing with the label in 2003, Blanchard has released two other critically-acclaimed albums, Bounce and Flow, the latter of which received two Grammy nominations in 2006. This 13-track emotional tour-de-force of anger, rage, compassion, melancholy, and beauty features Blanchard's quintet- pianist Aaron Parks, saxophonist Brice Winston, bassist Derrick Hodge, drummer Kendrick Scott- as well as a 40-member string orchestra.
     An important jumpstart for A Tale of God's Will was director Spike Lee's decision to document the aftermath of Katrina on film, in what turned out to be the four-hour award-winning HBO documentary, When the Levees Broke, which aired last year. Lee, who has enlisted Blanchard on numerous occasions to score his films, such as Mo' Better Blues, Malcolm X, and Inside Man, tapped him once again for his documentary. Four of the tracks from the documentary were given new arrangements and expanded rounding out an album of nine new tracks inspired by New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina.
In 2008, won a Grammy Award for "Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album," and was nominated for "Best Jazz Instrument Solo" for his work on the song, "Levees."

     Artist: McCoy Tyner Big Band
     Album: The Turning Point
     Label: Verve
     Year: 1991
     Format: MP3@320/kbs
     Time: 55:07
     AMG Rating:

     This recording may not have been an actual "turning point" in pianist McCoy Tyner's productive career but its success gave momentum to his big band. Although only a part-time affair, Tyner's orchestra (seven brass, four reeds and a four-piece rhythm section) is considered one of the major jazz big bands of the 1990s, a perfect outlet for the leader's percussive and modal-oriented piano. With arrangements by Tyner, Dennis Mackrel, Slide Hampton, Steve Turre and Howard Johnson, many of these performances are quite powerful. It is a pity though that the liners do not identify the soloists since there are several that are quite colorful. Recommended. by Scott Yanow

   Artist: Larry Coryell
   Album: Spaces Revisited
   Label: Shanachie
   Year: 1997
   Format Mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
   Time: 53:54
   Size: 131 Mb (complete covers)
   AMG Rating:

   What started as a project to reunite Coryell with Billy Cobham on drums in order to take a second look at the sound and style of the Coryell's Spaces ended up creating a whole new chapter instead. With Richard Bona on bass and Bireli Lagrene on guitar, these nine songs capture the spirit of that 30-year-old session with new, adventuresome playing and vigor. Coryell takes great pride in the spontaneity of this project — one day rehearsal, two days recording — and well he should, since it contains musicians interacting with each other in a loose yet totally on-top-of-their-game manner. Bireli shines on the 9/8 section "Variations on Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," while Bona solos beautifully on "Blues for Django and Stephane." Yet it's ultimately Coryell's and Cobham's show, and their playing throughout is sublime with the on-the-spot recording of "Hong Kong Breeze" — an off the cuff head arrangement done in one take — showcasing their two players/one mind interplay. Maybe you can't go home again, but this album clearly proves you can always take your luggage with you and build a whole new house.

   Artist: Kenny Barron Quintet
   Album: Images
   Label: Sunny Side
   Year: 2004
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kb/s
   Time: 1:12:40
   Size: 169 mb (covers)

   Barron's quintet here with Anne Drummond on alto and flute, drummer Kim Thompson, Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass, and vibraphonist Stefon Harris is a powerhouse of lyrical and percussive counterpoint and exotic voices. One listen to Barron's "Jasmine Flower," with its Eastern melody and exceptional interplay between the pianist and Harris' vibes that is knotty but never jagged, is enough to convince. Elsewhere, as on Harris' "The Lost Ones," where Barron's middle register ostinati are given free rein to punctuate the skeletal melody and warm texture of the tune's body, is so elegant it's moving. The lilting flute line played by Drummond, just ahead of the impressionistic beat and highlighted by the vibes, makes this an amiable yet compelling listen. This is followed with a wonderfully light-touched read of Bud Powell's "Hallucinations." Barron's touch is breezy and effective; he gets to the complex lyric fragments in the center of the structure and trots them out for the band's interaction. Harris' solo has just the right tautness to keep it grounded and pulsing. The reading of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" extrapolates the Latin melody from the tune's heart and makes it a rhythmic construct with Barron and Harris winding around Kitagawa in an easy but swirling pace to the top of the figure and then into the maelstrom of the solo exchanges. In sum, this is another fine date by a pianist who seems to restlessly climb another rung with every outing even though he has been at the top of his game for decades.
   Thom Jurek, AMG

   Artist: Jeff Golub
   Album: Grand Central
   Label: Narada Jazz/EMI
   Year: 2007
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 256 kb/s
   Time: 53:14
   Size: 103 Mb (complete covers)
   AMG Rating:

   A staple of the smooth jazz format since the mid-'90s, the former sideman for Rod Stewart fills a unique rock/blues gap between the genre's overabundance of R&B-influenced saxmen and the cool, classy elegance of artists like Chris Botti. At his best, as on this exciting collection, he's raw and just a bit dirty, wailing with his buddies and having some loose, energetic fun. Though fans mostly saw him out there on the Guitars & Saxes Tour or on countless smooth cruises, Jeff Golub spent his down time at home in N.Y.C. seeking out local clubs where he could jam with his buddies and break in some new material. Fashioned as a celebration of both the loud and subtle conversations between workaday New Yorkers, Grand Central found Golub happy in the midst of his adopted hometown, jamming hard and fast as if the subway's doors are closing and he's just about to jump on or off. He plays it mostly fast and funky, but shows a unique emotional depth by making his guitar gently weep on a nice cover of "Something." It's clear he's having a blast taking a live-in-the-studio approach with a handful of the cats he ensembles with around town. Keyboardist Chris Palmaro throws a buoyant piano harmony down on the brassy scorcher "Hello Betty" (inspired by an old romantic gum commercial!) as easily as he creates a retro-chill cool on Sly Stone's "If You Want Me to Stay" (a vibe that echoes Golub's more laid-back previous disc, Temptation). On the Ray Charles-influenced "The Way I Feel Tonight," the guitarist's sweet, bluesy charm is massaged by Palmaro's brooding B-3 and pianist Kenny White's jazzy shimmer. Golub always includes tracks with his smoothie all-star pals; here, Rick Braun leads the horn section on "Hello Betty" (which he also produced), Kirk Whalum goes dark and cool on the acoustic jazz ballad "Slinky," and Richard Elliot keeps the customer satisfied on a pleasant cover of "Ain't No Woman Like the One I Got." The brightest cameo belongs to Philippe Saisse, who invokes the spirit of Les McCann stunningly on the crazed, horn-drenched soul-jazz jam "Mojito," a track inspired by a drink Golub dubbed a favorite on one of the smooth cruises. After a low-key chilled-out turn on his previous disc, it's great to hear him partying again.
   Jonathan Widran, AMG

   Artist: David El Malek
   Album: Music From Source
   Label: Nocturne/Phantom Sound & Vision
   Year: 2008
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 192 kb/s vbr
   Time: 52:21
   Size: 71,3 Mb (complete covers)

   Music from Source - As it was once for Charlie Parker, John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins, inexhaustible soloists often reserved for daily occurrence, for David El-Malek, the saxophone has become an extension of himself, the vector of the words he has not been able to say for a long time. If his improviser speech is so clear, if he seems to be motivated by an inner urgency, is because he has a sincere voice which has managed to express. He also opens his heart through the instrument like a release of the words. But David's development is far from being finished. Music bulimic, eager to learn, he studies orchestration, he initiates himself into classical writing, takes great interest in the saxophone transcribing of classical works because he now has a desire to make his jazzman talents concur with the intimate heritage of the songs he wants to pass on to the world just as he hears them within himself : played by a symphonic orchestra...

   Artist: Danilo Perez
   Album: Across The Crystal Sea
   Label: DECCA U.S.
   Year: 2008
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 192 kb/s vbr
   Time: 57:57
   Size: 79,4 Mb

   Many jazz pianists desire to record with strings at least one time in their careers. Unfortunately, this frequently causes them to play a bit too conservatively, while the strings overwhelm the release. Such is the case on this CD by pianist Danilo Perez with arrangements by Claus Ogerman (who previously worked on recording projects with Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson, among others). The jazz group, which includes bassist Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Hash, and percussionist Luis Quintero, plays acceptably but they clearly are having to reign in too much in deference to the strings. One wonders how Perez has top billing when hearing "Lazy Afternoon," as the piece is nearly two-thirds over by the time he and his group make their entrance, though vocalist Cassandra Wilson shines in the dreamy setting. She also appears in "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings," a neglected gem from decades ago; fortunately, Perez isn't shunted aside by the strings in this chart. Ogerman's originals, many of which are derived from themes by classical composers Rachmaninov, Sibelius, Massenet, and others.
   Ken Dryden, AMG

     Artist: The Blind Boys Of Alabama
     Album: Down In New Orleans
     Release Date: Jan 29, 2008
     Label: Time Life
     Genre: Gospel
     Styles: Black Gospel, Traditional Gospel, Contemporary Gospel
     Format: Mp3@320kb/s
     
     The Blind Boys of Alabama’s latest release, Down In New Orleans, has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Gospel Album.
Released on January 29th, Down in New Orleans represents the band’s desire to bring hope to the still-storm-ravaged city and includes performances by some of New Orleans’ finest, including Allen Toussaint, The Hot 8 Brass Band, and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. ”We may not be able to swing a hammer,” explains founding member Jimmy Carter, ”but we hope we can help inspire folks with a song.”
     Produced by Chris Goldsmith, The Washington Post said of the record, "Inspired and relevant, [Down In New Orleans] borders on the miraculous." USA Today praised the "rousing musical tribute to New Orleans," Rolling Stone called it ”A super weapon of roots-music uplift,” while the Toronto Sun gasped that the CD is ”Inspirational".