Artist: John Mayall
       Album: The Private Collection (2cd live)
       Label: Recall Records UK
       Year: 2006
       Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kb/s
       Time: 2:28:32
       Size: 342 Mb

   The Private Collection issued also as Rolling with the Blues chronicles seven John Mayall concerts played between 1972 and 1982. Mayall had given up trying to maintain and support a regular backing group by the early '70s, and was instead working with different configurations for specific gigs. For the 1972 Frankfurt show that opens this two-disc set (a third disc is a DVD interview with Mayall from 2002), Mayall works with a lineup of Keef Hartley on drums, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, Clifford Solomon on sax, Freddy Robinson on guitar, and Victor Gaskin on upright bass. Red Holloway replaces Solomon on sax for a second show in Frankfurt a year later in 1973. A 1980 show in Huntington Beach, CA, finds James Quill Smith on guitar. Two 1982 concerts, one in Minneapolis and one in Chicago, feature John McVie of Fleetwood Mac on bass, while two shows in Italy later in the year, one in Rome and one in Lugo, sport a stripped-down lineup of Mick Taylor, Steve Thompson, and Colin Allen. For all these personnel differences, the sound is remarkably consistent and the live recordings are quite balanced, although things red-line occasionally and now and then there are some obvious dropouts, but nothing too serious. Among the highlights are the over 12-minute jazz blues "Got You on My Mind" and a scuffling "No Holds Barred" from the 1972 Frankfurt show and an appropriately ragged John Lee Hooker homage, "John Lee Boogie," from the 1980 Huntington Beach performance.
   ~ Steve Leggett, AMG

     Artist: Various Artists
     Album: La Grande Storia Del Jazz, Vol.9: - Davis & Coltrane
     Label: la Repubblica + L`espresso
     Year: 2009
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320
     Time: 71:37
     Size: 90+82 Mb



     Вашему вниманию предлагается La Grande Storia Del Jazz Vol.9: CD - Davis & Coltrane.
     На данном диске собраны записи разных лет 1955-1967 г.г. Состав исполнителей действительно звездный. Очень интересный диск. Приятного прослушивания!

   Artist: Miles Davis
   Album: Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
   Label: Prestige P-7129 OJCCD-190-2
   Year: 1956
   Release: 1987
   Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
   Time: 36 min
   Size: 82 MB + full original art
   

   Relaxin' features the Miles Davis Quintet in a pair of legendary recording dates — from May and October of 1956 — which would generate enough music to produce four separate long-players: Cookin', elaxin', Workin', and Steamin'. Each of these is considered not only to be among the pinnacle of Davis' work, but of the entire bop subgenre as well. As with the other titles, Relaxin' contains a variety of material which the band had concurrently been performing in their concert appearances. In a brilliant stroke of time conservation, the scheme was hatched for the quintet — who includes: Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Philly Joe Jones (drums), and Red Garland (piano) — to perform the equivalent of their live repertoire in the studio for eventual release. The results are consistently superior both in terms of song selection as well as performance. The solid nature of the unit as a singular musical force is immediately apparent. "If I Were a Bell" — from the play Guys and Dolls — includes some remarkable soloing via Coltrane and Garland. Davis' solos are additionally impressive, as they're derived from the same four-note motive as the melody. Hearing the many variations that he comes up with throughout the song conveys how intrigued Davis must have been by the tune, as it stayed in his performance repertoire for decades. Tracks such as "You're My Everything" and "Oleo" highlight the synchronic nature of Davis and Coltrane as they carry each other's melodies while trading off solos. The steady syncopation of Philly Joe Jones keeps the rhythms tight and the delicate interplay all the more conspicuous. Relaxin' offers something for every degree of jazz enthusiast. Likewise, the quintet's recordings provide a tremendous introduction for the curious jazz consumer.
    ~ Lindsay Planer, AMG

   Artist: The Moody Blues with the London Festival Orchestra
   Album: Days of Future Passed
   Label: Polydor
   Year: 1967
   Release: 1997
   Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
   Time: 41:21
   Size: 95MB
   

   This album marked the formal debut of the psychedelic-era Moody Blues; though they'd made a pair of singles featuring new (as of 1966) members Justin Hayward and John Lodge, Days of Future Passed was a lot bolder and more ambitious. What surprises first-time listeners -- and delighted them at the time -- is the degree to which the group shares the spotlight with the London Festival Orchestra without compromising their sound or getting lost in the lush mix of sounds. That's mostly because they came to this album with the strongest, most cohesive body of songs in their history, having spent the previous year working up a new stage act and a new body of material (and working the bugs out of it on-stage), the best of which ended up here. Decca Records had wanted a rock version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" to showcase its enhanced stereo-sound technology, but at the behest of the band, producer Tony Clarke (with engineer Derek Varnals aiding and abetting) hijacked the project and instead cut the group's new repertory, with conductor/arranger Peter Knight adding the orchestral accompaniment and devising the bridge sections between the songs and the album's grandiose opening and closing sections. The record company didn't know what to do with the resulting album, which was neither classical nor pop, but following its release in December of 1967, audiences found their way to it as one of the first pieces of heavily orchestrated, album-length psychedelic rock to come out of England in the wake of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's and Magical Mystery Tour albums. What's more, it was refreshingly original, rather than an attempt to mimic the Beatles; sandwiched among the playful lyricism of "Another Morning" and the mysticism of "The Sunset," songs like "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Twilight Time" (which remained in their concert repertory for three years) were pounding rockers within the British psychedelic milieu, and the harmony singing (another new attribute for the group) made the band's sound unique. With "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Nights In White Satin" to drive sales, Days of Future Passed became one of the defining documents of the blossoming psychedelic era, and one of the most enduringly popular albums of its era. On CD, its history was fairly spotty until 1997, when it was remastered by Polygram; that edition blows every prior CD release (apart from Mobile Fidelity's limited-edition disc) out of contention, though this record is likely due for another upgrade -- and probably a format jump, perhaps to DVD-Audio -- on or before its 40th anniversary in 2007.
   Bruce Eder. AMG

     Artist: Julie London
     Album: Julie / Love on the Rocks
     Label: EMI
     Year: 1958
     Release:2006
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 01:04:06
     Size: 143,8 Mb


        2-on-1. The release of these two albums has been heavily influenced by requests for the many Julie London fans worldwide. Recorded in 1958, Julie is an album of relaxing jazz featuring some great standards such as 'Somebody Loves Me', 'Bye Bye Blackbird', 'You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me' and 'When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobobbin' Along'. Love On The Rocks is an album which contains a dozen songs expressing the emotions of a woman whose love has been spurned. Julie adds to the already expressive lyrics, the magic ingredient of her provocative style, the style that is Julie London's distinctive trademark. Outstanding tracks include 'Willow Weep For Me', 'A Cottage For Sale', 'The Man That Got Away' and 'Love On The Rocks'.
   ~ Cd.universe

    Artist: L. Subramaniam
    Album: Time must be changed (Subramaniam in Moscow)
    Label: ГП «Фирма Мелодия»; Boheme Music
    Year: 1988
    Release: 2000
    Time: 37 min
    Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
    Size: 104.0 MB

     Artist: Gary Burton, Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry
     Album: 3 In Jazz
     Label: RCA Victor
     Year: 1963
     Release: 1995      Genre: Jazz, Post-Bop
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 kbps
     Time: 35:06
     Size: 80 Mb


        This CD, a straight reissue of an RCA LP, has three unrelated but consistently interesting sessions that were recorded in 1963. Three selections with tenor-saxophonist Sonny Rollins (the only performances currently available elsewhere) are rather free (and fascinating) versions of standards and also feature cornetist Don Cherry, bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Billy Higgins. Vibraphonist Gary Burton's quartet (with trumpeter Jack Sheldon, bassist Monty Budwig and drummer Vernell Fournier) is fine if not overly memorable on their four numbers but flugelhornist Clark Terry (with pianist Hank Jones, bassist Milt Hinton, drummer Osie Johnson and Willie Rodriguez on Latin percussion) is in superior form, playing with great exuberance on "When My Dream Boat Comes Home" and "Cielito Lindo." Well worth picking up.
    ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

   Artists: Gary Burton & Chick Corea
   Album: The New Crystal Silence (2cd live)
   Label: Stretch
   Year: 2008
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 224 kb/s vbr
   Time: 2:02:52
   Size: 157 Mb (cover)
   AMG Rating:

   When Crystal Silence first appeared in 1972 on the ECM label, its cover photograph depicted a stellar shot of the sun, which appeared to be setting. That duet album featured two already-seasoned jazz veterans who were in their thirties, and had been part of many of the developments in the music for a decade. Corea's credits included Miles Davis, his own Return to Forever, the "Is" sessions, Circle, and many others; Burton's included tenures with George Shearing and Stan Getz as well as Larry Coryell. But the duet album they recorded for ECM was so utterly striking and arresting because it highlighted not only an entirely new way of playing duets between piano and vibes — which had been done previously and well by others — but a new way of hearing them as well.
   After 35 years, five duet records, and countless tours together, the pair revisit the notion of the duet in two different contexts on this delightful, compelling double-disc package from Concord. The first disc finds the pair playing live in Sydney with that city's symphony orchestra conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer and arranged by Tim Garland. The program includes five tunes, all of them composed by Corea. While it is disconcerting on first thought as to how an orchestra could add to the special intuitive communication this duo has developed since its first accidental performance at a festival in 1971, those fears disappear quickly after the orchestra's intro, when Corea's piano makes its entrance and Burton responds. It's striking there was so little rehearsal time, and that Garland's arrangements are so spot-on and attuned to the intricacy of what happens harmonically between these two. "Duende" opens the set with an enormous introductory sweep that feels more like a crescendo, but it gives way within two minutes to the exploration of extrapolated minors when Corea plays a single note that initiates his speaking voice on the piano. . . .

     Artist: The Three Sounds
     Album: Live At The Lighthouse
     Label: Blue Note
     Year: 1967
     Release: 2000
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 Kbps
     Time: 67:19
     Size: 157MB
     AMG Rating:

     Shortly after the Vibrations sessions, the Three Sounds had their first major personnel shakeup when William Dowdy left the group. Donald Bailey replaced the drummer, and the group played a number of live dates over the course of 1967. During that summer, their concerts at the famed Los Angeles venue the Lighthouse were recorded and released as Live at the Lighthouse. The selection of nine Three Sounds staples gives the group a chance to stretch out and prove that they could survive without Dowdy. Not only do they prove that they can carry on without him, they flourish. The music on Live at the Lighthouse is hotter than some of their studio recordings, pulsating with energy and good feelings, demonstrating that they had worked out any of the problems that hampered Vibrations. It's their finest set since Black Orchid.
   ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG

    Artist: John Mayall
    Album: Live from Austin, Texas
    Label: New West Records
    Year: 2007
    Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kb/s
    Time: 55:13
    Size: 126 Mb
    Bubu's Rating: 4,5

     You don t exactly have to be a rock & roll historian to know that the 60 s rock sound that revolutionized popular music got much of its raunch, rawness and soulful edge from the neglected masters of American blues. What many of today s rockers may have forgotten, however, is that Manchester-born singer-guitarist John Mayall was one of the leaders of that revolution. After four decades, he s still called the Father of British Blues for good reason. His band The Bluesbreakers provided fertile ground for the likes of Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, John McVie, and Jack Bruce, among other alumni. Over an incredibly short four years, these Brits and their American counterparts took the essence of traditional blues and transformed it into the foundation of much of modern rock (think Cream, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, etc., etc.).
     This Austin City Limits session was recorded September 13, 1993, showcasing Wake Up Call, the latest release from the 90 s edition of the Bluesbreakers, which besides Mayall included Coco Montoya, Rick Cortes and Joe Yuele. Montoya in particular shines as he tears off one seamless guitar solo after another. Always musical movers and shakers, they mix it up this time in a melting pot of blues spiced with a little jazz, gospel and rock, but it doesn t get any better than Jimmy Reed s Ain t That Lovin You or Junior Wells heartbreaker I Could Cry.
     Blues is one of the most honest forms of music because it tells real stories about real people with real emotion. Who can t relate to that? Just as the blues has a timeless, universal appeal, the music of John Mayall today is as true to his purist vision, yet modern expression, as it was back in 1963.
   - Amazon.com

      Artist: Jimmy Smith
      Album: Prayer Meetin’
      Label: Blue Note (RVG edition)
      Year: 1963
     Release: 1990
      Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kbit/s
      Time: 0.55:18
      Size: 122 MB

     
     Посвящаю этот пост многоуважаемому г-ну Teds. Сегодня его уже сравнили с Cole Porter, но я с этим не согласен. Его просветительская деятельность скорее достойна сравнения с Norman Granz...

Playing piano-style single-note lines on his Hammond B-3 organ, Jimmy Smith revolutionized the use of the instrument in a jazz combo setting in the mid-'50s and early '60s, and arguably his best albums for Blue Note during this period were the ones he did with tenor sax player Stanley Turrentine. Recorded on February 8, 1963, at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey, and featuring Quentin Warren on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums in addition to Smith and Turrentine, Prayer Meetin' is a delight from start to finish. Forming a perfect closure to Smith's trio of albums with Turrentine (Midnight Special and Back at the Chicken Shack were both released in 1960), Prayer Meetin' was the last of four albums Smith recorded in a week to finish off his Blue Note contract before leaving for Verve. The blues roots are obvious here, and the Smith-penned title track might even be called jazz-gospel, but the single most striking cut is a version of Ivory Joe Hunter's "I Almost Lost My Mind," with both Smith and Turrentine building wonderful solos, suggesting new pathways for organ and sax as complementary instruments.
    ~ Steve Leggett , AMG

     Artist: Miles Davis
     Album: Walkin'
     Label: Prestige P 7076/ OJCCD-213-2
     Year:1954
     Release: 1987
     Format: FLAC+full original art
     Time: 38 min
     Size: 186 MB
     AMG Rating:

     The undeniable strength and conviction present in Miles Davis' performance on Walkin', underscores the urgency and passion with which he would rightfully reclaim his status as a primary architect of bop. Davis is supported by his all-stars, consisting of his primary rhythm unit: Horace Silver (piano), Percy Heath (bass), and Kenny Clarke (drums). The sextet featured on the title track, as well as "Blue 'n' Boogie," adds the talents of J.J. Johnson (trombone) and Lucky Thompson (tenor sax). Davis' quintet includes the primary trio and Dave Schildkraut (alto sax). Perhaps not an instantly recognizable name, Schildkraut nonetheless made some notable contributions to Stan Kenton's Kenton Showcase EPs, concurrent with his work with Miles. Walkin' commences with the extended title track, which follows a standard 12-bar blues theme. While the solos from Johnson and Thomson are unique, Miles retains a palpable sense of extrication from the music — as if the song was an extension of his solo instead of the other way around. The lethargic rhythms reiterate the subtle adornments of the horn section to the basic trio. In direct contrast to "Walkin'" is a full-tilt jumper, "Blue 'n' Boogie." The improvisation yields some truly memorable solos and exchanges between Davis and Johnson — who can be heard clearly quoting from Thelonious Monk's "Rhythm-A-Ning." "Solar" maintains a healthy tempo while drawing the listener in to the delicate interplay where the solos often dictate the melody. Horace Silver's piano solo is Ellington-esque in it's subdued elegance. The final track, "Love Me or Leave Me," gives the most solid indication of the direction Miles' impending breakthrough would take. So swift and certain is each note of his solo, it reflects the accuracy of someone thinking several notes ahead of what he is playing. Walking is a thoroughly solid effort.
   ~ Lindsay Planer, AMG