Artist: Frank Sinatra
     Album: In The Wee Small Hours
     Label: Capitol
     Year: 1955
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 Kbps
     Time: 50:01
     Size: 92,5 MB

     Expanding on the concept of Songs for Young Lovers!, In the Wee Small Hours was a collection of ballads arranged by Nelson Riddle. The first 12" album recorded by Sinatra, Wee Small Hours was more focused and concentrated than his two earlier concept records. It's a blue, melancholy album, built around a spare rhythm section featuring a rhythm guitar, celesta, and Bill Miller's piano, with gently aching strings added every once and a while. Within that melancholy mood is one of Sinatra's most jazz-oriented performances — he restructures the melody and Miller's playing is bold throughout the record. Where Songs for Young Lovers! emphasized the romantic aspects of the songs, Sinatra sounds like a lonely, broken man on In the Wee Small Hours. Beginning with the newly written title song, the singer goes through a series of standards that are lonely and desolate. In many ways, the album is a personal reflection of the heartbreak of his doomed love affair with actress Ava Gardner, and the standards that he sings form their own story when collected together. Sinatra's voice had deepened and worn to the point where his delivery seems ravished and heartfelt, as if he were living the songs.
   ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

     Artist: Thelonious Monk
     Album: Blue Monk
     Label: A Jazz Hour With JHR 73501
     Year: 1961 - 1965
     Release: 1989
     Format, bitrate: mp3@320 kbps
     Time: 64:40
     Size: 147 MB

     We are not quite sure about the date and place where this music was played.
     We even doubt of the musicians. Effectively it is Thelonious, and Charlie Rouse at the sax. But the bass and drums? They could be:
     John Ore and Frankie Dunlop, or
     Butch Warren and Frankie Dunlop, or
     Butch Warren and Ben Riley, or
     Larry Gales and Ben Riley.
     It was recorded in Europe at some big concert hall like the Koncerthuset in Stockholm, or the Olympia in Paris. (There's one comment at the blogosphere claiming the record was made in California, but no, nyet, nichevo) The date could extend between 1961 and 1965. The only reasonably sure thing is the excelent quality of the music!
     And if you behave yourselves, dear drugi, next week you'll get Vol. 2.

   Artist: Oscar Peterson
   Album: Une anthologie 1952-1956
   Year: 1952 - 1956
   Release: 2007
   Label: Cabu, Jazz Masters
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kbps
   Size: 290 MB

     Artist: Will Downing
     Album: Classique
     Year: 2009
     Label: Concord Records
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 192 kbps
     Size: 66 mb


     The title of Will Downing's 2009 effort, CLASSIQUE, produced by the artist and Rex Rideout, may be a bit misleading: it is not a compilation but a brand-spanking new collection of contemporary jazz-inflected R&B--in other words, classic Downing.The album's first single, "Something Special" with its hand drums, loops, and slippery flute flitting around a well-placed, subtle horn section is at its core a popping midtempo love song. Elsewhere, his cover of Barry White's "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little Bit More Baby" reveals just how deep the master's influence is on Downing. He may not have the full depth of White's baritone, but he gets close, and his expressiveness and emotional connection to the song make it shine. The completely old-school Marvin Gaye ballad "Baby I'm for Real" features a duet appearance by Phil Perry. It's convincing and utterly gorgeous. But not only do the covers work here; Downing's originals connect too and not just the aforementioned single, but "Love Suggestions," "Ride," and "Let's Make It Now" also reveal the depth and breadth of Downing's songwriting. CLASSIQUE is indeed everything its title claims it is, and perhaps more. This is old-school urban R&B without a hint of nostalgia or pandering gimmickry.
   ~ cduniverse.com

    Artist: Buddy Guy
    Album: The Collection
    Label: Polygram International
    Release: 2001
    Format, bitrate: mp3, 256 kb/s
    Time: 55:32
    Size: 95,1 (full covers)

   The problem that faced Buddy Guy when he arrived in Chicago in 1957 was the restriction of awareness and acceptance of new directions in blues music, and Buddy's emergent electric blues style brought quite a culture shock to the Windy City. George 'Buddy' Guy was born on July 30,1936 in Lettsworth, Louisiana, into a share-cropping family, and his musical influence came from listening to local blues stations on a battery-operated radio and early records by Muddy and Wolf, Lonnie Johnson and Sam lightnin' Hopkins. As a teenager he acquired a guitar and played with groups around Baton Rouge. He took a demo tape with him when he left home for Chicago, on September 27,1957, and spent his days looking for work before checking the Yellow Pages and contacting Chess Records. . . .

    Artist: Buddy Guy
    Album: Can't Quit the Blues 3cd box set
    Label: Silvertone Records
    Release: 2006
    Format, bitrate: mp3, 256 kb/s
    Time: 1:14:26 + 1:15:14 + 1:13:40
    Size: 101 + 109 + 105 + 17,3 Mb (covers)
    AMG Rating:

   Legend status came late to Buddy Guy, so it shouldn't be surprising that this is the first box set devoted to the blues giant's work. Yet it is still a bit of a shock, because Guy, it seems, has always been a part of the modern blues scene, ubiquitous even in the late '60s at the era's high-profile rock and folk festivals, playing the hippie ballrooms alongside the major rockers of the day, and being name-dropped by the likes of Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin. So this three-CD/one-DVD collection arrives years after it might have, its audio discs stacked with 47 prime samplings of Guy's sizzling guitar work and passionate wailing, covering nearly 50 years' worth of music. . . .

     Artist: Roy Buchanan
     Album: De Luxe Edition
     Label: Alligator
     Release: 2001
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 kbps
     Size: 144 mb
     Time: 61:02


     The third non-crossed licensed anthology from the master guitarist focuses on his three-album stint at Chicago’s blues-based Alligator Records. The artist considered the music he made during his 1985-1987 association with the label the most honest of his career. Since he received complete creative control on these discs, his 1988 suicide, a short year after Hot Wires—one of Roy Buchanan’s best albums ever—was released, makes his untimely death even more shocking. With its 16 tracks—two previously unreleased—almost evenly divided between instrumentals and (predominantly) guest vocals shared by Otis Clay, Delbert McClinton, and Johnny Sayles (Buchanan tentatively and gruffly talks/sings three selections), this is not only a terrific overview of the musician’s astounding guitar virtuosity, but a sad coda to a short yet intense career that never broke him through to a wide audience. ”You know I ain’t broke, but I’m badly bent” are not only lyrics to ”Ain’t No Business,” but also the sad state of affairs the artist found himself in as he was recording his final disc. With a completely unique guitar style that effortlessly shifted from a crying moan (as in the opening bars) to his cover of Otis Redding’s ”These Arms of Mine” to a raging howl—exemplified by the thumping take on Willie Dixon’s ”You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover”—Buchanan effectively covered all the blues-soul-rock bases with passion, integrity, and class. His economy of style is obvious in the concentrated 2:29 track (and appropriately titled) instrumental ”Whiplash.” Although the guitarist’s material was often subpar on his two previous labels, the music he recorded during these three years was top-notch, and consistently throbbed with his trademarked rugged, steely tone. While he occasionally stooped to slinging out a wild flurry of fret-shredding cacophony, as in the middle of ”Peter Gunn,” just to provide proof of his jaw-dropping abilities, Buchanan more frequently kept those more ostentatious impulses in check. There’s none of the gospel and low-key country he often dipped into during his Polydor years, yet the essence of those genres is imbedded in his blues and R&B work here. This Alligator Deluxe Edition features rare photos, adequate track information, and a heartfelt remembrance penned by label boss Bruce Iglauer. At 61 minutes, only its playing time is questionable, since there easily could have been another quarter-hour of music added. Still, for those who need a concise compilation of Roy Buchanan’s phenomenal skills with no filler, this handy disc fits the bill.
   ~ Hal Horowitz, All Music Guide

   Artist: Julius Watkins
     Album: Julius Watkins sextet vol 1-2
     Label: Blue Note
     Year: 1956
     Release: 1998
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 kb/s
     Time: 41:50
     Size: 97 MB

     Before the rise of bebop, the French horn was never heard as an improvising instrument in jazz. John Graas, who worked with Stan Kenton and Shorty Rogers, was the first jazz French horn player to lead his own record date, in 1953. However, Julius Watkins soon surpassed him as a major soloist and would be the top jazz French horn player to emerge until the 1990s. He appeared as a soloist on a Thelonious Monk date in 1953 next to Sonny Rollins, and in 1954-1955 recorded music for a pair of very rare Blue Note 10" LPs. All of the latter performances are on this CD reissue. The 42 minutes of music find Watkins heading sextets with either Frank Foster or Hank Mobley on tenor, guitarist Perry Lopez, George Butcher or Duke Jordan on piano, bassist Oscar Pettiford, and Kenny Clarke or Art Blakey on drums. The French horn/tenor front line is an attractive sound (substitute Watkins for a trombonist, and one has the Jazz Crusaders); when Watkins formed Les Jazz Modes (which lasted for five years) a few years later, he would use Charlie Rouse as his tenor. The French horn might be a difficult instrument, but Watkins played it with the warmth of a trombone and nearly the fluidity of a trumpet. All nine straight-ahead selections on his CD are group originals, with Duke Jordan's future standard "Jordu" being heard in one of its earliest versions. Overall, the music fits into the modern mainstream of the period. This early effort by Julius Watkins is easily recommended
    ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

    Artist: Oscar Peterson Trio
    Album: 1959 (compilation)
    Label: Giants of Jazz
    Year: 1959
    Release: 1998
    Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
    Time: 1:00:35
    Size: 140 MB (cover)

          EVERY DAY IS AN OSCAR PETERSON DAY!

   In 1998 Giants of Jazz record company issued this wonderful compilation taken from Oscar's recordings in Paris and Chicago.

   Artist: Quincy Jones
   Album: Q's Jook Joint
   Year: 1994 - 1995
   Label: Qwest
   Time: 69:53
   Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 Kbps
   Size - 160 Mb

   The multi-talented Quincy Jones has excelled at idiomatic combinations in his albums since the '60s, when his mix-and-match soundtracks for television and films alerted everyone that he'd switched from a pure jazz mode to a populist trend. Q's Jook Joint blends the latest in hip-hop-flavored productions with sleek urban ballads, vintage standards, and derivative pieces; everything's superbly crafted, though few songs are as exciting in their performance or daring in their conception as past Jones epics like Gula Matari or the score from Roots. Still, you can't fault Jones for his choice of musical collaborators: everyone from newcomer Tamia to longtime stars like Ray Charles, rappers, instrumentalists, male and female vocalists, percussionists, and toasters. The CD really conveys the seamless quality one gets from attending a juke joint, though it lacks the dirt-floor grit or blues fervor of traditional Southern and chitlin circuit hangouts. But no one's more knowledgeable about the spectrum of African-American music, nor better able to communicate it via disc, than Quincy Jones.
   ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide