Artists: John Lewis & Mirjana Lewis
     Album: The Chess Game
               Based on J. S. Bach's "The Goldberg Variations"
     Label: Polygram / Philips
     Year: 1987, release: 1990
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 1.37:24
     Size: 224 MB

     Давайте сыграем в шахматы, друзья!
     Или же просто послушаем, как играют Джон Льюис и его жена Мирджен под звуки бессмертных Гольдберг-вариаций И.С. Баха.

     Let's play chess, friends!
     Or let's listen, as play John Lewis and his wife Mirjana with immortal sounds of J.S. Bach's Goldberg variations...

Artist: Bill Evans
Album: The Paris Concert Edition Two
Label: Blue Note
Year: 1979
Release: 2001
Format: Ape
Time: 49:49
Size: 238 MB (recovery 3%)


Bill Evans's death in 1980 ended the career of the most influential (along with McCoy Tyner) acoustic pianist in jazz of the past 20 years. This second of two LPs features Evans, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Paul Motian closely interacting on four of the pianist's originals, Gary McFarland's "Gary's Theme" and Miles Davis's "Nardis." The music is sensitive and subtly exciting. Until some later live sessions from 1980 are released, this can be considered Bill Evans's final recording and serves as evidence that, rather than declining, he was showing a renewed vitality and enthusiasm in his last year.

   Artist: Claude Bolling Trio
   Album: Jazz A La Francaise
   Label: CBS Records / Sony BMG Music
   Year: 1990 [ Orig. Year: 1984]
   Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbps
   Time: 41:43
   Size: 96 Mb



   Known more for his "suites" than jazz sessions Claude seems right at home in a trio setting. His French companions hold their own as he swings his way across the keyboard and leads them into the night. The music touches on the roots of jazz as seen through the eyes of one who has played all around the edges and has now made the decision to sit right down in the middle of the music and play.

     Artist: Barney Wilen
     Album: Jazz In Paris - Jazz Sur Seine
     Year: 1958
     Label: Verve International/Emarcy
     Format: MP3 @320kbps (with cover)
     Size: 120mb (RS.com, with 5% file recovery)
     AMG Rating: 4 stars


     Tenor saxophonist Barney Wilen was not quite 21 years old at the time of this meeting with Milt Jackson, Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke, three veterans of the Modern Jazz Quartet. But the young man is surprising mature and confident throughout the session, interpreting several of Django Reinhardt's compositions, along with a few by his French contemporaries and a pair of his own works. What's surprising about this session is the rare opportunity to hear Jackson exclusively as a pianist, as his playing is a bit more reserved than on vibes. The leader digs into his rhythm section's element with his original "B.B.B. (Bag's Barney Blues)," giving them a full chorus before making a convincing statement himself. The quartet's fluid arrangement of Thelonious Monk's "Epistrophy" swings. Percussionist Gana M'Bow is added for both "Swing 39" and "Minor Swing" to add an exotic touch. Wilen easily holds his own on his first major meeting on a record date with major American jazz stars. This excellent CD is part of Verve International's affordable midline Jazz in Paris reissue series.
    ~ AMG

    Artist: Coleman Hawkins
    Album: The Hawk Swings
    Genre: Jazz
    Format; Mpeg-4 320kbps
    Time: 32:30
    Size: 73.3MB
    Label: Crown


     I first bought this music back in the early 1960s as an LP on the old Crown label; it cost me all of 99 cents. I was quite happy when it was finally released on CD. I don't know why I love it so much. Hawkins doesn't play any better here than he did on so many other recordings. Maybe it's because the tunes perfectly fit his smoky tenor sax sound; there's an after-hours feel throughout the session. Maybe it's because it reminds me what a fine trumpeter Thad Jones was. Maybe it's because it's a chance to hear Eddie Costa (he died young in a car accident) play both piano and vibes (he's good on both.) Maybe it's because the big-toned bassist George Duvivier is such a presence. I don't know.....it just speaks to me the way some music just does. What drives me nuts is that my copy of the CD states that it is Volume One. Whatever happened to Volume Two? I've never been able to find it. Come to think of it Volume One is not all that easy to find either. If you find it at a decent price, buy it!

    Artist: Antonio Carlos Jobim
    Album: Tide
    Year: 1970
    Label: A&M
    Genre: Bossa Nova / Jazz
    Format: MP3@320 kb/s
    Time: 35:03 min
    Size: 73 mb


    One of two 1970 sets that Jobim cut with the young arranger Deodato (the other is Stone Flower). A strictly instrumental album, this spotlights Jobim's sound and improvising style rather than his songs. "Tom" is joined by a stellar group of jazz cats (everyone from Ron Carter to Urbie Green) who provide a laidback crossover jazz meets breezy Bossa Nova flavor. By Nick Dedina -- Rhapsody.com

    Artist: Tom zé
    Album: Danç-Êh-Sá (Dança dos Herdeiros do Sacrificio)
    Label: Tratore
    Year: 2006
    Genre: Brazilian Music
    Format, bitrate: mp3, 256 kbps
    Time: 32:49
    Size: 49 Mb

    . . . Tom Zé is 70. Older than World War II and rap and computers. At the end of last 2005 he released Estudando o Pagode, one of the best albums of his forty-year-long career. And Danç-Êh-Sá contains some of the most brutal music he’s ever recorded.
    On ''Pagode'', Zé let some of his lyrics, ideas, and rhythms be vetted by Brazilian teenagers in a weird effort to try to bring his music closer to the youth. It was, I hope, a failure. When Miles Davis made On the Corner in 1972, he said it was an “effort to get [his] music over to young black people,” a project that could only hinge on the belief that young black people had been anxiously waiting to swap early funk for abrasive, polyrhythmic anti-jazz. And read odes to Karlheinz Stockhausen penned by a doper with a Jheri curl—you know, something cool. (Not even God knows whether On the Corner is actually good or not.)
    But what’s great is that Zé, like Miles, is looking out for the kids. Danç-Êh-Sá was composed after reading a report conducted by MTV, stating that youth has turned sharply toward “the hedonism, the consumerism and the social irresponsibility.” And because youth is predisposed to fetishize freshness, Zé’s appeal comes in the form of seven wordless tracks of restless, dissonant music ranging from samba to baile funk to traditional forro to mongrelized reggae. . . .

    Artist: Bill Evans
    Album: The Paris Concert Edition One
    Label: Blue Note
    Year: 1979
    Release: 2001
    Format: Ape
    Time: 53:04
    Size: 279 MB (recovery 3%)

    Why this recording and it's companion recording were out of print for so long is a mystery. Evans always chose his bandmembers well. Marc Johnson and Joe La Barbera are so in tune to Evans and he with them that you could see that had Evans lived (he passed away not long after these sessions), he would again have one of the great trios. Evans was at his very best on this recording. There is so much for the heart and the mind to feast on this recording. Here you you can hear how strong his influence was on the next generation of pianists. "All Mine", "Beautiful Love", "Noelle's Theme" exhibit the art of the ballad at it's finest. His ballads never seem to be just that, they are mmore. They unravel before you. They meander out and back again and you are thankful for the aside. In this spare trio environment there is a lushness at times. I Loves You Porgy" is given a new reading. Each artist is given solo space. Each makes effective use of their solo space. Marc Johnson is brilliant on this recording. Melodic virtuosity with a fine sense of swing. I could not think of a better example of his work to recommend him than this. Since then he's gone on to produce a helluva body of work.