Artist - Coleman Hawkins
     Album - Hawk Eyes!
     Label - OJC/Prestige
     Year - 1959, release - 1991
     Quality - MP3@320 kbps
     Size - 100 mb
     Total time - 45:25


     Tenor-great Coleman Hawkins tended to be at his best when challenged by another horn player. On this highly enjoyable CD, Hawkins is joined by the superb trumpeter Charlie Shavers and a strong rhythm section that includes guitarist Tiny Grimes and pianist Ray Bryant. With such superior songs as "Through for the Night," "I Never Knew" and "La Rosita," in addition to long jams, plenty of fireworks occur during this frequently exciting session. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artists: Tommy Flanagan Trio
     Album: Overseas
     Label: Prestige/Original Jazz Classics
     Year: 1957
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 53:50
     Size: 115 MB
     AMG Rating:

     This studio session represents one of Tommy Flanagan's earliest dates as a leader, recorded while he was in Stockholm, Sweden. Bassist Wilbur Little and a young Elvin Jones on drums provide strong support, but the focus is on Flanagan's brilliant piano. The brilliant opener is a potent brisk run through Charlie Parker's "Relaxin' at Camarillo," followed by a faster than typical "Chelsea Bridge," which the leader playfully detours into another Billy Strayhorn composition ("Raincheck") for a moment, while also featuring Jones' brushwork in a pair of breaks. Flanagan's approach to the venerable standard "Willow Weep for Me" is steeped in blues, backed by Little's imaginative accompaniment. The bulk of this date is devoted to Flanagan's compositions, though only one, "Eclypso," remained in his repertoire for long. This engaging piece alternates between calypso and bop, with Jones switching between sticks and brushes. "Beat's Up" has the obvious influence of Bud Powell, while the extended blues "Little Rock" opens with a sauntering bass solo. This album has been released under various titles on several labels, including DIW, Dragon, Met, and Prestige, though Fantasy reissued it with three alternate takes in 1999. ~ Review by Ken Dryden, AMG.

     Artist: Coleman Hawkins
     Album: The Hawk In Paris
     Year: 1956, Release: 2001
     Label: RCA Victor Gold Series
     Bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 38:48
     Size:67 MB

      This CD is a major surprise. Hawkins had always wanted to record with a large string section and he received his wish on the majority of these 12 romantic melodies, all of which have some association with Paris. The surprise is that he plays with a great deal of fire (his doubletiming on "My Man" is wondrous), and that Manny Albam's arrangements mostly avoid being muzaky and quite often are creative and witty. What could have been a novelty or an insipid affair is actually one of Coleman Hawkins's more memorable albums. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Sammy Davis Jr.
     Album: Sammy Davis Jr. Sings and Laurindo Almeida Plays
     Label: MMS
     Year: 1966, Release: 1994
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
     Size: 77 MB



     The intimacy inherent in this collection places 1966's Sammy Davis, Jr. Sings and Laurindo Almeida Plays in a class unto itself. As he had done on the highly conceptual All-Star Spectacular in 1962 and California Suite in 1964, multi-talented entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. has created a unique and thoroughly fascinating outing. The ten selections feature Davis and Brazilian instrumentalist/arranger Laurindo Almeida, who made a name for himself as an accompanist for Carmen Miranda before delving into the decidedly American art form of West Coast cool jazz with saxophonist Bud Shank in the mid-'50s. Here, the pair effortlessly complement each other inside the very intonation and tenor of their respective crafts. Davis' incisive abilities as an emotive performer bring a pervasive dramatic quality to the wide range of material covered. When compared to fellow Rat Packer Frank Sinatra's reading of "Here's That Rainy Day," Davis' vocals lean into the song, resulting in a palpable sense of melancholia. He evokes a similar sentiment on the achingly poignant version of Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" as well as the hopelessly optimistic "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows." However, the real magic woven into this collaboration is without a doubt Davis' incorporation of several significant Broadway melodies. "Where Is Love" -- taken from Lionel Bart's Oliver -- is a stunning, if not mesmerizing, interpretation. "Joey, Joey, Joey" bears an earthy closeness, offering what is arguably a defining moment as the tune transcends its place within the stage production Most Happy Fella, becoming an exceptional and exquisite ballad. ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide
    

Artist - Jack Teagarden
Album - All That Jazz!/The Dixie Sound of Jack Teagarden 2LP/1CD
Label - Lone Hill Jazz
Year - 1961, release - 2009
Quality - MP3@320 kbps
Size - 174 mb
Total time - 79:13


This well-filled CD contains two sessions recorded in 1961, three years before the leader died. The first session (tracks 1-9) was released with the title Chicago and All That Jazz; the second (tracks 10-21) was issued as The Dixie Sound of Jack Teagarden. Both albums featured the doyen of jazz trombonists, Jack Teagarden, with his added vocals on six tracks.

This CD well represents the central paradox of jazz, which is often played by people with distinctive sounds but which usually depends on the musicians working together. This is especially true of sessions like these, where a bunch of jazzmen is assembled to record with little or no rehearsal. There is no doubt that many of the participants here have very individual voices. Teagarden's trombone is easily recognized and even more so are the rather shrill clarinet of Pee Wee Russell and the smooth tenor sax of Bud Freeman - neither of whom could be mistaken for anybody else (although I have to admit that Freeman sometimes sounds like Eddie Miller). >>>

     Artists: Zoot Sims & Joe Pass
     Album: Blues For Two
     Label: Pablo/OJC
     Year: 1982, release 1991
     Produced by Norman Granz
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 0.44:17
     Size: 100 MB
     AMG Rating: 4 ^1/2 stars

     Время уже позднее, поэтому перед сном в самый раз будет послушать спокойную и добрую музыку двух Мастеров...

     Artist: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
     Album: Buhaina
     Year: 1973
     Label: Prestige
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kb/s
     Time: 41:55 min
     Size: 91 mb


     An amazing album that has Art Blakey completely reinventing himself for the 70's! Blakey shifts from straight hardbop to kind of a modal soul jazz groove, touched with some of the electric playing of the younger jazz generation, but not enough to qualify as fusion or funk. Instead, he's working with some great younger players -- like Carter Jefferson, Woody Shaw, and Michael Howell -- hitting a groove that reminds us of some of the best underground soul jazz on labels like Muse or Strata East. Includes the amazing long groovers "Mission Eternal" and "Chant For Bu", a famous Tribe Called Quest sample -- plus new electric piano versions of "Moanin" and "Along Came Betty", both of which feature vocals by Jon Hendricks.

   Artist: Eden Atwood
   Album: A Night In The Life
   Year: 1996
   Label: Concord Records
   Format, bitrate: MP3/192 kb + Flac & MP3@320
   Size: 53.1 MB + 286 MB & 132 MB
   Time: 58:41

REPOST with new links for lossless & MP3@320 and new info from Mr. con1

   Enter Eden Atwood, who despite her youthful years, knows and reflects the tradition of the Great American Songbook as well as the legacy of great singers, from Billie to Shirley Horn. On this, apparently the last of her albums for Concord, she reveals a slightly rougher, world-weary timbre (a cold, perhaps?) than on her previous albums, but it's a quality that is not at all unbecoming--if anything, it enriches the expressiveness of her interpretation of these introspective ballads (the Eden of just 2 years previous would probably not have been up to a lyric like "Lost in the Stars"). At the same time, there are still several notes which, when combined with a closed vowel sound like the "schwa" phoneme, produce a forced falsetto quality in the mid-register. With coaching and practice, singers can get around most of these awkward spots (ask Sinatra, who first found, then maintained, the sound he wanted by employing Mabel Mercer's "artifice" to achieve Billie Holiday's "naturalness," not to mention classical vocal training from Robert Merrill, along with numerous laps at both the track and the pool to build up his breath reserves!).
   Samuel Chell (Kenosha, WI United States), Amazon.com

   Artist: Chet Baker
   Album: Live at Pueblo, Colorado 1966
   Year: 1966
   Release: 1992
   Label: Baker
   Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 kbps
   Time: 1:01:32
   Size: 134 MB

   This previously unreleased recording has very sentimental memories for me. This was the sixties. There was very little work for jazz musicians at the time, which made it very hard financially. With two small boys, and another child due in three months, the opportunity for Chet to work in Pueblo was a small godsend.
   The job didn't pay much, but it was worth an opportunity for Chet to play. What made it even nicer for Chet was that he would be playing with Phil.
   Phil was best man at our wedding and even lived with us for a few months in New York. Phil isthe kind of musician who is constantly writing and creating. He would think nothing of throwing open our bedroom door at three or four o'clock in the morning and waking Chet up to listen to him play something he had just written. At times, Phil would wake us up two or three times a night. On one occasion, after several visits from Phil, Chet told him he would "kick his ... ass" if he knocked on our door again. Don't get me wrong, Chet loved Phil, but he also liked to sleep. There was no stopping Phil, though, he cooled it for a couple of nights, but was soon back with sax, pencil and paper in hand.
   I'm so grateful that Joe Urso made the tape available to me and thankful for his encouragement. Thanks Joe.
   Thanks also to Henry Blaukopf, Jim Coleman, Chip Stern, and Art and Lisa Frank for assisting in the production of this recording.
   This CD has the music and memories that make me smile, and Chet come alive again.
      Carol Baker, 1992

     Artist: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin & Sammy Davis Jr.
     Album: Live and Swingin': The Ultimate Rat Pack Collection
     Year: 1962; Release Date: 10/11/2003
     Label: Reprise
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kb/s
     Size: 165.6 MB
     AMG Rating:



      As a double-dose audiovisual document of the Rat Pack, this two-disc package -- one a CD, one a DVD -- more than lives up to its title. Disc one is an audio-only CD culled from performances given by Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis, Jr. at a Chicago nightclub between November 26 and December 2, 1962, over half of which is previously unreleased. Disc two, never before issued, captures about an hour and a half of a mid-1965 St. Louis performance by the same fellas on DVD, with a young Johnny Carson MCing. How much you like this sort of thing depends almost as much on how much you like the celebrity sleaze-kitsch that the Rat Pack mythology was built upon as you do the trio's estimable vocal abilities. But both parts deliver all the all-around entertainment you'd expect, particularly the DVD portion. As for the CD of the 1962 shows, much of it's devoted to solo turns by Martin, Davis, and Sinatra, each of whom delivers some of the standards deemed highlights of his repertoire. Martin trots out medleys, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," and "Volare"; Sinatra ups the swing with "Goody Goody" and "Chicago"; Davis leads off with "What Kind of Fool Am I." The individual sets are preserved in good sound, but in a way they're just the preamble to the comic sketches between Sinatra and Martin, soon expanded to include Davis as well. These bits (particularly the impressions) don't come off nearly as well on record as they do on film, which gives the DVD a considerable edge for appreciating the Rat Pack experience in all its full-dimensional, oft-corny glory. The strengths and weaknesses of the shtick are amplified on this disc, with Martin playing up his lush persona to the point of distaste, though he does manage to include his then-recent number one hit, "Everybody Loves Somebody." Davis' set perhaps comes off best, and certainly as the most versatile, though his hepcat jazz-swing moves (sometimes backed by just a drummer, not the full orchestra) might strike some true jazzbos as slumming. The Chairman of the Board's set includes some of his audience's faves: "Fly Me to the Moon," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "You Make Me Feel So Young." And though only two "tracks" featuring the entire Rat Pack are listed on the sleeve, actually these are quite extended comic routines (in which yet more impressions are trotted out) that capture the essence of the Rat Pack better than anything else here, ending with an ensemble rendition of "Birth of the Blues."

     Artist: Tommy Flanagan
     Album: Ballads and Blues
     Label: Enja
     Year: 1978
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 0.43:42
     Size: 100 MB

     For the CD reissue of this session, two selections were added to the original seven-song LP release. Pianist Tommy Flanagan and bassist George Mraz do not really stick to the plot of the title, playing a few bop standards that are neither blues nor ballads (such as "Scrapple from the Apple," "Star Eyes" and "How High the Moon"), in addition to some blues and ballads (most notably Tom McIntosh's haunting "With Malice Toward None"). The intimate and mostly lightly swinging music is fine, but one does miss the momentum that would have been provided by a drummer. ~ Review by Scott Yanow, AMG.

     Спокойный и приятный альбом. Послушайте...

    Artist: Yellowjackets
    Album: Time Squared
    Label: Heads Up International
    Year: 2003
    Time: 62 mins
    Format, Bitrate: MP3, 320 kbps
    Size: 142 mb
    AMG Rating:



    Following on the heels of their Grammy-nominated Mint Jam, their self-released 2001 "live" recording, the Yellowjackets continue to blaze an enjoyable musical trail that pulsates with their energy and signature sound that few will fail to recognize and many have come to love over the past 30 years. With Time Squared, the group's first studio recording in five years, the Yellowjackets have added 11 diverse songs to this fertile contemporary jazz landscape. The songs, which were all written by the group's new members, range from prayerful, peaceful melodies with improvised vocals, such as "Healing Waters," to those that capture Thelonious Monk's piano style. On "Monk's Habit," pianist Russell Ferrante and tenor saxophonist Bob Mintzer stir up some great jazz memories by playing an amazing straight-ahead set ripe with bebop solos reminiscent of Monk's time with Sonny Rollins . . .