Album: Blind for love
     Artist: Ana Popovic
     Year: 2009
     Label: Eclecto Groove Records
     Quality: mp3@320
     Covers: all + autographs + self made concertphotos
     Size: 120 mb



This one kinda hit me out of left field. A guitar-slinging blueswoman born in Yugoslavia, Ana Popovichas been making big inroads into the blues scene for a while. Her new album Blind For Love (due this Tuesday) works hard to transcend the dull conventions that often define modern blues. Popovic isn't content merely to play a wicked guitar - which she most definitely does - and Blind For Love covers a lot of territory, from scathing rockers to soulful R&B tracks to funky thowdowns to even a gospel rave-up. For the most part, she pulls it off very nicely, though when Popovic whips her guitar out for a lead break, it's easy to define this album as a guitar showcase.

In that department, Ana Popovic is a unique and formidable talent, probably one of the best soloists I've heard in some time. If the material on Blind For Love doesn't quite match the heights of her guitar virtuosity, it's a forgivable shortcoming. She earns a lot of points for stylistic diversity, and with one helluva backing band (most of whom appear on the record), it sounds like Popovic is poised for great things. She may not quite be in league with peers like Susan Tedeschi, but it's easy to imagine her getting there in another album or two.

Very cool, and highly recommended for guitar fans and blues fans alike.

     Artist: Ernie Henry
     Album:Last Chorus
     Label: Riverside
     Year:rec. 1956-57
     Format: MP 3 @ 320 Kb/s
     Time: 45:20
     Size: 88.2 Mb
     

     Artist: VA
     Album: Jazz Moods by Keith Denniston
     Label: Woodley Pr
     Year: 1995
     Format, bitrate: MP3,VBR 160-258 kbps
     Time:02:26:36
     Size: 234 Mb

     Artist: Manu Dibango
     Album: joue Sidney Bechet
     Label: Cristal records
     Release: March 05, 2007
     Format, bitrate: MP3,320 kbps
     Size: 137.8 mb





Saxophonist from Cameroon. Originally trained in classical piano, his musical career began in Brussels and Paris in the 1950s. 1960 finds him in Congo as a member of African Jazz led by Joseph Kabasele (Le Grand Kalle)! He formed his own band in Cameroon in 1963, moving to Paris in 1965. His international breakthrough came in 1972 with Soul Makossa.
Manu Dibango is extraordinarily versatile, having played almost every style of music you care to mention - soul, reggae, jazz, spirituals, blues, electro.

     Artist: Grachan Moncur III
     Album: New Africa/One Morning I Woke Up Very Early 2LP/1CD
     Label: BYG
     Year: 1969, release: 2003
     Quality: mp3@320 kbps
     Size: 76,9 mb + 89,4 mb + 11,1 mb (scans)
     Total Time:[/b] 76:13

Достаточно редкий альбом (точнее 2 в 1 - переиздание двух раздельных LP New Africa и Aco Dei De Madrugada соответственно) одного из моих наилюбимейших тромбонистов. После его совместных записей с Jackie McLean'ом, Wayne Shorter'ом и 2-х сольников на Blue Note, иметь данный CD в коллекции - обязательно!!! Кстати, на этом же лейбле существует улетный альбом Арчи Шеппа "Live At The Panafrican Festival" с Монкуром в составе (под влиянием фестиваля, собственно и была написана сюита New Africa), однако, к сожалению, я еще не обзавелся собственным экземпляром этого концертника.

One of the first trombonists to explore free jazz, Grachan Moncur III is still best-known for his pair of innovative Blue Note albums (1963-1964) that also featured Lee Morgan and Jackie McLean on the first session and Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock on the later date. The son of bassist Grachan Moncur II, who played with the Savoy Sultans during 1937-1945, Grachan III started on trombone when he was 11. He toured with Ray Charles (1959-1962), was with the Jazztet (1962), and in 1963, played advanced jazz with Jackie McLean. Moncur toured with Sonny Rollins (1964) and played and recorded with Marion Brown, Joe Henderson, and Archie Shepp, matching up with fellow trombonist Roswell Rudd in the latter group. He also was part of the cooperative band 360 Degree Music Experience with Beaver Harris. Grachan Moncur, who has also recorded as a leader for BYG (1969) and JCOA (1974), continues to play challenging music and has been an educator. Some of his associations have been with Frank Lowe (1984-1985), Cassandra Wilson (1985), and the Paris Reunion Band. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Brad Mehldau
     Album: Solo Piano Live in Tokyo
     Label: Nonesuch
     Year: 2003, release: 2004
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320Kbps
     Time: 70 Min
     Size: 170 MB




Moving ever closer to becoming his generation's Keith Jarrett, Live in Tokyo finds pianist Brad Mehldau delving into a solo piano performance in February of 2003 with a quiet intensity, mixing a kind of studied jazz formalism with a lyrical "train-of-thought" avant-gardism. Ever the iconoclast, Mehldau tackles such varied compositions as Nick Drake's "Things Behind the Sun," Thelonious Monk's "Monk's Dream," a couple Gershwin standards, and Radiohead's "Paranoid Android." Clocking in at almost 20 minutes, "Android" stands as the epic and expansive centerpiece of this intense, cerebral, and beautiful album. ~ Matt Collar, All Music Guide

Artist: Sophie Milman
Album: Make Someone Happy
Label: Koch Records
Release: 2007
Genre: Vocal Jazz
Format, bitrate: MP3, 192kbps
Size: 68.1 MB

Toronto's Sophie Milman has that rare ability to appeal to two often deeply separated worlds: those who like their jazz light and those purists who want their jazz heavy and nothing short of it. By having a more-than-capable traditional jazz band and challenging herself vocally to bring the swing, she has commanded respect from both camps. Milman's delivery is silky smooth, a gorgeous voice with a low register reminiscent of Fiona Apple and an upper register that brings Ella Fitzgerald's bounce and playfulness to mind. Like many jazz vocal discs, her sophomore release Make Someone Happy contains an abundance of covers, but some rather surprising in style. The often-done "Fever"’s arrangement is nothing like the original, containing more of an unnerving musical undercurrent than the traditional sultry one. Milman--who recorded this disc in her early 20s--covers a number of underdone melodies, from Stevie Wonder's "Rocket Love" to the Guess Who's "Undun" with composer/original band guitarist Randy Bachman offering his sonic inflections to the song. Disc high points include the smokin' jam "It Might As Well Be Spring," the sexy bossa nova of original track "Something in the Air Between Us" and the beautiful cover of "Eli, Eli" by Second World War Holocaust hero and poet Hannah Senesh. It is a brave and haunting number that Milman does great justice to. --Amazon.com

   Artist: Grover Washington, Jr.
   Album: Skylarkin'
   Label: Motown
   Year: 1979
   Release: 1980 (LP), 1992 (CD)
   Format, bitrate: Lossless
   Time: 36:15
   Size: ~84mb, 3% recovery


       Этот очень красивый по звучанию альбом Гровера Вашингтона выходил на CD лишь однажды в начале 90х очень маленьким тиражом. Его чаще можно встретить на LP. Компакт диски же осели у коллекционеров, и достать их очень не просто (и за не малые деньги!). Представляю вам на прослушивание LP-rip очень хорошего качества. Рип не мой, но виниловую пластинку имею в своей коллекции. Если Вам нравится smooth-jazz и Вы любите звучание Гровера, то это для Вас! К тому же этот легкий и очень приятный на слух джаз исполняют превосходные музыканты, которых каждый, надеюсь, где-то слышал и знает их. Это трубачи Randy Brecker и Jon Faddis, гитарист Eric Gale, басист Marcus Miller и не менее известный ударник Idris Muhammad, очень хорошо зарекомендовавший себя в музыке soul и jazz-funk.

REPOST with new ( lossless) links from firster!

   Artist: Tony Levin
   Album: Waters of Eden
   Label: Narada
   Year: 2000
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 320 kb/s, lossless: 200+104 mb
   Time: 39:40
   Size: 103 Mb (complete covers)
   Bubu's Rating: ****

   Tony Levin's Waters of Eden is an eclectic, sophisticated instrumental music album. He draws on his personal experience from spending decades in the forefront of progressive rock and art rock as well as the jazz and classical music inspiration that gave rock such lofty goals. Not only does this recording reveal Tony Levin as a cellist, but it also continues to prove he is adept at and highly creative in exploring the melodic possibilities of the bass guitar, his primary instrument. Levin, along with other musicians, adds synth to the recording. Often this seems incongruously bright in the murky, bass-led compositions. Still, this is an excellent album overall.
   Tom Schulte, AMG

REPOST with additional lossless links + missing tracks from crazy_captain!

    Artist: Steve Kuhn, Scott LaFaro, Pete La Roca
    Album: 1960
    Label: Polystar
    Year: 1960
    Release: 2005
    Style: Post-Bop
    Format mp3, bitrate: 256 kb/s
    Time: 28:58
    Size: 53 Mb

This 1960 CD finds amazing pianist Steve Kuhn with future band-mate drummer Pete La Roca; and with the exciting addition of past band-mate, the legendary star-crossed bassist Scott LaFaro, this jazz trio CD becomes even more intriguing. The performances are very good and still fresh. Many jazz fans will not be able to resist these historical performances since there is so very little recorded LaFaro available: 7 months after this recording at the age of 25, Lafaro, already one of the world's greatest bassists would die in a car crash early in the morning returning to NYC. - Amazon.com

    Artist: Steve Kuhn & Sheila Jordan Band
    Album: Playground
    Label: ECM
    Release: 1979
    Style: Post-Bop
    Format mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
    Time: 41:29
    Size: 95,2 Mb
    AMG Rating:

After many years off records, Sheila Jordan began to become more active in jazz in the mid-'70s. Her two recordings as part of pianist Steve Kuhn's quartet, of which this was the first, gave her both a higher profile and a challenging vehicle for her improvised words and adventurous scat singing. With bassist Harvie Swartz and drummer Bob Moses completing the group, Jordan performs six of Kuhn's originals and lyrics (including "The Zoo" and the 10 1/2-minute "Deep Tango") as a member of the quartet, rather than as a dominant vocalist. Intriguing music. - Scott Yanow at AMG

    Artist: Steve Kuhn
    Album: The October Suite
    Label: Impulse!
    Release: 1966
    Style: Post-Bop
    Format mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
    Time: 38:26
    Size: 96,9 Mb (cover)
    AMG Rating:

Composer and arranger Gary McFarland was well-known in the 1960s for his film-scoring abilities and his charting skills with mid-sized bands. McFarland was also, however, a jazz fan, and particularly one of scalar pianist Steve Kuhn. This project features Kuhn in the center of a program made up entirely of McFarland compositions, all but two of which were written specifically for the album. Recorded in 1966, it is an anomaly in the Impulse catalog of the time in that it did not pursue the free jazz realms with the vengeance that most of the label's other acts did during that year. It is also significant that it caught the attention of a young Manfred Eicher, who later signed Kuhn to his ECM label based on the strengths of this recording. Like Keith Jarrett, Kuhn is in the pointillist school of jazz pianists of the era. Unlike Jarrett, Kuhn does not consider force in his attack as necessary as his labelmate does. Instrumentally, Kuhn's customary trio situation — which is dutifully performed with zeal by Ron Carter and drummer Marty Morell — is augmented with a string quartet on half the record, and with a wind trio with harp on the other half. The tracks on Side One are, in some ways, less revolutionary yet more fulfilling, because Kuhn is clearly at home with the sonorities afforded by the strings. They don't swing, even on "One I Could Have Loved," from the film 13, or "St. Tropez Shuttle," a strangely metered bossa tune (in three/four instead of four/four). Kuhn's cautious, contemplative improvising concerns itself with scalar explorations of melody, color, and harmony, rather than rhythm or modal considerations. His touch is light and airy and therefore most pronouncedly visible against the strings. The interplay between Carter and Morell is almost instinctual; they couldn't have moved any closer together on this set if the charts had been written for them — and they were not. With the wind trio and harp, Kuhn's approach is more physical, but nonetheless, he strives to create a palette for the very instruments that are trying to create one for him. There is some tension in this approach, but it works to the record's advantage. In sum, October Suite was an experiment that worked beautifully, even if it was not acknowledged as being one of the more subtly brilliant albums of its day, though it most certainly stands the test of time that way. - Thom Jurek at AMG

     Artist: Archie Shepp
     Album: True Ballads
     Year: 1997
     Label: Venus
     Total time: 69:20
     Format: mp3@320 Kbps
     Size: 84+79 MB (EasyShare)

     This 1996 set features tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp with pianist John Hicks, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Idris Muhammad playing an inspired set of ballads. And while it's true that this is what Shepp seems to have done since 1990, giving plenty of credence to the critical notion that the fire has gone out of his playing, it's more a question of perspective than lack. As evidenced here on the opening number alone, a smoky, steamy rendition of "The Thrill Is Gone" that could have ended up in anybody's film noir, Shepp's fire may not burn angrily, but it burns low, deep, and hot just the same. The tenor player once said that you could hear every minute of every hour a musician put into practice when he played a ballad. That's certainly true here, and the answer is more than you could ever imagine. The inflection of Shepp's horn that moves somewhere between the deep, robust speech of John Coltrane and the shimmering soulful whisper of Ben Webster. If you check he and Hick's wandering around each other in the middle of "Nature Boy," or on Johnny Mandel's "The Shadow of Your Smile," you get a picture of a pair so intent on listening to the nuances in a change or harmonic syllable, that they know exactly how to aurally illustrate the bigger picture to a listener. With Muhammad on drums there is a certain laid-back groove that's organic in every number, and in Mraz, without his slim tone but silvery fingers, there's a polished elegance that makes the entire package Shepp's finest ballad date ever. AMG