Artist: Duke Ellington
     Album: The Ellington Suites
     Label: OJC/Pablo
     Years: 1959, 1971, 1972, release_ 1991
     Format, bitrate: Mp3, vbr hq
     Time: 48:54
     Size: 80.2 Mb





It took until 1976 before these three extended works ("The Queen's Suite," "The Goutelas Suite" and "The Uwis Suite") were released and their obscurity is somewhat deserved. Although there are some good moments from Ellington's orchestras of 1959 and 1971-72, few of the themes (outside of "The Single Petal of a Rose" from "The Queen's Suite") are all that memorable. But even lesser Ellington is of great interest and veteran collectors may want to pick this up.

     Artist - Andy Kirk
     Album - Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy 1929-1931
     Label - Classics
     Years: 1929-1931, release - 1992
     Quality - MP3@320 kbps
     Size - 164 mb
     Total time - 74:59
     AMG Rating:

This highly recommended CD from the European Classics label has all of the early recordings of Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy, although unfortunately not the alternate takes. The most famous soloists were pianist Mary Lou Williams (who was also responsible for most of the arrangements), violinist Claude Williams (who unfortunately left Kirk before he had his big success in the mid-'30s), and trumpeter Edgar "Puddinghead" Battle, although the lesser-known players mostly fare pretty well too. The selections are primarily hot vintage Kansas City jazz, including such tunes as "Blue Clarinet Stomp," "Cloudy," "Lotta Sax Appeal," "Mary's Idea," and "Once or Twice." This CD concludes with three numbers from 1931 when Kirk's Orchestra was briefly being used to back singer Blanche Calloway (Cab's older sister). Unfortunately, Kirk's ensemble would not record again for another five years, but these early titles -- which give listeners clues as to the big band's evolution stand alone as fine 1920s jazz. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Artist: Nat King Cole
Title Of Album: Swing And Sway
Year : 2003
Label: Green Hill Productions
Genre: Jazz, Swing
Quality: 320 kbps / Joint Stereo
Total Size: 69.07 mb

Nat "King" Cole left a treasure chest of musical gems that have delighted audiences of all ages for decades. Following the best selling compilation, Simply Unforgettable, this collection focuses on Cole's popular radio and jukebox hits of the 40s, 50s, and 60s, as well as some of his other signature tunes.

    Artist: Keith Jarrett
    Album: Somewhere Before: The Keith Jarrett Anthology (The Atlantic Years 1968 - 1975) 2cd
    Label: Warner Jazz
    Year: 1968 - 1975
    Release: 2008
    Style: Modern Creative/Post-Bop
    Format mp3, bitrate: 256 kb/s vbr
    Time: 2:03:07
    Size 172 Mb (cover)

Two CD set that focuses on the Jazz great's years with Atlantic Records (1968-75). One of the most significant pianists in Jazz to emerge since the '60s, Keith Jarrett's musical career spans across four decades, during which he has been continuously growing as a powerful improviser. His solo concerts have earned him international fame, he has led dynamic quartets / quintets, performed classical music, and later played explorative versions of standards with his long-time trio. The Atlantic label and its subsidiary, Vortex, was where he began his solo career, and 1968 marks the shift from Keith Jarrett the sideman to Keith Jarrett the leader. This double disc set includes selection from landmark albums like Life Between The Exit Signs, Somewhere Before, Birth, The Mourning Of A Star and El Juicio (The Judgement), with the best of his live and studio work, recorded for the label between 1968 and 1975. - Warner at Amazon.com

    Artist: Keith Jarrett
    Album: Works (compilation)
    Label: ECM
    Release: 1985
    Style: Post-Bop
    Format mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
    Time: 47:39
    Size: 100 Mb (cover)
    Bubu's Rating:

One way of regarding the the history of ECM records is by dividing it into Before and After Metheny. ECM never lost as big a star as Pat Metheny from its ranks, and at about the same time as his departure to Geffen, ECM issued mid-priced 'Greatest Hits' albums of many of its major artists (e.g. Garbarek, Towner, Frisell, Weber etc). This being 1985, the LP was still in its twilight years, so you only got around 45 minutes' worth of music, but oh, what heavenly music it is.
It's impossible to sum Jarrett up in seven tracks, but these come from the period 1972-81, when his writing was at its peak. (He devoted most of the 80s and 90s to covering standards from the earlier part of the 20th century and classical baroque period.)
The CD starts with a gorgeous tune from the Nordic quartet in which Jarrett replaced Bobo Stenson. The classic 'My Song' album also contributes the wonderful third track, 'The Journey Home'. There are a number of solo piano pieces too, but I found the unorthodox tracks the most interesting. The 1974 String Quartet excerpt from 'In the Light' was a forerunner for Jarrett's orchestrations on the classic 1976 work 'Arbour Zena'. And Jarrett's saxophone playing on 1981's 'Invocations' hadn't moved much beyond the technique he employed on his masterpiece, 'The Survivors Suite'.
I still believe 'The Survivors Suite' to be the best jazz album of the 70s, but if you want an excellent, even if short and inevitably disjointed, introduction to the genius of Keith Jarrett, take this. - Gavin Wilson at Amazon.com

    Artist: Keith Jarrett & Jack DeJohnette
    Album: Ruta and Daitya
    Label: ECM
    Release: 1972
    Style: Avant-Garde
    Format mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s vbr
    Time: 41:20
    Size: 71,3 Mb (cover)

Splitting his time between the electric and acoustic pianos and a bit of organ, Jarrett teams up with drummer/percussionist Jack DeJohnette in a series of experimental duets, his only electric session for ECM. The all-acoustic title number ranges all over the lot, from tootling on a bamboo (?) flute to the energizing barrelhouse gospel riffs that would bloom in the solo concerts. Tellingly, there is little in this collaboration that predicts what Jarrett and DeJohnette would do in their Standards Trio of the '80s; rather, it anticipates the exotic Third World side of Jarrett's American quartet immediately in the future and adds a finishing flourish to his jazz-rock period. Indeed, the most memorably percolating playing by both musicians turns up in the electric numbers, where Jarrett utilizes the distinctively funky, wah-wah, fuzz-tone approach on electric piano that he developed with Miles Davis. As such, this is a valuable, underrated transition album that provides perhaps the last glimpse of the electric Keith Jarrett as he embarked on his notorious (and ultimately triumphant) anti-electric crusade. - Richard S. Ginell at AMG