Artist: Danny Moss
     Album: Keeper Of The Flame
     Label: Nagel Heyer #064
     Year:1998
     Release:2000
     Format, bitrate:MP# 192
     Time: 76:06
     Size: 108.6 MB
     AMG rating

Through his playing on this and other albums, Danny Moss acknowledges his major influences and honors them. The artists for whom he keeps the flame, stays the course, and carries the torch lit by are Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, the underappreciated Bud Freeman, and, to a lesser extent, Budd Johnson. He avoids John Coltrane sheets of sound and the free jazz of Archie Shepp, like honkers and squeakers. As long as there are talented tenor sax players like Moss, Scott Hamilton, Harry Allen, and Spike Robinson who have access to jazz venues and stable recording companies, the great tenor men will not easily be relegated to the trash heap of the forgotten.

Moss was born in England 1927, about the time that Coleman Hawkins was starting his tenure with Fletcher Henderson where he started to redefine the tenor saxophone. With the opening strains of the album's kick off tune, "Three Little Words," you sense Hawkins' 1944 recording with his Sax Ensemble. John Pearce's piano is significant here, as it is on all the cuts. Webster's 1965 rendition of "Nancy With the Laughing Face" is recalled with Moss, not as breathy as Webster was to become, but still invoking the master tenor's legacy as one of the most melodic players to pick up the horn. The group's rendition of "Perdido" is sprightly with Charly Antolini's drums setting the pace. An album highlight is Moss' lengthy exposition of "Taking a Chance on Love" recalling Hawkins' ground breaking improvisation on "Body and Soul." Be aware, however, Moss is in no way impersonating the styles of these great masters. On the basis of having his own way with the horn, Moss has been a critical cog in the English jazz machine for more than 40 years. When American vocal stars like Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan played the British circuit, Moss was called in as a featured soloist. He has no need to copy anyone to make it, he's already there.

There's not a bad cut on a play list of 13 of Tin Pan Alley's best which raises the question, "do we need another version of [pick your choice from the program]?" The answer is an unqualified "yes" when the group sheds new light on them with these refreshingly imaginative arrangements. Highly recommended. ~ Dave Nathan, All Music Guide

     Artist: Beverly Kelly
     Album: Beverly Kelly Sings With The Pat Moran Trio
     Label: Audio Fidelity AFLP 5874
     Year: 1957
     Format, bitrate: mp3@320 kb/s
     Time: ~37 min
     Size: 76,15



In the Fifties, the depths of the Maryland Hotel near Chicago’s northside housed a cellar known as the Cloister Inn, a room best known as a showplace for fine, fresh jazz potentials. Such was the case of young pianist Pat Moran’s trio with vocalist Bev Kelly. In December 1957, for few weeks, the now legendary Scott LaFaro was the trio’s featured bass player, and during his engagement Audio Fidelity Records grabbed the opportunity to record the trio. In 1960, LaFaro said that he didn’t “like to look back, because the whole point in jazz is doing it now. I don’t even like any of my records except maybe the first one I did with Pat Moran on Audio Fidelity.” Sparked by Moran’s solid piano and complemented by the tremendous energy, youthful spirit and unlimited talent of Scott LaFaro, along with the fine work of drummer Johnny Whited, the combo, with vocalist Bev Kelly on several tracks, produced a succession of highly zestful and appealing interpretations.

     Artist: Rodolfo Alchourron
     Album: Sanata Y Clarificacion
     Label : DISCOS MELOPEA
     Years: 1972 - 1974
     Format :MP3@320
     Size:140 mb



Argentine guitarist, composer and arranger Rodolfo Alchourrón leads his own band in these two LPs from 1972 and 1974 (together in one set). The result is a jazz-tinted sound which incorporates elements of rock, soul, lounge, film soundtracks and even tango. File next to Argentine jazz legends such as Chivo Borraro, Gato Barbieri, Ruben López Furst, Horacio Malviccino and Lalo Schifrin.

     Artist: Bill Russo
     Album: The World Of Alcina
     Label: Atlantic SD 1241
     Years: 1955-56
     Format, bitrate: mp3@320 kb/s Cover 300dpi
     Time: ~ 37 min
     Size: 53,49



In the late Forties trombonist and composer Bill Russo, a young and prominent disciple of Lennie Tristano, was already leading his own experimental studio bands in Chicago. He always composed with a concern for jazz, and did much in the field of advanced orchestral writing, finally rising to fame when successful bandleader Stan Kenton hired him in early 1950. He became one of Kenton’s most brilliant orchestra arrangers, but decided to return to his hometown in 1955 to continue writing and conducting. He proved to be an extraordinarily well-informed individual in diverse areas, with the felicitously stimulating personality of one who is always an intellectual but never an intellectual snob. He worked in the jazz and classical fields and, in his opinion, a good symphony musician could play really swinging jazz if it was properly written. And he brought a much needed insistence on integrity to the music.

     Artist: Collegium Musicum
     Album: Live
     Format: FLAC + MP3 (320k/s)
     Size: 283 + 102 MB (scans)
     Label: Opus (1998)
     Total time: 42:48




     First live album from this outstanding band. Marian Varga is a fabulous organ player and their covers of some classical music to rock and fusion are incredible. Their sound is closer to ELP, but a little more jazzier. Not less virtuoso than Emerson, Fritz or Van der Linden, Varga deliver us music full of breaks, jazzier and classical parts, and otherwise, drums and also bass solos, as the ability of Hajek is very noteworthy and the bass lines played by Freso are quite strong and enjoyable, in the vein of Chris Squire. I don't know if they were the Czeschoslovakian answer to ELP, because they appeared at the same time, anyway, I can find some small similarities with The Nice, but overall, I think these guys could play very nice music and their style is rather unique. Much more original and spontaneous than Trace or Triumvirat, that's why they are one of my favourite bands. Rather precious and unique. Five stars. by Miles, Progarchives.com

     Artist - Willie "The Lion" Smith
     Album - Music On My Mind
     Label - EmArCy
     Year - 1965, release - 2008
     Quality - MP3@320 kbps
     Size - 114 mb
     Total time - 51:08
     AMG rating

Willie "The Lion" Smith was one of the last remaining giants from the stride piano era when he made this studio recording for Decca in 1965. Although seven of the 15 tracks are Smith's compositions, they are not his better known works, adding to the value of this release. One can hear how a performance like the driving "In a Minor Groove" could have influenced Duke Ellington early in his career. There are also strong takes of oldies like "Ain't She Sweet" and "Some of These Days," along with an elaborate arrangement of George Gershwin's "Summertime" that likely dazzled the composer if he had the opportunity to hear it during his many visits to Harlem. Smith delves into the works of his comrades in stride, including James P. Johnson's demanding and unjustly obscure "Steeplechase" and protйgй Fats Waller's well-known "Honeysuckle Rose." This CD reissue adds three previously unreleased tracks, among them a playful reworking of Fryderyk Chopin's "Polonaise" and Smith's own "All Out of Breath" and "Music on My Mind," both adding his friendly (if somewhat hoarse) vocals. Recommended. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide

    Artist: McCoy Tyner
    Album: Time For Tyner (remaster bonus)
    Label: Blue Note
    Year: 1968
    Release: 2005
    Style: Post-Bop/Progressive Jazz
    Format mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
    Time: 42:28
    Size: 111 Mb (full covers)
    AMG Rating:

This CD reissue draws its music from two separate concerts nearly a year apart but utilizing the same personnel: pianist McCoy Tyner, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Herbie Lewis, and drummer Freddie Waits. Although three numbers were performed at a John Coltrane Memorial Concert, they are all Tyner originals; the pianist and Hutcherson blend together quite well and both are experts at coming up with inventive ideas over modal vamps. The other three selections are veteran standards. "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" is taken by the full quartet, Hutcherson sits out on "Surrey With the Fringe on Top," and a rhapsodic "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face" is a piano solo. A fine all-round showcase for McCoy Tyner in the late '60s. - Scott Yanow at AMG

    Artist: Keith Jarrett
    Album: Standards II (Live In Tokyo)
    Label: RCA/Image Entertainment
    Year: 1986
    Release: 2008
    Genre: 1995
    Format, bitrate:
    Time: 1:30:38
    Size: 904 Mb
    AMG Rating:

This video presents a live concert in Japan from 1986 featuring Keith Jarrett on piano, with Gary Peacock (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums). This is a great, intimate look at one of the best trios in modern jazz. It showcases Keith's brilliant, sometimes volcanic improvisations, and both the sound and video quality are excellent. You can see in this concert how inside the music Keith is, as his body literally rises and falls, following the arc of tension and release that good jazz exemplifies. This is NOT light, cocktail piano jazz; this is what jazz should be: honest, impassioned, personal, and fiery. A feast for both the ears and eyes of jazz fans. - Amazon.com

    Artist: Eldar
    Album: Virtue
    Label: Masterworks Jazz/Sony Japan/Zoom
    Release: 2009
    Style: Post-Bop
    Format, bitrate:
    Time: 1:09:38
    Size: 97,5 Nb
    AMG Rating:

[i]Eldar Djangirov continues hell-bent on dazzling audiences with his impressive technique, speed-demon array of notes, and music that is displaying more of a jagged edge and abject angular inventions. The staggeringly pronounced music he is making takes a different turn on Virtue, utilizing horns and synthesizers, but it's mostly his kamikaze acoustic piano — frequently turning on a dime — that is the centerpiece. Djangirov receives help from Joshua Redman, who plays tenor and soprano sax, and trumpeter Nicholas Payton on one cut apiece, as well as saxophonist Felipe Lamoglia on four selections. Rarely displaying reserve, Djangirov is fully gassed up and ready to wail on these pieces that require acute listening skills to hear everything being dished out, but for him must seem naturally supercharged. Those impressed with pyrotechnics will likely be blown away by tracks like the busy horn-driven road song on cobblestones "Exposition," with Redman; the powerhouse piece "The Exorcist," with astounding invention and a bit of synth flavoring; and the jumpy, superball-in-a-squash-court "Blackjack," featuring Payton....