Artist: Mark Selby
     Album: More Storms Comin'
     Label: Vanguard Records
     Year: 2000
     Format MP3, bitrate: 320 kbps
     Size: 92.54 Mb (+3%)





With the power-riffs of a blues-rock band and the thick, pop sensibility of say, John Mellencamp, Mark Selby zeros-in on the essence of timeless roots rock. "Don't You Throw That Mojo on Me," has an intro that effectively weds modern, almost alternative studio devices with traditional acoustic blues then rolls along with New Orleans-style piano and a mean slide lead. Choogling through pop tunes ("She's Like Mercury") and the final, title song (which makes up for any lack of subtlety throughout), Selby has fashioned an atypically appealing modern blues-rock sound, easily filed between Kenny Wayne Shepherd and the Black Crowes. ~ Denise Sullivan, All Music Guide

     Artist:Jabbo Smith
     Album:The Complete Hidden Treasure Sessions
     Label: Lonehill Jazz LHJ10352
     Year: 1961; release: 2008
     Format: MP3; bitrate: 320
     Size: 165.9 MB


Jabbo Smith had one of the oddest careers in jazz history. A brilliant trumpeter, Smith had accomplished virtually all of his most significant work by the time he turned 21, yet lived to be 82. He learned to play trumpet at the legendary Jenkins Orphanage in Charleston, and by the time he was 16, Smith showed great promise. During 1925-1928 he was with Charlie Johnson's Paradise Ten, a top New York jazz group that made some classic recordings. Smith was on a recording session with Duke Ellington in 1927 (resulting in a memorable version of "Black and Tan Fantasy") and played in the show Keep Shufflin' with James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. The high points of Smith's career were his 1929 recordings with his Rhythm Aces. These superb performances feature Smith playing with daring, creativity, and a bit of recklessness, displaying an exciting style that hints at Roy Eldridge (who would not burst upon the scene for another six years). But, although Jabbo Smith at the time was considered a close competitor of Louis Armstrong, he had hit his peak. His unreliability, excessive drinking, and unprofessional attitude resulted in lost jobs, missed opportunities, and a steep decline. After playing with one of Claude Hopkins' lesser orchestras during 1936-1938, Smith settled in Milwaukee and became a part-time player. Decades passed, and when he was rediscovered in the 1970s (when he was picked to perform in the musical show One Mo' Time), he was a weak player, a mere shadow of what he could have been. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Gene Ammons
     Album: The Happy Blues
     Label: OJC/ Prestige
     Year:1956, release: 1991
     Format, bitrate: Lossless (APE+CUE) with scans
     Size: 204MB
     AMG Rating:




This is one of the great studio jam sessions. Tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons is teamed up with trumpeter Art Farmer, altoist Jackie McLean, pianist Duke Jordan, bassist Addison Farmer, drummer Art Taylor, and the congas of Candido for four lengthy selections. Best is "The Happy Blues," which has memorable solos and spontaneous but perfectly fitting riffing by the horns behind each others' solos. The other numbers ("The Great Lie," "Can't We Be Friends," and "Madhouse") are also quite enjoyable, making this a highly recommended set. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Pepper Adams
     Album: Reflectory
     Label: Muse
     Year: 1978
     Quality: MP3@320 kbps
     Size: 87,2 mb (LP-rip, sharebee)
     Total time: 40:19




Pepper Adams is accompanied by two fellow veterans of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra (pianist Roland Hanna and bassist George Mraz) as well as drummer Billy Hart on the 1978 Reflectory studio date for Muse. Adams' approach to the baritone sax is sometimes a bit more aggressive and less melodic than Gerry Mulligan, which results in occasional inadvertent reed squeaks in his tricky opener, "Reflectory." Better is the outspoken yet still lovely treatment of Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady." The most surprising track is his rapid-fire arrangement of the ballad "That's All," in which Hanna takes top solo honors. This recommended album is worth acquiring. ~ Ken Dryden, All Music Guide

     Artist: Pharoah Sanders
     Album: Oh Lord, Let Me Do No Wrong
     Label: Zillion (1989)
     Year: 1987
     Format: FLAC / MP3 (320k/s)
     Total time: 43:44
     Size: 287 / 102 MB (incl. covers)



     Although Pharoah Sanders was originally considered a firebrand, thanks to his wild early free jazz work in the '60s, his later records are actually more in the tradition of players like his one-time leader John Coltrane and, especially, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The title track from this 1987 session could have been on any of Kirk's Atlantic albums, a mixture of gospel sway and free jazz honk that builds into a hypnotic swoon under Leon Thomas' rich baritone vocals. (Thomas also appears on his own composition, the blues "If It Wasn't for a Woman," and the closing "Next Time You See Me.") On the extended, relaxed take of Coltrane's "Equinox," Sanders doesn't try to copy his former boss' phrasing, but there's certainly a Coltrane-like elegance to Sanders' lyrical solo. In fact, Sanders' playing on the standard "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," which also features a lovely Vince Guaraldi-like piano solo by William S. Henderson III, is downright pretty. Oh Lord, Let Me Do No Wrong is a mellow and peaceful set by a player who no longer needs to make noise; whether old-school fans will appreciate this is debatable.

ФИАЛКИ по СРЕДАМ (выпуск 56)

Artist: Simon Boswell, Stefano Mainetti, Nour Eddine
Album: Alma Mater: Music From The Vatican
Label: Decca Records
Year: 2009
Genre: sacred music
Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
Time: 49 min, 41 sec
Size: 119 mb.

Итак, друзья мои, сегодня в моей цветочной лавке будет звучать, что называется, "модная музыка" - один из номинантов премии Classical Brit Awards 2010 года в категории "Альбом года". На альбоме можно услышать голос Папы Римского Бенедикта XVI. Итак, 13 мая 2010 года все дружно держим кулаки за этот альбом.
А вердикт мой сегодня будет таков -

     Artist: Marcin Wasilewski Trio
     Album: January
     Label: ECM
     Year: 2007, release: 2008
     Genre: Modern Jazz, European Jazz
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320
     Time: 1:10
     Size: 160mb



On their sophomore effort for ECM, the Marcin Wasilewski Trio (pianist Marcin Wasilewski, bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz, and drummer Michal Miskiewicz -- who are also Polish trumpet maestro Tomasz Stanko's rhythm section) reflect the true sign of their maturity as a group of seasoned jazz musicians and risk-takers. Their debut album, simply called Trio, merely reflected to American and Western European audiences the wealth of talent, vision, and discipline that Polish and Eastern Europe's audiences had known for over a decade. (The group recorded five previous albums in its native country between 1993 and 2004.) They came together in 1991 as teenagers: Wasilewski and Kurkiewicz were only 16 and had already been playing together for a year when they met up with Miskiewicz. In 1993 they began playing behind Stanko, and eventually became his recording group as well. They were first heard on his 2001 album The Soul of Things, as well as his subsequent ECM outings, Suspended Night and Lontano. But all of this is history and history only. It doesn't begin to tell of the magic and mystery found in this beautiful album. There are four Wasilewski compositions in this ten-cut set. They range from the lovely songlike opener, "The First Touch," with its romantic melody that suggests Bill Evans' late "Song for Evan" period, as well as elliptical European improvisers like Bobo Stenson. But it's that inherent sense of dimension and space that is in all the best Polish jazz that makes this is such a stellar tune. The utterly lyrical brush and cymbal work by Miskiewicz and present yet uncluttered bassline of Kurkiewicz allow the full range of Wasilewski's reach from melodic invention to gently ambiguous modal exploration to come to the fore. The group's reading of Ennio Morricone's "Cinema Paradiso" underscores the deep and inseparable relationship between Polish jazz and the cinema that has existed since the collaborations between director Roman Polanski and Stanko's first boss, pianist and composer Krzysztof Komeda. The sense of dynamic that the trio goes for on this piece is perhaps less forcefully pronounced than the composer's, but it is almost a reading of its other side, where the brooding aspects of the original give way to something fuller and more picaresque, while allowing its sense of nostalgia and memory free rein inside the narrative of the tune.>>>

     Artist: Larry Young
     Album: Unity
     Label:Blue Note
     Year: 1965, release: 1999
     Format, bitrate: MP3 320kbps
     Time: 39:41
     Size: 93 MB
      AMG Rating:

On Unity, jazz organist Larry Young began to display some of the angular drive that made him a natural for the jazz-rock explosion to come barely four years later. While about as far from the groove jazz of Jimmy Smith as you could get, Young hadn't made the complete leap into freeform jazz-rock either. Here he finds himself in very distinguished company: drummer Elvin Jones, trumpeter Woody Shaw, and saxman Joe Henderson. Young was clearly taken by the explorations of saxophonists Coleman and Coltrane, as well as the tonal expressionism put in place by Sonny Rollins and the hard-edged modal music of Miles Davis and his young quintet. But the sound here is all Young: the rhythmic thrusting pulses shoved up against Henderson and Shaw as the framework for a melody that never actually emerges ("Zoltan" -- one of three Shaw tunes here), the skipping chords he uses to supplant the harmony in "Monk's Dream," and also the reiterating of front-line phrases a half step behind the beat to create an echo effect and leave a tonal trace on the soloists as they emerge into the tunes (Henderson's "If" and Shaw's "The Moontrane"). All of these are Young trademarks, displayed when he was still very young, yet enough of a wiseacre to try to drive a group of musicians as seasoned as this -- and he succeeded each and every time. As a soloist, Young is at his best on Shaw's "Beyond All Limits" and the classic nugget "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise." In his breaks, Young uses the middle register as a place of departure, staggering arpeggios against chords against harmonic inversions that swing plenty and still comes out at all angles. Unity proved that Young's debut, Into Somethin', was no fluke, and that he could play with the lions. And as an album, it holds up even better than some of the work by his sidemen here. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

     Artist: Teddy Charles, Shorty Rogers
     Album: Collaboration West
     Label: Prestige/OJC
     Year: rec.Dec 23, 1952-Aug 31, 1953 / rel.1992
     Format:MP3 @ 320 Kb/s
     Time: 45:41
     Size: 96, 3 Mb

     Artist: ‘Bunk’ Johnson & Leadbelly
     Album: Bunk & Leadbelly At New York Town Hall 1947
     Label: American Recordings
     Year: Sep 6, 1947
     Release: 1993
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kb/s
     Size: 137MB

     Released for the first time on this 1993 CD, this is an intriguing and quite erratic Town Hall concert that features a colorful cast of characters: trumpeter Bunk Johnson, both Omer Simeon and Edmond Hall on clarinets, trombonist Jimmy Archey, pianist Ralph Sutton, banjoist Danny Barker, Cyrus St. Clair on tuba and string bass, drummer Freddie Moore and (on three songs) the legendary folk singer/guitarist, Leadbelly. The wild card here is Bunk, who complains during the radio broadcast that he was tired and hungry. His playing ranges from moderately inspired to streaky, differing in quality from cut to cut. In some spots he takes full control and at other times his chops just are not up to the challenge. The recording balance, unfortunately, is not ideal with Freddie Moore's bass drum being too loud (and making the rhythm section sound inflexible). Cyrus St. Clair's tuba playing is overly wheezy but he is fine on bass. Ralph Sutton gets in a few good spots and Jimmy Archey is mostly on, but the two clarinetists are undermiked; it is odd to hear Edmond Hall in this type of setting. Leadbelly displays showmanship on "Good Morning Blues," "Yellow Gal" and "Bottle Up and Go." There are many odd moments, such as when the tempo of "Good Morning Blues" drastically slows down after Leadbelly's vocal (Bunk did not care for fast tempoes), some false endings and lots of missed cues. Even with its faults, this unusual concert does have its charm. But someone should have fed Bunk Johnson first!

    Artist: Bill Evans
    Album: Live in Switzerland 1975
    Label: Gambit
    Year: Feb 6, 1975 ; release: 2005
    Genre: Piano Jazz
    Format mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
    Time: 1:17:55
    Size: 204 Mb (covers)
    AMG Rating:

This CD comes from a live 1975 concert by the Bill Evans Trio, which was broadcast by Radio Suisse in Switzerland. The pianist is in superb form, joined by longtime bassist Eddie Gomez and newcomer Eliot Zigmund on drums. The sound is excellent, without the annoying announcers or distortion, so this release could have very well been produced from the master tape itself. The set is wide-ranging, including both recent and older compositions by Evans, "Gloria's Step" (the best known work by former Evans sideman Scott LaFaro, who died far too young), along with standards like a buoyant "My Romance." The leader's treatment of his ballad "Turn Out the Stars" is rather upbeat, while his somewhat avant-garde composition "T.T.T.T." (also known as "Twelve Tone Tune Two") is a modern masterpiece. Perhaps the greatest surprise was Evans' inventive treatment of pop singer Bobbie Gentry's "Morning Glory." The only real problem with this CD is the sloppy composer credits on two numbers. This 1990 release may be somewhat difficult to find, but it is one of the better bootlegs issued under Bill Evans' name. - Ken Dryden at All Music Guide