Artist: Tineke Postma
     Album: A Journey That Matters
     Label: Foreign Media Group
     Year: september 2007
     Format, bitrate: FLAC [lossless!]
     Time: 1 hour 50 sec
     Size: 380 MB
     AMG Rating:

     Tineke Postma's third CD as a leader is an impressive effort, as she is finding her own voice on both alto and soprano sax, while also making her recorded debut on tenor. Joined by bassist Frans van der Hoeven and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, along with a rotating trio of pianists (Marc van Roon, Rob Van Bavel and Randal Corsen), Postma's originals avoid predictability and hook the listener immediately, starting with the dark, Latin-flavored "Bar Celta." "A Journey That Matters" is a driving post-bop work, an infectious arrangement by Johan Plomp that adds a brass/reed choir behind the leader's darting soprano. Postma's robust tenor is featured in the intricate "Synchronicity," while her lush alto is showcased in "Comprendo." But her fresh approaches to well known songs will especially turn heads. She takes quite a few liberties with Duke Ellington's "Prelude to a Kiss," giving it a Latin rhythm and stretching its melodic structure well away from its roots with long inspired flights on soprano. In a miniature setting of Billy Strayhorn' "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing," her brooding alto is accented by the rhythm section's jagged, spacious background. Finally, Postma's soprano soars in Plomp's scoring of Ellington's "Fleurette Africaine," as he blends in dramatic acoustic guitar with French horn, bass clarinet, bassoon and flute as an effective backdrop.

     Artist: Irakere
     Album: Cuba Libre
     Label: Far Out Recordings
     Year: 1980; release: 2010
     Genre: Jazz, Latin Jazz, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Jazz-Funk
     Format, bitrate: mp3 320kbps
     Size: 88,7 MB

The Great Forgotten Treasure of Latin Music from Multi Latin Grammy Award Winners and Legendary Cuban band Irakere It’s with great pleasure that Far Out Recordings can re-issue this extremely rare, cult record from one of the finest bands to emerge from Cuba. Stepping out of Brazil Joe Davis has been digging through the dustiest crates to re-discover one of the very best Latin American records

Recorded in Japan in 1980 and released as a Japanese exclusive vinyl LP ‘Cuba Libre’ was composed, arranged and produced by the remarkable Japanese musician Chikara Ueda. With almost the entire original line up in place including Chucho Valdes, Arturo Sandoval, and Jorge Alfonso this is a record of sublime quality that retains all of the authentic essence and beauty of Cuban music

Among the most influential Latin bands Irakere’s mix of fiery funk anthems and sophisticated jazz has rarely sounded better than on these six classic and uniquely Cuban tracks. ‘Cuba Libre’ is one of Irakere’s finest moments. Never before released on CD, this is the first ever release outside of Japan for ‘Cuba Libre’ and with stunning re-mastering and music of glorious quality this is an essential and significant re-issue of one of Latin music’s holy grail collector’s items. A vital 45 minutes in the history of Cuban music

     Artist: Ben Webster & Duke Ellington
     Album: Ben Webster With Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra: Cotton tail
     Label: Past Perfect (UK) c 2001
     Year: rec. 1940-42
     Format:MP3 @ 320 Kb/s
     Size: 73 Mb.



     Ben Webster was considered one of the "big three" of swing tenors along with Coleman Hawkins (his main influence) and Lester Young. He had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls) yet on ballads he would turn into a pussy cat and play with warmth and sentiment. After violin lessons as a child, Webster learned how to play rudimentary piano (his neighbor Pete Johnson taught him to play blues). But after Budd Johnson showed him some basics on the saxophone, Webster played sax in the Young Family Band (which at the time included Lester Young).
     In 1940 (after short stints in 1935 and 1936), Ben Webster became Duke Ellington's first major tenor soloist. During the next three years he was on many famous recordings, including "Cotton Tail" (which in addition to his memorable solo had a saxophone ensemble arranged by Webster) and "All Too Soon." After leaving Ellington in 1943 (he would return for a time in 1948-1949), Webster worked on 52nd Street.

     Artist: Yano Saori
     Album: Confirmation
     Label: Savoy
     Year: september 2003
     Format, bitrate: mp3 @ 224kbps
     Time: 58 min
     Size: 93,2 MB

     Artist: Kenny G
     Album: Heart And Soul
     Year: June 29, 2010
     Label: Concord Records
     Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
     Total Size: 126 mb
     Time: 56:31

     Kenny G took a detour on 2008’s Rhythm & Romance, crafting a full-fledged Latin dance album, but he returns to basics on its 2010 sequel Heart & Soul, his first collection of new pop-oriented material since 2002’s Paradise. Like that album, Heart & Soul is largely a collaboration with Kenny’s longtime producer Walter Afanasieff, and that’s not the only familiar name here, either: Babyface sits in for a song, just like he did on 1996’s The Moment. There are plenty of familiar sounds and grooves peppered throughout Heart & Soul — his soprano sax always stays in its sweet spot, the synthesized funk rhythms keep things tight, while the glaze of electric pianos keep, things smooth, the melodies of the songs threaten to turn into covers but never go all the way — but familiarity is the point of this album, as it is on so many of Kenny G’s other albums. It’s not meant to challenge, it’s meant to soothe by offering more of the same formula he’s been peddling since 1986. Detractors will carp, albeit with considerably less fervor than before, while fans will enjoy another record that gives them precisely what they want.

     Artist: Kenny Garrett
     Album: Happy People
     Label:Warner Bros / Wea
     Year: 2002
     Format, bitrate: mp3 @ 224kbps
     Time: 59 min 18 sec
     Size: 103MB

      As of 2002, Kenny Garrett had spent a decade recording for Warner Bros., with Happy People being his seventh release for the major label. That was a remarkable accomplishment in an era when, to succeed, it seemed that jazz musicians either had to adopt pop-oriented contemporary jazz as their style or, if they stayed in a traditional mode, be, uh, dead. Garrett remained very much alive, but Happy People demonstrated the strategies that the alto saxophonist had developed to maintain his precarious status. Basically, he took a little from both of those successful approaches. As on his previous album, Simply Said, he employed Marcus Miller on a selective basis as an electric bassist, also promoting Miller to co-producer. Miller, who knew his way around contemporary jazz, helped turn the opening track, "Song for DiFang," into the kind of number that potentially could be played on smooth jazz radio stations. And those stations probably also would feel at home with the title track, slotted second in the album's sequence, which featured vocals by Jean Norris. Indeed, if you stopped listening there, you'd classify Happy People as a contemporary jazz album. But Garrett turned gradually more traditional as the album went on, and he also supplied signposts to his illustrious (and dead) predecessors, humorously imitating former employer Miles Davis' harsh whisper of a voice at the start of "Ain't Nothing but the Blues," dedicating "Monk-ing Around" to Thelonious Monk, and, in the closing track, "Brother B. Harper," which nominally concerned saxophonist Billy Harper, actually sounding much more like John Coltrane. What kept Happy People from being a compromised effort was Garrett's always-impressive playing, but it was certainly a record that carefully touched a lot of bases.

     Artist: Elephant9
     Album: Dodovoodoo
     Label: Rune Grammofon
     Year: 2007; release: 2008
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320
     Size: 111 mb
     AMG Rating:


     Elephant9 are a Norwegian power trio whose music may look back a bit, but is firmly rooted in the 21st century. Comprised of keyboard player Stеle Storlшkken (from vanguard electronic jazz mavens Supersilent), bassist Nikolai Eilertsen (National Bank), and drummer Torstein Lofthus (Shining), Elephant9 have come up with something that simultaneously references Brian Auger's early Oblivion Express, the 1973 Dark Magus/Agharta period of Miles Davis, the more free-form side of Weather Report's Live in Tokyo, and the Deep Purple of "Hush," all with three players and none of them a guitarist. More righteous still is that this trio record from Rune Grammofon, a label that in 2008 has come into its own, has a particular sound, and puts all manner of combinations together in creating a "supergroup" atmosphere. But Elephant9 are totally different. The set was recorded live in the studio, to analog tape. Storlшkken stays away from synths for the most part and concentrates on organs (Hammond B-3, church, and Wurlitzer) and Rhodes piano. The grooves here are voluminous, yet they do not remotely sound like the Blue Note/Prestige soul-jazz organ trios of the mid-'60s. Instead, they come from the fringes, from the spaced-out side of electric jazz. They may touch on prog, but that's all; instead, the music is more darkly psychedelic, funky, ruinously loose jazz that pulses with an insistent overdriven energy that puts them in a league of their own.
     The tense dark ambience that pervades Rune Grammofon's releases is all but completely absent on Dodovoodoo. There are seven cuts here, ranging in length from two and a half minutes to over 13 minutes, though most fall in the five- to seven-minute range. The shorter pieces are drenched in grooves that allow the listener to hold on and ride in a free and easy head state. The longer ones are explorations into some beyond we haven't seen yet, with top-notch instrumentation and insane intensity. Check "Skink" for some of the most amazing drumming this side of death metal; that said, the organ solo is one-fourth the time signature and the bass blasts through the middle trying to keep time with the drum kit. Storlшkken has no choice in his solo but to try to match his bandmembers. The finish is thrilling and breathlessly exciting. Even more compelling are Elephant9's readings of two of the late Joe Zawinul's best-known compositions: "Doctor Honoris Causa," written while he was with Cannonball Adderley's sextet; and "Directions," written for the 1970 edition of the Miles Davis group. "Dr. Honoris Causa" begins quietly — just a cymbal and a bassline, a ghostly piano chord here and there — а la the shimmering drum part of "Shhh/Peaceful" from In a Silent Way. The groove slowly evolves, and Elephant9 rely on their skeletal backbeat for the beginning of improvisation on the melody. The Rhodes allows an analog synth to enter halfway through, Lofthus' drums begin to triple time, and Eilertsen's electric bassline gets restless, while keeping that groove. When Storlшkken begins to really solo, the listener notices how high the intensity level really is, and at that point it gets downright funky! "Directions" begins as a free-form improv that gets its wings at two minutes and turns into pure dark funk. For those who choose to encounter it, Dodovoodoo will offer many surprises, all of them timeless and engaging. It is not only one of the best recordings of the year, it may be one of the best in the first decade of the 21st century. Keep an eye out for Elephant9 — they're amazing.

     Artist: Benny Carter
     Album: More Cookin'
     Label: Jazz Heritage Society
     Release: 2006
     Format: MP3 & FLAC
     Size: FLAC: 184.63 MB + 182.59 MB / MP3: 136.36
     Time: 62:15
     AMG rating:


     This is a rather rare CD, for it features Benny Carter on a live quartet date that was not released by the Music Masters label, but only by the collectors Jazz Heritage club (although two numbers have since come out on a "Best Of" Music Masters sampler). The scarcity seems puzzling, since altoist Carter is in typically excellent form, swinging inventively with pianist Richard Wyands, bassist Lisle Atkinson, and drummer Al Harewood. Carter plays six of his favorite standards (including his perennial set opener "On Green Dolphin Street"), plus his own "South Side Samba," and is up to his usual high standards. Well worth searching for.

     Artist: Illinois Jacquet
     Album: Loot to Boot
     Label: Laserlight/LRC Records
     Years: 1966-1970, release: 1991
     Quality: MP3@320 kbps
     Size: 128 mb
     Total time: 57:35


The origin dates and sources for the eight numbers on this nearly hour-long collection aren't listed, from Sonny Lester's archives, but it's possible to take a guess based on the fact that Jacquet is playing with Jimmy McGriff and Buddy Rich on six of the numbers. In fact, some of these seem almost to be Jimmy McGriff sessions for the most part, where Jacquet gets a prominent role, probably dating between 1966 and 1970 or so. The material here is as good a showcase for McGriff, electric keyboardman Kenny Baron, and guitarist George Freeman as it is for Jacquet, who is surprisingly in the background on a lot of what's here. All of the playing is impressive, with much of what's here downright dazzling (check out "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "It Don't Mean a Thing"). Strangely enough, for a disc supposedly showcasing Jacquet, it is George Freeman who gets a lot of the spotlight throughout, especially on the blues intrumental "How Long," where he shares center stage with Jacquet. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide