Artist: Simon Nabatov Trio
     Album: Sneak Preview
     Label: hatOLOGY
     Year: 2000
     Format, bitrate: MP3, CBR 320
     Time: 54:54
     Size: 125 Mb
     Rating AMG:

Relatively tame fare for the Swiss hatOLOGY label, the seven tracks recorded by this trio led by Russian-born pianist Simon Nabatov incorporate an encyclopedic knowledge and advanced technique that draw on hard bop jazz and a classically trained style. Joined by bassist Mark Helias and drummer Tom Rainey, Nabatov leads the trio through his detailed compositions, which mostly evidence a romantic aura, the notable exception being the tour de force, "Happy Buckhi Break Tune," which melds swing, ragtime, and hard-pounding post-bop in a delightful melange. The opening piece, "For Steve," dedicated to Steve Lacy, cleverly uses a simple Monk-like melody to evoke images of the soprano saxophonist. Rainey is powerful in support, his percussive statements pushing and pulling, while Helias hits hard on bass. Nabatov shows flashes of brilliance throughout, though at times he falls into the trap of playing too many notes, an easy failing considering his considerable skills. ~Steven Loewy, AMG

     Artist: Gabriela Montero
     Album: Plays Chopin, Falla, Ginestera, etc. (Includes Bonus CD)
     Label: EMI Classics
     Release: September 13, 2005
     Format, bitrate: m4a
     Time: 104:11
     Size: 370 mb
     AMG Rating:

     Artist: Carlos Santana
     Album: Supernatural (Legacy Edition) 2CD
     Year: 1999, release:2010
     Genre: Blues Rock     Format: mp3
     Bitrate: 320 Kbps CBR
     Size: 316 MB
     AMG rating

Santana was still a respected rock veteran in 1999, but it had been years since he had a hit, even if he continued to fare well on the concert circuits. Clive Davis, the man who had signed Santana to Columbia in 1968, offered him the opportunity to set up shop at his label, Arista. In the tradition of comebacks and label debuts by veteran artists in the '90s, Supernatural, Santana's first effort for Arista, is designed as a star-studded event. At first listen, there doesn't seem to be a track that doesn't have a guest star, which brings up the primary problem with the album — despite several interesting or excellent moments, it never develops a consistent voice that holds the album together. The fault doesn't lay with the guest stars or even with Santana, who continues to turn in fine performances. There's just a general directionless feeling to the record, enhanced by several songs that seem like excuses for jams, which, truth be told, isn't all that foreign on latter-day Santana records. Then again, the grooves often play better than the ploys for radio play, but that's not always the case, since Lauryn Hill's "Do You Like the Way" and the Dust Brothers-produced, Eagle-Eye Cherry-sung "Wishing It Was" are as captivating as the Eric Clapton duet, "The Calling." But that just confirms that Supernatural just doesn't have much of a direction, flipping between traditional Santana numbers and polished contemporary collaborations, with both extremes being equally likely to hit or miss. That doesn't quite constitute a triumph, but the peak moments of Supernatural are some of Santana's best music of the '90s, which does make it a successful comeback.

Artist : JANET SEIDEL
Album : Don’t Smoke In Bed
Year: 2002
Genre : Vocal Jazz
Label: LaBrava
Format : MP3
Bitrate : 320 kbps
Size : 148 MB

Lounge and cabaret performer and all-around ace singer Janet Seidel’s Don’t Smoke in Bed honors the important contributions of Peggy Lee to the vocal art. Australia’s Seidel doesn’t stop at entries from the Great American Songbook that Lee liked to sing, and includes her significant contributions to that document as a composer. In addition to the title tune, “Don’t Smoke in Bed,” there are five more Lee pieces on the play list. Through her personal appearances and many recordings, Seidel is a virtual institution in that country down under. This album is understandably somewhat jazzier — and a lot torchier — than her previous release, which was a nod to another one her favorites, Doris Day. Thus, you have a swinging, lilting “Street of Dreams,” a sassy “I Don’t Know Enough About You,” and a very smoky version of a Lee classic, “Black Coffee.” Kevin Hunt and Chris Morgan on piano and guitar, respectively, add just the right amount of the jazz feel for this cut, especially Morgan’s intense, smoldering guitar. Another interesting element added by Seidel and cohorts is that the songs are not just limited to Lee’s big recordings, such as the always enduring “Fever,” but those she sang in her early days with Benny Goodman and some from her movie work, such as the films The Lady and the Tramp and Johnny Guitar. As always, Seidel is backed by top musicians. In addition to Hunt and Morgan, reed player Don Burrows is on a couple cuts. Her brother, David Seidel, carries on with his usual bass duties, helped along by Adam Pache on drums. Seidel by no means replicatesLee’s way of doing this material, but presents it Seidel style. So this release offers the best of two worlds, literally: Peggy Lee and Janet Seidel. Review by Dave Nathan, AMG

     Artists: Thad Jones with The Pepper Adams Quintet
     Album: Mean What You Say
     Year: 1966
     Label: Milestone/OJC
     Time: 40:41
     Format: MP3 @320 kbps
     Size: 136 mb (RS.com, with 5% file recovery)
     Includes Covers and Scans
     AMG Rating:



A classic set recorded for Milestone and reissued under the OJC imprint, this date is co-led by Thad Jones (heard throughout on flügelhorn) and baritonist Pepper Adams; pianist Duke Pearson, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Mel Lewis complete the band. The high-quality hard bop unit performs four of Jones' originals, a song apiece by Carter and Pearson, and Burt Bacharach's "Wives and Lovers" and "Yes Sir, That's My Baby." Jones and Adams always made for a potent team, but the rise of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra meant that this particular quintet only lasted a short time.

     Artist: Stan Getz
     Album: Jazz Ballads
     Label: Membran Music
     Year: 1945-1954; release: 2004
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
          Time: 56 min, 29 sec + 53 min, 42 sec
     Size: 136+136 mb.

          Традиционные пятничные баллады. Стенли Гетц, прошу любить и жаловать.

Правда, тут уже была опубликована эта подборка в лосслесс-качестве, но, взявшись за выкладывание всей этой замечательной серии, не могу оставить без внимания этот сет.
Как обычно, решение остаётся за администрацией - или репост, или как есть.

     Artist: The Jeff Gauthier Goatette
     Album: Mask
     Label: Cryptogramophone
     Year: 2001; release: 2002
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320
     Size: 146 mb
     AMG Rating:

     On his third outing as a leader, violinist Jeff Gauthier offers a stellar blend of compositions that push at the boundaries of defined musics, while not consciously breaking any of them. Accompanied by brothers Alex Cline and Nels Cline on drums and guitars respectively, pianist David Witham, and bassist Joel Hamilton, Gauthier's Goatette is a blend of jazz exotica (not in the cheeky sense of the word, but the most profound) that winds through not only his own compositions but those of Ornette Coleman ("Enfant"), the late Eric von Essen, and Alex Cline. "Clea's Bounce" opens the disc with a riveting five/four time signature shimmying through the middle by Witham before Gauthier enters with a funky and angular melodic line that Nels Cline underscores, creating a new rhythmic line. Next comes the von Essen tune, "Waltz for K.P.," in a slippery jazz waltz tempo with numerous harmonic twists along the impressionistic melody, which seems present and invisible at the same time. Witham's chromaticism is especially beguiling here, and it lilts then accents then floats above the rhythm section. Coleman's "Enfant," from the Ornette on Tenor album, is given an interesting treatment here. The ensemble looks at this piece in light of harmolodics, a musical theory of harmony Coleman hadn't articulated until over ten years after this piece was recorded. Witham moves through the various open-ended harmolodic chords as the rest of the ensemble interacts with them before Gauthier and Nels go after one another on a theme. The next two tracks are among the most beautiful on the recording: "The Fools," by Nels Cline, is a haunting, 12-string piece with a wide-open, almost impressionistic figure that is filled in impressively by Hamilton's bass solo. The other is Gauthier's own "Ephemera." Again Cline plays 12-string and the feel is one of Oregon's music from the mid-'70s (Music of Another Present Era — Cline does a mean Ralph Towner on the 12-string) with shards of Keith Jarrett's chromatic method modalism and the deep lyricism of Bill Evans. The ensemble plays together in such a moving, fluid way the work becomes meta-textual, reaching outside music to embrace different cultural artifacts and languages in order to turn them back into collective expression. In this way, this track is the hinge of the entire album, bringing in the voices of not only jazz, but of folk music and those not yet created — speaking in poetic, sensual languages and whispering in nuances that are unmitigated by jazz, folk music, or improvisation; yet they exist because of them. "Mask" is a four-part work which is too complex — yet glorious — to go into here; one would need an entire essay to devote to the beauty and mystery of its articulation. With the final work, Alex Cline's "Forgiveness," a seemingly simple tone poem, the album meditatively comes to a close on the theme of silence and peace. What better way to cap an exploration that while universal in its appeal is also full of vulnerable individual and collective expression? With this album as only the latest evidence in tow, Cryptogramophone is issuing some of the most exciting, appealing, and unclassifiable music today.

     Artist: Gavin Harrison & 05Ric
     Album: Circles
     Label: Squatter Madras
     Year: 2009
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kb/s
     Time: 42:23
     Size: 95 MB

     Artist: Bud Powell
     Album: Hot House
     Label: Black Lion
     Year: 1964 ; release: 1989
     Format, MP3 bitrate:
     Time: 44.76
     Size: 102,506 KB



In Aug. 1964 pianist Bud Powell and his friend/guardian Francis Paudras went on vacation to Edenville on the coast of France. Powell played at a small club each night in a very relaxed atmosphere. This CD contains some of the performances, four songs with a trio (that includes bassist Guy Hayat and drummer Jacques Gervais) and, best of all, three hot numbers that feature tenor great Johnny Griffin who makes the group a quartet. The recording quality is a little erratic on this set but Powell often sounds quite inspired. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artists: VA
     Album: The Complete Norman Granz Jam Sessions
     Label: Verve
     Years: 1952-54, release - 2004
     Quality: MP3/320 kbps & FLAC
     Size: MP3: 141+140+149+174+118 = 726mb + 3%

     Review by Thom Jurek
     The historic Norman Granz Jam Sessions, recorded between 1952-1954 for Clef and Mercury, are among the most treasured jam sets of all time. The nine separate albums featured the crиme de la crиme of New York's jazz community from Charlie Parker to Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton and Max Roach and dozens of others. This box set simply collects all nine LPs on five remastered CDs, containing original artwork in a slipcase that fits inside a handsome metal display box. The individual volumes are of consistently very high quality and are utterly indispensable to jazz aficionados. For those who already have the discs, this is merely superfluous. For those who don't, this is a pricey buy but a hell of a way to begin a jazz education.

     Artists: Dizzy Gillespie / Roy Eldridge
     Album: Complete Trumpet Kings Battle
     Label: Definitive Records
     Year: 1954; release: 2004
     Format: mp3, bitrate: 320@kbps
     Time: 79:55
     Size: 183 + 1.45 MB

Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993) -one of the most popular personalities in the history of jazz-, and Roy Eldridge (1911-1989) -one of the key soloists in the evolution of jazz and of his instrument-, jammin’ with the famous Oscar Peterson Trio -with the addition of thephenomenal drummer Louie Bellson- in memorable standards such as “Sometimes I’m Happy,” "Algo Bueno,” “Blue Moon,” “I’ve Found A New Baby,” “I Can’t Get Started,” “Limehouse Blues,” “Can’t We Be Friends,” “If I Had You,” among others.

The present edition includes all the material recorded in the session which took place in the Radio Recorders studios in Los Angeles on October 1954. Here Dizzy as well as Roy demonstrate, in what without a doubt was a moment of utmost maturity for both, their virtues and their defects in a perfect example of his characteristic output. This session is marked by the spirit of the jam session that was so pleasing to Norman Granz, the producer. And both soloists, with a sense of humor, do “battle” with the melodies and the rhythms of a series of standards and their own compositions that perfectly fulfill their intentions. Jazz which is direct, simple, without pretensions... and as passionate as it is exciting? ~ Fresh Sound Records Notes

“To hear Gillespie and Eldridge battling on ‘I’ve Found a New Baby’ and ‘Limehouse Blues’ is to hear two of the very best trying to cut each other. Highly recommended for all jazz collections.” ~ Scott Yanow -All Music Guide

     Artist: Bobby Hackett
     Album: The Complete Capitol Bobby Hackett Solo Sessions (5CD BOX SET)
     Label: Mosaic Records
     Years: 1953-1959; release: 2001
     Format, bitrate: Flac
     Size: 1,72GB


To jazz aficionados, trumpeter Bobby Hackett might be best known for a long history of projects that include his marvelous longtime relationship with trombonist Vic Dickenson, which led to a number of splendid small-group recordings. Hackett had many sides, not the least of which was his affinity for clear, lovely melodies, which he sang through his horn like a young robin chirping in the early morn. Simply put, the trumpeter had a knack for performing tunes from the American songbook with a deep clarity rarely, if ever, equaled. This gorgeous five-disc set collects all ten LPs made by Hackett for Capitol records between 1953 and 1959. These were the Eisenhower years in America, a time when a certain self-satisfaction endured, when conformity reigned, and everything seemed -- at least on the surface -- just right. Hackett's recordings for Capitol reflected the era perfectly. More in the style of easy listening than jazz, Hackett's luscious tone mesmerizes with its subtlety, its exquisite delicacy, and its fine sense of tonal center. Among the sidemen on these discs are Lou Stein, Dick Carey (who performs splendidly on Eb horn), Milt Hinton, Dave McKenna, Cutty Cutshall, and Bob Wilbur. Considering the talent represented, there is little in the way of first-rate jazz improvisation. In its place, though, are some of the most beautiful sounds you are likely to hear on disc, the wondrous tones of a premier stylist whose plush, rich, creamy voice speaks to the heavens with every note. ~ Steven Loewy, All Music Guide