Artist: Ron Carter
     Album: Empire Jazz
     Label: RSO Records
     Year: 1980
     Format, bitrate: mp3 (CBR), 320 kbps (LP-Rip)
     Time: 38:28
     Size: 90 mb (megaupload)

Можно по разному относиться к знаменитой саге Джорджа Лукаса "Звездные войны", но если кто-нибудь скажет мне, что звуковая дорожка написанная Джоном Уильямсом к этому кинополотну плоха, пусть первый бросит в меня камень. Но не о том речь, дело в том, что Рону Картеру с товарищами удалось создать замечательное джазовое переложение знаменитых мелодий к фильму, и сделать это блестяще. Один "Имперский марш" чего стоит! Так что данная пластинка - удовольствие для всех: поклонников саги и любителей джаза. Приятного прослушивания!

Record producer Meco demonstrated there was profit in marketing popular cover arrangements of John Williams' Star Wars compositions. Despite his Space Disco theme achieving hit status in 1977, three years later, even though Williams served up another memorable melody in The Empire Strikes Back, the enthusiasm for such projects seems to have waned. Boris Midney gave it a go, but who remembers him? Maybe it was just that no one could figure out what to do with the Imperial March. Leave it a jazz musician to give it a try.>>>

Artist: Attila Zoller
Album: The Last Recordings
Label: Enya
Years: 1997-1998, release: 2000
Format, bitrate: mp3 (CBR), 320 kbps
Time: 55:35
Size: 130 mb (megaupload)



"The Last Recordings" - это последние прижизненные записи () выдающегося гитариста венгерского происхождения Аттилы Золлера (1927-1998). Аттила не избегал игры на электроинструменте, особенно в годы подъема джаз-рока, но больше любил акустическую гитару. Шесть композиций, записанных 5 декабря 1997 г. во время его последнего приезда в Будапешт, вошли в данный альбом. Разумеется, за долгие годы Золлер издал немало ярких и эффектных дисков. Верная гитара не подвела руки, ласкавшие ее более пятидесяти лет. Особенно убеждают в этом три сольные композиции: "When It's Time", "Alicia's Lullaby" и финальная пьеса диска "Dream Bells", посвященная колоколам храмов его родного города. ~ bgshop.ru

     Artist: Monty Python
     Album: Monty Python Sings
     Genre: Comedy
     Label: Virgin
     Year: 1989
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 54:16
     Size: 124 mb (megaupload)
     AMG Rating:


Дорогие друзья, для поднятия настроения и получения заряда бодрости и оптимизма предлагаю Вашему вниманию замечательный альбом величайшей комик-труппы всех времен и народов. Положительные эмоции обеспечены!

Monty Python Sings is a comedy album of songs written by the Monty Python team.
The song "Oliver Cromwell" was never released prior to this album. It also contains a new recording "I've Got Two Legs," which had previously only been released as part of live recordings, and the previously rare single version of "The Lumberjack Song." The album also has the complete version of the "Medical Love Song" and "Henry Kissinger," which each had a verse cut out of its appearance on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album.~ Wikipedia

     Artist: Weather Report
     Album: Tale Spinnin'
     Label: Iconoclassic
     Year (Release): 1975
     Genre: Fusion
     Format, Bitrate: mp3/320 kbps 48 kHz / lossless
     Time: 43:10
     Size: 95 mb / 307 MB (cue, log, scans)



     На мой взгляд один из лучших альбомов Завинула и Компании.

     Рецензия от Боба Палмера ("Rolling Stone"):
"Tale Spinnin" вызывает гипнотическое погружение, свободное и боязливое, с легким привнесением стиля афро-латин в ритмический рисунок и очаровательных мелодичных деталей поверх основной темы. Сжатая лирическая глубина и эксперименты в акустическо-электрической инструментовке, которые придали последнему альбому "Weather Report" "Таинственный путешественник" его интригующую внешность и структурную сложность, в значительной степени недостают здесь и только "Человек в зеленой рубашке", и "Пять рассказов" имеют темы, которые впечатляют... Несмотря на его относительную легкость, "Tale Spinnin" убеждает еще раз, что "Weather Report" является самой предприимчивой, скрупулёзной и постоянно стимулирующей группой, работающей в направлении электрик-джаз" (с).

     Artist: Ron Carter
     Album: Stardust
     Label: Blue Note
     Year: 2001
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 52:10
     Size: 121 mb (megaupload)


     Stardust is another satisfying record from Ron Carter, this one in part a tribute to the late Oscar Pettiford. Leading a quintet with Benny Golson on tenor, Joe Locke on vibes, Sir Roland Hanna on piano, and Lenny White on drums, Carter picks three choice tunes by Pettiford - the swing-to-tango "Tamalpais," the minor-key bop classic "Bohemia After Dark," and the masterfully simple "Blues in the Closet." Carter's originals, also numbering three, include the slow 14-bar blues "Nearly," the mid-tempo swinger "Tail Feathers," and "That's Deep," which is Carter's answer to the question, "How Deep Is the Ocean?" Locke sits out on a fairly upbeat rendition of "The Man I Love"; Carter and Hanna close with a duet on "Stardust," with Carter taking the melody. Golson and Hanna are in particularly good form, their richly seasoned sounds meshing well with the elan of the younger Locke.

     Artist: Ron Carter
     Album: Brandenburg Concerto
     Label: Blue Note
     Year: 1995
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 42:35
     Size: 100 mb (megaupload)




Итак, дорогие друзья, хочу представить вашему вниманию, на мой взгляд, более удачный (в отличие от "Ron Carter Meets Bach") "классический" альбом Рона Картера в сопровождении оркестра.

The distinguished jazz bassist's third "classical" album on jazz's Blue Note label is one of those exercises best heard as a one-off bit of live fun in the artist's living room. The title track finds a string orchestra led by Kermit Moore performing a perfectly straight, if not terribly neat, run-through of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, with Carter playing a bass continuo above (rather than below) the group, as well as soloing in spotlit passages. The jazz solos grate uncomfortably against the metrical classical strings; it sounds superimposed, forced, and ultimately pointless. The "Aria" from Grieg's Holberg Suite and Handel's "Largo" from Xerxes are also fairly straightforward from a classical point of view -- and not well played at that. However, the straight portions of Ravel's "Pavanne pour une Infante Defunt" and Bartók's "Joc cu Bata" are interspersed with more comfortable, swinging passages for jazz trio. Carter's own "Desert Winds" for himself and cello quartet is actually the most successful work on the program; the Bartók-influenced classical and jazz elements are better integrated, and one doesn't have any classical originals buzzing around in one's head as a reference point.

     Artist: Ron Carter
     Album: Meets Bach
     Label: Blue Note
     Year: 1991, release: 1992
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 41:24
     Size: 96 mb (megaupload)
     AMG Rating:


Итак, дорогие друзья, "в догонку" к фиалкам от crazy_captain, хочу представить вашему вниманию один из "классических" альбомов великого басиста. Альбом, на мой вкус, вышел немного нудноватым и, к сожалению, свою столь низкую оценку от AMG он заслуживает, но окончательные выводы делать только вам.

This isn’t Mr. Carter’s first blending of jazz and the classics. In 1993, his album Friends included works by, among others, Rachmaninoff and Chopin. In 1994 he recorded Ron Carter Meets Bach, a deeply serious tribute in which he multiplied his solo bass with multitracked clones, allowing him to form an ensemble of basses all by himself.
What, purists might wonder, is going on here? Is it legal to take classical works, and add notes the composers didn’t write? One answer, from inside the classical tradition, says "Why not?" The second movement of the Third Brandenburg contains just two long chords, and any musicologist will tell you Bach expected someone to add a made-up solo. (Mr. Carter, of course, seizes the opportunity.) Mozart wrote his own elaboration of Handel’s Messiah, and, more recently, composers haven’t hesitated to transform older music, as Luciano Berio did in his 1960’s work Sinfonia where he wove a movement from Mahler’s Second Symphony into a tapestry all his own.
But doesn’t Mr. Carter take a further leap, by mixing classical music with sounds that aren’t from the classical tradition? Of course he does, and for anyone who hates that, I’d have three answers. The first is the militant one. Enough of these barriers! Tear down the walls! The second takes a laissez-faire approach. If you don’t like Mr. Carter’s Bach and Grieg, then just don’t listen to it. The third answer, though, might be the most encouraging. There’s a lot of music in this world of ours, and many of us don’t build fences in our listening. We go out to buy CDs, and come back with Bach, Elvis Costello, and John Coltrane. Why shouldn’t Mr. Carter do something similar when he plays? ~ Wall Street Journal, March 11, 1997

     Artist: Ron Carter
     Album: All Alone
     Label: Emarcy
     Year: 1988
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 55:47
     Size: 129 mb (megaupload)
     AMG Rating:

     Artist: Ron Carter
     Album: Etudes
     Label: Wounded Bird Records
     Year: 1982, release: 2008
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 36:01
     Size: 85 mb (megaupload)
     AMG Rating:



Sophisticated, elegant quartet date from 1982, with Art Farmer's serene trumpet and flugelhorn playing setting the tone, backed by tenor and soprano saxophonist Bill Evans, who's more restrained than usual. Carter's bass and Tony Williams' drums are both understated and definitive in their support and backing rhythms ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide.

     Artist: Ron Carter
     Album: New York Slick
     Label: Original Jazz Classics
     Year (Recording): 1979, realise: 1966
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 35:50
     Size: 83 mb (megaupload)
     AMG Rating:



The title of this 1979 all-star session should be taken with a grain of salt. A combination of six such creative talents could hardly produce slick results, and the participants came together from points far beyond the five boroughs. (J.J. Johnson was in the midst of his Hollywood soundtrack composing, and Art Farmer was then based in Vienna.) Ron Carter, who has rarely been so selfless in the solo space he allots guests, prepared an inspiring environment with his unimpeachable time and his eloquent compositions; and Farmer and Hubert Laws in particular respond with some of their freshest playing of the period. Carter's skill as writer and leader are manifest in the singular flugelhorn/trombone/flute blend of the front line, his exceptional command of the jazz waltz ("A Slight Smile"), and the challenging wrinkles he works into the final two blowing numbers - concordmusicgroup.com

     Artists: Stan Getz, Wardell Gray, Paul Quinichette, Zoot Sims
     Album: The Rare Dawn Sessions
     Type: Compilation
     Label: Collectables Records
     Years: 1949-1956, release:1994
     Format: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 52:35
     Size: 125 mb (megaupload)
     AMG rating:



Drawn from various sessions in the 1940s, THE RARE DAWN SESSIONS collects tracks by four then up-and-coming jazz saxophone legends. What all have in common is their chief influence, Lester Young, whose heartfelt tone helped to change jazz after his emergence in the 1930s. All four tenor saxophonists here epitomize class, melody, and swing, and all adapted to innovations in bebop and cool jazz. While Stan Getz is perhaps the best known of the four, all are Captains of Cool and well-worth hearing - cduniverse.com.

     Artist: Ron Carter
     Album: Peg Leg
     Label: Original Jazz Classics
     Year: 1977
     Release: 1991
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps (cbr)
     Time: 38:18
     Size: 92 mb (megaupload)



     Peg Leg is an album by jazz bassist Ron Carter, originally released on LP in 1978, digitally remastered and released on CD in 1991 by Fantasy Studios. It was recorded in November 1977 and prominently features Carter on piccolobass. Oftentimes carrying the melody the instrument is a focus of 3 of the albums 6 tracks, while fellow bassplayer Buster Williams performs the traditional role of the instrument on those tracks. The rhythm section is completed by piano and percussion (on all but 1 track), and guitar on 4 tracks. The standard jazz ensemble is further augmented, on all 6 tracks, by woodwinds (see below). Carter uses a piccolo bass tuned a fourth higher than a normal double bass (low to high: A-D-G-C) ~ wikipedia

     Artist: Ron Carter
     Album: Uptown Conversation
     Label: Atlantic
     Year: 1969
     Release: 1989
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps (cbr)
     Time: 62:04
     Size: 150 mb (megaupload)
     AMG Rating:


     A beautiful album by Ron Carter - and quite rare, too! The record features a group that's got a nice 70s modal soul jazz sound - with players that include Herbie Hancock on acoustic and electric piano, Hubert Laws on flute, Sam Brown on guitar, and both Billy Cobham and Grady Tate on drums - all working in sweet small group mode alongside Carter's excellent work on acoustic and Fender bass. The sound is sometimes spacey, sometimes groovy - and marks a key chapter in Carter's career, one that has him stepping out of the background into a great role as a leader -- setting the stage for many more albums to come in the 70s! Titles include the very funky "Uptown Conversation", plus the tracks "Half A Row", "Doom", and "Einbahnstrasse". Very soulful, with a stone mellow moody groove!

   Author: Valeriy Kucherenko / Валерий Кучеренко.
   Issue: Total Rock. Спецвыпуск №1 "Zappa" Frank Zappa's Biography
   Format: pdf
   Size: 80 mb
   Language: Russian
   Year: 2008

     Artist: Weather Report
     Album: This Is This
     Label: Columbia Records
     Year: 1986
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps 44kHz
     Time: 45:45
     Size: 106 mb

"     This Is This! is the fifteenth and final studio album by Weather Report. The band thought that they had fulfilled their contract with Columbia Records with the release of the previous album Sportin' Life. This, however, was not the case and the band had to release one more record. Along with Sportin' Life, this record is considered by many to be their weakest, despite some inspired compositions and playing on some of the tracks on both albums. (The requirement from CBS to make an album was largely behind its creation)"
   Wikipedia.org

     Artist: St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review
     Album: Too Good To Be True
     Label: Shnur'OK
     Year: 2005
     Format: mp3, 320 kbps 48kHz
     Time: 43:29
     Size: 100 mb
     +Videoclip

"     In 2001, the famous Russian ska-punk band Spitfire started a spin-off project called St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review in collaboration with members of the St. Petersburg-based, afro-Caribbean band Markscheider Kunst. The initial idea was to create a program comprised mostly of jazz standards such as Sidewinder, Corcovado, Four and original ska tunes (St. Thomas, Man in the Street) to perform at the Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF) in April '01. The line-up of this band included the baritone-sax and percussion players of Markscheider Kunst as well as all members of Spitfire. The show attracted great interest and the band continued to play live gigs on the Russian club scene. SPb Ska-Jazz Review’s debut album was recorded in March '02 at Dobrolet studio in St. Petersburg and was released in Russia in the spring of 2002 on the small independent label Zvezda Records. Soon after the release of the first album, American vocalist Jennifer Davis joined the line-up, and the band went to work on its second album, Too Good To Be True, recorded in April 2004. This album features mostly original material and was released in Russia onthe Shnur’OK label and in Europe and the United States on Megalith Records. The first SPb Ska-Jazz Review album was re-released on the well-known German ska label, Grover Records, in January 2005 and was supported by an extensive German and Swiss tour. The band also recorded a live concert CD/DVD entitled ”Live at Red Club” in December 2006 and is currently working on material for a forthcoming studio album. SPb Ska-Jazz Review is a band that crosses borders both musically and physically fusing the dynamic contrasts of sweet harmonies and hard-driving polyrhythms, improvisation and tight orchestra playing, East and West, and machismo and feminine wiles to create fiercely energetic and inspiring music transcending the boundaries dictated by genre. This band swings as hard as it skanks"
   Myspace.com

   Artist: St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review
   Album: St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review
   Label: Zvezda Records
   Year (Release): 2002
   Genre: ska-jazz
   Format, bitrate:: mp3, 320 kbps 48 kHz
   Time: 53:06
   Size: 122 mb

   The First Album Of The Great Russian Ska-Jazz Band.

   "St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review" - питерская музыкальная команда, играющая ska, ska-jazz (плюс элементы фанка, джайва, свинга и рокстеди). St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review не гонятся за модой, черпая вдохновение в 40-х-60-х годах XX века, когда талант и мастерство решали всё, а музыка была чистым удовольствием для музыкантов и аудитории. Среди своих«учителей» они называют Луиса Джордана, The J.B.’s и, конечно, легендарных «Скаталайтс». Репертуар St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review включает как творчески переосмысленный классический джаз, соул, фанк и ска, так и собственные элегантные и вдохновенные композиции
   (ru.wikipedia.org)

   Artist: John Hammond
   Album: In Your Arms Again
   Label: Back Porch
   Year (Release): 2005
   Format: mp3
   Bitrate: 320 kbps 48 kHz
   Time: 46:54
   Size: 108 mb

    "John Hammond, Jr. fell in love with country blues in the early '60s, and he has never shaken it out of his system. Over time he has developed into a gritty guitar and harp player, and while his voice still feels like someone imitating a rustic Southern blues singer rather than actually being one (Hammond is a lifetime New Yorker, after all), he has learned to temper the hoarse overstatement in his vocals to some degree - or maybe, after 40-plus years of albums, listeners have just gotten used to his delivery. In Your Arms Again finds Hammond working in a trio format with bassist Marty Ballou and drummer Stephen Hodges, and the result is a wonderfully loose, anxious, and ragged roadhouse sound that continually feels like it's going to steamroll right off a cliff -- which isn't a bad thing at all. Recorded in a converted church in Salina, KS, in just five days, In Your Arms Again includes the usual Hammond mix of old blues and R&B classics, including, this time around, two Ray Charles songs ("I've Got a Woman," "Fool for You"), three made famous by Howlin' Wolf ("I'm Leavin' You," "Moanin' for My Baby," and Willie Dixon's "Evil [Is Going On]"), a Jimmy Reed song (a sturdy, loping version of "You Got Me Crying"), and two of the album's highlights, a vicious take on John Lee Hooker's "Serve Me Right to Suffer" and a raggedly right shuffle try on Percy Mayfield's "My Baby's Gone." Hammond also contributes two of his own songs, the title track and "Come to Find Out," which are credible if unspectacular efforts. The best track here is arguably the opener, a delightfully loose and energetic romp through the traditional "Jitterbug Swing," drawn, it would appear, from Bukka White's 1940 version on OKeh Records. In the end, Hammond doesn't break any new ground on In Your Arms Again, but the stripped-down trio format he uses here gives the album a nice back-porch rustic stomp feel, and if he stills seems like more of an imitator than an interpreter, well, he's going to get folks moving and shaking with this little combo, and that, first and foremost, is what the blues is supposed to do. The rest is academic"
   Steve Leggett, AMG

     Artist: Dizzy Gillespie
     Album: Soul Time
     Label: Sanctuary Records
     Year (Release): 2002
     Genre: Bop, afro-cuban
     Format, Bitrate: mp3/320 kbps 48 kHz
     Time: 39:39
     Size: 91 mb