Horace Silver & The Jazz Messengers - S/T

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 43:32

Size: 99.7 MB

Styles: Piano jazz

Year: 1955/2004

Art: Front

[5:18] 1. Room 608

[7:24] 2. Creepin' In

[4:03] 3. Stop Time

[5:08] 4. To Whom It May Concern

[5:21] 5. Hippy

[4:16] 6. The Preacher

[5:15] 7. Hankerin'

[6:43] 8. Doodlin'

In 1954, pianist Horace Silver teamed with drummer Art Blakey to form a cooperative ensemble that would combine the dexterity and power of bebop with the midtempo, down-home grooves of blues and gospel music. The results are what would become known as hard bop, and the Jazz Messengers were one of the leading exponents of this significant era in jazz history. Before Silver's departure and Blakey's lifetime of leadership, this first major session by the original Jazz Messengers set the standard by which future incarnations of the group would be measured. The tunes here are all Silver's, save the bopping "Hankerin'" by tenor man Hank Mobley. Such cuts as the opening "Room 608," the bluesy "Creepin' In," and "Hippy" are excellent examples of both Silver's creative composing style and the Messengers' signature sound. Of course, the most remembered tunes from the session are the classic "The Preacher" and "Doodlin'," two quintessential hard bop standards. In all, this set is not only a stunning snapshot of one of the first groups of its kind, but the very definition of a style that dominated jazz in the 1950s and '60s. ~ROVI

Horace Silver & The Jazz Messengers

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Django Club - S/T

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 39:22
Size: 90.1 MB
Styles: Gypsy jazz, Swing
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[2:58] 1. Club Sandwich
[3:37] 2. Lilie
[4:29] 3. It's Time
[3:23] 4. Marée basse
[3:51] 5. Blues Arranger
[4:22] 6. Valse pour Marie
[4:00] 7. Loin
[4:20] 8. Momentum
[4:09] 9. Elo
[4:10] 10. Va-et-vient

Django Club is the encounter of 5 young heirs of the tradition of the ‘Hot Club de France’. They are all aged between 24 and 35, they have all grown up with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli’s music and they have all come together to make an album in tribute to their grand masters!

That means four boys and a girl, three guitars, one violin, a double bass, overwhelming energy and irresistible swing. Welcome to the Club!

Fiona Monbet: violin; Richard Manetti: guitar; Adrien Moignard: guitar; Sebastien Giniaux: guitar; Jeremie Arranger: double bass.

django club

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Rebekka Bakken - Is That You?

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 45:39
Size: 104.5 MB
Styles: Adult alternative, Jazz vocals
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[4:14] 1. As Tears Clear Our Eyes
[2:56] 2. As I Lay Myself Bare
[4:13] 3. Didn't I
[3:58] 4. Going Home (Is A Lonely Travel)
[3:30] 5. Is That You
[2:52] 6. Even If You Buy Me Thousand Cars
[4:01] 7. Why Do All The Good Guys Get The Dragons
[4:39] 8. So Ro
[3:29] 9. Just A Little Moon
[6:13] 10. Innocence
[5:29] 11. As Long As There Is A Voyage Away

Nordic folk-jazz chanteuse Rebekka Bakken was the most successful exponent of a new generation of Scandinavian jazz singers that also included Silje Nergaard, Sidsel Endresen, and Solveig Slettahjell. Born in Oslo in 1970, Bakken studied violin and piano as a child, and in 1995 relocated to New York City to pursue a professional music career. There she paired with Austrian-born guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, and together they toured the local nightclub circuit as a duo. In time Bakken also befriended German pianist Julia Hülsmann, with whom she recorded the 2003 album Scattering Poems, a collection of jazz performances inspired by the poems of e.e. cummings. Upon completing the project Bakken returned to Europe, settling in Vienna and signing a solo deal with the Universum label. Her debut LP, The Art of How to Fall, followed by year's end, and in 2005 she resurfaced with her commercial breakthrough, Is That You? I Keep My Cool followed a year later. ~bio by Jason Ankeny

Eivind Aarset (guitar, electronics); Bendik Hofseth (saxophone); Nils Petter Molvær (trumpet); Peter Scherer (organ); Per Lindvall (drums); Knut Koppang (background vocals)

Is That You                 

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JC Stylles - Blakey Grease

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 46:18

Size: 106.0 MB

Styles: Guitar jazz

Year: 2014

Art: Front

[6:41] 1. Hammerhead

[6:12] 2. Ping Pong

[6:51] 3. Yama

[5:04] 4. United

[6:11] 5. Hipsippy Blues

[4:16] 6. Stretching

[5:10] 7. Pensativa

[5:50] 8. One by One

New York based Jazz Guitarist JC Stylles (aka Jason Campbell) first touched a guitar around 7 years of age, and was introduced to the world of jazz in the most unlikely of places, that being in the rainforests of Kuranda, a tiny, predominantly aboriginal town in the tropics of Far North Queensland Australia, via his stepfather's jazz record collection. At 16 years of age he left the rainforests for Sydney where significantly in his development, he had the opportunity to attend 2 shows a night for nearly a week in front row seats of the touring jazz guitar great George Benson. This sponge-like absorption at such a close range left an indelible mark in his development long term as a guitarist. He also had the opportunity simultaneously to study with an incredible array of touring jazz giants at the time that included John Scofield, Steve Erquiaga, Miroslav Vitous, Woody Shaw, Johnny Griffin and others. Having initially immigrated to New York in 1992, he continued studies with the likes of Pat Martino, Tal Farlow, Rodney Jones, John Abercombie and Barry Harris and further developed his skills in clubs like Visione’s before returning to Australia in the mid-nineties for personal matters.

JC Stylles relocated permanently back to New York in 2005 where he released the recordings “Chillin’ at Home” and “Live and Unveiled” of which both are in the guitar/organ trio format, where he has staked his claim. He also concentrated on performing with the best Jazz Organists in the business including, Jimmy McGriff, Dr Lonnie Smith, Tony Monaco, Pat Bianchi, Seleno Clarke, Jimmy “Preacher” Robbins, Melvin Davis, Nathan Lucas, Akiko Tsuruga and others.

His previous recording “Ex-hil-a-ra-tion and other states” for Motema Music, featuring Pat Bianchi on organ, Lawrence Leathers on drums, and produced by the Grammy award winning producer Jack Kreisberg, received rave reviews from those in the know. C Stylles' Libran commitment to ensuring the balance of the important musical elements that makes for great jazz experiences for listeners, are what sets him apart from many others in the field today.

With his most current release in 2014 being "Blakey Grease", he teams up again with Grammy winning producer Jack Kreisberg for an exclusive project on American Showplace Music, featuring a quintet line-up delivering an "all Art Blakey"repertoire in an organ combo setting for the first time in recorded history!

Blakey Grease 

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Kathleen Holeman - I'm All Smiles

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:11
Size: 147,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:07)  1. I'm All Smiles
(5:01)  2. Love Dance
(3:48)  3. In The Still Of The Night
(5:21)  4. Why Did I Choose You?
(3:53)  5. Your Smiling Face
(8:57)  6. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
(3:51)  7. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
(4:31)  8. Smile
(4:56)  9. Lush Life
(5:31) 10. Smile All The While
(4:49) 11. Close Enough For Love
(4:19) 12. Autumn Nocturne
(5:00) 13. The Bare Necessities

Kathleen Holeman is a chameleon, able to make her voice be exactly what she wants on any song she wants, and she scats like the pro she is. Jazz standards, vintage swing,blues and pop, ballads and fast romps, relaxing to hot.she does it. 

"Kathleen Holeman is the real deal, a singer who can sing." I had the pleasure of writing those words for a rave I penned for the Topeka Capital-Journal titled "KC Jazz Diva Soars at Topeka Jazz Workshop." I therefore come to the happy task of writing these notes as a partisan. I am a devoted Kathleen Holeman fan!
Since first meeting Kathleen several years ago in preparing notes for her debut album, the acclaimed Don't You Wonder?, I've had the joy -- as countless other Kansas City area jazz fans have had -- of watching her continue to grow. With I'm All Smiles the happy beat goes on. In fact, there's a palpably positive feeling that's just plain life-affirming. In Kathleen's hands, even Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" exudes good cheer.

"Life is wonderful and I feel so blessed to be able to share these feelings and sounds with so many people," the St. Joseph, Missouri, native told me recently. Speaking of sharing, Kathleen also gives full credit to her fellow musicians. "The guys helped me pick some of the tunes, and I feel that this is their album as much as its mine," Kathleen stressed. "Most of our small group arrangements are a collective effort and it was great fun to see how the songs would turn out!" Now, we get to share that "fun." More.... http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/holeman2

I'm All Smiles

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Holly Hofmann - Low Life

Styles: Flute Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:29
Size: 114,3 MB
Art: Front

(5:03)  1. Jack of Hearts
(6:49)  2. Touch the Fog
(4:17)  3. Grow (For Dick Oatts)
(5:48)  4. Lumiere de la vie
(5:49)  5. Cedar Would
(5:48)  6. The Very Thought of You
(5:08)  7. Make Me Rainbows
(5:50)  8. Soul-Leo
(4:51)  9. Farmer's Trust

Holly Hofmann has been a fairly high profile jazz flautist for years, working with everybody from bassist Ray Brown to pianist Bill Cunliffe to trombonist Slide Hampton. Her work in Flutology, a flute trio-plus-rhythm group that put her in a front line with Ryerson and the great Frank Wess, raised her profile quite a bit, and a string of positively-received releases on the Capri and Azica imprints have helped her establish a reputation as one of the finest jazz flute players operating today. Low Life is Hofmann's twelfth album, and it finds her working exclusively with alto flute. It's an instrument that, as Hofmann notes, has a limited range, but in her hands, its expressive qualities are limitless. The idea for this record was to take the negative connotation away from the concept of an "easy listening" record. Hofmann just wanted to present "simply arranged songs that show the beauty of the music and the alto flute," and that she does. 

Here, Hofmann works with longtime piano mate Mike Wofford and a trio of West Coast heavies guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist John Clayton, and drummer Jeff Hamilton. The results are predictably positive. Hofmann connects with Wilson on the guitarist's "Jack Of Hearts," melds with Wofford on Clayton's haunting "Touch The Fog," and keeps crossing lines, moving from the serious to the serene to the soulful, on her own "Lumiere De La Vie." A hip bass-and-drum-rims groove makes Mulgrew Miller's "Soul-Leo" an easy sell, a flute-and-piano duet on "The Very Thought Of You" puts the spotlight on the established Hofmann-Wofford team, and tranquility triumphs during Pat Metheny's "Farmer's Trust." If only all easy listening records were this easy to listen to. ~ Dan Bilawsky   http://www.allaboutjazz.com/furthering-the-flute-in-jazz-holly-hofmann-and-bill-mcbirnie-by-dan-bilawsky.php#.U46ofiioqdk

Personnel:  Holly Hofmann (Flute); Mike Wofford (Piano); John Clayton (bass); Jeff Hamilton (drums);  Anthony Wilson (guitar)

Low Life

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Jackson, Hazeltine, Reedus, Gill - Sugar Hill : The Music Of Duke Ellington And Billy Strayhorn

Styles: Jazz, Hard Bop
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:09
Size: 124,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:18)  1. Caravan
(6:29)  2. Warm Valley
(5:54)  3. In My Solitude
(7:10)  4. Prelude To A Kiss
(5:02)  5. Things Ain't What They Used To Be
(6:36)  6. Chelsea Bridge
(5:33)  7. In A Mellow Tone
(7:02)  8. In A Sentimental Mood
(5:01)  9. Lotus Blossom

This is a tight little quartet date led by saxophonist Javon Jackson, celebrating the music of the Duke. His co-conspirators on the session are arranger/pianist David Hazeltine, drummer Tony Reedus, and bassist Paul Gill. The material ranges from the obvious like "Caravan," "Chelsea Bridge," and "Lotus Blossom," to selections usually not played by quartets such as "In My Solitude." The emphasis here is on the bluesier and moodier side of Ellington's music, which works beautifully. The colors and textures a larger orchestra display may be richer, but in the quartet setting they can go deeper. It puts additional pressure on the individual players, but Jackson and Hazeltine as front line soloists are more than up to the challenge. The greatest proof of this lies in the ballads like "Warm Valley," and in the more lithe and slightly more up-tempo tunes like "In a Sentimental Mood." This is a fine session, and utterly lyrically beautiful all around.      ~ Thom Jurek   http://www.allmusic.com/album/sugar-hill-music-of-duke-ellington-and-billy-strayhorn-mw0000795709

Sugar Hill

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McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath - Country Cooking

Styles: Avant-Garde Jazz , Big Band
Year: 1988
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 55:50
Size: 102,7 MB
Art: Front

( 5:12)  1. Country Cooking
( 7:34)  2. Bakwetha
( 6:21)  3. Sweet As Honey
( 6:55)  4. You And Me (Sejui)
( 3:49)  5. Thunder in the Mountain
( 7:14)  6. Big G
(10:04)  7. Maxine
( 8:37)  8. Dakar

Pianist McGregor has tamed his BOB big band for this recording it isn't the fire-breathing monster it has been in past years. It's a more refined musical, lyrical beast, less sloppy and raw, with different personnel and approach. The music reflects South African townships beats, swing, Latin underpinnings, and expansive horn charts that represent the best orchestral jazz offerings of the modern era. McGregor also seems more at ease with his role, dishing out more solos and ensemble passages that cue his very able bandmates. Typical highlife music is the focal point on the title track and "You & Me." The former tune is happy, a bouncy rhythm by drummer Gilbert Matthews leading into McGregor's slight melodic notion for the horns respond to, extending the pianist's line, after which Annie Whitehead's trombone solo is backed by the horns in joyous fashion.

 "You & Me" takes the highlife funky; tiny mezzo-piano horns swell to loud staccato flashes, with piano dominating them all in the middle. 6/8 beats solidify "Dakar" with dancing clarinets and high woodwinds, while various skittering melodies skate across "Bakwetha" in a peaceful framework, McGregor's piano rambling over this terrain. In a more straight-ahead jazz vein, atypical for this group, "Sweet As Honey" is simpler in terms of its Basie-like chart and trading of fours by different band members with Matthews, while "Maxine" is McGregor's famous easy swing ballad, with tangy tenor saxophonist Steve Williamson and trumpeter Harry Beckett's poignant solos, plus an ever-changing multi-melody line a la Ellington's "Come Sunday." There's confusion in the titles of "Thunder in the Mountain" or "Big G." Seven cuts are listed on the disc, eight in the liners and back cover. Likely it's "G" missing and "Thunder" present and accounted for, with an Afro-Cuban rhythm from percussionist Tony Maronie underpinning a swing that sets up a one-note to many-note melody, horns in unison expressing an impessive, kinetic dynamic range. 

This is McGregor's most accessible Brotherhood lineup, though somewhat less potent, and the only domestically available document of his work. It's a good, easily recommended primer to encourage you to explore the possibility of hearing his import recordings for Ogun, and other groups The Blue Notes and District Six. ~ Michael G.Nastos   http://www.allmusic.com/album/country-cooking-mw0000202868

Personnel:  Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Steve Williamson ; Baritone Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Julian Argueles; Bass Guitar, Bass, Percussion – Ernest Mothle ;Drums, Percussion – Gilbert Matthews ;Percussion – Tony Maronie ;Piano – Chris McGregor ; Recorded By – John Temperley ; Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Flute – Jeff Gordon (4) ;Tenor Saxophone, Bassoon – Robert Juntz ; Trombone – Annie Whitehead, Fayyaz Virji ; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Claude Deppa, David Defries, Harry Beckett

Country Cooking

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