Max Roach, Clifford Brown - Alone Together: The Best Of The Mercury Years (2-Disc Set)

Verve's two-disc collection of the best recordings from the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet recorded for Mercury/Emarcy between 1954 and 1956 includes a parade of Brown-Roach classics -- "Parisian Throroughfare," "Cherokee," "Jordu," "Daahoud." The second disc, which doesn't include Brown at all, reels through a highlight film of Max Roach's varied quintets of the late '50s after the death of Brown in 1956. Of course, Roach's sessions during that time feature many great recordings -- trumpeter Booker Little is a competent replacement for Brown, and tenors Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, and Stanley Turrentine all have great spots -- but record buyers expecting this set to live up to its title might be disappointed. To get the full treatment, get this plus any one or two of the other duet LPs, like Brown and Roach Incorporated. ~John Bush

Album: Alone Together: The Best Of The Mercury Years (Disc 1)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 73:01

Size: 167.2 MB

Styles: Hard bop, Trumpet jazz

Year: 1995

Art: Front

[5:42] 1. Cherokee

[6:50] 2. Joy Spring

[3:24] 3. What's New

[4:34] 4. Mildama

[5:46] 5. September Song

[3:08] 6. What Am I Here For

[4:54] 7. Sandu

[4:01] 8. Daahoud

[5:14] 9. Born To Be Blue

[7:45] 10. Jordu

[4:10] 11. Gertrude's Bounce

[3:23] 12. Stardust

[7:18] 13. Parisian Thoroughfare

[6:46] 14. The Blues Walk

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Album: Alone Together: The Best Of The Mercury Years (Disc 2)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 78:57

Size: 180.8 MB

Styles: Hard bop, Trumpet jazz

Year: 1995

[ 2:07] 1. Dr. Free-Zee

[ 7:20] 2. Just One Of Those Things

[14:28] 3. Valse Hot

[ 7:45] 4. Tune-Up

[ 3:53] 5. Yardbird Suite

[ 8:14] 6. A Night In Tunisia

[ 6:16] 7. La Villa

[ 2:20] 8. Max's Variations

[ 5:07] 9. Prelude

[ 5:42] 10. Juliano

[ 5:37] 11. Lotus Blossom

[ 3:14] 12. The Left Banke

[ 6:48] 13. Never Leave Me

Alone Together-The Best Of The Mercury Years(Disc 1),(Disc 2)

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Kay Starr - Capitol Collectors Series

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:39
Size: 150.3 MB
Styles: Standards, Traditional pop
Year: 1991/2003
Art: Front

[2:44] 1. I'm The Lonesomest Gal In Town
[2:45] 2. You've Got To See Mamma Ev'ry Night (Or You Can't See Mamma At All)
[3:05] 3. You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling In Love)
[2:47] 4. So Tired
[2:06] 5. Hoop-Dee-Doo
[2:25] 6. Bonaparte's Retreat
[2:24] 7. Mississippi
[2:34] 8. I'll Never Be Free
[3:03] 9. Wheel Of Fortune
[3:00] 10. I Waited A Little Too Long
[2:17] 11. Kay's Lament
[2:11] 12. Fool, Fool, Fool
[2:21] 13. Comes A-Long-A-Love
[2:50] 14. Side By Side
[2:52] 15. Half A Photograph
[2:35] 16. Allez-Vous En
[2:16] 17. When My Dreamboat Comes Home
[2:49] 18. Changing Partners
[2:37] 19. The Man Upstairs
[2:45] 20. If You Love Me (Really Love Me)
[2:25] 21. Toy Or Treasure
[2:20] 22. Lazy River
[2:19] 23. Foolin' Around
[3:12] 24. Crazy
[2:44] 25. Rock & Roll Waltz

Mix country, jazz and blues together with one potent personality and you've got Kay Starr! And that combo paid hit-making dividends, as this 25-track CD attests! Everything from Wheel of Fortune to Bonaparte's Retreat to her duet with Tennessee Ernie Ford, I'll Never Be Free .

Capitol Collectors Series  

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Les Baxter - Baxter's Best

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:42
Size: 100.0 MB
Styles: Easy listening
Year: 1996
Art: Front

[2:24] 1. Poor People Of Paris (Jean's Song)
[2:36] 2. Blue Star (The Medic Theme)
[3:20] 3. I Concentrate On You
[2:52] 4. Ruby
[2:30] 5. Unchained Melody
[2:10] 6. Calcutta
[2:47] 7. Because Of You
[2:42] 8. April In Portugal
[2:59] 9. All The Things You Are
[2:56] 10. Blue Tango
[2:31] 11. Wake The Town And Tell The People
[2:22] 12. The Shrike
[3:07] 13. Never On Sunday
[2:19] 14. I Love Paris
[3:16] 15. Quiet Village
[2:43] 16. The High And The Mighty

This may not be his "best" if you favor his more adventurous and weirder outings; these are the kind of Baxter productions that became building blocks of the easy listening genre. However, these 16 tracks from 1951-1961 are among his most popular successes, including the hits "The Poor People of Paris," "Blue Tango," "Wake the Town and Tell the People," and "Unchained Melody." ~Richie Unterberger

Baxter's Best

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Danny Weis - Sweet Spot

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 52:19

Size: 119.8 MB

Styles: Smooth jazz, Guitar jazz

Year: 2005

Art: Front

[4:21] 1. Sweet Spot

[3:28] 2. Turn It Up

[3:45] 3. Cat's Meow

[0:42] 4. Country Licks (Interlude)

[3:57] 5. Angel's Flight

[0:44] 6. Apricot Brandy (Interlude)

[4:49] 7. Graham Street Shuffle

[6:06] 8. What Would It Take

[0:37] 9. Funk Tracks

[2:51] 10. Inglewood

[1:29] 11. East Of The Sun

[4:18] 12. Dinner At Nine

[3:37] 13. It's About Time

[4:45] 14. Gun Slinger

[2:44] 15. Somewhere Over The Rainbow

[3:57] 16. Keep The Faith

The smooth jazz/contemporary instrumental genre proved kind to former rock guitar gods like Craig Chaquico and Neal Schon, and a decade after they first made their mark with solo discs, Iron Butterfly founding member Danny Weis tried his hand at it -- spectacularly as it turned out. Simple research shows that Weis left the Iron Butterfly fold just before they released their classic In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album, so Toronto's Marshmellow Records wasn't able to bill their new artist as the guy who played one of the biggest solos in rock history. Hopefully, the classic rock connections will still draw people into this very solid and enjoyable 16-track set, which opens with the airplay friendly, midtempo title track featuring the spirited duality of Weis and alto saxman Vern Dorge. There's great stylistic variety the rest of the way, from the crisp, blistering, bluesy funk (think a very hip, 2000s Average White Band) of "Turn It Up" to the Larry Carlton-flavored crying electric ballad "Cat's Meow," the blues-rock, distorted guitar-spiced bar band jams "Graham Street Shuffle" and "Inglewood," and even a tender solo reading of "Over the Rainbow." No doubt the opening track and sweet ballads like "Angel's Flight" put Weis in the smooth jazz world, but the real heart of the disc comes from tracks like "Gunslinger," a simmering, percussive, horn-drenched rocker that transcends the usual light funk of the genre. Two 43-second interludes are probably unnecessary, but the fanciful and organic "Country Licks" and "Apricot Brandy" show yet another side of Weis' deep artistry. Sweet indeed. ~Jonathan Widran

Sweet Spot

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Kenny Drew, Jr. & Larry Coryell - Duality

Styles: Piano And Guitar Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:12
Size: 151,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:39)  1. Silver's Serenade
(7:43)  2. Farmer's Waltz
(6:56)  3. The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
(4:56)  4. Szabodar
(6:47)  5. A Silent War
(5:53)  6. Nostalgia in Times Square
(6:28)  7. Oil on Water
(7:11)  8. Goodbye Mr. Jones
(5:46)  9. Duality: Nenad's Sonata
(8:48) 10. Moanin'

The jazz duo affords its participants wonderful opportunities to stretch out creatively. Ideas, suggestions and negotiations of all musical kinds percolate back and forth. And, in the best of instances, they birth new nuggets for further development and exploration. At the same time, the duet framework can possibly limit, as competitive natures and stylistic dichotomies might overtake the mutual partnership and pose distraction. Duality, which features the marvelous talents of pianist Kenny Drew, Jr. and guitarist Larry Coryell, epitomizes the absolute best in piano-guitar duo playing. The improvisational banter, the interplay and feeding of ideas throughout this effort is pure listening joy. Drew and Coryell work so well together that interest never wanes, regardless of tempo, tune or musical genre. What emanates from the musical mind-melding of these the two superbly cooperative and inventive artists is jazz elegance, swing, and subtle, creative power.

Horace Silver's "Silver's Serenade" sends the duo mission off on a neat mid-tempo foray. Whether guitar takes the melody, as Coryell's mellow playing does on this cut, or Drew's keyboard elsewhere, the result is a richness, a fullness easily giving an illusion of a larger musical unit. Both these fine players understand and brilliantly display the subtleties of accompanying a soloist. "Farmer's Waltz" lilts lightly, with Drew and Coryell stretching out and never straining. Drew's touch, as his ability to stretch an improvisational idea, is all taste, with technique never dominating musicality. Likewise, Coryell deploys masterful technical wizardry to grab an idea, run with it and share. What makes Duality so much fun is the respect that permeates it; this is no cutting contest. Drew, ever the technician, and Coryell, a true virtuoso, take snippets of ideas, and permutate and volley them back and forth. "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" puts the duo in a fire-starter, up-tempo environment; both answer the bell, with ideas drawn from their respective, burning technical abilities. 

Each player contributes original compositions as well: Coryell with three; and Drew with two. There's occasional subtle humor and note play, too, with Drew quoting a comped "New York, New York" during Charles Mingus "Nostalgia in Times Square." Coryell's "Oil on Water" broods, and Drew's salute to Hank Jones, "Goodbye, Mr. Jones," swings. "Duality: Nenad's Sonata" sends up Coryell's acoustic and amplified guitars running rapid fragments and comping chords in a stellar multi-movement showcase of strum. Bobby Timmons' classic, "Moanin,'" gets a cool, swinging treatment, with both Drew and Coryell displaying marvelous, soulful statements. Duality is a prime example of first class musicianship and sublime improvisational partnership. Duo albums or that of any sized ensemble simply don't get more enjoyable than this. ~ Nicholas F.Mondello  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/duality-larry-coryell-random-act-records-review-by-nicholas-f-mondello.php
 

Personnel: Kenny Drew, Jr.: piano; Larry Coryell: guitar.

Duality

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Mélanie Dahan - La Princesse Et Les Croque-Notes

Styles: Vocal, Chanson
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:21
Size: 127,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:58)  1. La Salle Et La Terrasse
(4:29)  2. L'enfant Maquillé
(6:52)  3. La Princesse Et Le Croque-Notes
(6:14)  4. Les Poètes
(4:57)  5. J'aimerais Tant Savoir
(1:44)  6. Rimes
(4:10)  7. Je Hais Les Dimanche
(6:29)  8. Si Tu Me Payes Un Verre
(5:17)  9. A Bicyclette
(3:42) 10. La Mer À Boire
(1:01) 11. Je Me Suis Fait Tout Petit
(5:22) 12. Le Petit Bal Perdu

There is a certain something about La Princesse et les Croque-Notes, and it is the same je ne sais quoi that exists in the first blush of wine and in the beguiling smile of Mona Lisa. It is that mesmerizing something filled with duende and saudades. It is Spanish and African and Brazilian all rolled into French, but above all it is, tantalizing, memorable, chanson and jazz. Melanie Dahan is a vocalist of the highest order and on this record she connects the art of chanson from its earliest times through modern chanson turning the music of Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel and Leo Ferre into contemporary standards swirling in a powerful vortex of jazz. Blessed with a gymnastic contralto Dahan stretches her lithe voice to leap and dart and soar across a vocal stratosphere as if she were painting a canvas delicately with sound. Whether she is channeling pathos or being heraldic, Dahan appears able to pirouette across space, glide subtly between tones and she can vault from rhythmic precipice to rhythmic precipice, always seeming to recover enough to take flight again.

Her vocals are deliciously dainty on "La Salle et la Terrasse," feminine yet sinewy on "L'enfant Maquille" and majestic on "La Princesse et le Croque Notes," all the while being the model of precision in her interpretations of the inner rhythms and slurring gentility of the chansons of Aznavour and Brassens. On Claude Nougaro and Aldo Romano's "Rimes," she hits the rhythmic center of the music with aplomb and she shows she can skit puckishly on Pierre Bourouh and Francis Lai's "A Bicyclette." On every other song, especially "La mer a Boire," she finds the heart of the piece from the very first notes she begins to sing. This is contemporary chanson at its very best. There are moments though when Dahan steers her song through the heart of the polyphonic song, conjuring up spirits of rondeau, virelai and chanson baladee just a hint though, enough to praise the art and worship at the altar of its high priests and priestesses from Daufay to Piaf.

In a miraculous manner, Dahan the producer has also managed to bring just that perfect musical balance to the instrumentation of each song with the core group of bassist Marc-Michel le Bevillon and drummer Matthieu Chazarenc. But the most magnificent interplay is between vocalist and pianist. On songs like "La Salle..." and the title track, when vocalist and pianist get into the heart of the song, it feels as if medieval sorcery is at work. Not since Chick Corea and Flora Purim on Light As A Feather (Polydor, 1973) and specially on "500 Miles High," has there been such a sublime, symbiotic relationship between singer and pianist. And now Melanie Dahan and Giovanni Mirabassi on La Princesse et les Croque-Notes intertwine in a marvelous relationship of music and lyric poetry. The art of chanson cavorts sensuously with the art of jazz in an unforgettable way. ~ Raul D’Gama Rose  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/la-princesse-et-les-croque-notes-melanie-dahan-sunnyside-records-review-by-raul-dgama-rose.php
 

Personnel: Melanie Dahan: voice; Giovanni Mirabassi; piano; Marc-Michel le Bevillon: contrabass; Matthieu Chazarenc; drums; Pierrick Pedron: alto saxophone (5, 9).

La Princesse Et Les Croque-Notes

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Cootie Williams - Cootie Williams in Hi-Fi

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1958
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:09
Size: 152,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:28)  1. Just in Time
(3:17)  2. Summit Ridge Drive
(3:40)  3. Nevertheless, I'm in Love with You
(3:27)  4. On the Street Where You Live
(3:19)  5. I'll See You in My Dreams
(2:54)  6. Contrasts
(3:40)  7. Caravan
(2:37)  8. If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight
(3:12)  9. Air Mail Special
(3:40) 10. My Old Flame
(3:23) 11. Swingin' Down the Lane
(3:02) 12. New Concerto for Cootie
(2:28) 13. Rinky Dink
(2:28) 14. Please Give Your Love to Me
(2:43) 15. Block Rock
(2:03) 16. Percy Speaks
(2:07) 17. Now That You've Loved Me
(2:29) 18. Blue Sunday
(2:19) 19. Available Lover
(2:21) 20. It's All in Your Mind
(2:34) 21. It Hurts Me
(2:08) 22. Rangoon
(2:39) 23. Boomerang

With the possible exception of cornball trumpeter Clyde McCoy, nobody could impart humanistic sounds to a plunger mute like Cootie Williams. Certainly nobody could make a trumpet growl like he did, full of feral shrieks and blasts and vocal tones galore. As a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra during its heyday, Williams was big enough potatoes that when he left Ellington to join up with Benny Goodman in the early '40s, it prompted a tune titled "When Cootie Left the Duke." No two ways about it, the man could blow. As part of the 100th birthday celebration of all things Ellington, RCA is reissuing all the solo projects done by his famous sidemen. This 12-song album from 1958 appended with 11 more that appeared as singles from the year before shows that Williams' broad style was still mightily intact some 30 years after joining the Ellington fold. Unlike the other Ellington sidemen projects in this series, Williams performs on Cootie Williams in Hi-Fi with a full-blown big band, turning in swinging readings of such chestnuts as "Just in Time," "Summit Ridge Drive," and "My Old Flame." Oddly, these big-band sides don't honor the Duke musically except when Cootie and the band tackle old favorites like "Caravan." 

The non-album tracks are a varied lot. "Rinky Dink" sounds like a Bill Doggett outtake (and features some uncharacteristically bluesy rock & roll guitar from Kenny Burrell!); other tracks skirt the place where blues and R&B meet jazz, at the end of a dark alley. But just listen to that closing blast from Williams on "New Concerto for Cootie," which officially closed the original LP, and you'll know that Cootie Williams remained a Duke man to the end. ~ Cub Koda  http://www.allmusic.com/album/cootie-williams-in-hi-fi-mw0000644877

Personnel: Cootie Williams (trumpet); Romeo Penque, Elwyn Fraser, Phil Bodner, Boomie Richman, Al Klink, Stanley Webb, Nick Caiazza (saxophone); Lou McGarity, Billy Byers, Bobby Byrne, Chauncey Welsch (trombone); Richard Hixon (bass trombone); Hank Jones, Henry Rowland, Lou Stein (piano); Tony Mottola, Barry Galbraith, George Barnes (guitar); Eddie Safranski (acoustic bass); Osie Johnson, Don Lamond (drums).

Cootie Williams in Hi-Fi

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Anton Schwartz - Flash Mob

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:57
Size: 159,0 MB
Art: Front

(6:08)  1. Flash Mob
(5:09)  2. Swamp Thang
(7:47)  3. Cumulonimbus
(6:48)  4. Pangur Ban
(6:33)  5. Alleybird
(7:52)  6. Spurious Causes
(7:19)  7. La Mesha
(4:28)  8. Epistrophy
(6:07)  9. Glass Half Missing
(4:12) 10. The Contender
(4:29) 11. Dawn Song

No matter how sophisticated his writing or wide-ranging his solos, Bay Area tenor saxophonist and composer Anton Schwartz never strays far from the verities of hard-bop blues and roots on his fifth album, Flash Mob. Even his quintet’s cover of Thelonious Monk’s “Epistrophy” rides on a second-line rhythm. “Swamp Thang,” meanwhile, is the sweetest, fastest medium-tempo boogaloo you’d want to hear this side of “Watermelon Man.” The opening, title track at first sounds like a typical minor-mode hard-bop flagwaver. But pianist Taylor Eigsti accelerates his solo to a furious tempo with bassist John Shifflett and drummer Lorca Hart weaving a dense pattern of counter rhythms alongside him. Eigsti lays down a beautiful variety of patterns before Schwartz’s solo takes things down for more spare ruminations.

Schwartz also knows how to leave space in his songs. “Cumulonimbus” changes shapes by alternating a rubato theme with a driving 3/4 bridge, and offers a short, rhapsodic unaccompanied passage from Eigsti. On the slow blues “Alleybird,” trumpeter Dominick Farinacci takes the first solo with just bass accompaniment before Eigsti joins in and the piece assumes a gospel fervor. Just about all of these songs have the kind of shapely themes you can imagine other players wanting to cover. In fact, Schwartz’s tempo-shifting “Spurious Causes” is a good match for “La Mesha,” the Kenny Dorham ballad that follows it. There are other pleasures, such as the complementary styles of Schwartz and Farinacci, the former ardent and gritty, the latter dark-hued and lyrical. But for everybody here, the tune’s the thing. Which is another good lesson from hard-bop. 

~ Jon Garelick  http://antonjazz.com/reviews/downbeat-flash-mob/

Personnel: Anton Schwartz: tenor saxophone; Dominick Farinacci: trumpet & flugelhorn; Taylor Eigsti: piano; John Shiffet: bass; Lorca Hart: drums.

Flash Mob

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