Cecil Taylor Quartet - Looking Ahead!

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1958
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:16
Size: 97,0 MB
Art: Front + Back

(6:29)  1. Luyah! The Glorious Step
(5:15)  2. African Violets
(8:20)  3. Of What
(5:25)  4. Wallering
(7:43)  5. Toll
(9:02)  6. Excursion On A Wobbly Rail

One of Cecil Taylor's earliest recordings, Looking Ahead! does just that while still keeping several toes in the tradition. It's an amazing document of a talent fairly straining at the reins, a meteor about to burst onto the jazz scene and render it forever changed. With Earl Griffith on vibes, Taylor uses an instrumentation he would return to occasionally much later on, one that lends an extra percussive layer to the session, emphasizing the new rhythmic attacks he was experimenting with. Griffith sounds as though he might have been a conceptual step or two behind the other three but, in the context of the time, this may have served to make the music a shade more palatable to contemporary tastes. But the seeds are clearly planted and one can hear direct hints of Taylor's music to come, all the way to 1962 at least (the Nefertiti trio with Sunny Murray). Pieces like "Luyah! The Glorious Step" and "Of What" are so fragmented (in a traditional sense) and so bristlingly alive that one can understand Whitney Baillett's observation of crowds at a Taylor concert fidgeting "as if the ground beneath had suddenly become unbearably hot." 

The contributions of bassist Buell Neidlinger and drummer Dennis Charles cannot be understated; they breathe with Taylor as one unit and appear to be utterly in sync with his ideas. When the pianist edges into his solo on "Excursion on a Wobbly Rail," it's as though he's meeting the tradition head on, shaking hands and then rocketing off into the future. Looking Ahead! is a vital recording from the nascence of one of the towering geniuses of modern music and belongs in any jazz fan's collection.~Brian Olewick http://www.allmusic.com/album/looking-ahead-mw0000197292

Personnel:  Cecil Taylor: piano;  Buell Neidlinger: bass;  Denis Charles: drums;  Earl Griffith: vibes

Looking Ahead!

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Vicky Lane With Pete Candoli - I Swing For You

Styles: Vocal And Trumpet Jazz

Year: 1959

File: MP3@256K/s

Time: 31:55

Size: 59,4 MB

Art: Front

(2:26)  1. The Trolley Song

(3:23)  2. Our Very Own

(3:03)  3. My Romance

(2:06)  4. You Hit The Spot

(3:59)  5. Love Isn't Born, It's Made

(2:56)  6. My Heart Stood Still

(2:45)  7. They Say It's Wonderful

(2:39)  8. The Song Is You

(2:25)  9. Long Ago And Far Away

(2:00) 10. I Love You

(2:21) 11. Right As The Rain

(1:46) 12. This Heart Of Mine

This RCA Victor LP marked the recording debut of Vicky Lane, a native of Ireland who was also an actress. Although gifted with an attractive voice in the alto range, Lane evidently didn't make much of an impression with record buyers, as this also seems to be the only recording under her name. This doesn't mean this is a bad record; in fact, she shows a lot of promise for a first-time recording artist, assisted by Pete Candoli's swinging arrangements and a supporting cast that also includes Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, Alvin Stoller, and Joe Mondragon, along with a host of additional percussionists. Perhaps her selection of all upbeat songs instead of mixing a wider variety of material worked against her, though it is impossible to tell almost a half century after these sessions were completed.~Ken Dryden http://www.allmusic.com/album/i-swing-for-you-mw0000432544

Personnel:  Orchestra conducted by Pete Candoli (tp) with Barney Kessel (g), Johnny Williams (p), Joe Mondragon (b), Alvin Stoller (d), Larry Bunker, Milt Holland, Lou Singer, Ralph Hansell, Johnny Cyr, Gene Estes (perc)

I Swing For You

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Donny Hathaway - Everything Is Everything

Styles: Vocal, Soul, R&B
Year: 1970
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:33
Size: 106,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:29)  1. Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)
(3:31)  2. Je Vous Aime (I Love You)
(3:51)  3. I Believe to My Soul
(3:38)  4. Misty
(4:05)  5. Sugar Lee
(3:15)  6. Tryin' Times
(5:50)  7. Thank You Master (For My Soul)
(6:53)  8. The Ghetto
(6:43)  9. To Be Young, Gifted and Black
(4:14) 10. A Dream

Already a respected arranger and pianist who'd contributed to dozens of records (by artists ranging from the Impressions to Carla Thomas to Woody Herman), with this debut LP Donny Hathaway revealed yet another facet of his genius -- his smoky, pleading voice, one of the best to ever grace a soul record. Everything Is Everything sounded like nothing before it, based in smooth uptown soul but boasting a set of excellent, open-ended arrangements gained from Hathaway's background in classical and gospel music. (Before going to Howard University in 1964, his knowledge of popular music was practically non-existent.) After gaining a contract with Atco through King Curtis, Hathaway wrote and recorded during 1969 and 1970 with friends including drummer Ric Powell and guitarist Phil Upchurch, both of whom lent a grooving feel to the album that Hathaway may not have been able to summon on his own (check out Upchurch's unforgettable bassline on the opener, "Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)"). All of the musical brilliance on display, though, is merely the framework for Hathaway's rich, emotive voice, testifying to the power of love and religion with few, if any, concessions to pop music. Like none other, he gets to the raw, churchy emotion underlying Ray Charles' "I Believe to My Soul" and Nina Simone's "To Be Young, Gifted and Black," the former with a call-and-response horn chart and his own glorious vocal, the latter with his own organ lines. "Thank You Master (For My Soul)" brings the Stax horns onto sanctified ground, while Hathaway praises God and sneaks in an excellent piano solo. Everything Is Everything was one of the first soul records to comment directly on an unstable period; "Tryin' Times" speaks to the importance of peace and community with an earthy groove, while the most familiar track here, a swinging jam known as "The Ghetto," places listeners right in the middle of urban America. Donny Hathaway's debut introduced a brilliant talent into the world of soul, one who promised to take R&B farther than it had been taken since Ray Charles debuted on Atlantic.~John Bush http://www.allmusic.com/album/everything-is-everything-mw0000654662

Personnel:  Donny Hathaway - lead vocals (All tracks), background vocals (tracks 1-8), pianos (including electric) (All tracks), organ (track 9), additional bass (8), keyboard bass (9);  Master Henry Gibson - conga (track 8);  King Curtis - guitar (track 3);  Phil Upchurch - bass guitar (3-4, 6-7), guitar (1-4, 6-8); John Littlejohn - guitar, vocals;  John Avant – trombone;  Johnny Board - tenor saxophone;  Oscar Brashear – trumpet;  Clifford Davis - alto saxophone;  Aaron Dodd – tuba;  Morris Ellis – trombone;  Marshall Hawkins - bass (tracks 5, 8);  Willie Henderson - baritone saxophone;  John Howell – trumpet;  Morris Jennings - drums (tracks 1-4, 6-8);  Robert A. Lewis – trumpet;  John Lounsberry - French horn;  Ethel Merker - French horn;  Don Myrick - alto saxophone;  Ric Powell - drums (track 5), percussion (1-4, 6-8);  Louis Satterfield - bass (tracks 1-3)

Everything Is Everything

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Stefano Di Battista & Nicky Nicolai - Piu' Sole

Styles: Vocal And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:45
Size: 102,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:08)  1. Piu' Sole
(4:00)  2. Sei Come Sei Just How U Are
(3:14)  3. Flora
(4:55)  4. Il Ragazzo Della Via Gluck
(3:28)  5. Lontano Da Qui
(4:03)  6. River
(4:34)  7. Coles Corner
(4:35)  8. Inverno
(5:40)  9. Stella by Starlight
(2:09) 10. Il Nero E il Bacio
(3:54) 11. Vorrei Capire

Italian saxophonist Stefano di Battista has released a trio of albums as a leader, two of which were never issued in the U.S. The third, a U.S. release in 2000 from Blue Note, is self-titled and mainly features di Battista's own compositions. In addition, it includes "Song for Flavia" by Rosario Bonaccorso and a pair of songs by Jacky Terrasson, "Chicago 1987" and "Little Red Ribbon." Both bassist Bonaccorso and pianist Terrasson appear on the album, accompanied by former Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones and trumpeter Flavio Boltro. Di Battista, a native of Rome who plays both soprano and alto saxophone, took up the instrument when he was 13 to play with some friends from his neighborhood. When he heard recordings by alto saxophonist Art Pepper, he knew the sound of jazz was for him. Later he received guidance from Massimo Urbani, another influential alto saxophonist. By his early twenties, di Battista had begun performing in Paris, thanks to an invitation from Jean-Pierre Como. The two had met during the Calvi Jazz Festival.

Within two years the Italian saxophonist had established himself at the Sunset, a prominent jazz hot spot in the City of Lights. He appeared frequently on the bill with Michel Benita, drummer Stéphane Huchard, and drummer Aldo Romano. From there he proceeded to work as a soloist, which led to associations with such artists as cornetist Nat Adderley, drummers Daniel Humair and Jimmy Cobb, and the late French pianist Michel Petrucciani, among others. Petrucciani invited di Battista into a sextet he was then forming and extended the invitation to include trumpeter Boltro, who frequently accompanied di Battista. Di Battista put out his debut recording as a leader for Label Bleu in 1997. Volare kicked up a lot of attention for the saxophonist and received an award nomination in France. The following year he put out A Prima Vista. The recording of his third album in 2000 so impressed veteran jazz drummer Jones that when the album was finally wrapped up and in the vault, he scooped up di Battista for his Elvin Jones Jazz Machine tour. Di Battista released his second album on Blue Note, the Charlie Parker tribute album Parker's Mood, in 2005. https://itunes.apple.com/it/artist/stefano-di-battista/id14638702#fullText

Piu' Sole

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