Margie Anderson - The Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 35:56
Size: 82.3 MB
Styles: Jazz/blues vocals
Year: 1959/2011
Art: Front

[4:41] 1. My Funny Valentine
[2:54] 2. Ca, C'est L'amour
[4:44] 3. The Thrill Is Gone
[4:13] 4. Come Rain Or Come Shine
[2:37] 5. A Foggy Day
[2:42] 6. Paris Blues
[2:31] 7. Haiti Blues
[3:12] 8. By Myself
[2:13] 9. Hong Kong Sentinel
[2:42] 10. London Blues
[3:22] 11. Follow That Girl

Margie Anderson is a Boston-based singer who still lives in Boston, although she is no longer active as a singer. She has been a close friend of mine for many years. The CD is her own reissue of a session recorded in the late 1950's. The material was issued on a variety of budget labels. I gave up years ago trying to sort out who's backing her on this session, although she does remember that the band was led by pianist Bob Freedman. Margie also recorded for Columbia in the early 1950's. There is some information about her (and from her) in the book about Gigi Gryce by Noal Cohen and Mike Fitzgerald. She had known Gigi in his Boston days (early 1950's). ~Funkateer

The Blues

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Delfeayo Marsalis - The Last Southern Gentlemen

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:34
Size: 161.6 MB
Styles: Trombone jazz
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[5:37] 1. The Secret Love Affair
[6:00] 2. Autumn Leaves
[3:12] 3. She's Funny That Way
[5:43] 4. Can You Tell Me How To Get To
[5:35] 5. I'm Confessin'
[6:59] 6. But Beautiful
[7:45] 7. Speak Low
[5:52] 8. Nancy
[4:20] 9. The Man With 2 Left Feet
[5:17] 10. That Old Feeling
[3:46] 11. My Romance
[4:49] 12. If I Were A Bell
[5:33] 13. I Cover The Waterfront

Bass – John Clayton; Drums – Marvin "Smitty" Smith; Piano – Ellis Marsalis; Trombone – Delfeayo Marsalis.

The Last Southern Gentlemen is a landmark recording for Delfeayo Marsalis, pairing father Ellis Marsalis, Jr. with son on a collaborative album for the first time. Marsalis' finest outing to date, the superb recording quality and meticulous production showcase his brilliant, classically trained tone as it swings effortlessly through standards and original compositions. The music is relaxed, thoughtful and provocative, acknowledging the love and respect of all people shared by Louis Armstrong and most early jazz entertainers. This sense of humanity and humility is at the center of the Southern lifestyle that birthed the original American music. Built on the intimacy of American ballads and the trombone's expressive mimicry of the human voice, The Last Southern Gentlemen is a firm acknowledgement of the existence and importance of these sweet, gentle sounds.

The Last Southern Gentlemen

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Todd Rundgren - Anthology (1968-1985)

The flagship of Rhino's Todd Rundgren reissue series was Anthology (1968-1985), a double-disc set that traced the rock & roll maverick's career from the Nazz through his decade-and-a-half with Bearsville Records. Designed as the definitive statement of Rundgren's solo work (his work with Utopia received its own Anthology), Anthology (1968-1985) comes very close to fulfilling its goal. Since it covers so much ground, it's inevitable that a few essential items and fan favorites are missing, especially since Rundgren was incredibly prolific during these 17 years. And it is true that early masterpieces like "I'm in the Clique," "Once Burned," "Chain Letter," "The Range War" and "Long Flowing Robe" are missing, as are several highlights from Something/Anything?, but in their place are stronger tracks from less consistent albums, which makes it a nice retrospective for converted fans who want a comprehensive compilation to supplement the acknowledged classics. That said, the curious or casual listener may find Anthology a bit too sprawling for their tastes, even it does provide an excellent summary of Rundgren's heyday as a cult recording artist. In that case, Rhino's The Very Best of Todd Rundgren is a good choice, since it is a more concise collection that contains all the hits and rock-bottom essentials, plus several Utopia cuts and "The Want of a Nail." ~Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Album: Anthology (1968-1985) Part 1

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 46:33

Size: 106.6 MB

Styles: AM Pop, Contemporary pop-rock

Year: 1989

Art: Front

[3:07] 1. We Gotta Get You A Woman

[3:09] 2. Wailing Wall

[3:25] 3. Be Nice To Me

[3:52] 4. Hello It's Me

[2:59] 5. I Saw The Light

[3:53] 6. It Wouldn't Have Made Any Differene

[3:22] 7. Couldn't I Just Tell You

[4:20] 8. Sometimes I Don't Know What To Do

[4:59] 9. Just One Victory

[2:25] 10. A Dream Goes On Forever

[4:51] 11. The Last Ride

[6:06] 12. Don't You Ever Learn

Anthology (1968-1985) Part 1

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Album: Anthology (1968-1985) Part 2

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 56:56

Size: 130.3 MB

Styles: AM Pop, Contemporary pop-rock

Year: 1989

Art: Front

[4:27] 1. Real Man

[4:43] 2. Black And White

[3:36] 3. Love Of The Common Man

[4:03] 4. Cliché

[3:12] 5. All The Children Sing

[3:38] 6. Can We Still Be Friends

[2:35] 7. You Cried Wolf

[3:36] 8. Time Heals

[4:47] 9. Compassion

[4:59] 10. Hideaway

[3:36] 11. Bang The Drum All Day

[5:27] 12. Drive

[3:54] 13. Johnee Jingo

[4:15] 14. Something To Fall Back On

Anthology (1968-1985) Part 2

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The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Artistry Of The Modern Jazz Quartet

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:41
Size: 145.8 MB
Styles: Bop
Year: 1986
Art: Front

[3:06] 1. La Ronde
[2:12] 2. Rose Of The Rio Grande
[3:11] 3. The Queen's Fantasy
[3:56] 4. Delauney's Dilemna
[3:17] 5. In A Sentimental Mood
[2:56] 6. The Stopper
[3:22] 7. Almost Like Being In Love
[3:29] 8. No Moe
[7:01] 9. Django
[2:58] 10. One Bass Hit
[4:21] 11. Milano
[7:07] 12. Ralph's New Blues
[5:05] 13. I'll Remember April
[3:37] 14. Concorde
[7:56] 15. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise

Spanning one of the few transitional periods for the Modern Jazz Quartet when Connie Kay replaced Kenny Clarke as the group's drummer, The Artistry of the Modern Jazz Quartet covers the years from 1952-1955. By this point in the group's career, John Lewis was largely overseeing the quartet's repertoire, penning the bulk of the original material. Indeed, on The Artistry Of, the pianist contributes six compositions to Milt Jackson's one (the excellent "Ralph's New Blues"). The set is balanced out by renditions of the most common of jazz standards in "Almost Like Falling in Love," "I'll Remember April," and "In a Sentimental Mood," and the work of more contemporary artists like Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins. Though the chops of each member are undeniable, the performances are, for the most part, rather reserved, placing technique and group coordination above strong emotion. Lewis' "La Ronde" was an early favorite, and it's easy to see why. Here the all-rhythm lineup is completely locked in, particularly the drums and vibes, and the head packs a punch lacking on much of the material. Jackson balances restraint and umph! on a memorable solo while Lewis responds with excellent bopisms on piano. Two songs later, however, the group are strolling through the awkward "The Queen's Fancy," a composition whose overly sentimental melody line, complete with regal undertones, has faired less well over time. More impressive are readings of "Rose of the Rio Grande" and Lewis' "Delaunay's Dilemma." In 1951, the MJQ had backed Sonny Rollins on a Prestige date, and The Artistry Of finds the saxophonist repaying the favor, lending prime solos to a handful of cuts including his own "The Stopper" and "No Moe." In the end, this album is a fine introduction to the sound and sensibility of the MJQ. ~Nathan Bush

The Artistry Of The Modern Jazz Quartet

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Caroline Dahl - No Hats

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:43
Size: 132.1 MB
Styles: Blues/jazz piano, Boogie woogie
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[ 3:20] 1. Caroline's Boogie
[ 4:27] 2. Tico Tico Medley
[ 4:18] 3. Sharp Swinger
[ 4:24] 4. Up And Running
[ 4:33] 5. Sugarplum's Blues
[10:26] 6. Kentucky Sampler
[ 4:56] 7. Twilight Blue
[ 3:58] 8. Parrot Dance
[ 4:25] 9. Chicken Nothin' Special
[ 3:20] 10. Bluegrass Boogie Woogie
[ 5:42] 11. Rhumba Apocalypso
[ 3:49] 12. Young Mother Of Old

From Louisville, Kentucky, where she was with the Metropolitan Blues All Stars (June Appal, Taxim) self-taught Caroline Dahl is a master pianist of American roots: boogie-woogie, blues, vintage R&B, swing, country and roots R&R. On this mostly-original debut she is on acoustic grand piano and accordion with no other accompaniment than trap drums featuring the best of S. F. Area sticksmen: Jimmy Sanchez (Rhythmtown-Jive), Kent Bryson (Johnny Nocturne Band), John Hanes (Pearl Harbour, Paris Slim), and Bowen Brown (Indigo Swing, John Lee Hooker). Also a piano player for the driving American roots R&B group, Rhythmtown-Jive she has worked with Brenda Boykin, Jerry Shelfer, Those Darn Accordions, The Lickettes, amd The Melotones.

No Hats

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Red Garland - Red Garland Revisited!

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:21
Size: 115.3 MB
Styles: Bop, Piano jazz
Year: 1957/1998
Art: Front

[6:19] 1. Billy Boy
[7:58] 2. Everybody's Somebody's Fool
[5:14] 3. Four
[5:34] 4. You Keep Coming Back Like A Song
[3:39] 5. Hey Now
[8:42] 6. (I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over
[7:10] 7. Walkin'
[5:42] 8. It Could Happen To You

For pianist Red Garland's fourth recording as a leader, he's teamed up with bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Art Taylor, and (on "Four" and "Walkin'") guest guitarist Kenny Burrell. Garland plays in his distinctive style consistently throughout Red Garland Revisited!. Highlights include "Billy Boy" (which was adapted from Ahmad Jamal's rendition), "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over," "It Could Happen to You," and two Burrell tracks. Predictably excellent music; Garland recorded more than 20 additional albums within the next five years. ~Scott Yanow

Red Garland Revisited!

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Herbie Nichols - Herbie Nichols Trio

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1956
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:22
Size: 99,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:27)  1. The Gig
(5:41)  2. House Party Starting
(4:04)  3. Chit-Chatting
(4:25)  4. The Lady Sings the Blues
(4:01)  5. Terpsichore
(4:56)  6. Spinning Song
(3:29)  7. Query
(4:06)  8. Wildflower
(4:05)  9. Hangover Triangle
(4:03) 10. Mine

One of jazz's most tragically overlooked geniuses, Herbie Nichols was a highly original piano stylist and a composer of tremendous imagination and eclecticism. He wasn't known widely enough to exert much influence in either department, but his music eventually attracted a rabid cult following, though not quite the wide exposure it deserved.  Nichols was born January 3, 1919, in New York and began playing piano at age nine, later studying at C.C.N.Y. After serving in World War II, Nichols played with a number of different groups and was in on the ground floor of the bebop scene. However, to pay the bills he later focused on Dixieland ensembles; his own music a blend of Dixieland, swing, West Indian folk, Monk-like angularity, European classical harmonies via Satie and Bartók, and unorthodox structures was simply too unclassifiable and complex to make much sense to jazz audiences of the time. Mary Lou Williams was the first to record a Nichols composition "Stennell," retitled "pus Z," in 1951; yet aside from the song he wrote for Billie Holiday, "Lady Sings the Blues," none of Nichols' work got enough attention to really catch on. He signed with Blue Note and recorded three brilliant piano trio albums from 1955-1956, adding another one for Bethlehem in late 1957. Nichols languished in obscurity after those sessions, though; sadly, just when he was beginning to find a following among several of the new thing's adventurous, up-and-coming stars, he was stricken with leukemia and died on April 12, 1963. In the years that followed, Nichols became a favorite composer in avant-garde circles, with tributes to his sorely neglected legacy coming from artists like Misha Mengelberg and Roswell Rudd. He also inspired a repertory group, called the Herbie Nichols Project, and most of his recordings were reissued on CD. https://itunes.apple.com/kg/artist/herbie-nichols-trio/id220354924

Personnel:  Piano, – Herbie Nichols;  Bass – Al McKibbon, Teddy Kotick;  Drums – Max Roach

Herbie Nichols Trio

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Elis Regina - Elis Regina in London

Styles: Vocal, Brazilian Jazz 
Year: 1969
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 32:04
Size: 75,3 MB
Art: Front

(2:00)  1. Corrida de Jangada
(2:15)  2. A Time for Love
(2:55)  3. Se Você Pensa
(2:19)  4. Giro
(4:06)  5. A Volta
(2:42)  6. Zazueira
(2:17)  7. Upa Neguinho
(2:54)  8. Watch What Happens
(3:17)  9. Wave
(2:21) 10. How Insensitive
(2:23) 11. Você
(2:28) 12. O Barquinho

Legendary Brazilian vocalist Elis Regina's stunning 1969 landmark London album. An amazing, unique and highly successful mix of bossa nova, MPB, swinging funky orchestral grooves and more as Elis Regina hits the London studio scene, with UK musical direction by Peter Knight (arranger for Scott Walker). Elis in London is a stunning and unique album mixing Brazilian and late 1960s British music sensibilities, from the queen of Brazilian music. Featuring definitive versions of classic tunes such as Edu Lobo Upa Neguinho as well as songs by Jorge Ben, Tom Jobim and Menescal. Elis Regina is perhaps the greatest talent ever to come out of Brazil  and this unique album was recorded at the height of her career. Brazilian musician legends Wilson das Neves, Meirelles and Antonio Adolfo alongside an absolutely on-fire set of Britain s studio musicians creates one of the most successful meetings of musical worlds.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elis-Regina-London/dp/B008C1WVJM/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1498338565&sr=1-1&keywords=elis+regina+london

Elis Regina in London

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Glenn Miller Orchestra - In The Digital Mood

Styles: Jazz, Swing, Big Band
Year: 1983
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:25
Size: 79,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:39)  1. In The Mood
(3:41)  2. Chattanooga Choo-Choo
(3:25)  3. The American Patrol
(3:16)  4. A String Of Pearls
(3:08)  5. Little Brown Jug
(2:42)  6. Kalamazoo
(3:39)  7. Tuxedo Junction
(4:19)  8. St. Louis Blues March
(3:13)  9. Pennsylvania 6-5000
(3:18) 10. Moonlight Serenade

This CD may be scoffed at by serious jazz listeners, and even by big-band devotees wary of modern "ghost band" performances, but the fact is that it sold over 100,000 pieces when it first appeared in 1983, and its CD version was among the very earliest compact discs ever released commercially in the United States (indeed, so early that the actual CDs had to be imported from Japan). The second-ever release by GRP Records, it put the label on the map, and it also stood as testimony to how good those original arrangements of the Glenn Miller Orchestra were. So how is it as music? At worst entertaining, and at best revealing, and also at times a little frustrating on the plus side, even heard in 2007, twenty-four years after the fact, the sound here is damned impressive; you can safely rank this release as one of the very earliest, if not the very first audiophile CDs to be released. The fact that it features 18 top-flight musicians under the baton of Larry O'Brien, then the leader of the touring Glenn Miller Orchestra, only makes it more impressive. What's more, with the quality of the playing, one will be able to make out minuscule elements of the original arrangements that were long obscured on the classic late-'30s/early-'40s Glenn Miller sides. Musicians with an appreciation of these arrangements will probably love this recording, and casual fans should embrace it heartily: these boys swing in 1983 about as well as their predecessors from 41 years earlier did. And the vocal numbers are no exception -- in contrast to Columbia Records' mid-'60s efforts to revive the Miller orchestra as a recording unit (which failed not just because of the timing of the project but also the uneven quality of the resulting albums), numbers like "Pennsylvania 6-5000" and "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo" are as hot here as there were four decades before. And the singers include Mel Tormé and Julius LaRosa (doing a solo) in their ranks. Still, it's the instrumentals that make up the bulk of this album, and on that level it's similarly unimpeachable, at least most of the way through "Tuxedo Junction" (which includes Dave Grusin sitting in on piano) is so close to the original that it's easy to forget who you're listening to and when they put this track down; and serious listeners should probably hold out for the "Gold Disc" edition or the Japanese version of this CD, which contain a bonus track, "At Last," featuring a trombone solo by Urbie Green that is worth the price of the CD by itself. Now, all of that said, there are a couple of quibbles: the absence of the cowbell on "In the Mood," and the "clever" notion on "Pennsylvania 6-5000" of ending the number with well, you can guess. This is still one cool, swinging release and, with its virtuoso musicianship, offers many of the same appealing qualities as the original Miller recordings. ~ Bruce Eder http://www.allmusic.com/album/in-the-digital-mood-mw0000188430

Personnel: Marlene VerPlanck, Michael Mark, Julius La Rosa, Mel Tormé, Marty Nelson (vocals); Bucky Pizzarelli (guitar); Walter Levinsky (clarinet, saxophone); Morty Lewis, Phil Bodner, Sol Schlinger, Billy Slapin (saxophone); Irvin "Marky" Markowitz, Marvin Stamm, Jimmy Maxwell, John Frosk (trumpet); Sonny Russo, George Masso, Urbie Green, Wayne Andre, Paul Faulise (trombone); Dave Grusin, Bernie Leighton (piano); Ronald Zito (drums).

In The Digital Mood

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Jackie McLean & John Jenkins - Alto Madness

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1957
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:45
Size: 91,1 MB
Art: Front

(11:52)  1. Alto Madness
( 7:03)  2. Windy City
( 6:54)  3. The Lady Is A Tramp
( 7:39)  4. Easy Living
( 6:15)  5. Pondering

Altoists Jackie McLean and John Jenkins previously shared equal billing with Phil Woods, Gene Quill, and Hal McKusick for the album Bird Feathers, on which the saxophonists paid tribute to Charlie Parker on Parker's blues "Bird Feathers" supported by the fine boppish rhythm section of pianist Wade Legge, bassist Doug Watkins, and drummer Art Taylor. McLean, Jenkins, Legge, Watkins, and Taylor also recorded the five tracks here heard on Alto Madness at the same May 3, 1957 session that produced "Bird Feathers," and they continued the tribute to Parker in practically every phrase they played. McLean became much more individual within a few years, while Jenkins would fade from the scene altogether. This likable jam session features plenty of tradeoffs by the two altoists. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/alto-madness-mw0000203137

Personnel: Jackie McLean, John Jenkins (alto saxophone); Wade Legge (piano); Doug Watkins (bass); Art Taylor (drums).

Alto Madness

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