Jimmy Witherspoon - Jazz Me Blues: The Best Of Jimmy Witherspoon (Remastered)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:19
Size: 154.1 MB
Styles: Urban blues, Jazz blues vocals
Year: 1998
Art: Front

[4:11] 1. Good Rockin' Tonight
[3:15] 2. Wee Baby Blues
[3:35] 3. When I Been Drinkin'
[2:57] 4. When The Lights Go Out
[3:05] 5. Bad, Bad Whiskey
[2:58] 6. One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer
[2:10] 7. Endless Sleep
[3:43] 8. I'll Go On Living
[2:31] 9. I Had A Dream
[3:50] 10. S..K. Blues
[2:21] 11. Trouble In Mind
[3:12] 12. How Long Will It Take To Be A Man
[3:08] 13. I Don't Know
[2:28] 14. In The Dark
[2:44] 15. If You Live The Life, You Pay The Price
[2:45] 16. Money's Gettin' Cheaper
[3:42] 17. Grab Me A Freight
[4:45] 18. C.C. Rider
[3:24] 19. How Long Blues
[6:25] 20. 'tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do

Whether this is truly the "best" of Witherspoon is debatable -- there's nothing predating 1956 -- however, it's a good 20-track sampling of 1956-1966 material, favoring (but not limited to) his sessions for Prestige. Witherspoon puts his imprint on a lot of blues/R&B classics -- "Good Rockin' Tonight," "Bad Bad Whiskey," "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer," "C.C. Rider," "Money's Gettin' Cheaper, "T'Ain't Nobody's Bizness" -- and while not everyone will find these to be his definitive versions, they are all good ones. The roster of jazz luminaries heard at one point or another over the course of the disc is staggering, including Coleman Hawkins, Woody Herman, Gerry Mulligan, T-Bone Walker, Kenny Burrell, and Pepper Adams. Never do they overshadow the singer, and on the whole this is one of the better jazz/blues vocal collections available, displaying his skill in both small combos and big bands. ~Richie Unterberger

Jazz Me Blues: The Best Of Jimmy Witherspoon (Remastered)

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Michael Blanco - In The Morning

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:36
Size: 120.4 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2004
Art: Front

[5:29] 1. Within Reach
[8:06] 2. In The Morning
[4:41] 3. Point Of View
[3:16] 4. Uptown Meditations
[6:21] 5. Rainy Afternoon
[6:18] 6. Of Those Who Know
[6:06] 7. One More Time
[3:31] 8. Reverie
[5:51] 9. Moodswings
[2:55] 10. A Long Way From Home

Rich Perry (tenor sax); Alan Ferber (trombone); Aaron Goldberg (piano); Michael Blanco (bass); Bill Campbell (drums); Rob Wilkerson (alto sax on #3 & 8). Recorded by Michael Brorby at Acoustic Recording, Brooklyn, NY, August 15-16, 2004

Raised in California but living in New York, Bassist/Composer Michael Blanco is a two-time recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award. He was honored with the prestigious award in 2005 and 2006 for compositions that can be heard on In The Morning, his debut album for the Fresh Sound/New Talent record label.

Michael has been involved in a wide variety of musical projects, including the band of Marsalis Music recording artist Doug Wamble, the Bob Reynolds Quartet, the John Chin Trio, Maverick recording artist John Stevens, and the Frank Basile Quintet. Michael is also in high demand outside of the world of jazz, performing in the Broadway orchestras of the musicals Wicked, Avenue Q, The Threepenny Opera, Fiddler On The Roof, Wonderful Town, Dessa Rose, Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life, and Little Women. He is a frequent accompanist to singers, and has performed in concert with such notable artists as Carole King, Norah Jones, Idina Menzel, Kristen Chenoweth and Maureen McGovern.

In The Morning

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Ella Fitzgerald - Love Letters From Ella

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:01
Size: 91.6 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[2:25] 1. Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
[5:09] 2. Cry Me A River
[3:46] 3. You Turned The Tables On Me
[4:12] 4. I've Got The World On A String
[2:56] 5. Witchcraft
[4:13] 6. My Old Flame
[3:00] 7. The One I Love (Belongs To Somebody Else)
[5:34] 8. Take Love Easy
[4:56] 9. Our Love Is Here To Stay
[3:45] 10. Some Other Spring

You knew a trend was brewing when Concord Records scored a hit by taking newly unearthed vocal tracks from the 1970s by the late Ray Charles and adding newly recorded accompaniment by the orchestra still bearing the late Count Basie's name. Here Concord repeats the formula, doctoring outtakes by the dearly departed Ella Fitzgerald with new backing by the London Philharmonic and/or a contemporary rhythm section. As with Ray Sings, Basie Swings, Love Letters from Ella has undeniable appeal. Recorded in the 1970s, the great singer is in fine, relaxed, late-season form on a collection of ballads including "My Old Flame" and "Cry Me a River" and medium tempo tunes including "Withcraft" and "Our Love is Here to Stay." (There is also a pair of unaltered, previously unreleased performances by Ella and Basie and band and a 1983 track teaming her with Andre Previn.) The new orchestrations by Jorge Calandrelli are tasteful, and the edits are clean. But if you're going to play these archival games, you owe it to listeners to spell out what was done and why in greater track-by-track detail than is done here. Exactly what old accompaniment did the new accompaniment replace? Did a duet with guitarist Joe Pass really need to be "updated" with a rhythm section? When record companies start thinking these things don't matter, jazz is in even bigger trouble than we thought. --Lloyd Sachs

Love Letters From Ella

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Michal Urbaniak, Horace Parlan Trio - Take Good Care Of My Heart

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:22
Size: 124.5 MB
Styles: Fusion
Year: 1986
Art: Front

[6:02] 1. Sweet Lee
[6:04] 2. Blues For Pinky
[6:21] 3. Power Of Love
[6:12] 4. Take Good Care Of My Heart
[4:21] 5. Mean And Mine
[5:10] 6. The Time Will Reveal
[4:09] 7. Back Where We Belong
[5:56] 8. Romance
[5:15] 9. Spiritual
[4:46] 10. Let's Do It Again

Violinist Michal Urbaniak teams up with pianist Horace Parlan's Trio (which also includes bassist Jesper Lundgaard and drummer Aage Tanggaard) on this mostly straight-ahead outing. Rather than interpret standards this time, Urbaniak and his group perform six of his better originals and three obscurities. The tunes are often tricky, but the results are generally swinging and feature the violinist in prime form. ~Scott Yanow

Take Good Care Of My Heart

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Bite The Gnatze - Peeling Off Slowly

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:36
Size: 115.8 MB
Styles: Free jazz, Avant Garde
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[5:00] 1. Boempe Met Pappa Pel
[5:55] 2. Blues Under The Kilt
[6:43] 3. Nothing Between You And The Stars, Lightyears Away
[6:45] 4. Antiblob
[4:37] 5. A Bright Light On An Empty Sofa
[4:18] 6. Soforti
[5:51] 7. Paddy's Rambles Through The Park
[4:16] 8. Pallies Chord
[7:07] 9. Peeling Off Slowly

The band Bite the Gnatze is playing for sixteen years now and working with the same musicians, all rooted in the jazz and improvised music scene of Amsterdam. In the music composed by guitar player Paul Pallesen you can hear echos of Monk and Mingus and modern classical composers as Milhaud and Ives. But with the banjo, lapsteelguitar and the whistle you hear folkmusic subtile slipping into the music. ‘A collective whose comic flair and precise technique confirms the exuberant passion and confidence of Holland’s free music scene’.

Peeling Off Slowly

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Jessica Williams - The Art Of The Piano

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:32
Size: 150.0 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[ 9:13] 1. Triple Door Blues
[ 6:54] 2. Esperanza
[12:53] 3. Love And Hate
[ 5:13] 4. Elaine
[ 7:37] 5. First Gymnopédie
[ 7:02] 6. Prophets
[ 7:13] 7. Diane
[ 9:24] 8. Lonnie's Lament

Pianist Jessica Williams' third Origin Records CD, The Art of the Piano, brings to mind Brad Mehldau's Art of the Trio series that ran through five discs. In Mehldau's case the recordings were, of course, with his trio, featuring bassist FLY and drummer Jorge Rossy (later, Jeff Ballard). Williams' three sets on Origin are all solo efforts, and they are all marvelous explorations of the pianist's singular artistry.

Williams, who sat in with Philly Joe Jones' group back in the 1970s, is no stranger to playing in the trio format. Always a top tier, if somewhat under appreciated, musician, she seemed to rise to the very highest levels in that arena, really coming into her own with the release of Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 1 (MAXJAZZ, 2004) and Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 2 (MAXJAZZ, 2005), both featuring bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Victor Lewis. Seemed is the key word, because Williams' blossoming can truly be traced to her striking out and setting up her own label, Red and Blue Recordings, back in 1997, on which can be found several stellar trio outings including Some Ballads, Some Blues (2001), Now (2004), and For John Coltrane (2005).

Red and Blue Recordings notwithstanding, John Bishop, of Seattle-based Origin Records, has given Williams another outlet with three extraordinary solo piano discs: Billy's Theme (2006), Songs for a New Century (2008), and now, Art of the Piano, recorded live at the Triple Door in Seattle, Washington. Williams' approach is one of supple, refined elegance that moves easily into percussive muscularity and earthiness, as on the set's opener, "Triple Door Blues." Her fluidity and grace—and the profound beauty of her art—are both on display on "Esperanza," while "Love and Hate" has an exploratory, inward feel and "Elaine" brims with reverence and joy. Six of the eight tunes are Williams originals, but she covers "First Gymnopedie," from the pen of Eric Satie with buoyant momentum and deep introspection. Williams is especially adept at getting inside the musical souls of fellow music-makers, artists as disparate as Art Tatum on Tatum's Ultimatum; Thelonious Monk on Deep Monk and Billy Taylor on Billy's Theme. Here, she treats John Coltrane's "Lonnie's Lament" with respect, imbuing it with a mesmerizing spirituality that does the supremely spiritual 'Trane proud.

Art of the Piano is another stunningly beautiful set by Williams; solo piano gets no better than this. ~Dan McClenaghan

The Art Of The Piano

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Louis Prima - The Wildest!

Styles: Vocal And Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1956
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 33:02
Size: 77,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:49)  1. Medley: Just A Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody
(2:43)  2. (Nothing's Too Good) For My Baby
(2:23)  3. The Lip
(3:29)  4. Body And Soul
(2:35)  5. Oh Marie
(4:19) 6. Medley: Basin Street Blues / When It's Sleepy Time Down South
(3:33)  7. Jump, Jive, An' Wail
(3:04)  8. Buono Sera
(2:52)  9. Night Train
(3:14) 10. I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You

A veritable greatest-hits album, The Wildest! is the gem of Louis Prima's catalogue. None of his other efforts transcend its raunchy mix of demented gibberish, blaring sax, and explosive swing, which rocked as hard as anything released at the time. Almost all of Prima's signature songs are found here: "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody," "Oh Marie," "Jump, Jive, an' Wail," and "Buona Sera," to name a few. A plethora of greatest-hits packages (especially Capitol's Collectors Series) may offer wider song selection and greater value, but the reissue of Prima's masterpiece is a welcome event that's been a long time coming. ~ Jim Smith https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-wildest%21-mw0000065221

Personnel:  Louis Prima - vocals, trumpet;  Keely Smith - vocals;  Jack Marshall - guitar;  Sam Butera - tenor saxophone;  James Blount, Jr. - trombone;  Willie McCumber - piano;  Amato Rodrigues - bass guitar;  Bobby Morris - drums                

The Wildest!

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Katharine McPhee - Hysteria

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:49
Size: 94,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:23)  1. Hysteria
(2:52)  2. Feather
(4:08)  3. Burn
(3:31)  4. Stranger Than Fiction
(2:34)  5. Lick My Lips
(3:27)  6. Break
(3:11)  7. Appetite
(3:36)  8. Love Strikes
(3:38)  9. Round Your Little Finger
(4:02) 10. Only One
(3:01) 11. Damage Control
(3:18) 12. Don't Need Love

Once Katharine McPhee's AAA makeover of 2010 didn't catch, she turned her attention elsewhere television, to be specific. Of all the American Idol finalists, she was the only one savvy enough to realize much of her appeal rested upon the television aspect of her on-camera charm, so she turned to TV after Unbroken faded, first gaining traction on the gleefully trashy music-melodrama Smash, then establishing her dramatic bona fides in the 2014 thriller Scorpion. These two series were enough to sustain her stardom, perhaps even elevate it, and open the door for a pop comeback in the form of Hysteria, an album delivered half a decade after Unbroken. Much fizzier and fresher than its predecessor, even with the occasional ballads taken into consideration, Hysteria nevertheless never comes close to mirroring the exuberance of its title. Frivolity isn't McPhee's thing. Even when she's having fun, she's composed, which is why she fares better on Hysteria than she does on her post-Idol 2007 debut, a record that wanted to paint her as a carefree diva. Hysteria doesn't make the same mistake. 

Everybody involved in its production Isabella Summers, a key collaborator for Florence + the Machine, and Smith Carlson are the executive producers, collaborating with McPhee and finding space for Ryan Tedder and Drew Pearson, among others is aware Kat's powerhouse vocals aren't necessarily malleable, so her singing is channeled into tracks that either resemble a Florence without art, an Adele without soul, or a Leona Lewis with grit. This formula usually works best when tempos are sprightly the Luther Vandross-sampling "Lick My Lips" is a neo-disco delight, "Only One" also conjures a bit of yacht-soul flair, while melodramas like "Love Strikes" drag but even when Hysteria flirts with the middlebrow, there's a sense that McPhee and her team understand the middle of the road is where she belongs. She's not a trendsetter, she's not an innovator, she surfs the waves of the mainstream and on Hysteria, she does so with grace. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine https://www.allmusic.com/album/hysteria-mw0002851634

Hysteria

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Vincent Herring - Evidence

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1990
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:51
Size: 130,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:24)  1. Mr. Wizard
(8:14)  2. I Sing A Song
(6:23)  3. Stars Fell On Alabama
(5:58)  4. Voyage
(7:39)  5. Hindsight
(6:36)  6. Never Forget
(7:49)  7. Evidence
(8:45)  8. Soul-Leo

The underrated but talented hard bop altoist Vincent Herring is in excellent form on the quintet date Evidence. While Herring's tone is as usual a bit reminiscent of Cannonball Adderley, he comes up with many fresh ideas and swinging phrases on the eight songs, which include two of his originals and one song from pianist Mulgrew Miller. Miller and trumpeter Wallace Roney also take consistently rewarding solos, with bassist Ira Coleman and drummer Carl Allen offering stimulating support. Highlights include Herring's warmth on "Stars Fell on Alabama" and the driving versions of "Voyage" and Cedar Walton's "Hindsight." Easily recommended to fans of Herring's straight-ahead playing. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/evidence-mw0000690802?

Personnel: Vincent Herring: Alto Saxophone; Wallace Roney: Trumpet; Mulgrew Miller: Piano; Ira Coleman: Bass; Carl Allen: Drums.

Evidence

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Joachim Kühn - Piano

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1972
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:43
Size: 93,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:18)  1. Mixing One
(4:47)  2. Dandy Ponty
(5:14)  3. She's A Beauty
(1:40)  4. Part
(2:19)  5. Fast
(7:12)  6. Paris '71
(1:49)  7. Wiegenlied
(2:56)  8. Special
(3:45)  9. Chords
(4:39) 10. Mixing Two

Although not a free jazz musician, per se, Kuhn has been an avant-gardist; he began attempting a fusion of contemporary classical elements with jazz very early in his career. Kuhn's intense virtuosity is a reflection of his training. He studied classical composition and piano for 12 years, beginning when he was a small child. He performed as a classical pianist up until 1961, at which point he began playing in a Prague-based jazz quintet. He led a trio from 1962-1966, and in 1964 began playing with his much-older brother Rolf Kuhn, an accomplished clarinetist. In the '70s, Joachim Kuhn led his own groups, and played with the violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. Kuhn had a measure of commercial success in the '70s. His star faded a bit in the '80s, but Kuhn kept active, playing challenging forms of jazz and recording occasionally. A 1997 release, Colors: Live From Leipzig, a duo with Ornette Coleman, helped fuel new interest in Kuhn; both men were in top form and the album received excellent reviews. ~ Chris Kelsey https://www.allmusic.com/artist/joachim-k%C3%BChn-mn0000783907/biography          

Piano

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Ira Sullivan - Horizons

Styles: Saxophone And Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1967
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:14
Size: 94,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:58)  1. E Flat Tuba G
(5:05)  2. Norwegian Wood
(5:45)  3. Everything Happens To Me
(4:57)  4. Adah
(8:23)  5. Horizons
(3:15)  6. Oh Gee!
(8:48)  7. Nineveh

One of the hippest albums ever from Chicago reedman/trumpeter Ira Sullivan a set that takes on a really different feel than his previous bop-styled records and which shows a whole new side of the musician! Ira's clearly inspired here by the changes in jazz in the 60s particularly the work of John Coltrane and he reaches forward in a wonderfully expressive way that's filled with joy, life, and a spiritual sensibility we never heard this strongly again in Sullivan's music. There's a definite modal jazz vibe to most of the record played beautifully by an obscure rhythm section that features Dolphe Castellano on piano and electric harpsichord, William Fry on bass, and Jose Cigno on drums players with a wonderfully refreshing conception that really makes the album sparkle. Yet Sullivan's the clear star of the show, too really shining on a range of horns that includes trumpet, tenor, and soprano sax sometimes played together on the same tune. Lon Norman plays a bit of trombone on the record and the set's got some great eastern numbers like "Ninevah", "Horizons", and "Adah" – plus the tracks "Oh G", "Norwegian Wood", and "E Flat Tuba G". (Red & purple label pressing. Cover has a small cutout hole.)  © 1996-2017, Dusty Groove, Inc. https://www.dustygroove.com/item/8172/Ira-Sullivan:Horizons

Personnel: Ira Sullivan (soprano & tenor saxophones, trumpet, flugelhorn); Lon Norman (trombone); Dolphe Castellano (piano, electric harpsichord); William Fry (bass); Jose Cigno (drums).

Horizons

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