Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage

Styles: Piano Jazz 
Year: 1965
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:05
Size: 96,8 MB
Art: Front

( 7:57)  1. Maiden Voyage
( 6:01)  2. The Eye Of The Hurricane
( 8:47)  3. Little One
(10:03)  4. Survival Of The Fittest
( 9:16)  5. Dolphin Dance

Over the past forty-nine years there's been no shortage of ink spilled extolling the musical virtues of Herbie Hancock's 1965 recording, Maiden Voyage. Featuring the great trumpet of Freddie Hubbard and the bracing tenor of George Coleman, the record is as good as any effort turned in by Hancock during that period. It's a record every jazz fan should know. Unfortunately, Maiden Voyage also has a long standing reputation for mediocre sound quality. In another review of an expensive vinyl re-release of this record I wrote, "There is nothing to be gained by a first-class analogue pressing of a record that, sadly, was not recorded with the attention to sound quality that it deserved." In my record collection, the smeared quality of every instrument is prominent on a recent CD issue and the aforementioned double 45RPM LP, and an original 1965 vinyl copy while less smeared sounds flat and dull. I acquired each of these disks successively in a quest to find a truly good sounding copy of this date, and was disappointed each time. With that many different versions revealing similar deficiencies it's easy to conclude that this record just wasn't very well recorded in the first place.  All Rudy Van Gelder recordings from the 1950s and 60s have a certain period quality to them. Hard-panning instruments to the left and right channels creates an unnatural soundstage environment. Horns brass and woodwinds generally fare the best, with full-sized scale, realism, and even air surrounding the players (in some cases they're quite extraordinary). Drums and bass are also pretty good. The piano, however, has long been criticized for often sounding small, muffled and indistinct. 

That piano alone makes almost any Van Gelder recording instantly recognizable as such. For whatever the reason, other copies of Maiden Voyage seemed to suffer the additional indignity of an even more deeply truncated piano, blurring of the other instruments, and a collapsed soundstage that sounds as though it had been recorded in a closet. It's never sounded as good as it should have for the quality of its music, making it a frustrating record to love. So when Ron Rambach of Music Matters announced that he was shipping his 33rpm version of Maiden Voyage the first thing that sprung to mind was, "Why bother? It's been done to death and it never gets any better." I stuck it on a shelf without even opening it until Rambach followed up with several emails insisting that I listen to it. Finally relenting, I tossed it on the turntable with absolutely no expectation of being impressed. What else could I possibly hear in this fourth copy that I hadn't already heard in the first three? Boy, was I wrong. It is said that the original master tape for this date has deteriorated significantly over the years, making a truly great 1st generation analog copy supposedly impossible. Yet here it is. Rambach is pretty relentless about getting great sound out of his Blue-Note re-releases, but given its history the sound quality on this pressing is truly surprising. 

The smearing is gone, the instruments are distinct, the soundstage has actual depth that doesn't exist even on my original copy, and most impressively, the piano sounds like an actual piano: large(er. It's still a Van Gelder, after all.), weighty, and dynamic. The horns sound life-like and detailed, Ron Carter's bass has woody pluck, and Tony Williams' drums have resonance while the cymbals shimmer in space. Perhaps the only thing missing in comparison to the best Van Gelder Blue Notes is the scale of the instruments, which on certain recordings can be almost bigger than life. Here, they lack any vertical height, leaving them to sound a little small in a very wide soundstage, a minor quibble on an overall excellent mastering job from a troublesome tape. As usual with the Music Matters releases, the vinyl is dead quiet, which helps more detail emerge from the recording. Whatever hi-fi mojo Rambach and mastering Engineer Kevin Gray used to get this sound off that tape and onto new vinyl, it should be bottled and shipped to every recording engineer in the world. Maiden Voyage has always been musically first-rate, but I'd written off this recording as sonically dead years ago. It's been brought back to life in the most dramatic way. It's still a Van Gelder recording of course, and it sounds like one, with all of the period sonic hallmarks that entails, but now it sounds like a solidly good Van Gelder recording instead a botched job. I've often wondered, "What if Maiden Voyage had actually been recorded properly?" This Music Matters 33rpm pressing is the answer writ large. With sincere apologies to Rudy Van Gelder, this turns out to have been a pretty darned good recording after all. 

~ Greg Simmons https://www.allaboutjazz.com/maiden-voyage-herbie-hancock-blue-note-records-review-by-greg-simmons 7952.php

Personnel: Herbie Hancock: piano; Freddie Hubbard: trumpet; George Coleman: tenor saxophone; Ron Carter: bass; Tony Williams: drums.

Maiden Voyage

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Julie Budd - They Wrote the Songs

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:30
Size: 72,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:12)  1. Home
(4:06)  2. Love Me Do
(5:07)  3. Perfect
(4:13)  4. Let Me Try Again
(4:33)  5. Kindred Spirits
(8:05)  6. Newley Medley: Who Can I Turn To , What Kind Of Fool Am I / For Once in a Life Time / If I Ruled the World
(1:11)  7. Reprise Home

This Long awaited CD from one of Americas leading vocalists, is finally here. Every song selection is straight from the heart , delivering dramatic performances that will leave you breathless. These are the Songs Of our generation, contemporary , but yet classic material , written by some of the greatest songwriters of our time. Such as , The Beatles, Ann Hampton Callaway, Anthony Newley & Leslie Bricusse , and many more. Performed by a dynamic and premier Artist. This is a Cd you'll listen to forever. https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/juliebudd

They Wrote the Songs

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Jenny And The Mexicats - Ten Spins Round the Sun (10 Year Anniversary Album)

Styles: Flamenco, Jazz   
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:31
Size: 162,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:26)  1. Starting Something
(3:29)  2. Verde Más Allá
(2:56)  3. Me and My Man
(3:16)  4. Duele al Caminar
(2:54)  5. Frenético Ritmo
(3:11)  6. On the Hill
(2:56)  7. Why Why
(3:20)  8. Me Voy a Ir
(4:55)  9. The Song for the UV House Mouse
(3:28) 10. Aprendimos
(2:52) 11. La Diabla
(3:03) 12. Labios - Live
(3:17) 13. Boulevard
(2:22) 14. Born in the City
(4:06) 15. Head in My Heart
(5:27) 16. La Primera Despedida - Deep Inc. Vocal Remix
(3:35) 17. Heaven Knows
(3:05) 18. Tanto Tiempo - Live
(3:39) 19. La Bruja
(4:04) 20. Back to Basics

Jenny and the Mexicats, previously known as Pachucos y la Princesa, is a multicultural band composed of English trumpeter and singer Jenny Ball, Spanish percussionist David González Bernardos, and Mexicans Pantera Mexicat on guitar and Icho on double bass. Their style blends elements of flamenco, jazz, folk, and cumbia, with lyrics in both English and Spanish. The band is considered independent for not having a contract with any record company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_and_the_Mexicats

Ten Spins Round the Sun (10 Year Anniversary Album)

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Freddie Slack And His Orchestra - Freddie Slack's Boogie Woogie

Styles: Jazz, Big Band 
Year: 1945
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 22:16
Size: 52,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:55)  1. Rib Joint
(2:46)  2. Behind The Eight Beat
(3:01)  3. Strange Cargo
(2:45)  4. Southpaw Serenade
(2:40)  5. A Cat's Nineth Life
(2:33)  6. Blackout Boogie
(2:54)  7. Bashful Baby Blues
(2:37)  8. Kitten On The Keys

Frederick Charles Slack (August 7, 1910 – August 10, 1965) was an American swing and boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader. Slack was born in Westby, Wisconsin. He learned to play drums as a boy. Later he took up the xylophone, and at the age of 13 he changed to the piano. He studied with a local teacher throughout high school. At the age of 17 he moved with his parents to Chicago, where he continued his musical training. He met Rosy McHargue, a well-known clarinetist, who took him to hear many leading musicians, including Bix Beiderbecke and Earl Hines. His first job was with Johnny Tobin at the Beach View Gardens. He later moved to Los Angeles, where he worked with Henry Halstead, Earl Burtnett and Lennie Hayton, before joining Ben Pollack in 1934. He played with the Jimmy Dorsey Band in the 1930s and was a charter member of the Will Bradley Orchestra when it formed in 1939. Known to bandmates as "Daddy Slack," he played the piano solo on Bradley's recording of "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar", one of the early white boogie-woogie hits and a classic of the Big Band era. He formed his own band in 1942 and signed with the newly founded Capitol Records. He recorded three songs at his third recording session for Capitol, on May 21, 1942. 

His recording of "Cow Cow Boogie," sung by the 17-year-old Ella Mae Morse, was the second record Capitol issued on July 1, and by July 25 it had reached number 1 on the Hit Parade. It was Capitol's first gold single. T-Bone Walker was a member of Slack's band from 1942 to 1944 and Slack later accompanied Walker on his first solo recording for Capitol, "Mean Old World". This band also had a hit with "Strange Cargo." Slack continued to record with Capitol until at least 1950, recording some 80 tracks for the label. Slack also recorded as an accompanist for Big Joe Turner, Johnny Mercer, Margaret Whiting and Lisa Morrow. "Eight Beat Mack" refers to drummer Ray McKinley, and "Doc" refers to the band's bass player, Doc Goldberg. His 1955 album Boogie Woogie on the 88 featured a horn section including jazz musicians Shorty Sherock and Herbie Harper among others, and with arrangements by Benny Carter. He also co-wrote the 1945 classic "The House of Blue Lights" first recorded with singer Ella Mae Morse, and later by Chuck Miller, The Andrews Sisters, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. On August 10, 1965, Slack was found dead in his bedroom from undetermined causes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Slack

Freddie Slack's Boogie Woogie

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Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band - Cuban Love Song

Styles: Latin
Year: 1945
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 52:59
Size: 86,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:30)  1. Negra consentida
(2:26)  2. Brazil
(2:57)  3. Rio de Janeiro
(2:38)  4. Mexico
(3:02)  5. Baia
(3:08)  6. The 3 Caballeros
(2:54)  7. Jesusita en Chihuahua
(2:59)  8. In chi chi Castenango
(3:12)  9. Rum & limonada
(3:15) 10. I'm crazy for you
(2:35) 11. Dengozo
(2:47) 12. Good good good
(3:13) 13. No can do
(2:42) 14. Cancion Cubana
(3:10) 15. Tell me again
(3:20) 16. Quimbamba
(3:09) 17. Chico Chico
(2:54) 18. The Parrot

Edmundo Ros , born Edmundo William Ros , ( Port of Spain , 7 December 1910 - Alicante , 21 October 2011 ), was a trinidadiano- born British singer , arranger and conductor who spent his entire career in Great Britain . He conducted a Latin American orchestra that was very popular and performed an intense activity in recording records. Born in Port of Spain, in Trinidad to a Venezuelan black mother and a father of Scottish descent , Edmundo was the eldest of four children: his sisters, Ruby and Eleonora, followed by his half-brother Hugo, an illegitimate son.  His parents separated after Hugo's birth, due to the fact that his wife badly accepted the betrayal of her husband, and after some missteps Edmundo was enrolled in a military academy . Li became interested in music and learned to play the bombardino . In the period 1927-1937 his family lived in Caracas , Venezuela . He was inserted into theBand of the Military Academy of Venezuela and at the same time entered the staff of the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra as a timpani player . Subsequently he received a scholarship from the government, and in the period 1937-1942 he studied harmony , composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music in London.  At the same time, he was a singer and percussionist in the band of Don Marino Barreto at the Embassy Club and recorded numerous pieces together with Fats Waller who was visiting London in 1938. At the age of 90, in 2000 New Year's Honors List , Ros was named a Knight of the Order of the British Empire . He turned 100 in December 2010.  Ros is an honorary citizen of the city of London and Freemason , member of the Lodge Sprig of Acacia n. 41, of Jávea , Spain . He married twice: the first time with Britt Johansen in 1950 and the second with Susan in 1971. From the first marriage he had two children, Douglas and Louisa. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmundo_Ros

Cuban Love Song

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