Toots Thielemans - Compact Jazz

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1991
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:55
Size: 135,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:42)  1. A Volta
(4:19)  2. Dirty Old Man
(4:45)  3. Bluesette
(3:30)  4. I Do It For Your Love
(4:02)  5. Big Bossa
(3:33)  6. Lullaby
(8:00)  7. Tenor Madness
(3:43)  8. Bye Bye Blackbird
(3:36)  9. Old Friend
(6:43) 10. Quarte's fever
(8:03) 11. Footprints
(3:52) 12. Sultry Seranade

Toots Thielemans virtually introduced the chromatic harmonica as a jazz instrument. In fact, beginning in the mid-'50s, he never had a close competitor. Thielemans simply played the harmonica with the dexterity of a saxophonist and even successfully traded off with the likes of Oscar Petersom.  Thielemans' first instrument was the accordion, which he started when he was three. Although he started playing the harmonica when he was 17, Thielemans' original reputation was made as a guitarist who was influenced by Django Reinhardt.

Very much open to bop, Thielemans played in American GI clubs in Europe, visited the U.S. for the first time in 1947, and shared the bandstand with Charlie Parker at the Paris Jazz Festival of 1949. He toured Europe as a guitarist with the Benny Goodman Sextet in 1950, and the following year moved to the U.S. During 1953-1959, Toots was a member of the George Shearing Quintet (mostly as a guitarist) and freelanced for the remainder of his lengthy career in music.   He first recorded his big hit, "Bluesette" (which featured his expert whistling and guitar) in 1961, and was subsequently in great demand (particularly for his harmonica and his whistling) on pop records (including many dates with Quincy Jones) and as a jazz soloist. Toots' two-volume Brasil Project was popular in the 1990s and found him smoothly interacting on harmonica with top Brazilian musicians. Heard on numerous movie soundtracks (including Breakfast at Tiffany's and Midnight Cowboy) and also on the opening theme of television's Sesame Street, Thielemans received Jazz Master honors from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2009. He died in Belgium in August 2016 at the age of 94.~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/artist/toots-thielemans-mn0000159791/biography

Compact Jazz

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Roger Kellaway - I Was There: Roger Kellaway Plays from the Bobby Darin Songbook

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:54
Size: 164,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:05)  1. Beyond the Sea
(5:16)  2. Charade
(4:12)  3. My Buddy
(4:23)  4. Just In Time
(6:41)  5. When I Look In Your Eyes
(5:35)  6. The Shadow of Your Smile
(5:03)  7. I Was There
(4:17)  8. I'm Beginning to See the Light
(5:51)  9. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
(5:34) 10. When Your Lover Has Gone
(5:45) 11. That's All
(4:38) 12. My Funny Valentine
(5:08) 13. All By Myself
(4:19) 14. Something in Your Smile

With renewed focus on the late singer Bobby Darin in 2004, due in part to the making of a film biography starring Kevin Spacey, the timing became ripe for a musical tribute album to him as well. Pianist Roger Kellaway served as Darin's musical director between 1967 and 1968. He got to know him very well and recognized him as more than just an ambitious singer continuously in search of a hit, as many critics labeled him at that time. Darin often had in mind what he wanted in an arrangement and sang ideas for his pianist to score. When Kellaway was working for the singer, Darin was looking for more than rehashes of his earlier pop hits. The pianist therefore chose to salute him by recording a mix of standards from earlier decades, including "My Buddy," "My Funny Valentine" and "All By Myself," along with 1940s jazz ballads such as Duke Ellington's "I'm Beginning to See the Light." But there is also newer material, including a brisk, inventive treatment of Henry Mancini's "Charade," a pair of songs from the film Dr. Doolittle (a lovely take of "When I Look Into Your Eyes" and "Something in Your Smile," the latter which also features a warm vocal by Kellaway). 

There is also a dreamy take of Johnny Mandel's gorgeous ballad "The Shadow of Your Smile," played with a lightly implied bossa nova rhythm. The only song never performed by Darin, "I Was There," is a swinging tribute composed by Darin's former music director. The sincerity of Roger Kellaway's tribute to Bobby Darin is never in doubt. ~ Ken Dryden  http://www.allmusic.com/album/i-was-there-roger-kellaway-plays-from-the-bobby-darin-songbook-mw0000140195

Personnel: Roger Kellaway (piano)

I Was There: Roger Kellaway Plays from the Bobby Darin Songbook

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Swedish Swing Quartet - Live at Salsta Castle (Remastered)

Styles: Swing
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:31
Size: 169,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:03) 1. Avalon
(5:19) 2. Poor Butterfly
(5:32) 3. Limehouse Blues
(5:18) 4. I Must Have That Man
(6:17) 5. I Got Rhythm
(6:31) 6. Sweet Georgia Brown
(8:31) 7. More Than You Know
(6:16) 8. Tangerine
(5:33) 9. Have You Met Miss Jones
(6:36) 10. Stompin' At The Savoy
(5:52) 11. Moonglow
(5:37) 12. Flying Home