Benny Carter - Cosmopolite: The Oscar Peterson Verve Sessions

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 77:30

Size: 177.4 MB

Styles: Saxophone jazz, East Coast blues

Year: 1994

Art: Front

[2:54] 1. Gone With The Wind

[2:54] 2. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)

[3:03] 3. Long Ago (And Far Away)

[3:17] 4. I've Got The World On A String

[3:17] 5. Street Scene

[3:30] 6. Imagination

[2:31] 7. Pick Yourself Up

[2:50] 8. I Get A Kick Out Of You

[7:39] 9. Laura

[6:44] 10. That Old Black Magic

[3:26] 11. Angel Eyes

[4:45] 12. The Song Is You

[3:38] 13. A Foggy Day

[3:54] 14. You Took Advantage Of Me

[2:47] 15. Poinciana (Song Of The Tree)

[3:45] 16. Prisoner Of Love

[4:36] 17. Frenesi

[2:28] 18. Gone With The Wind

[3:00] 19. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)

[3:04] 20. Long Ago (And Far Away)

[3:17] 21. I've Got The World On A String

These timeless Benny Carter performances match the great altoist with pianist Oscar Peterson, bassist Ray Brown, either Barney Kessel or Herb Ellis on guitar, Buddy Rich, J.C. Heard or Bobby White on drums, and, on four numbers, trombonist Bill Harris. The 17 standards (four of which are also heard in alternate versions) are treated with respect, taste, and swing. Carter always sounds flawless and is in excellent form throughout this enjoyable set. ~Scott Yanow

Cosmopolite! The Oscar Peterson Verve Sessions  

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Curtis Amy & Paul Bryant - Meetin' Here

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 65:23
Size: 149.7 MB
Styles: Saxophone jazz, Straight ahead jazz
Year: 1961/2013
Art: Front

[7:08] 1. Meetin' Here
[6:46] 2. Early In The Morning
[6:04] 3. If I Were A Bell
[8:02] 4. One More Hamhock Please
[6:22] 5. Angel Eyes
[4:12] 6. Just Friends
[3:23] 7. Meet Me In The Bottom
[4:32] 8. In The Evening
[2:42] 9. New B & O Blues
[5:00] 10. Puppy Love
[2:45] 11. Wake Up In The Mornin'
[5:50] 12. Wee Baby Blues
[2:32] 13. I'm The One

Curtis Amy was an accomplished Texas tenor who moved freely and productively between straightahead jazz, blues and rhythm and blues, and both aspects of his musical personality are fruitfully deployed on these enjoyable early 60s West Coast sessions. On the first, “Meetin’ Here,” he brings a fiery conviction to bear on a relaxed, grooving date with organist Paul Bryant. Sharing the front line with them is the solid trombone of Roy Brewster, and the results have the hand-inglove feel of a group to which cooking is as natural as breathing. Whether on a ballad or up-tempo driving, Amy is the main man, bringing a declamatory edge to his tone that reinforces his expressiveness.

After this, the tenor’s career soon shifted into higher gear. Pacific Jazz producer Richard Bock used him in an all-star jazz group to back the veteran blues singer and guitarist Bumble Bee Slim on the second session of this set. Recorded a year later under Slim’s leadership as part of the album “Back in Town!,” it offered, in addition to Slim’s unpretentious, relaxed, and undeniably expressive way with slow, medium and up-tempo blues tunes, gripping soloing by Curtis Amy, and fine contributions by organist “Groove” Holmes and trombonist Lou Blackburn.

Curtis Amy (ts), Roy Brewster, Lou Blackburn (tb), Paul Bryant, Richard 'Groove' Holmes (org), Bumble Bee Slim (vcl, g), Clarence Jones (b), Jimmy Miller, Leroy Henderson (d). Recorded at Pacific Jazz Enterprises Inc./Rex Studios, Los Angeles, on March 30, 1962

Meetin' Here

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Laurie Antonioli - American Dreams

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 56:25
Size: 129.2 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[4:33] 1. America The Beautiful
[6:22] 2. Dreary Black Hills Get Up & Go
[4:34] 3. How Long
[5:52] 4. Just A Dream
[4:47] 5. Long Way From Home
[4:35] 6. Moonlight In Vermont
[5:16] 7. Oh, What A Beautiful Morning
[3:58] 8. Samba Nada Brahma
[3:44] 9. Stimulus Plan
[4:19] 10. Sweet Sound Of Spring
[4:28] 11. Under Consideration
[3:52] 12. Vienna Blues

Calling American Dreams a jazz album is too narrowing a description. This record is actually an odyssey through the American musical landscape. After recording Foreign Affair (Nabel, 2004), with a multi-cultural cast of musicians while living abroad, vocalist Laurie Antonioli's mind drifted back toward thoughts of home. In exploring her vision of America, Antonioli touches on standards, country, folk and patriotic music. These entries are nestled within a collection that also includes a good amount of material resulting from a marriage of her lyrics with the music of pianist Fritz Pauer--the longtime accompanist for trumpeter Art Farmer.

In lesser hands, these disparate musical ideals might have resulted in an album that suffered from multiple personality disorder, but Antonioli and her exquisite band help fuse all of these songs into a unified musical expression. While a song called Samba Nada Brahma might seem like an odd way to start off an album that speaks of America, it provides instant excitement as Sheldon Brown's soprano saxophone work bounces around with boundless energy. Moonlight In Vermont gives Antonioli a chance to showcase her superb scatting skills and bassist John Shifflett provides excellent support here. How Long, one of five pieces credited to Pauer and Antonioli, has an alt-country vibe and--if one looks past the saxophone solo--it sounds like it could have come from the Emmylou Harris songbook. Brown--one of the key ingredients on this record--provides some harmonica work at the top of Dreary Black Hills and Antonioli's voice picks up a bit of country twang on this traditional tune. This song transitions into Get Up And Go--an earthy, appealing original from Shifflett--and Antonioli's voice takes on a firmer, focused quality here.

In addition to bringing stylistic authenticity into every song on the album, guitarist Dave McNab put together a gorgeous arrangement of America The Beautiful. Antonioli slowly lays out the visually rich lyrics over a warm bed of guitar and Brown's bass clarinet work adds volumes to the performance. Freer forms of expression come through on the loose and woozy Stimulus Plan, as Jason Lewis' jittery cymbal work scurries around and Antonioli moves in tandem with Brown's bass clarinet. Broadway also makes a brief appearance and Oh, What A Beautiful Morning is taken at a relaxed pace, with pianist Matt Clark providing the harmonic foundation for Antonioli and Brown--on tenor saxophone here. From start to finish, American Dreams proves to be a happy marriage of cultural appreciation and musical creation. ~ Dan Bilawsky

American Dreams

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Alice Babs - Swingtime Again

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:36
Size: 122,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:38)  1. Me And You
(4:28)  2. It's Wonderful
(4:17)  3. Sugar
(2:48)  4. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
(4:46)  5. Our Love Is Here To Stay
(5:06)  6. A Sailboat In The Moonlight
(1:54)  7. Swing It Magistern
(4:34)  8. I Don't Mind
(1:54)  9. Who's Got The Other Half Of Heaven
(3:49) 10. Regntunga Skyar
(4:19) 11. I'm Checkin' Out Go'Om Bye
(3:25) 12. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
(4:13) 13. Drop Me Off In Harlem
(4:18) 14. Bluer Than Blue

A popular singer when she was still a young teenager, Alice Babs has had a long and varied career. She made her recording debut in 1939 at the age of 15 and, although her yodelling made her initially popular and the novelty "Swing It, Mr. Teacher" was her first hit, Babs even at the start had a highly appealing voice and a lightly swinging style. She mostly recorded in jazz and swing-oriented settings throughout the years of World War II. Babs remained active throughout the 1950s and '60s in Europe, singing everything from jazz (recording with Duke Ellington in 1963 and performing the classic "Heaven" at his second spiritual concert) and pop to a bit of classical music. By the late '70s, Alice Babs had become less active but into the mid-'90s, she occasionally performed on special occasions. Although her important first set with Duke Ellington (on Reprise) remains out of print, a Phontastic CD (Swing It!) does a fine job of summing up her first 15 years on records. Bio ~ https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/alice-babs/id14957329#fullText

Swingtime Again

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Joe 'Piano' Henderson - Joe 'Piano' Henderson

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 25:56
Size: 59,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:30)  1. Cheek To Cheek
(2:46)  2. Isn't This A Lovely Day
(3:02)  3. I Won't Dance
(2:35)  4. They Can't Take That Away From Me
(2:52)  5. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
(2:54)  6. Let's Face The Mucsic
(2:23)  7. Lovely To Look At
(2:23)  8. They All Laughed
(2:21)  9. The Way You Look Tonight
(2:05) 10. Top Hat

Born 2 May 1920, Glasgow, Scotland, d. 4 May 1980, London, England. A pianist and composer, Henderson formed his own band to play at school dances before turning professional at the age of 13. In the early 50s he served as accompanist for former child actress and singer Petula Clark, who featured frequently in the UK charts, and subsequently recorded several of her ex-pianist’s compositions. Henderson himself became extremely popular on the UK variety circuit, alongside other solo piano acts, such as Winifred Atwell, Russ Conway and - much later - Bobby Crush. He survived the radical changes in popular music that began to take place in the 50s, and still retained an audience. He also featured in Bumper Bundle on Radio Luxembourg, and had his own television series Sing Along With Joe and Mr. Piano Plays. Henderson’s first hits came in 1955 with ‘Sing It With Joe’ and ‘Sing It Again With Joe’. These consisted of short piano medleys of jolly standards, such as ‘Margie’ and ‘Somebody Stole My Gal’. In 1958 he had another UK Top 20 hit with ‘Trudie’, accompanied by the Beryl Stott Chorus. 

It was the best-known of his mostly bright, catchy compositions, and won an Ivor Novello Award for The Year’s Best Selling And Most Performed Item. He earned another Ivor the following year for the movie title song ‘Jazzboat’, The Year’s Most Outstanding Composition In The ‘Jazz’ Or ‘Beat’ Idiom. Jazzboat was one of three films that Henderson scored that starred Anthony Newley. The others were Idle On Parade, the film that launched Newley’s singing career (he co-wrote some of the songs) and Let’s Get Married. Henderson’s other compositions, published by his own company, included ‘Why Don’t They Understand?’ (a US and UK chart hit for country singer George Hamilton IV), ‘Chick’, ‘Treble Chance’ (his last Top 30 entry, in 1959), ‘Dear Daddy’ (with lyrics by Jack Fishman, featured on Ruby Murray Successes), ‘Matchbox Samba’, ‘Coffee Bar Jive’, ‘What A Day We’ll Have’, ‘I’d Have A Long Way To Go’, ‘When You’re Away’, ‘Dream Of Paradise’, ‘First Theme’, ‘I Need You’, ‘Somebody’ and ‘Crinoline Waltz’. His other recordings included Charles Chaplin’s ‘Smile’, Leroy Anderson’s ‘Forgotten Dreams’, ‘The Theme From the Threepenny Opera (Moritat)’ and a lively version of the novelty ‘Don’t Ring-A Da Bell’. 

On the latter he played harpsichord, while the vocal was by the British actress Shani Wallis, who went on to play Nancy in the movie of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! A very likeable and genial personality, Henderson continued to entertain for many years after the hits dried up, particularly in the seaside summer season, at top venues such as Blackpool and Bournemouth. 

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/joe-mr-piano-henderson-mn0000900270/biography and 

http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Piano-Henderson/dp/B00485DUA0

Joe 'Piano' Henderson

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Ole Stolle, Jesper Lundgaard, Jacob Fischer - Trioen

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:25
Size: 143,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:27)  1. It Don't Mean a Thing
(4:12)  2. Two Sleepy People
(5:28)  3. On a Slowboat to China
(2:58)  4. A Cottage for Sale
(5:15)  5. Honeysuckle Rose
(4:54)  6. Pennies from Heaven
(7:20)  7. Gee Baby Ain't I Good to You
(3:33)  8. Memories of You
(2:53)  9. Sugar
(4:03) 10. In My Solitude
(8:11) 11. In a Mellow Tone
(5:41) 12. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
(3:23) 13. Indiana

We appreciate anyone who can give information about this album.

Trioen

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Stefan Patry - Organ Groove Explosion

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:48
Size: 128,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:19)  1. On Broadway
(4:13)  2. Lady Marmelade
(4:17)  3. Groove Mechant
(5:49)  4. Light My Fire
(6:37)  5. Love PM
(5:01)  6. Round Midnight
(5:25)  7. What Now My Love
(5:05)  8. The Good Life
(5:11)  9. Satisfaction
(4:58) 10. Come Together
(3:49) 11. That's All

Born in 1962, Stefan Patry feels naturally drawn to music. As a teenager, he discovered and developed a passion for jazz; meeting with Rhoda Scott at the age of 14 years will be decisive as to its lifeline and its exclusive choice for the Hammond organ. After studying classical piano, organ, singing and harmony, he discovers Paris and its clubs and jazz musicians. He received his first engagement at Petit Journal Montparnasse and other clubs in rapid succession ( Caveau de la Huchette , Meridien Etoile , Bilboquet, Sunset , Duc des Lombards ...).  It is programmed in festivals in France and abroad; gradually his career as an organist is emerging; he plays in training of gospel, jazz and blues. He developed the immense possibilities of his instrument, fully exploits the pedal bass with the composition will become its main musical weapons. 

In 1996, he created the association Tribute To Hammond (which he chairs) in which he brings together amateur and professional organists; he organized the famous "rushes organ" real events around the Hammond organ. It also creates Organ Jam Sessions at the Caveau des Oubliettes in Paris. Designer label Must Record, the label of Hammond organists , it produces well-known artists but does not hesitate to find out and discover new talent. Musician, organist, songwriter and singer recently, he has recorded over 10 CDs under his name; worked with an incredible number of artists. Every day he is looking forward to living his passion, he plays, he composes and is looking for a simple music always melodic, and rhythmic mixed. Translate by google..http://stefanpatry.com/discographie.html

Personnel:  Stefan Patry - Voice & Hammond Organ / Grant Green Jr. – Guitar /Bernard Purdie - Battery / Renato Caranto - Tenor Sax/ Rob Paparozzi - Harmonicas

Organ Groove Explosion

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Dexter Gordon - Dexter Digs In: The Young Dexter Gordon

Bitrate: 320K/s

Time: 46:54

Size: 107.4 MB

Styles: Bop, Saxophone jazz

Year: 2000

Art: Front

[5:52] 1. Setting The Pace

[2:40] 2. So Easy

[2:41] 3. Dexter's Riff

[3:00] 4. Long Tall Dexter

[3:15] 5. I Can't Escape From You

[2:55] 6. Dexter Digs In

[3:11] 7. Dexter Rides Again

[2:50] 8. Dexter's Mood

[3:03] 9. Index

[2:47] 10. Dextrose

[2:59] 11. Dextivity

[2:40] 12. Dexter's Minor Mad

[3:06] 13. Dexter's Cutting Out

[2:52] 14. Dexter's Deck

[2:55] 15. Blow Mr. Dexter

Balanced perfectly between the swing and bebop eras, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon played a major role in linking the styles of earlier players, such as Lester Young and Ben Webster, with those who followed, including Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Gordon made some of the first bebop recordings in the 1940s, and was an active and highly influential player through the 1970s.

Baritone Saxophone – Leo Parker (tracks: 1-3); Bass – Curly Russell (tracks: 4-7), Gene Ramsey (tracks: 12-15), Nelson Boyd (tracks: 1-3, 8-11); Drums – Art Blakey (tracks: 1-3), Art Mardigan (tracks: 8-11), Ed Nicholson (tracks: 12-15), Max Roach (tracks: 4-7); Piano – Bud Powell (tracks: 4-7), Argonne Thornton (tracks: 12-15), Tadd Dameron (tracks: 1-3, 8-11); Tenor Saxophone – Dexter Gordon; Trumpet – Fats Navarro (tracks: 8-11), Leonard Hawkins (tracks: 4-7).

Dexter Digs In: The Young Dexter Gordon

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Swing Of Sahara - Nothing Toulouse

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 44:55
Size: 102.9 MB
Styles: Gypsy jazz
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[3:36] 1. Spanjolskij
[2:47] 2. It May Be June
[3:31] 3. Caravan
[3:56] 4. Douce Ambience
[3:34] 5. Indigo Stomp
[3:29] 6. Nothing Toulouse
[4:14] 7. Dos Cervezas
[4:50] 8. El Pueblo Grande
[2:54] 9. Minor Swing
[2:47] 10. Second Floor
[4:35] 11. Misirlou

This Danish trio consisting of Andreas Ugorskij and Peter Dobronyi on guitars and Johan Segerberg on double bass plays some amazing hot gypsy jazz.

Swing of Sahara was formed in the mid-1990s when Andreas Ugorskij and Peter Dobronyi got together to play Gypsy jazz classics. As new band members have joined in, other musical styles have been absorbed, including punk, surf, Latin and Balkan, sending them bursting out of the caravanserai. Over the years, the band has played more than 200 concerts.

Nothing Toulouse

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Elaine Dame - Comes Love

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 48:43
Size: 112.5 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[4:45] 1. The Best Is Yet to Come
[3:54] 2. If I Were a Bell
[4:15] 3. Ticket to Ride
[5:33] 4. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
[4:06] 5. Yesterdays
[5:30] 6. Midnight Sun
[4:03] 7. What'll I Do?
[3:54] 8. From This Moment On
[5:28] 9. How Long Has This Been Going On?
[3:01] 10. You're The Top
[4:11] 11. Comes Love

A fine singer whose style is at times between jazz and cabaret, Elaine Dame has a clear and powerful voice along with the ability to improvise with subtlety. She is also an excellent scat singer. Based in Chicago, Dame has a beautiful tone and the ability to swing while sounding completely straight, but then she will surprise listeners by coming up with new melodic variations. On this date she is backed by some of Chicago's better musicians (including cameos from veteran violinist Johnny Frigo) as she performs 11 veteran standards; even the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" qualifies in that category. Based on this music, Dame deserves to be much better known outside of Chicago. Her performances are quite enjoyable. ~ Scott Yanow.

Elaine Dame (vocals, flute); David Onderdonk (guitar); Johnny Frigo (violin); Art Davis (trumpet); Jeremy Kahn (piano); Rob Amster (double bass); Tim Davis (drums).

Recording information: Hinge Studios, Chicago, IL.

Comes Love

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Quartette Trés Bien - The Very Best Of

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 74:26
Size: 170.4 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[7:31] 1. Exodus
[3:12] 2. I Am That I Am
[2:34] 3. The More I See You
[4:12] 4. Wish You Were Here
[7:17] 5. Three O'clock In The Morning
[2:47] 6. Caravan
[3:27] 7. Work Song
[5:57] 8. I Never Knew
[3:02] 9. Goodbye
[8:01] 10. The Sound Of Music
[4:11] 11. I've Never Been In Love Before
[5:55] 12. Invitation
[4:20] 13. Alfie
[2:31] 14. Bully!
[3:45] 15. Sunrise, Sunset
[5:36] 16. Sunny

The Quartette Trés Bien was an American jazz combo based in St. Louis led by pianist Jeter Thompson. The group started to play around 1960 and began recording in the mid '60s. Jeter Thompson played with Jimmy Forrest, Oliver Nelson and Emmett Carter in his early years. The bassist of the group is Richard Simmons, the drummer Albert St. James who accompanied also Charlie Parker, Tab Smith and Jimmy Forrest. Percussionist Percy James added a Latin flavor to the quartette who played more than ten years, before splitting. Jeter Thompson is still active leading for a few years the Trio Tres Bien with brothers Harold Thompson (bass) and Howard Thompson (drums).

The very Best Of

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Alexia Gardner - The Rest Of Your Life

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:56
Size: 135,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:38)  1. Night And Day
(4:24)  2. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
(5:09)  3. Get Here
(4:11)  4. One Note Samba
(6:05)  5. Skylark
(6:08)  6. Redemption Song
(3:26)  7. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life
(6:34)  8. Summertime
(2:43)  9. Hallelujah I Love Him So
(7:18) 10. Black Coffee
(4:14) 11. Send In The Clowns

Alexia Gardner is truely an international Jazz Artiste. She is British Born of Jamaican Roots, this recording happened whilst she was based in Hongkong; singing classic, African-American Jazz!  Her 'live' recording of "The Rest Of Your Life" reflects her years of touring Europe and Asia singing truely, heart warming, heart-felt jazz classics to captivated audiences. Her signature warm tones and beautiful, mellow renditions of the classics, leave the listener yearning for more!  The "Rest Of Your Life" was recording July 19th-20th 2001 at the Jazz and Blues Club, Hongkong. She is joined by Ted Lo on Piano (Hongkong) Sylvain Gagnon on bass (Canada) and Edmond Branson on drums (Singapore). These traditional accoustic instruments, with talented musicians from all over the globe, blend beautifully with Alexia's honey-like voice.  

This international line-up serves to bring a unique and diverse interpretation of the old classics. Look out for the reggae influence on one of the tracks. There is also a gospel/blues tribute and a love ballad that falls neatly into the pop genre - rendered wonderfully with the traditional jazz instruments. Alexia Gardner continues to sing and enjoy the jazz scene around her. She is currently based in the international city of Basel, Switzerland  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/alexiagardner

"She demonstrates an impressive command of standards, including Night and Day, Let's Call The Whole Thing Off and Black Coffee, as well as the less obvious choice of Bob Marley's Redemption Song. A Highlight is a slick and sophisticated version of Ray Charles' Hallelujah I love Him (Her) So!" ~ All That's Jazz, Robin Lynam, Oct.2003

The Rest Of Your Life

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Ernie Watts Quartet - Alive

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:51
Size: 151,0 MB
Art: Front

( 8:58)  1. 3 + 5 = 4
(14:10)  2. River Of Light
( 9:45)  3. The Plan
(14:38)  4. Angel's Flight
(11:05)  5. Round Midnight
( 7:12)  6. Nostalgia In Times Square

Ernie Watts Quartet Alive 2004 provides Watts with a new forum for recording. Throughout his long and fruitful career, he has not previously made a live recording of his own, capturing a stage performance with no editing or overdubs. The chance to hear Watts at immediate heat in the midst of his own music is a special occasion, only available before to his concert audiences. Recording in Germany, he leads his quartet (which features acclaimed pianist Christof Saenger) through originals and some well-chosen classics by Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. The musicians stretch their imaginations and soar over a set of airtight arrangements. Released on Watts' own Flying Dolphin label, ALIVE begins a new chapter for the artist. "This is my first recording where I had complete control," notes Watts, "All the creative decisions were mine, from the tunes to the final mix. That freedom produced this CD. It shows who I really am as a musician." http://www.erniewatts.com/discography/alive.html

Personnel: Ernie Watts (tenor saxophone); Christof Saenger (piano); Heinrich Köbberling (drums).

Alive

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Joe Zawinul Trio - To You With Love

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1959
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:21
Size: 79,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:19)  1. I Should Care
(3:29)  2. Easy Living
(4:17)  3. Please Send Me Someone To Love
(3:06)  4. It Might As Well Be Spring
(4:28)  5. Love For Sale
(2:53)  6. Squeeze Me
(1:47)  7. Greensleeves
(3:37)  8. My One And Only Love
(2:59)  9. Masquerade Is Over
(4:22) 10. Sweet And Lovely

Joe Zawinul belonged in a category unto himself  a European from the heartland of the classical music tradition (Vienna) who learned to swing as freely as any American jazzer, and whose appetite for growth and change remained insatiable. Zawinul's curiosity and openness to all kinds of sounds made him one of the driving forces behind the electronic jazz-rock revolution of the late '60s and '70s and later, he would be almost alone in exploring fusions between jazz-rock and ethnic music from all over the globe. He was one of a bare handful of synthesizer players who actually learned how to play the instrument, to make it an expressive, swinging part of his arsenal. Prior to the invention of the portable synthesizer, Zawinul's example helped bring the Wurlitzer and Fender Rhodes electric pianos into the jazz mainstream. Zawinul also became a significant composer, ranging (like his idol Duke Ellington) from soulful hit tunes to large-scale symphonic jazz canvases. Yet despite his classical background, he preferred to improvise compositions spontaneously onto tape rather than write them out on paper. More Bio...https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/joe-zawinul-trio/id362546593#fullText

Personnel: Bass – George Tucker; Congas – Ray Barretto;  Drums – Frankie Dunlop; Piano – Joe Zawinul

To You With Love

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Mark Murphy - S/T

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 51:48
Size: 118.6 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[3:38] 1. This Could Be The Start Of Something
[3:55] 2. Day In Day Out
[3:08] 3. The Lady Is A Tramp
[2:27] 4. Mighty Like A Rose
[2:39] 5. Falling In Love With Love
[2:58] 6. Just In Time
[2:28] 7. It's Not For Me To Say
[2:57] 8. Send For Me
[2:48] 9. All The Way
[2:39] 10. Kansas City
[2:40] 11. Personality
[3:00] 12. Venus
[2:59] 13. I Only Have Eyes For You
[2:23] 14. Lonesome Town
[2:26] 15. Firefly
[2:44] 16. Catch A Falling Star
[2:17] 17. Come To Me
[3:33] 18. Witchcraft

Mark Murphy often seemed to be the only true jazz singer of his generation. A young, hip post-bop vocalist, Murphy spent most of his career sticking to the standards -- and often presented radically reworked versions of those standards while many submitted to the lure of the lounge singer -- during the artistically fallow period of the 1970s and '80s. Marketed as a teen idol by Capitol during the mid-'50s, Murphy deserted the stolid world of commercial pop for a series of exciting dates on independent labels that featured the singer investigating his wide interests: Jack Kerouac, Brazilian music, songbook recordings, vocalese, and hard bop, among others.

He grew up near Syracuse, NY, born into an intensely musical family (both parents sang). Mark began playing piano as a child, and studied both voice and theater while at college. He toured through Canada with a jazz trio for a time and spent awhile back home before he moved to New York in early 1954. A few television appearances gained him a contract for Decca Records, and he debuted with 1956's Meet Mark Murphy. He released one more LP for Decca before signing to Capitol in 1959. Though label executives often forced material (and an excessively clean-cut image) on the young singer, he managed to distinguish himself with good sets of standards, musical accompaniment furnished by West Coast jazz regulars, and a distinctive vocal style that often twisted lines and indulged in brief scatting to display his jazz credentials.

He eventually released four LPs for Capitol, but never reached popular audiences the way the label intended. In 1961, Murphy recorded his first album for Riverside, a set of standards and bop vocals named Rah! that gave a first glimpse at his ambition. Though the twentysomething Murphy seemed a little young for a saloon-song chestnut like "Angel Eyes," he performed quite well on side two, styled after a Lambert, Hendricks & Ross LP with vocal covers of bop standards including "Milestones" and Annie Ross' "Twisted." It and its follow-up, the themed LP That's How I Love the Blues, included a top-notch backing group including jazz heroes such as Clark Terry, Snooky Young, Al Cohn, Bill Evans, and Blue Mitchell. The records also displayed Murphy's penchant for trawling the entirety of the 20th century popular/jazz repertory for songs ranging from the slightly overdone to the downright forgotten.

By the mid-'60s, Murphy had begun to recognize his sizable European fan base. Along with scores of American expatriates, he spent many years in Europe and didn't even issue his LPs in America during the rest of the '60s. Instead, he recorded LPs for British labels including Fontana and Immediate (the latter run by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham). Murphy also collaborated with the Clarke-Boland Big Band for 1967's Midnight Mood. His frequent nightclub performances and intimate stage presence also earned rave reviews from jazz and vocal critics. By the time of his return to America in the early '70s, Murphy had become a major name in vocal jazz.

With a contract from Muse in hand, Murphy began recording what would become close to two dozen albums for the label, ranging from earthy '70s dates with the Brecker brothers to Jack Kerouac tributes complete with spoken word readings to a two-volume Nat King Cole Songbook series. During that period, Murphy was one of the only straight jazz vocalists (other than old-guard names like Sinatra and Tormé) to actually make a living out of his craft. He toured relentlessly as well, and remained as hip a name to drop in 1999 as he was in 1959. Since the '90s, Murphy has released a handful of albums including Some Time Ago in 2000, Memories of You in 2003, and Love Is What Stays in 2007. ~bio by John Bush

Mark Murphy

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Art Farmer - Brass Shout / The Aztec Suite

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 66:13
Size: 151.6 MB
Styles: Post bop, Trumpet jazz
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[ 5:55] 1. Nica's Dream
[ 5:10] 2. Autumn Leaves
[ 5:47] 3. Moanin'
[ 4:01] 4. April In Paris
[ 4:52] 5. Five Spot After Dark
[ 3:52] 6. Stella By Starlight
[ 3:54] 7. Minor Vamp
[16:28] 8. The Aztec Suite
[ 2:35] 9. Heat Wave
[ 2:51] 10. Delrio
[ 3:16] 11. Woody 'n You
[ 3:07] 12. Drume Negrita
[ 4:20] 13. Alone Together

This Gambit CD compilation combines the complete contents of two long unavailable records that Art Farmer made for United Artists. The first seven tracks come from Brass Shout, a very enjoyable collaboration with his Jazztet partner Benny Golson, who also wrote all of the arrangements for this date. The all-star cast of sidemen include trombonists Curtis Fuller and Jimmy Cleveland, plus trumpeters Lee Morgan and Ernie Royal. Golson's own "Five Spot After Dark" is an obvious highlight, as are his treatments of "Nica's Dream" and "Moanin'." Farmer, who had not yet made the switch from trumpet to flugelhorn, is in top form throughout the date. Unfortunately, The Aztec Suite hasn't aged as well. Half of the original album was devoted to the extended title cut, composed by Chico O'Farrill and in spite of the laudatory liner notes, this piece has not stood the test of time. Production problems plague the remaining tracks, with excessive Latin percussion and unexpected fades, along with insufficient space for Farmer to solo. While this latter session is disappointing, the chance for Art Farmer fans to pick up Brass Shout along with The Aztec Suite for one price will likely prove irresistible. ~Ken Dryden

Brass Shout / The Aztec Suite

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Three Dog Night - The Complete Hit Singles

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 73:55
Size: 169.2 MB
Styles: Rock, AM pop
Year: 2004
Art: Front

[3:02] 1. One
[4:21] 2. Try A Little Tenderness
[3:11] 3. Easy To Be Hard
[2:45] 4. Eli's Coming
[2:58] 5. Celebrate
[3:17] 6. Mama Told Me (Not To Come)
[3:06] 7. Out In The Country
[2:50] 8. One Man Band
[3:13] 9. Joy To The World
[3:17] 10. Liar
[3:45] 11. An Old Fashioned Love Song
[3:42] 12. Never Been To Spain
[3:24] 13. The Family Of Man
[3:23] 14. Black And White
[4:10] 15. Pieces Of April
[3:23] 16. Shambala
[3:14] 17. Let Me Serenade You
[3:43] 18. The Show Must Go On
[4:46] 19. Sure As I'm Sittin' Here
[4:47] 20. Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)
[3:28] 21. Til The World Ends

Three Dog Night ran off a string of 21 Top 40 hits between 1968 and 1975, including three number ones: "Joy to the World," "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," and "Black & White." Despite this, they are often written off as a lightweight band who couldn't write their own songs. Granted they were laid-back and very easygoing, but they had some heft. The vocals of Chuck Negron, Danny Hutton, and Cory Wells were surprisingly soulful and the band that backed them was solid, and even rocked pretty hard on occasion. They didn't write songs -- it is true -- but their genius was picking songs. Along with producer Richard Podolor, the group found songs by writers like Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Laura Nyro, Hoyt Axton, Paul Williams, and John Hiatt and turned them into hits. So the group had laudable credentials, but more importantly, the songs collected here play like the soundtrack to the '70s. If you were just a casual fan, listening to Complete Hit Singles provides moment after moment of "I didn't remember these guys did that song!" exclamations. The hits just keep coming one after the other: "Joy to the World," "Celebrate," "Shambala," "Liar," "An Old Fashioned Love Song," and "Let Me Serenade You." Never sappy, never overbearing, always settled into a low-key, hooky groove, these songs are about as good as early-'70s pop gets. Another impressive thing about Three Dog Night is that they never showed any signs of slowing down. 1974's "Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)" is just as good as "Eli's Coming" from 1969. The only thing that stopped them was the inevitable bout of creative differences that split the band up in 1976. This collection basically supplants the excellent Best of Three Dog Night from 1983. It boasts improved sound and one more song, their last Top 40 hit, "Til the World Ends," from 1975. ~Tim Sendra

The Complete Hit Singles

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Luiz Bonfa - Amor! The Fabulous Guitar Of Luiz Bonfa

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 31:11
Size: 71.4 MB
Styles: Brazilian jazz guitar, Easy Listening
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[2:14] 1. Brasilia
[2:31] 2. I'll Remember April
[2:33] 3. Lonely Lament
[1:40] 4. Carnival
[1:31] 5. George Back In Town
[1:48] 6. Blue Madrid
[2:30] 7. Island Of Tindade
[2:44] 8. Old Times (Velhas Tempos)
[2:05] 9. Marajo
[1:20] 10. Indian Dance
[2:34] 11. Nelly
[1:40] 12. Preludio
[2:11] 13. Yesterdays
[1:46] 14. Bagpipes
[1:57] 15. Arabesque

I think this may be the first album made by Bonfa following the international success of "Manha De Carnaval," the theme from Black Orpheus. It's a fairly sparse instrumental album, filled mainly with solo pieces, as well as several tunes where Bonfa is delicately backed up by George Shearing and his band, along with Don Elliott. There is some flashy guitar work, although this album feels pretty lightweight and isn't immediately arresting. It will grow on you with repeated listens, though. Silly cover art. ~slipcue.com

Luiz Bonfa (guitar); Ralph Freundlich (flute); Don Elliott (mellophone, vibraphone, triangle); Tommy Lopez (bongos, congas).

Amor! The Fabulous Guitar Of Luiz Bonfa

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Mose Allison - Swingin' Machine

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz, Swing
Year: 1966
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 33:36
Size: 78,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:31)  1. Swingin' Machine
(4:35)  2. Do It
(3:26)  3. Stop This World
(5:12)  4. Promenade
(3:50)  5. If You're Goin' To The City
(5:00)  6. Saritha
(3:57)  7. I Ain't Got Nothing But The Blues
(5:02)  8. So Rare

Jazz fans may find this Mose Allison session unique among scads of releases from this laid-back, witty and original singer and pianist. Almost never found recording outside of the piano trio context, this album perhaps reveals the reason why: on a whole, adding horns to Allison's band just doesn't work that well. The trombonist Jimmy Knepper is of particular interest, in that he most often recorded under the intense leadership of Charles Mingus, a far cry from the loose and relaxed sound of Allison. His fellow hornman here is tenor saxophonist Jimmy Reider; not a very well-known jazzman but certainly competent in a swing style. If the leader had stuck to all vocal numbers this might have been a top drawer album. All the vocal tracks here are fine, with the song "Stop This World" rating among the best things this artist has recorded in a long career. It's the instrumental tracks that drag, however, since like any respectable pianist bandleader, Allison chooses to put the two horns out front for theme-solo-theme arrangements that would only be worth repeated listening if every other jazz performance ever recorded happened to vanish off the face of the earth. Allison's piano playing picked up some steam as the '60s wore on, so it is a shame he didn't revisit this concept at a later date. ~ Eugene Chadbourne  

http://www.allmusic.com/album/swingin-machine-mw0000662004

Personnel: Mose Allison (vocals, piano); Jimmy Reider (tenor saxophone); Jimmy Knepper (trombone); Addison Farmer (bass); Frankie Dunlop (drums).

Swingin' Machine

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Dexter Gordon - Our Man In Paris

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1963
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:08
Size: 89,2 MB
Art: Front

(7:21)  1. Scrapple From The Apple
(8:47)  2. Willow Weep For Me
(6:44)  3. Broadway
(6:58)  4. Stairway To The Stars
(8:16)  5. A Night In Tunisia

This 1963 date is titled for Dexter Gordon's living in self-imposed Parisian exile and recording there with two other exptriates and a French native. Along with Gordon, pianist Bud Powell and Kenny "Klook" Clarke were living in the City of Lights and were joined by the brilliant French bassman Pierre Michelot. This is a freewheeling bop date with the band working out on such categoric standards as "Scrapple from the Apple," and "A Night in Tunisia." In addition, American vernacular tunes such as "Willow Weep for Me" and "Stairway to the Stars" are included. Gordon is at the very top of his game here. His playing is crisp, tight, and full of playful fury. Powell, who at this stage of his life was almost continually plagued by personal problems, never sounded better than he does in this session. His playing is a tad more laid-back here, but is nonetheless full of the brilliant harmonic asides and incendiary single-note runs he is legendary for. The rhythm section is close-knit and stop-on-a-dime accurate. ~ Thom Jurek  http://www.allmusic.com/album/our-man-in-paris-mw0000191916

Personnel: Dexter Gordon (tenor saxophone); Bud Powell (piano); Pierre Michelot (bass); Kenny Clarke (drums).

Our Man In Paris

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