Artist: Lightnin' Hopkins with Sonny Terry
     Album: Last Night Blues
     Year: 1960
     Quality: mpr@320Kbps
     Size: 87 MB
     Label: OJC (1992)
     Total time: 36:24




     "...there's a relaxed intimacy and trust here born of musicians sharing a similar vision and experience in the blues....lyrically, Hopkins' ability to poetically improvise without noticeable limits keeps each song interesting..."
- Living Blues - Jan/Feb 93, pp.84-85

     Artist: John Scofield
     Album: Hand Jive
     Label: Blue Note Records
     Release: August 9, 1994
     Format/Bitrate: MP3/320
     Size: 98mb+30mb




     Guitarist John Scofield and tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris make a very complementary team on this upbeat set of funky jazz, for both have immediately identifiable sounds and adventurous spirits. Along with a fine rhythm section that includes Larry Goldings on piano and organ, Scofield and Harris interact joyfully on ten of the guitarist's originals. - Scott Yanow/ AMG

     Artist: Oscar Peterson
     Album: The Song Is You (The Best Of Verve Songbooks)
     Year: 1952-1954, 1959
     Release: 1996
     Label: Verve
     Format, bitrate: MP3, 320 kbps
     Time: 1:00:31 (Disc One) + 57:23 (Disc Two)
     Size: 150 MB (Part1) + 106.95 MB (Part2)

     Another one Peterson's early recordings excelent collection, which leads us to the 50's and gives us an opportunity to sit down by The Maestro, listen to his captivating music, and realize, that all his future masterpieces are just in his mind yet, and are going to be invented, so we would always be with him and just keep listening...

     The two separate songbook series that Oscar Peterson undertook for Verve were considerable enterprises by any standards. The first encompassed ten composers and 113 songs: He cut four albums in 1952 with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Barney Kessel and a further six in '53 and '54, by which time Herb Ellis had replaced Kessel. Five years later virtually the entire enterprise was repeated, with Ellis's spot now filled by a drummer, Ed Thigpen. This 1959 reprise comprised nine albums and 108 songs, and that's not including the similar Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra (Verve 825 769-2), recorded in Paris earlier that year.

     Artist: Keiko Matsui
     Album: Night Waltz
     Released date: December 6, 1991
     Label: Sin-Drome Records
     Genre: Jazz / Smooth jazz / Contemporary Jazz
     Type, Quality: MP3, 320 Kbit/s (cbr)
     Total time: 41' 23"
     Total size: 98.9 mb
     More info: front cover, M3U file. All files have recovery record

     If there's such a thing as poetic music, Matsui continues her discovery of it on this effort. For all its beauty ad more aggressive touches, this collection doesn't quite measure up to her previous collection No Borders, but there are moments of fusion in her work here which cook like never before, thanks to Eric Marienthal, Gerald Albright and guitarist Ron Komie. While husband/producer Kazu Matsui adds his mysterious shakuhachi wind to "Grey Cliffs," Matsui spends her time creating soundscapes which range from mainly acoustic to punchy electric pieces like "Hope." Clay Jenkins' flugelhorn is a plus. The two vocals here don't give Greg Walker enough excitement to play with; instead they seem too ambitious. Don't let the flowers on the cover fool you because this disc is anything but fluffy and pastoral in nature. -- Review by Jonathan Widran, AMG.

     Artist: Don Cherry
     Album: Mu (The Complete Session)
     Year: 1969
     Quality: mp3@320Kbps
     Size: 155 MB
     Label: Affinity
     Total time: 68:52



     This classic pair of recordings, reissued as a single CD, captures Don Cherry near the height of his global quest to absorb as much music as possible from different cultures and funnel it back through his jazz sensibility. It's one of the earliest, and most successful, experiments in what would later come to be known as world music. He wisely chose his fellow Ornette Coleman cohort Ed Blackwell - a drummer steeped in the traditions of New Orleans, African music, and free jazz - for his partner. Despite his reputation as a trumpeter, Cherry spends a great deal of time here on piano, flutes, and vocals.

     Artist: Duke Ellington
     Album: The Great Chicago Concerts
     Year: 1946, release 1994
     Label: Music Masters
     Genre: Jazz,swing
     Quality: FLAC(tracks)
     Size: 475mb + 3%
     Time: CD1 - 71:26; CD2 - 69:29

     The 1946 Duke Ellington Orchestra is heard in superior form throughout this highly recommended set. Split between a pair of separate concerts that took place in Chicago, this two-CD release of mostly previously unissued material features such top soloists as trumpeters Taft Jordan, Cat Anderson, Harold "Shorty" Baker and Ray Nance, trombonist Lawrence Brown, altoist Johnny Hodges, clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton, Al Sears on tenor, baritonist Harry Carney and the pianist/leader. Four selections from the later concert have the great guitarist Django Reinhardt as a special guest but, although he plays well, there is virtually no interaction with the band. In addition to fresh versions of many of Ellington's standards and then-current arrangements, this two-fer has a lengthy excerpt from "Black, Brown & Beige," Ellington's three-part "Tonal Group" and the rarely heard "Deep South Suite." - Scott Yanow, AMG

     Эта запись интересна еще и тем, что в ней принимал участие Django Reinhardt. О его турне по Америке и различных курьезах с ним связанных можно прочитать далее....

     Artist: Otis Rush
     Album: Live At Montreux
     Label: Eagle Records
     Year:rec. 1986/rel. Mar 21, 2006
     Format: MP 3 @ 320 Kb/s
     Time: 74:31
     Size:90.5 + 72.3 Mb

     Artist: Keiko Matsui
     Album: The Piano
     Released date: May 6, 2003
     Label: Shout! Factory
     Genre: Smooth jazz
     Type, Quality: MP3, 256 Kbit/s (cbr)
     Total time: 43' 58"
     Total size: 71.7 mb
     More info: front cover, M3U file. All files have recovery record

     Since she emerged in the late '80s, many of the acclaimed Japanese composer/keyboardist's most popular contemporary jazz hits featured either a very prominent sax melody or a great deal of exotic percussion and Eastern-flavored instrumentation. Since signing with Narada Jazz in 2000, Matsui's work has drawn more from her classical piano background, featuring intricate percussion but none of the pop-soul sax textures that defined her early work. This beautiful recording, licensed by Shout! Factory from a previous Japanese release, should fascinate longtime fans who wondered what her most compelling work would sound like as new age solo piano works. A few tracks, most notably "Whisper From the Mirror" and "Between the Moons," feature some electronic percussion accompaniment, but in general, the tracks are all about her lovely melodies, dramatic chordings, wistful melodies, and the intimacy of the ivories. As on all Matsui projects, there's a perfect balance of elegant romance ("Beyond the Light," "Forever, Forever") and jazzy drama. It's a whole new way to experience an artist whose melodies sound timeless regardless of their presentation. The Piano is one of six hard-to-find Matsui recordings being repackaged and re-released (with the original Japanese bonus tracks) on Shout! Factory. -- Review by Jonathan Widran, AMG.

     Artists: Teddy Edwards with Howard McGhee
     Album: Together Again!
     Label: Contemporary / Original Jazz Classics
     Year: 1961
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 0.40:00
     Size: 92 MB

     С очень интересными тенор-саксофонистом Тедди Эдвардсом и трубачом Ховардом МакГи мы уже встречались в Клубе. И, на мой взгляд, они были незаслуженно обойдены вашим вниманием.
     Попробуем ещё раз - на этом альбоме они играют вместе, а помогает им и прекрасно солирует небезызвестный вам Финеас Ньюборн младший. Да и с басистом и барабанщиком вы наверняка знакомы...

     Artist: Ken Colyer
     Albums: New Orleans to London and Back to the Delta
               Classic Recordings from 1953-1954
     Label: Lake Records LACD209
     Originally on the PYE NIXA Label in 1955, Release: 2005
     Format, bitrate: MP3@192 kbit/s
     Time: 1.14:16
     Size: 100 MB

     Of all the various Ken Colyer Jazzmen, it is the band featured on tracks 1-8 of this CD which had such high hopes pinned on it. This was the first band to be called Ken Colyer's Jazzmen and the line-up was waiting for Ken's return from New Orleans. The recordings have been described as "clinical". I think it is a fair description. The engineers were probably proud of their nice "clean" sound. The band plays beautifully - the rags are superbly done - but it does not always lift. Tracks 9-16 feature an equally short lived line-up. History has always regarded it as an interim band, but I wonder whether it was at the time. -- Paul Adams

     Artist: John Klemmer
     Album: Fresh Feathers
     Label: ABC 836 - 1977
     Styles: Jazz, Crossover
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 0.39:37
     Size: 114 MB

     With Fresh Feathers alto saxophonist John Klemmer abandoned the avant-garde approach of his previous records in favor of smooth jazz geared for maximum mainstream appeal. The side two opener "Music for the People" is more than a title, it's a statement of purpose. It's easy to dismiss the album for its glossy arrangements and sappy sentimentality — the cover of Bread's "Make It with You" essentially outlines the blueprint for Kenny G's entire career — but cuts like "Fat Alligator Snap" and the title track boast percolating funk grooves that are undeniably effective. Recorded with Los Angeles studio giants including drummer bassist Wilton Felder and drummer Harvey Mason, Fresh Feathers is also impeccably played — sure it's a sellout, but it's heartfelt and soulful, and as smooth jazz records go, there are few better. -- Review by Jason Ankeny, AMG.

     Artists: Nancy Wilson & George Shearing
     Album: The Swinging's Mutual!
     Genre: swing, jazz vocal
     Label: Capitol
     Year: 1960
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 49:21
     Size: 104 MB

     In 1960, pairing a young, up_and-coming performer of talent and promise with an etablished veteran was one way of focusing attention on the newcomer. That was the thinking, at least partially, behind Capitol's decision to team the young Ohio-born Nancy Wilson with the immensely popular George Shearing Quintet on the singer's third album for the label.

     Artist: Dave Koz
     Album: Lucky Man
     Label: Capitol
     Year of Release: June 29, 1993
     Quality: APE (Log+Cue+Cover) - Lossless
     Total Time: 0:59:53
     Total Size: 378 Mb
     AMG Rating:



     Альбом "Lucky Man", записанный в 1993 г., считают самым удачным альбомом этого музыканта.

     Artist: Phineas Newborn, Jr.
     Album: Back Home
     Label: Contemporary / Original Jazz Classics
     Styles: Mainstream Jazz, Hard Bop
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 0.39:37
     Size: 91 MB
     AMG Rating:


     Альбом из позднего периода творчества Финеаса, когда у него уже начинают появляться проблемы со здоровьем...

     Artist: Dizzy Gillespie
     Album: To Bird With Love: Live at the Blue Note
     Label: Telarc
     Year: 1992
     Format: FLAC
     Total time: 1:04:21
     Size: 359 MB
     Included: NFO, front covers

     To Bird with Love: Live at the Blue Note was taken from a month that Dizzy Gillespie was featured at the Blue Note in New York, virtually at the end of his playing career, the 74-year-old trumpeter is quite erratic on this set of bop standards. However, his supporting cast (heard from in different combinations) includes such major players as altoists Jackie McLean, Antonio Hart and Paquito D'Rivera and tenors Benny Golson, Clifford Jordan and David Sanchez, in addition to a strong trio led by pianist Danнlo Perez. The sidemen are in generally fine form and Bobby McFerrin literally came out of the audience to scat on "Oo Pa Pa Da." The good spirits and obvious love that these musicians had for Gillespie make up for his technical lapses. -- Review by Scott Yanow, AMG.