Artist: John Baldry
     Album: It Ain't Easyl
     Label: Weasel Disc
     Year: 2005
     Genre: Blues
     Tracks: 18
     Format: mp3, Bitrate: @ CBR 320
     Size: 74 MB + 74 MB

     With the death of the legendary British bluesman, it is fitting that some of his many fine albums are reissued. It Ain't Easy (1971) features a British blues/rock line-up befitting the man behind the Long John Baldry moniker. This album returns Baldry to a decidedly edgier and hipper audience, with a cast of all-stars on some of the more adventurous material he had covered to date. This is no doubt due, at least in part, to the involvement of superstars Rod Stewart and Elton John. Among their contributions to the project, Stewart and Elton divided the production tasks -- each taking a side of the original album. Immediately, Baldry sheds the MOR blue-eyed pop soul image. The backing band on Stewart's side include fellow Face and future Rolling Stone, Ron Wood, on electric guitar and acoustic guitarist and Sam Mitchell, who appeared on many of Stewart's early '70s solo albums. Features Baldry's biggest hit 'Don’t Try to Lay No Boogie-Woogie on the King of Rock n Roll'. Highlights from Elton John's side include Randy Newman's 'Let's Burn Down the Cornfield', which would have fit perfectly on John's Tumbleweed Connection album.

     Artist: Various Artists
     Album: The Ladies Sing Jazz
     Year: 1996
     Label: Emporio
     Genre: Jazz
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
     Size: 64 + 55,3 MB

     Artist: Lou Donaldson
     Album: Good Gracious!
     Year: 1963
     Label: Blue Note
     Style: Soul-Jazz
     Format, bitrate: APE, FLAC & MP3 (320 Kb)
     Time: 41:46
     Size: 276 Mb (APE, Scans), 280 MB (Flac), 108 Mb (MP3, Scans)

     Lou Donaldson - alto saxophone
     Grant Green - guitar
     John Patton - organ
     Ben Dixon - drums

     Artist: Maceo Parker
     Album: Roots and Grooves
     Year: 2007
     Label: Intuition
     Genre: Funk, Jazz, Soul
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
     Time: 102min
     Size: CD1: 53,6+62,3 MB
            CD2: 47,2+74,6 MB


     Roots & Grooves was recorded live during a European Tour in February and March 2007 and was released under the Heads Up label. This is saxophone legend Maceo Parker's first release with Heads Up, but continues a career that spans 5 decades starting with a time playing in the 60's with James Brown and progressing through a very successful collaborative and solo career. Maceo continues to punctuate his own style and innovation on the saxophone, and on Roots & Grooves you are rewarded with a two-CD release featuring a tribute to his self-professed first and most important influence, Ray Charles, and the second CD featuring some of Maceo's greatest funk and R&B recordings. The release is backed by one of Europe's foremost big bands, Germany's WDR Big Band.

     Artist: Charlie Haden & The Liberation Music Orchestra
     Album: Not In Our Name
     Label: Verve
     Release date: 2005
     Format: mp3
     Bitrate: 320 Kbit/sec
     Size: 97+63 MB


     Еще один альбом от Charlie Haden и Liberation Music Orchestra.
     Более ранняя их совместная работа представлена здесь.
     Слушайте с удовольствием!

     Artist: Booker T. & The MG's
     Album: The Very Best of Booker T. & The MG's
     Label: Stax
     Year: 2007
     Genre: Soul, R&B, Rock
     Tracks: 20
     Format: mp3, Bitrate: @ CBR 320
     Size: 75 MB + 73 MB


     Perhaps not as revered as the soul singers they often played behind, Memphis legends Booker T. & the M.G.s were a hit-making machine, and this 20-track retrospective makes it clear just how tight, soulful, and occasionally rocking they were. Highlights include their Top Ten hit "Time is Tight" and a very entertaining version of "Green Onions."

     Artist: Lou Donaldson
     Album: Gravy Train
     Label: Blue Note
     Year: 1961
     Quality: FLAC
     Size: 294 MB
     Time: 43:24

     Gravy Train is a fine, if not quite exceptional record from Lou Donaldson's initial soul-jazz phase of the early '60s. Actually, given the title and the period in which it was recorded, the album isn't quite as greasy and funky overall as one might expect; most of the repertoire is devoted to pop ballads and mid-tempo standards, the latter of which tends to bring out more of the bop elements in Donaldson's playing. That's not true for the entire album, though; the title cut is a laid-back, conga-tinged, bluesy groover in the classic Donaldson mold, even if it's a bit workmanlike. Donaldson's longtime pianist, Herman Foster, is allotted quite a bit of solo space here, and he concentrates more on thick, rippling chords than single-note lines. For his part, Donaldson's playing is pleasant, and the rest of the supporting group maintains a steady groove throughout. All of Donaldson's sessions from this period (Here 'Tis, The Natural Soul, Good Gracious) have enough worthwhile moments for devoted fans, and that's true of Gravy Train as well, though casual fans probably won't find it necessary enough to track down. -- Review by Steve Huey, AMG.

   Artist: Aynsley Dunbar
   Album: To Mum, from Aynsley and the Boys
   Label: MCA
   Original Year: 1969
   Genre: Rock
   Format/Bitrate: MP3/320
   Size: 85 MB

   Although a fourth Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation album (Remains to Be Heard) would be cobbled together from outtakes and recordings done without Dunbar, their third LP, To Mum, From Aynsley and the Boys, was truly the final proper fulllength release by the original group. Dunbar had expressed some interest in moving further afield from the bluesrock format around the time the record was done, and the addition of keyboardist Tommy Eyre (from the Grease Band) to the lineup was one step in that direction.

   Artists: Houston Person & Ron Carter
   Album: The Complete Muse Sessions
   Label: 32. Jazz Records
   Release Date: 1997
   Format/Bitrate: APE/lossless (covers, cue, log)
   Size: CD1 - 95+95+8Mb
          CD2 - 95+77Mb
          Covers - 4 Mb

     В продолжение темы, начатой уважаемым minos, предлагается вниманию Клуба еще одна, не менее неординарная, дуэтная запись. Изысканный диалог двух достойных мастеров. Удивительное тембральное сочетание контрабаса мистера Рона Картера и тенор-саксофона Хьюстона Персона. Утонченное музицирование этих мэтров располагает к серьезному уединенному прослушиванию в удобном кожаном кресле, с сигарой и стаканом виски (чашечкой кофе) под рукой, где-нибудь в верхней башне замка с видом на озеро...
     Великолепно!

   Artist: Frank Sinatra
   Album: Sinatra in Japan
   Year: 1985
   Release Date: 03 November 2003
   Label: Falcon Neue Medien
   Genre: Jazz
   Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kb/s
   Size: 77.1+83,3

   SINATRA IN JAPAN presents the world-renowned singer in a 1985 performance in Tokyo. Songs include: "The Lady Is a Tramp," "My Way," "Something," "Mack the Knife," "Strangers in the Night," and many more classic tunes.