Artist: Duke Robillard
     Album: Stretchin' Out Live
     Label: Stony Plain Music
     Year: 1998
     Genre: Blues
     Format: mp3, Bitrate: @ CBR 320
     Size: 65 MB + 69 MB


     This album is proof of what Duke's fans have known for a long time - as good as his recordings are, he's even better in person. The material here is very representative of a live show, recorded in late 1995, on a VERY good night. There's really not much more I can say here: if you like modern blues (T-Bone, Roomful, et al) then this is a keeper.

     Artist: Various Artists
     Album: Dixieland To Swing (Gold Collection)
     Label: Retro
     Year: 1992
     Release Date: 2002
     Genre: Swing
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
     Total Time: 120.03
     Size: cd1: 77+76,5 MB; cd2: 83,4+26,5 MB

     Artist: Benny Carter
     Album: New York Nights
     Label: Music Masters
     Year: 1995
     Size: 120 Mb
     Quality: mp3, 256 kb/s

     It is amazing that he had the stamina at that age to play so long and so well!

     There is nothing on the disc that long-time fans haven't heard before, but the glory of jazz is that every single performance is "new" and "unique" in some sense. The cover photo of the late and lamented Twin Towers is a lovely one, and the music inside is mellow and melodic.

     Послушайте как играет музыкант в 88 без малого лет!

     

Август-месяц богат на таланты...
Happy Birthday, dear lex!
Happy Birthday, dear mr. Carter!

     Artist: Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
     Album: Dance To The Duke!
     Label: Capitol (LP)
     Release: 1954
     Format/Bitrate: MP3/320
     Size: 84,5 MB




     Праздник продолжается...

     lex, можно вас пригласить на танец?

     Artist - Benny Goodman
     Album - Lausanne 1950
     Label - TCB Music
     Year - 1950, release - 2006
     Quality - MP3@VBR 224-256 kbps
     Suze - 93,5 mb
     Total time - 54:01

     One of the finest groups that Benny Goodman ever led did not record. Other than a lone radio broadcast that surfaced years ago, his all-star septet from 1950 has been lost to history. Fortunately, a second radio broadcast has emerged and been made available as this CD. Goodman, who was still just a few weeks short of turning 41, is heard in prime form playing his usual swing standards. Most unusual is that trumpeter Roy Eldridge is in the band. Even though he is not featured enough, he is showcased on "Rockin' Chair," "Let Me Off Uptown," and a wild version of "Hi Ho Trailus Boot Whip" that has him singing the same lyrics of "School Days" that Dizzy Gillespie would in 1953. Tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims was an occasional member of Goodman's bands for decades, pianist Dick Hyman (featured on a blazing version of "Lover") emulates Teddy Wilson and Art Tatum in this setting, and the up-and-coming Toots Thielemans, though mostly heard on rhythm guitar, plays a brilliant version of "Stardust" on harmonica. European bassist Charlie Short (the only unknown) is steady, drummer Ed Shaughnessy adds fire to the music, and singer Nancy Reed has several excellent vocals. While the King of Swing is the main star, particularly on the numbers with just the rhythm section, he allocates a fair amount of space to his star sidemen. This TCB CD is highly recommended for both its rarity and for making available the music of a unique and short-lived band. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Jack Shelson
     Album: The Quartet & The Quintet
     Label: Jazz West
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 222 MB & 105 MB
     Time: 47:35

     There is a lot of music on this 1998 CD which has trumpeter Jack Sheldon's first two LP's as a leader plus three selections originally put out on various samplers. Although not as distinctive a soloist as he would become, at this early stage Sheldon was already a technically skilled and creative bop soloist. Sheldon is well-featured on three songs in a quintet with altoist Joe Maini, on eight numbers with a quartet that co-stars pianist Walter Norris and on the remaining eight tunes in a quintet with tenor-saxophonist Zoot Sims and pianist Norris. The music is purely straightahead and fairly spontaneous yet generally concise and serves as an excellent example of both early Jack Sheldon and mid-50's L.A. bop. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Giant Sand
     Album: The Love Songs
     Label: Homestead
     Original Release Date: 1988
     Format/Bitrate: MP3/192 kbit/s
     Size: 64 mb
     AMG Rating:

     The Love Songs is the best Giant Sand album. By the time it, their fourth album, was ready to be recorded, leader Howe Gelb had assembled a rumbling band that was by turns sympathetic and powerful: his wife/bassist Paula Jean Brown, former Green on Red keyboardist Chris Cacavas, and drummer John Convertino, who would become Gelb's permanent beat-keeper. Thrown in with the strongest batch of songs Howe had ever written, the results were, as "Mountain of Love" puts it, "beautiful/well, there it is sometimes/like a rosebud on a sparkler." By this point, engineer and producer Eric Westfall had, with help from Gelb, mastered the art of capturing Giant Sand's sideways desert motion. Stone-cold Howe classics like "Wearing the Robes of Bible Black" leap from the speakers. Lyrically, Gelb had never written so evocatively: the lines of "Mountain of Love" and "Almost the Politician's Wife" flow with a kind of eloquence that actually approach prime Bob Dylan. The chord changes and tempo shifts that had been growing more and more distinctive in Gelb's writing feel perfect on The Love Songs. Even the closing cover of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "Is That All There Is" is infused with the kind of wistful maturity that comes from the confidence of a band who knows they've made a kind of masterpiece. All entries into the world of Giant Sand should begin here. The Homestead CD adds four cuts -- including a version of Rare Earth's "Get Ready that are not featured on other issues of the record, and play little part in the cohesive genius of the work. -- Patrick Foster, AMG

     Artist: Various Artists
     Album: Essential Jazz
     Label: EMI(Belgium)/Blue Note
     Year: 2006
     Genre: Jazz
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kb/s
     Size: CD1:91,5+91,7 MB
            CD2:72,4+83,4 MB

Best of Jazz compilation
features a total of 20 tracks.

     Artist: Jimmy Forrest
     Album: Most Much!
     Year: rec.October 19, 1961/rel.1989
     Label: Prestige
     Format: MP3 @ 320 Kb/s
     Time:49:39
     Size:71.5+37.8 Mb

     Artist: Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
     Album: Duke In Sao Paulo
     Format/Bitrate: MP3/320
     Size: 190 MB


     Duke Ellington and his Orchestra’s opening night took place in Sao Paulo on september 2, 1968
     This record is valuable, because the original video tape was destroyed in the fire at the TV Station that recorded the memorable first appearance of Ellington in South America.

С днем рождения милый, милый Lex!
Желаю тебе всего наилучшего в жизни, дорогой мой друг!
С любовью, Zuziki...

     Artists: Duke Ellington Quartet
     Album: Duke's Big 4
     Label: Pablo
     Year: 1973
     Format, bitrate: MP3@320 kbit/s
     Time: 0.38:42
     Size: 89 MB
     AMG Rating: 4,5 stars

     Сегодня мы отмечаем День Рождения одного из создателей и организаторов Клуба, его вдохновителя и воодушевителя, бессменного труженика на посту администратора и модератора - глубокоуважаемого господина lex.
     Вклад господина lex невозможно переоценить - это не просто более 850 великолепных альбомов и бесчисленное множество интереснейших биографических и музыковедческих статей. Это бескорыстно выполняемая работа просветителя, несущего всем разумное, доброе и вечное. Благодаря его стараниям мы смогли прикоснуться и познакомиться с прекрасным миром джазовой музыки.

С Днём Рождения, дорогой друг!

Удачи, успехов, здоровья, терпения и много-много хорошей музыки!

Поздравляем!!!

Happy Birthday, Dear Mr. lex!!!

     Artist: Guillermo Klein
     Album: Una Nave
     Label: Sunny Side
     Year: 2005
     Genre: Jazz Instrument, Keyboard / Synthesizer
     Format: mp3@256 kbit/s
     Size: 120 MB

     Disco editado en los Estados Unidos antes que en la Argentina, esta nave es más bien como un Arca de Noé de la música popular argentina: aparte de los “animales” que lleva, un verdadero seleccionado de instrumentistas locales, es como un reservorio de ritmos y estilos. Hay algo de milonga, algo del espíritu del rock argentino de los 70, muchos juegos inteligentes con el ritmo y un aroma urbano que se respira en cada tema.

     Keyboardist/guitarist/composer Guillermo Klein's set is certainly wide-ranging. His music includes post-bop soloing, most notably from saxophonist Rodrigo Dominquez and trumpeter Juan Urquiza, some haunting vocalizing, and a few eccentric if catchy rhythmic vamps. Most of the selections are brief, with some being little more than sketches. The singing is fine, although it does not always blend in with the solos, which tend to be more adventurous. The trumpet feature on "La Ultima," which is classical-oriented, is a highlight of this intriguing and unpredictable outing. -- Review by Scott Yanow, AMG.

     Artist: John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
     Album: Silver Tones - The Best Of
     Label: Jive
     Year: 1998
     Genre: Blues
     Format: mp3, Bitrate: @ CBR 320
     Size: 68 MB + 65 MB

     Something of an elder statesman of British blues, John Mayall is generally known as the guy who gave Eric Clapton his big break. However, compilations like Silver Tones highlight the best of Mayall's work and show why he deserves a place in the pantheon in his own right. His skill at several instruments more than makes up for his average vocal abilities, and if he's primarily known as a bandleader, there's a great deal to be said for providing the proving ground for musicians like Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Fleetwood. Silver Tones is rife with strong material, from the up-tempo smoothness of the opening "Mail Order Mystics" to the nice, slow shuffle of "I Could Cry" to the rock-out groove of "Ain't No Brakeman." "I Don't Mind" showcases some excellent piano work, and "Fan the Flames" finishes things off with a bang.