Artist: Ronnie Scott Quintet
     Album: bootleg, Holland
     Year: 1984
     Format/quality: MP3, 256 kbps
     Size: 105 MB.

     British jazz at it's heights !!! wonderful rhythm section that lets Scott, pierce and critchenson feel safe while soloing they have the right groove and the whole group seems to enjoy playing together. just having fun !!! they all can improvise well!
     It seems that i can contribute some very cool sessions made by British jazzers in the 60's and further till now.      so.....to be continued

     Artist:Alex Sipiagin
     Album:Steppin Zone
     Label:Crisscross Jazz
     Year: 2001
     Quality: MP3@192 kb/s
     Size:83 mb
     Total time: 61:31

     Trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, one of the mainstays of the Mingus Big Band, has some distinguished company on his Criss Cross debut: Chris Potter on tenor sax, David Kikoski on piano, Scott Colley on bass, and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums. It's highly unlikely that an A-list quintet such as this would let listeners down and, sure enough, the disc swings like crazy from beginning to end. The program is bookended by two takes of Colley's "Catalyst," which the bassist also recorded for his Portable Universe album. Other highlights include the difficult and seldom-covered "Missouri Uncompromised" by Pat Metheny, Sipiagin's steady-burning "Room 28," and a long take of Kikoski's harmonically free "Spacing." The group slows things down with Toninho Horta's "Moonstone" and the leader's lilting title track. (Their odd-metered interpretation of George Shearing's "Conception" is strikingly similar to the version that appears on George Colligan's Como la Vida Puede Ser.) Bolder and more unorthodox records have been made, but this kind of scorching, straight-ahead musicianship is always a pleasure to hear. ~ David R. Adler, All Music Guide

     Artist: Clarence Williams
     Album: The Complete Sessions, Vol. 2 (1923-1925)
     Label: Hot 'N' Sweet
     Recording Date: Nov 14, 1923-Mar 4, 1925
     Release: 2000
     Genre: Jazz
     Format, bitrate: FLAC
     Time: 69:57
     Size: 298 mb


The second Clarence Williams CD from the French Hot 'N Sweet label not only has all of the performances by the pianist's Blue Five during a 16-month period (featuring Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet) but lesser-known sides backing blues singers Virginia Liston (on which Bechet allegedly plays guitar), Maureen Englin, Margaret Johnson, Sippie Wallace and Eva Taylor. Although it is nice to have those rarities, the selections that match Armstrong and Bechet (particularly the explosive "Cake Walkin' Babies from Home" and "Mandy Make up Your Mind" which has an odd sarrusophone solo from Bechet) are the most memorable performances and those are also available on the Classics label. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
    

     Artist - Bob Scobey's Frisco Band
     Album - New Orleans Jazz
     Label - OJS
     Year - 1955, release - 2006
     Quality - MP3@320 kbps
     Size - 83,1 mb
     Total time - 38:55
     AMG Raiting:

     Trumpeter Bob Scobey and singer/banjoist Clancy Hayes always made for a delightful team. Clancy takes seven vocals on this CD reissue, and Scobey's fiery trumpet gets plenty of solo space. The latter's band (which also features trombonist Jack Buck and clarinetist Bill Napier) is quite musical and Dixieland-ish without playing cliches. The interesting repertoire (which includes such numbers as "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam," "At the Devil's Ball" and "I Want to Go Back to Michigan," along with some more familiar standards) is also an added plus on this enjoyable set. ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

     Artist: Paul Horn
     Album: Africa
     Format: FLAC & mp3 (320k/s)
     Size: 265 & 106 MB (scans)
     Label: Kuckuck (1994)
     Total time: 45:54
     Genre: jazz, world fusion, african

     West African tradition is upheld in Paul Horn's Africa. Horn delicately adds color to the texture of the original compositions by Guinean musician Sekou Camara Cobra. The music falls squarely within the realm of griots--hereditary West African storytellers and minstrels. The jazzy overtones of Horn's flute and saxophone blend well with the syncopated rhythms of Sekou's percussion and guitar work. The songs are sung in the traditional languages of Malinke and Susa. ~ MusD, AMG

     Artist: Woody Shaw
     Album: Little Red's Fantasy
     Label: 32 Jazz
     Year: 1976, release: 1999
     Format: FLAC & mp3 (320k/s)
     Size: 269 & 92 MB (scans)
     Total time: 39:02

     Woody Shaw was one of the great trumpeters of the 1970s. Although his sound was influenced by Freddie Hubbard, Shaw's more advanced improvisations on his modal originals were quite original and fiery. This Muse set has three of his compositions (including "In Case You Haven't Heard") and a song apiece from pianist Ronnie Mathews and bassist Stafford James; altoist Frank Strozier and drummer Eddie Moore complete the quintet. The varied originals give the musicians strong foundations for their freewheeling and spontaneous solos, making this one of Woody Shaw's better recordings. ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

     Artist: Zoot Sims
     Album: Waiting Game
     Label: Impulse
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 260 MB & 98 MB
     Time: 43:28



     That quality of Zoot - a rare simplicity in a guarded time - is what makes this so personal a ballad collection. Instead of filigree work and overelaborate chord-conjugating, Zoot tried simply to let these songs become extensions of him - his memories, desires, regrets, anticipation. He is, as Gary McFarland says, a romantic. But it is not a Sturm und Drang kind of romanticism. His is more serene. Not entirely serene, because there is a sense of loss as well as of love in these performances. But basically Zoot is a romanticist who takes life pretty much as it is, not brooding too long over what's gone and being rather sanguine about what's ahead. ~ Nat Hentoff, AMG

     Artist: Mary Martin
     Album: The Sound Of Music
     Label: Columbia
     Year: 1959
     Release: 1990
     Genre: Stage & Screen
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kb/s
     Size: 132MB




     Rodgers & Hammerstein's final musical, The Sound of Music, was also a definitive work for the team in that it combined many elements common to their other shows, particularly South Pacific and The King and I: it was set in a foreign locale, it starred a female lead in charge of children, it concerned an unlikely romance between an older man and a younger woman, it had a social/political element, and it featured a stirring anthem for a soprano (in this case, "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"). The "based on a true story" plot concerned an aspiring nun who becomes a governess in pre-World War II Austria, only to marry the children's father and flee with the family from the Nazis. Mary Martin played Maria, the postulant, and brought to the part her usual warmth and humor, along with a sense of authority born of decades of Broadway stardom. She was supported by an excellent cast including Patricia Neway, the Mother Abbess who sang "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"; folksinger Theodore Bikel in the male lead; and Kurt Kaszner and Marion Marlowe as collaborationists, plus, of course, the children, who joined in on soon-to-be standards such as "Do-Re-Mi." The massive success of the 1965 film version starring Julie Andrews tends to overshadow the stage production, so it's worth noting that this album topped the Billboard chart for 16 weeks and remains superior to the movie soundtrack, which deleted several key songs and added inferior ones written by Rodgers alone after Hammerstein's death. William Ruhlmann. AMG

     Artist:Dizzy Gillespie
     Album:Pleyel Jazz Concert (1948), Max Roach Quintet (1949)
     Label: Vogue master Original/Limited Edition
     Year:Recorded Feb. 28, 1948, Salle Pleyel, Paris (1st-9th works); and May 15, 1949 in Paris (10th-13th works)
     Format: Mp3@320 Kb/s
     Time:65:47
     Size: 143 Mb

     Artists - Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins.
     Album - Sonny Side Up
     Label - Verve
     Year - 1957, release - 1986
     Quality - MP3@320kb/s
     Size - 65,7mb
     Total time - 37:57

Dizzy Gillespie brings together tenor saxophonists Sonny Stitt and Sonny Rollins for four extended cuts, and in the process comes up with one of the most exciting "jam session" records in the jazz catalog. While the rhythm section of pianist Ray Bryant, bassist Tommy Bryant, and drummer Charlie Persip provides solid rhythmic support, Stitt and Rollins get down to business trading fours and reeling off solo fireworks. Apparently, Gillespie had stoked the competitive fires before the session with phone calls and some gossip, the fallout of which becomes palpable as the album progresses. On "The Eternal Triangle," in particular, Stitt and Rollins impress in their roles as tenor titans, with Stitt going in for sheer muscle as that most stout of bebop cutters and Rollins opting for some pacing as a more thematic player. In the midst of the rivalry (certainly some torch was being passed, since Rollins was soon to become the top tenor saxophonist in jazz), an embarrassment of solo riches comes tumbling out of both these men's horns. Gillespie adds his own split commentary on the proceedings with a casual solo on "After Hours" and a competitively blistering statement on "I Know That You Know." With an at ease rendition of "On the Sunny Side of the Street" rounding things out, Sonny Side Up comes off as both a highly enjoyable jazz set and something of an approximation of the music's once-revered live cutting session. ~ Stephen Cook, All Music Guide

     Artist: Coleman Hawkins
     Album: On The Bean/Bean Soup/Bean's Talking Again
     Label: TIM CZ
     Year: 1943-1953, release 2001
     Genre: jazz
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320
     Time:57:44 62:12 66:31
     Size: 100MB+ 35MB +100Mb + 46Mb + 10Mb + 57Mb

     Artist: Tom Grant
     Album: Solo Piano
     Year: 2003
     Original Release Date: 2003
     Label: Nu-Wrinkle Records
     Genre: Jazz
     Format, bitrate: MP3 VBR
     Size: 98.3 MB

     Artist: DJ Maestro
     Album: Blue Note Trip (Saturday night/Sunday morning)
     Label: Blue Note
     Quality: mp3@320 kbps + covers

     Artist: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis 4
     Album: Montreux '77
     Label: Pablo
     Total Time: 44:00
     Recorded: July 15, 1977
     Size: 4 RS Links - 250 mb
     Quality: Flac + Front and back covers

     I'm not sure why Norman Granz released so many albums with the title Montreux '77, thereby encouraging listeners to lump them all together and simply ignore them. In any case, this one is certainly a stand-out: Oscar is in full stride and moreover reunited with Ray Brown. Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, moreover, is arguably the Oscar Peterson of the tenor saxophone, simply a fearless, accomplished, inimitable, untouchable player, whose unique rhythmic drive makes him ideally suited to Oscar while his rougher-hewn tones make him a complementary contrast to the pianist's polished style.

     Artist: Amina Figarova Sextet
     Album: Above The Clouds
     Label: Munich
     Orig Year: 2008
     Quality: mp3@256 kbps
     Size: 120 mb

     Hailing from Azerbaijan and now residing in Holland, pianist Amina Figarova’s 2008 release is partly about musical muscle, wondrously blended with eloquence and finesse. Here, trumpeters/flugelhornists Nico Schepers and Ernie Hammes alternate duties and coalesce on two works, to round-out the flute, piano, saxes and trombone frontline. With brisk and spicy arrangements, Figarova imparts a flair for melody-making through knotty choruses and when the band soars to the red zone.

     Artist: Archie Shepp
     Album: The Rising Sun Collection
     Release Date: 4/12/1977
     Label: Just a Memory
     Duration: 58:26
     Album Type(s): live
     Genre: Jazz
     Styles: Avant-Garde, Free Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz
     Quality: FLAC (own cd-rip)+3 RS Links - Front cover

     Artist: Art Pepper
     Album: Surf Ride
     Label: Savoy
     Year: rec.Feb 7, 1952-Dec 24, 1953/rel. 2005
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 183 MB & 80 MB
     Time: 37:16

Review by Scott Yanow

     The music on this Savoy CD (put out by Nippon Columbia) is quite brilliant, but the packaging leaves a lot to be desired. The recording dates are all incorrect, there are only 12 performances included (around 37 minutes) and none of the sessions are reissued in complete form. Two of the dates, quartet outings with either Russ Freeman or Hampton Hawes on piano, have just three of their four numbers reissued while only six of the eight songs from the altoist's classic session with tenor saxophonist Jack Montrose are here. Even if the four missing selections had been included, the program would have totaled around 49 minutes. The somewhat random nature of this set is unfortunate, for Pepper is in superior form throughout with highlights including "Tickle Toe," "The Way You Look Tonight" and his earliest recordings of such originals as "Susie the Poodle," "Straight Life" and "Surf Ride." Get the more definitive LP sets instead.