Artist: Osaka Monaurail
     Title: Amen, Brother
     Format: Mp3 (cd ripped a 320 kbps)
     Label: Unique Records
     Reference: UNIQ152
     Date: 2008-11-21
     Size: 133 MB

     One of our favorite funk combos take on a host of gems from the past -- all classic soul and funk numbers that really expand the sound of Osaka Monaurail! The group first got their start doing a great riff on the sound of James Brown -- but here, they move into Memphis soul, Chicago funk, and more -- working their well-honed instrumental talents over a host of killer cuts that explode in fresh new versions! Unlike other records, where Ryo Nakata sings, this time around he's just leading the group and playing keyboards -- but that shift is OK with us, as it gives the horns and guitar lots more space to do their thing. Titles include "Cafe Regio's", "Supershine #9", "Chocolate Buttermilk", "Amen Brother", "Get Down", "Get Ready", "Little Old Money Maker", "Message To Love", "Divertissement", and "Hey Jude". CD also features 3 bonus live tracks -- "Tighten Up", "Truck Turner", and "Soulful Strut". ~ Dusty Groove America

     Artist: Chet Baker
     Album: Sings, Plays, Live At The Keystone Korner
     Label: Highnote
     Genre: Jazz / cool, West Coast
     Year: 1978
     Quality: MP3 @ 320kbps (RS.com)
     Size: 118 mb with cover
     Recording Date: February 12, 1978, The Keystone Korner, San Francisco
     Time: 51:25


     This sub-par concert from 1978 was released commercially for the first time in 2003. Just as on The Rising Sun Collection, Roger Rosenberg's boisterous sax does nothing to complement Chet's style. "Broken Wing" starts as a duet with Chet (on Flugelhorn?!) and Rosenberg, and it looses the quiet, melancholy texture we associate with that tune. On "Blue n' Boogie", Chet disappears after the opening bars, only to reappear in the middle of the tune with nothing to contribute. - Chetbakertribute.com

     

     









     Дополнение к биографии великого вибрафониста

     Artist: Coco Montoya
     Album: Dirty Deal
     Label: Alligator Records
     Year: 2007
     Genre: Blues
     Format mp3 VBR bitrate: 320 kb/s
     Size: 81 MB


     A grizzly-bear guitar tone and diamond-hard riffs are the strongest cards of this former Albert Collins and John Mayall sideman. Montoya turns them in often on these 11 tunes, right from the opening "Last Dirty Deal," which absolutely roars, to the climactic final solo of "There Ain't No Brakeman on This Train," which concludes the album with a flourish of six-string ferocity. Even the ballads, like "How Do You Sleep at Night," scream with edgy intensity. That's partly because producer Paul Barerre of Little Feat succeeded at capturing the essence of Montoya's live sound, but mostly because Montoya's mentor Collins put his fiery brand on his apprentice's style. It still burns, six albums into Montoya's solo career--especially when he's covering Collins's "Put the Shoe on the Other Foot," a funky shuffle full of bellowing sustained notes and stiletto melodies that reply to his singing. That song's declamatory style also serves Montoya's narrow vocal range well. And while his lyrics occasionally stumble into blues cliches--falling tears, dirty deals--his playing is unfailingly eloquent. -Ted Drozdowski

     Artist: Mike Stern
     Album: Live New Morning, The Paris Concert
     Time: 115 Min
     Format : DVD 5
     Size : 4,6 Gb

     Jazz-fusion guitar wizard Mike Stern is joined by star drummer Dennis Chambers, sax player Bob Franceschini, and virtuoso bassist/vocalist Richard Bona for this spirited and quite rocking set recorded at the New Morning Club in Paris, France in 2004. Anyone who has seen Stern live knows that the guitarist can lay down some of the smoothest and most traditional sounding be-bob jazz around, but he can also rock out and scorch with plenty of rock firepower and intensity. Along with a fair amount of jazz and funk, Stern and his crew perform more of the latter on this particular show, serving up five lengthy pieces, most of which bring the crowd to their feet with the sheer amount of musical virtuosity that is on display.

     Artist: Diane Schuur
     Album: Some Other Time
     Label: GRP
     Year, release 2008
     Genre: jazz-vocal
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
     Time: 51 min, 26 sec.
     Size: 120 mb.















     Давненько не было в нашем Клубе этой замечательной певицы.
     А тут мне приятель её свеженький альбомчик притащил...

      Эрик Долфи: 80 лет

     20 июня 2008 г. исполнилось 80 лет со дня рождения одного из самых ярких, влиятельных и одарённых музыкантов джаза. Эрик Долфи был не только альт-саксофонистом, сделавшим для развития импровизационной игры на альт-саксофоне столько же, сколько Джон Колтрейн сделал для тенора и сопрано; он был одним из лучших импровизирующих флейтистов, а что до бас-кларнета, то честь введения выразительного глубокого тембра этого инструмента в звуковой арсенал современного джаза принадлежит Эрику Долфи почти единолично. Новаторская техника импровизации Эрика, предпринятое им радикальное расширение тембрового арсенала альт-саксофона с широчайшим использованием «расширенного диапазона» сыграли огромную роль в развитии современной музыки. Тем удивительнее, что такого монументального статуса в истории джаза Эрик Долфи достиг, строго говоря, всего за пять-шесть лет: возникнув в поле зрения музыкантов, критики, а затем и джазовой аудитории в 1959г., в середине 1964г. Долфи, которому только что исполнилось всего 36, уже ушёл из жизни. Можно говорить, что звезда Эрика Долфи принадлежала к числу ослепительных, но короткоживущих сверхновых, вроде трубача Клиффорда Брауна поколением раньше или тенор-саксофониста Алберта Айлера, который шёл по стопам Долфи (и прожил всего на шесть лет дольше). Музыка, которую Долфи играл на зрелом этапе своей карьеры, часто называют фри-джазом, но, несомненно оставаясь в русле джазового авангарда первой половины 1960-х, она была достаточно укоренена и в джазовой традиции, и в современной академической музыке, всегда была чётко структурирована, тщательно выписана и – весьма часто – хорошо отрепетирована и далека от фри-джазовой спонтанности, сохраняя, впрочем, свойственную фри-джазу тех времён эмоциональную насыщенность.

     Artists: Milt Jackson & Ray Brown
     Album: Much In Common
     Recording Date: Jan 22, 1962-Jan 5, 1965
     Label: Polygram Records/Verve
     Genre: Jazz, Bop
     Format: Mp3 320 Kbps
     Time: 2:20:13
     Size: 321 MB
     AMG Raiting:

     Though not partners as had been planned in the initial Modern Jazz Quartet, Ray Brown and Milt Jackson did work together in the early to mid-'60s, this double-CD set includes some fine collaborations and interesting combinations. There are 12 big-band cuts from 1962 led by Brown, primarily featuring Cannonball Adderley with Jackson on the side. From 1965 another eight tracks concentrate on small group efforts with Brown, Jackson, pianist Hank Jones, and different horn soloists, while the final 14 selections from 1964, still as small ensembles with set lineups of guitarist Kenny Burrell, drummer Al Heath, keyboardists Jones, or Wild Bill Davis, also highlight the singing of the gospel vocalist Marion Williams. This can easily be considered a valuable reissue, showcasing two jazz giants in the prime of their careers, playing music not readily identifiable aside from their work with Oscar Peterson (Brown) or MJQ (Jackson) around this time. - by Michael G. Nastos at All Music Guide

     This is definately an album deserving wider attention. Not only are Milt Jackson and Ray Brown in fine form, but special guest Canonball Adderley blows some hot solos. I have played this album in the car for weeks on end. I just can't get enough of this one. If I could only have 20 jazz albums (from my collection of over 1000), this would be one of them... - Customer at Amazon.com

     Artist: Branford Marsalis Quartet
     Album: Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' Live In Amsterdam
     Label: Marsalis Music
     Year: 2003
     Format : DVD 5
     Size : 4,55 Гб

     Марсалис в интервью:
     ”Когда я впервые услышал Высшую Любовь, то понял, что просто не могу от неё оторваться, шесть месяцев подряд слушал не переставая, слушал и слушал (смеётся), утром ставил вместо завтрака, потом вместо обеда и с ней же ложился спать. Она играла пока я смотрел телевизор, то есть играла всё время. Я и не подозревал, что возможно играть с такой концентрированной силой и страстью. Все говорили, что пластинка оказывает физическое воздействие, и когда я стал старше, понял, что понятие физическое воздействие – условно, при определённом интеллектуальном настрое. Казалось, что, начиная играть, Джон Колтрейн покидает своё физическое тело”

     Artist: Miles Davis
     Album: Live in Munich
     Year: July 10th, 1988
     Format : DVD 9
     Time : 127 min
     Size : 6,74 Gb

     Один из последних, записанных концертов. Восхитительно наблюдать, насколько искусно, мастер, умеет подчеркнуть индивидуальность каждого музыканта. Которые, в свою очередь, реализуют мысли лидера, при создании музыки.

     For more than 50 years, trumpeter/bandleader Miles Davis was a major innovator of cool, modal, avant-garde, and fusion jazz styles. This program captures Davis's band: alto saxophonist/flutist Kenny Garrett, Keyboardists Robert Irving III and Adam Holzmann, lead bassist Joseph "Foley" McCreary, and bassist Benjamin Rietveld, percussionist Marilyn Mazur, and drummer Ricky Wellman, live in Munich, Germany on July 10th, 1988. With these musicians' sympathetic and syncopated support, Davis's trademarked Harmon-muted trumpet tones dance and trance over the combo's supple electric swing. Throughout the concert, Davis glides across the stage with the elegance and power of a dancer and a fighter, huddling with his sidemen to play and share a phrase. Interview snippets with Davis feature the trumpeter frankly discussing his other passion, artwork. All told, Miles in Munich shows that the man called "Prince of Darkness" was full of artistic light near the end of his creative life.

     Artist: Henry Threadgill
     Album: Easily Slip Into Another World
     Year: Sep 20, 1987
     Genre: Avant-Garde Jazz
     Label: Novus
     Format: MP3@320/kbs

     This Henry Threadgill title is one of three excellent recordings the jazz alto and flute player made for Novus in the late '80s. He is joined here by his stellar sextet (actually a septet) comprised of trumpeter Rasul Saddik, trombonist Frank Lacy, cellist Diedre Murray, bassist Fred Hopkins, and drummers Pheeroan Aklaff and Reggie Nicholson. Like avant-garde contemporaries Anthony Braxton and Muhal Richard Abrams, Threadgill created a seamless mix of improvisation space and complex arrangements to galvanize his musicians. Threadgill, though, went further by exploring a wider range of styles. The positive effects are made evident here by the group's inspired solos and ensemble playing on everything from the New Orleans' march "Black Hands Bejeweled" and Olu Dara's calypso-funk tune "I Can't Wait to Get Home" to the manic, free-form number "Hall" and sprechstimme-jazz piece "My Rock." Threadgill's acerbic and mercurial alto work seem to point to the dark humor underlying these and many of his other compositions, while Lacy's warbling and growling trombone statements bask in their inherent joy; the two sentiments made respectively clear on the expressionist-flavored "Let Me Look Down Your Throat or Say Ah" and the ecstatic, Raymond Scott-inspired "Award the Squadtett." Easily Slip Into Another World and Threadgill's other Novus titles (You Know the Number and Rag Bush and All) offer a fine introduction to the work of one of jazz's best and most underrated composers and improvisers. by Stephen Cook

     Artist: Ibrahim Ferrer
     Album: Tierra Caliente: Roots of Buena Vista
     Release Date: Jun 13, 2000
     Label: Egrem
     Time: 72:55
     Genre : Latin
     Styles: Latin/Cuban Jazz
     Format, bitrate: Mp3 320 kbs vbr
     Size (unpacked) 168 MB

     The Buena Vista Social Club project grew out of discussions between Cuban musician Juan de Marcos Gonzбlez and the virtuoso American guitarist Ry Cooder, an avowed fan of Latin-American music. In 1996 Cooder traveled to Cuba in search of additional musicians, and Gonzбlez recommended he hire Ferrer. The guitarist was blown away by the now 69-year-old singer, who agreed to come out of retirement to perform alongside the 89-year-old guitarist Compay Segundo and the 77-year-old pianist Rubйn Gonzбlez. The resulting album followed in 1997, selling over four million copies and making global celebrities of its featured musicians -- its cover even featured Ferrer walking the streets of Havana in the flat golfer's cap that became his trademark. Filmmaker Wim Wenders followed Cooder back to Havana for a 1999 documentary also titled Buena Vista Social Club -- the gentle and elegant Ferrer emerged as its star, boosting sales of his Cooder-produced, self-titled 1999 debut solo LP, which sold close to two million copies. A follow-up, Buenos Hermanos, appeared in 2003. In the wake of a European tour, Ferrer died of multiple organ failure in Havana on August 6, 2005.