Artist: Doctor 3
   Album: The Tales of Doctor 3
   Label: Via Veneto Jazz
   Year: 1998
   Format bitrate: Mp3, 192 kb/s
   Time: 1:01:36
   Size: 85,3 Mb (cover)
   Bubu's Rating: *****

   Picture this. Two of Italy's most distinguished jazz musicians are former high-school classmates. They band together with a third and record an album of songs they all grew up with. Not just your standard jazz fare, either. This is the stuff they heard on the radio.
   But Tales of Doctor Three delivers the goods - jazz style. It's an absolutely unique meeting of Enzo Pietropaoli's witty basslines interacting with the intense melodicism of Danilo Rea's piano and Fabrizio Sferra 's polyrythmic drum work.
   The trio explores Neil Young's "Harvest," Elton John's "Your Song," Carole King's "You've Got a Friend" and Simon & Garfunkel's anthem, "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Their explorations actually take these well-known tunes to new and unusual heights. That's due to the creative interplay quite apparent among the trio. They invest deeply in this music, offering provocative use of intriguing quotes and attractive counter-melodies. . . .

   Artists - Erroll Garner, Billy Taylor
   Album - Separate Keyboards
   Label - Savoy/Denon
   Years - 1945, 1949. Release - 1999
   Quality - MP3@320 kbps
   Size - 74,8 mb
   Total time - 34:32




   For this CD (put out by the Japanese Denon label), there are six selections apiece from pianists Erroll Garner and Billy Taylor. The Garner titles (which are also available elsewhere) are rhapsodic ballads that are both melodic and whimsical. The Taylor sides include the four songs that he cut at his very first session as a leader (March 20, 1945) plus two cuts made with a quintet (comprised of tenor saxophonist Jon Hardee, organist Milt Page, bassist John Simmons and drummer Shadow Wilson) in 1949. Despite the brief playing time (just 36 minutes) and lazy packaging (which includes three major misspellings on the back cover), the music is enjoyable and worth picking up if it can be found at a budget price.

   Artists: Taraf de Haпdouks
   Aalbum: Band of Gypsies
   Year: 2001
   Label: Crammed
   Format, bitrate: mp3, 320 kbps
   Size; 148 mb (with all covers)
   AMG Rating:

   Romanian musicians of Roma (formerly "gypsy") culture, Taraf de Haidouks are a prolific outpost of a vibrant strain of Eastern European musical culture. Originally released in 2001, BAND OF GYPSIES is one of the group's most popular releases. A live album consisting of 14 tracks from throughout their career, BAND OF GYPSIES is what used to be known in jazz circles as a cutting session: each player is goading the next into ever-faster and more florid soloing and more delirious tempos. Though this is nominally dance music, a dancer would need the constitution of a bull to keep up.
   CDUniverse

     Artist: Erroll Garner
     Album: Itineraire D'Un Genie
     Label: ULM - Collection: ITINERAIRE D'UN GENIE
     Release: 2007
     Format/Bitrate: MP3/320
     Time: 75:15
     Size: 172 MB

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     Приятного прослушивания...

   Artist: Louis Armstrong
   Album: I Love Jazz
   Label: Decca/Verve
   Year: 1950,1954-1955, 1957-1958
   Format: mp3, 320kbps
   Size: 75.7 Мb
   AMG Rating:

   This nine-song CD (up one from the eight-song LP version issued by Decca in the early '60s) is an excellent studio representation of Louis Armstrong & the All-Stars at work in their prime as a nostalgia act. And just because they were a nostalgia act didn't mean they did push the envelope within their chosen idiom, given half a chance, as these recordings did. The personnel list is impressive on its own terms, with Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, and Bunny Bigard together in the small group stretching out on "Twelfth Street Rag," and if the later incarnations of the group aren't as eye-catching in their personnel, they're every bit as much of a pleasure to hear on "Skokiaan" (aka "South African Song"), "Frog-I-More Rag," or the title tune. Pianist Billy Kyle gets the spotlight for a chunk of the extended jam of "Otchi-Tchor-Ni-Ya" before Peanuts Hucko and Eddie Miller take center stage on clarinet and tenor sax. The medley of "Tenderly"/"You'll Never Walk Alone" shows off the elegant side of the ensemble's playing and makes a good contrast with the jauntier traditional Dixieland sound on most of the disc. The sound is excellent, though there could have been better annotation.

     Artist: Erroll Garner
     Album: Erroll Garner's Finest Hour
     Label: Verve
     Release: 2003
     Format/Bitrate: MP3/320
     Size: 138 MB

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     Побудем целый час вместе с Erroll Garner и его прелестной музыкой...

   Artists - Andre Previn & J.J. Johnson
   Album - Play "Mack The Knife" and Other Songs of Kurt Weill
   Label - Columbia
   Year - 1961
   Quality - MP3@320 kbps (LP-rip)
   Size - 80,9 mb
   Total time - 40:13

“QUEEN OF THE BLUES” KOKO TAYLOR 1928 - 2009

Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known worldwide as the “Queen of the Blues,” won her 29th Blues Music Award (for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more Blues Music Awards than any other artist. In 2004 she received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award, which is among the highest honors given to an American artist. Her most recent CD, 2007’s Old School, was nominated for a Grammy (eight of her nine Alligator albums were Grammy-nominated). She won a Grammy in 1984 for her guest appearance on the compilation album Blues Explosion on Atlantic.

Born Cora Walton on a sharecropper’s farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28, 1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters, accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments. In 1952, Taylor and her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert “Pops” Taylor, traveled to Chicago with nothing but, in Koko’s words, “thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz Crackers.”

In Chicago, “Pops” worked for a packing company, and Koko cleaned houses. Together they frequented the city’s blues clubs nightly. Encouraged by her husband, Koko began to sit in with the city’s top blues bands, and soon she was in demand as a guest artist. One evening in 1962 Koko was approached by arranger/composer Willie Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko’s performance, Dixon landed Koko a Chess Records recording contract, where he produced her several singles, two albums and penned her million-selling 1965 hit “Wang Dang Doodle,” which would become Taylor’s signature song.

After Chess Records was sold, Taylor found a home with the Chicago’s Alligator Records in 1975 and released the Grammy-nominated I Got What It Takes. She recorded eight more albums for Alligator between 1978 and 2007, received seven more Grammy nominations and made numerous guest appearances on various albums and tribute recordings. Koko appeared in the films Wild At Heart, Mercury Rising and Blues Brothers 2000. She performed on Late Night With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, CBS-TV’s This Morning, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, CBS-TV’s Early Edition, and numerous regional television programs.

Over the course of her 40-plus-year career, Taylor received every award the blues world has to offer. On March 3, 1993, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a “Legend Of The Year” Award and declared “Koko Taylor Day” throughout Chicago. In 1997, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame. A year later, Chicago Magazine named her “Chicagoan Of The Year” and, in 1999, Taylor received the Blues Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009 Taylor performed in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center Honors honoring Morgan Freeman.

Koko Taylor was one of very few women who found success in the male-dominated blues world. She took her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago’s South Side to concert halls and major festivals all over the world. She shared stages with every major blues star, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy as well as rock icons Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.

Taylor’s final performance was on May 7, 2009 in Memphis at the Blues Music Awards, where she sang “Wang Dang Doodle” after receiving her award for Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year.

Survivors include Taylor’s husband Hays Harris, daughter Joyce Threatt, son-in-law Lee Threatt, grandchildren Lee, Jr. and Wendy, and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements will be announced.

   Artist: Ronnie Scott & The Band
   Album: Live at Ronnie Scott's
   Label: Sony/Columbia (Super Bit Mapping)
   Year: 1999
   Format: FLAC (log+cue)
   Size: 309 MB (full covers)
   Time: 47:19


   Ronnie Scott's post bop modern playing was bold and authoritative, and he absorbed many influences including Zoot Sims, Stan Getz and Lester Young. He could play a powerful blues followed by an exquisite ballad with an instantly recognisable sound and style. He was always a jazz man, his bands and groups never compromised. His death in 1996, following a period of despair and inactivity, left a gap in British modern jazz. He has been much missed. He truly was the father of British modern jazz.
   ~David Taylor

   Artists: Gary Burton & Chick Corea
   Album: Duet
   Label: ECM
   Year: 1979
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 192 kb/s
   Time: 51:41
   Size: 75,3 Mb (cover)
   AMG Rating:

   Vibraphonist Gary Burton and pianist Chick Corea had first recorded together in 1972 for Crystal Silence (released under Corea's name). Six years later, they teamed up for renditions of two Steve Swallow tunes, plus Corea's lengthy "Duet Suite," four of his sketchy "Children's Songs," "Song to Gayle" and his classic "La Fiesta." This subtle set finds Burton and Corea consistently inspiring each other through melodic and very spontaneous improvising. Well worth a close listen.
    ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

   Artists: Gary Burton & Chick Corea
   Album: Crystal Silence
   Label: ECM
   Year: 1972
   Format, bitrate: Mp3, 256 kb/s
   Time: 43:37
   Size: 83,3 Mb (cover)
   AMG Rating:


   For Crystal Silence, the first of several partnerships between Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton in the 1970s, the two musicians selected an interesting array of material. The compositions on this record are all modern ones, either by Steve Swallow, Mike Gibbs, or Corea himself. It is a mostly down-tempo affair, which allows each player to stretch out and play highly melodic solos over the often difficult changes. In keeping with most ECM releases, there is a distinct presence of European elements to the improvisations. There are few overt blues or bebop phrases, Corea and Burton opting instead for modern melodies to fuel their improvisations. Burton has managed to internalize the Spanish and modal implications of Corea's tunes with little difficulty, and solos with joyful ease through such tracks as "Seсor Mouse." Corea himself is absolutely burning. His solo contribution on the same track is both fiery and introspective, combining in one statement the poles for which he is best-known. The title track is also the centerpiece of the album, a nine-minute exploration of the Corea ballad that first appeared on his Return to Forever record in 1972. In keeping with the tradition of the great masters of the ballad form, time seems to disappear as Burton and Corea lovingly caress the song's simple melody and dance effortlessly around the chords, building intensity only to let it subside once more. Crystal Silence is a sublime indication of what two master improvisers can do given quality raw material, with the first side of this record being particularly flawless. Improvised music is rarely this coherent and melodic. Essential for fans of Corea, Burton, or jazz in general.
   ~ Daniel Gioffre, AMG

   Artist: Jon Gordon and Bill Charlap
   Album: Contrasts
   Label: Double-Time
   Year: 2001
   Format: FLAC+CUE+LOG+Covers
   Size: 262 MB

   It is no exaggeration to say that saxophonist Jon Gordon and pianist Bill Charlap are two of the finest musicians of their generation; both have a strong link to Phil Woods -- Gordon studied with the alto sax master and has recorded with him, while Charlap began serving as Woods' regular pianist. The final connection is that Woods produced the sessions that resulted in this outstanding collection of duets. The two musicians have played together frequently since attending the same high school, and their familiarity with one another helps each of them in anticipating where the other is likely to go. Although Gordon is best known for his work on alto sax (he won the Thelonious Monk alto sax competition) he begins on soprano sax for a sterling interpretation of "Stardust." Gordon's swaggering alto sax solo on "Young at Heart" is supported by Charlap's imaginative supporting lines. The studio sessions also include strong interpretations of standards like "These Foolish Things," "I Fall in Love Too Easily," and "Over the Rainbow." In addition to a strident take of Thelonious Monk's "Bye Ya," the duo's interpretation of works by Jack Montrose ("For Sue," with Gordon on soprano) and Kenny Werner ("Compensation," with Gordon playing alto) should have jazz fans searching out earlier recordings by their respective composers. If that's not enough, the two men collaborated on two originals: the intricate "Contrasts" (with soprano sax) and the fragile miniature ballad "Epilogue," which concludes the CD. Outstanding music from two gentlemen who deserve a great deal more recognition than either has received from the jazz media.
   Ken Dryden, AMG

   Artist: Chaka Khan
   Album: Echoes of an Era
   Year: 1982
   Label: Elektra
   Format, bitrate: MP3, 192 Kb/s
   Size: 77 MB
   Time: 56:09
   AMG: 4 stars

   In 1982, soul goddess Chaka Khan did the unexpected when she recorded this excellent, straight-ahead jazz LP. Regrettably, the album was released under the name Echoes of an Era instead of under Khan's own name -- so it wasn't nearly the big seller it probably would have been if Elektra had fully exploited Khan's connection with the project. But while Echoes of an Era was the victim of questionable marketing, it was a creative triumph.
   Joined by Joe Henderson on tenor sax, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and flugelhorn, Chick Corea on acoustic piano, Stanley Clarke on upright bass, and Lenny White on drums, Khan demonstrates that she is quite capable of handling hard bop and straight-ahead jazz. Corea, Clarke, and White had all been members of the fusion powerhouse of the '70s Return to Forever, but make no mistake -- Echoes of an Era is very much an acoustic bop date. With White producing and Corea handling the arrangements, the singer swings aggressively and really soars on Thelonious Monk's "I Mean You" and Duke Ellington's "Take the 'A' Train," as well as on "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," "All of Me," and "I Loves You Porgy." In fact, Khan's jazz singing is so strong that one cannot help but wonder what would have happened if jazz had been her dominant direction instead of R&B.
   Alex Henderson

     Artist: Erroll Garner
     Album: Serenade In Blue
     Release: 1964
     Label: Clarion (LP)
     Format/Bitrate: MP3/320
     Size: 71 MB


     

     Еще один редкий альбом от меня всем почитателям таланта Erroll Garner
     

   Artist: Johnny Shines
   Album: Hey , Ba-Ba-Re-Bop
   Label: Rounder
   Year: 1978
   Format, bitrate: MP3@320
   Time: 42:37
   Size: 72.3MB



   Delta blues vocalist, guitarist and composer Johnny Shines hadn't yet encountered the physical difficulties that made his final years so troubling when he recorded the 13 selections on this CD. He could still sing and moan with intensity and passion, hold a crowd hypnotized with his remembrances and asides, and play with a mix of fury and charm. While the menu includes oft-performed chestnuts "Sweet Home Chicago," "Terraplane Blues" and "Milk Cow Blues," there wasn't anything staid or predictable about the way Shines ripped through the lyrics and presented the music. If you missed it the first time around, grab this one immediately.
   ~ Ron Wynn , AMG