Artist: Jack Wilson
     Album: Jack Wilson Plays Brazilian Mancini
     Label: Vault (1001)
     Year: 1965
     Format: mp3@320 (vinyl rip)
     Time: 24:13
     Size: 45MB


Jack Wilson plays Brazilian Mancini is one of the smoothest albums you will ever hear. Jack Wilson on the piano combined with Roy Ayer's vibes is like velvet on the ears. Antonio Carlos Jobim's surprise appearance on guitar should not be overlooked! This will make you want to find not only other Jack Wilson LPs, but those of Mancini as well. A great combination of Mancini and Bossa.

Jack Wilson is one of my favorite pianists, after Monk, of course. :)
This is a quite rare and beautiful LP with all tracks composed by Henri Mancini. the special guest Artist "Tony Brazil" on Guitar is actually Antonio Carlos Jobim, using a pseudonym. This is one of the "smoothest" albums I've heard. ~ tonedog

     Artist: The Bernie Lowe Orchestra
     Album:If The Big Band Were Here Today-Vol 2
     Label: Cameo SC 4007 LP
     Year:1962
     Genre: Pop-music, rock 'n' roll
     Format, bitrate: MP3 256
     Time: 34:00
     Size: 64.5 MB


     Born Bernard Lowenthal, 22 November 1917, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
     Died 1 September 1993, Wyncote, Pennsylvania

     Label owner / producer / arranger / songwriter / pianist / bandleader. Bernie Lowe was a Julliard-trained pianist playing, arranging and conducting the orchestra on "The Paul Whiteman TV Teen Club" in the early fifties when he met Dick Clark, the announcer for the show's live Tootsie Roll commercials. The two became friends and, later, business associates. >>>

     Artist: Eugen Cicero
     Album: Swinging Piano Classics
     Release 2000
     Label: Venus
     Genre: Third Stream
     Format, bitrate: mp3 256 kbps
     Time: 71:56
     Size: 131 MB

     

     Artist: Louis Armstrong
     Album: Louis and The Angels
     Label: Verve/Decca
     Year: 1957, release:2001
     Format: MP3 320kbps
     Time: 39:30
     Size: 90.3 MB


This obscure set by Louis Armstrong has its strange appeal. The great trumpeter/vocalist performs a dozen songs, all of which have "heaven" or "angel" in their title or lyrics, while backed by the Sy Oliver Orchestra plus a heavenly female choir. Satch gets off a few good trumpet solos and is quite cheerful throughout, even joking during "The Prisoner's Song" when the word "angel" finally shows up. Among the highlights are "When Did You Leave Heaven," "I Married An Angel" and "I'll String Along With You." Although more commercial than Armstrong's usual recordings of the era, this set is more memorable than one would expect and is worth searching for. ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

     Artist: Johnny Hartman
     Album: I Just Dropped by to Say Hello
     Label: Verve
     Year: Oct 9, 1963,Oct 17, 1963
     Release: 2007
     Format, bitrate: mp3, 320kb/s
     Time: 32:20
     Size: 68MB
     AMG Rating:


     The second Impulse! session for ballad singer Johnny Hartman followed his classic collaboration with John Coltrane. Hartman is heard in peak form throughout these 11 pieces, which include "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," "Sleepin' Bee," "Stairway to the Stars," and even "Charade." Tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet is on five of the songs, guitarists Kenny Burrell and Jim Hall help out on a few tunes, and Hartman is consistently accompanied by pianist Hank Jones, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Elvin Jones. This is one of his finest recordings. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Jack Wilson
     Album: The Jack Wilson Quartet Featuring Roy Ayers
     Label: Atlantic
     Year: 1963
     Genre: West Coast Jazz
     Format: mp3@256 (LP-rip)
     Time: 35:08
     Size: 65 MB



Out of print reissue of this great album recorded in 1963 for Atlantic. Jack Wilson's one of our favorite piano players, and we rave about him all the time on these pages. And one of the reasons why we love him so much is that he was often accompanied by Roy Ayers, who started out his career playing straight jazzy vibes with him. The two of them together are a dream, and this album is arguably their best effort, with moody modal cuts, and lots of lyrical interplay that hits these beautiful points then dive into pits of darkness. Great stuff, in case you couldn't tell! Titles include "Corcovado", "Jack Leg", "De Critifeux", and "Nirvana & Diana". ~ Dusty Groove America

     Artist: Jack Wilson
     Album: Something Personal
     Label: Toshiba EMI Japan
     Year: 1966
     Genre: West Coast Jazz
     Format: mp3@320 Kb/s
     Time: 44:40
     Size: 113 MB
     AMG Rating:



On this CD reissue, pianist Jack Wilson's first of three albums for Blue Note, the emphasis is on his interaction with vibraphonist Roy Ayers. Some of the selections recall the Modern Jazz Quartet, while a few of the other songs look toward Herbie Hancock and Bobby Hutcherson. The other musicians on the date are bassist Ray Brown (who plays cello on two numbers that include Charles Williams, Jr. on bass) and drummer Varney Barlow. In two cases (Ornette Coleman's "The Sphinx" and Wilson's "Shosh"), complex melody statements are succeeded by disappointingly conventional chordal jams, but in general this album is an excellent showcase for the often-overlooked Jack Wilson. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

     Artist: Jack Wilson
     Album: Innovations
     Label: Discovery Records
     Year: 1977
     Genre: West Coast Jazz
     Format: mp3@256 kbit/s (LP-rip)
     Time: 44:27
     Size: 82 MB




     Jack Wilson is one of our favorite piano players of all time -- and he's got a warm wonderful style that's at once lyrical, soulful, and very nicely swinging! Here, he plays acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes in this sweet LP of tracks done with a trio, plus some added percussion on most cuts. The record's got lots of nice originals, including the excellent "Waltz for Ahmad", which opens with a great groove, and has a nice flowing jazzy feel throughout. Also with "Dos Intrepatatos", "Baby Blue", "Kunta Kinte", and a version of Ornette's "Tears Inside". ~ Dusty Groove America

     

     Artist: Jack Wilson
     Album: Ramblin'
     Label: Vault Records - (LP 9002)
     Year: 1969
     Genre: West Coast Jazz
     Format: mp3@256 kbit/s
     Time: 44:19
     Size: 83 MB




Jack Wilson was a talented, if understated, mainstream jazz pianist. Wilson's music had elements of hard bop, swing, cool jazz and soul-jazz, and it was all tied together by his tasteful playing. After recording for Vault, he moved to Blue Note in 1966.

This album is an exceptional and fresh album by two exceptional musicians. Jack Wilson and Roy Ayers have an instinctive and uncomplicated sense of showmanship that goes hand with awareness appreciation for their audience, and an enthusiasm for their music.

     Artist: Bukka White
     Album: The Sonet Blues Story
     Label: Universal
     Genre: Blues
     Year: 2005 (Recorded: 1963)
     Quality: 320 kb/s
     Size: 101 mb

     Artist - Ella Fitzgerald
     Album - Hello, Dolly!
     Label - Verve
     Year - 1964, release - 2005
     Quality - MP3@320kbps
     Size - 83,7 mb
     Total time - 38:57
     AMG rating



Though she recorded often during the early '60s, Ella Fitzgerald had mostly been seen in jazz settings, whether small group (Bill Doggett) or big band (Count Basie). Hello, Dolly!, recorded early in 1964, offered her a chance to record with an orchestra in the background and a list of popular crossover songs on the sheets. The first three were all big hits during early 1964, the opening title track a surprise chart-topper for her dear friend Louis Armstrong, the second, "People," a Broadway crossover hit for Barbra Streisand, and the third being the only title published by BMI on the entire LP, "Can't Buy Me Love" by the Beatles (coincidentally, the song that Armstrong knocked from the top). Just the beginning of Fitzgerald's flirtation with the new rock generation of the '60s, her Beatles cover is undeniably wonderful, an irresistible hard swinger with much room for improvisation, and none of the hesitation most jazz singers would display in the future when attempting to confront the coup de tete of cool performed by the British Invasion. Elsewhere the record is invigorated by Fitzgerald's feel for material and a series of underrated charts by Frank DeVol, such as the spare strings on Ella's mournful "My Man," the quiet Latin intrigue of "The Thrill Is Gone," and the lush strings of "Lullaby of the Leaves." ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

     Artist - Kenny Clarke - Francy Boland Big Band
     Album - Two Originals: All Blues/Sax No End 2LP/1CD
     Label - MPS
     Years: 1967-1968, release - 1994
     Quality - MP3@320 kbps
     Size - 158 mb
     Total time - 72:57
     AMG Rating:




All-star international big band based in Europe. Producer Gigi Campi operated a cafe in Koeln (Cologne) Germany, accepted a dare and organized a band around co-leaders pianist/arranger Franзois 'Francy' Boland (b 6 November 1929, Namur, Belgium; d 12 August 2005) and drummer Kenny Clarke (see his entry): Campi had the band in the studio within weeks. Most of the albums were made in Kцln, most available on Hans-Georg Brunner-Schwer's MPS label, not well distributed outside Europe.>>>

    Artist: Enrico Pieranunzi & Marc Johnson
    Album: The Dream Before Us
    Label: Ida Records
    Release: 1992
    Genre: modern creative jazz
    Format mp3, bitrate: 256 kb/s
    Time: 56:56
    Size: 104 Mb

A very interesting introspective mellow set by the duo Enrico Pieranunzi on piano and Marc Johnson on bass that contains some standards and some originals. The music is let go free for improvisations without boundaries in rhythm or themes. This has to be listened quietly and requires your full attention.

    Artist: Enrico Pieranunzi & Bert Van Den Brink
    Album: Daedalus' Wings
    Label: Challenge Records
    Release: 2000
    Genre: piano jazz
    Format mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
    Time: 47:26
    Size: 109 Mb

A piano duet recording, these two Europeans adopt a jazz stance in the romantic tradition with witty improvisations, occasional injections of raw passion, and a palpable empathy considering they had never played together before. It's a direct approach that is hardly simple or basic but should appeal to listeners of modern piano à la Bill Evans, ECM fans, and creative improvised music mavens. Each pianist does their solo take of "I Can't Get Started"; Van Den Brink uses widely spaced melody notes in a barely recognizable interpretation, while Pieranunzi is more pensive and clearly states the line and improvises more off of it. They do standards as the rambling, off-the-cuff intro, head, and bridge of "You & the Night & the Music," and a Duke Ellington medley comprising a sunrise serenade, a substantially improvised "In a Sentimental Mood," the two-beat driven "Caravan," the lightly stridden "Prelude to a Kiss," and the tango fired energy of the excited "It Don't Mean a Thing." Van Den Brink wrote the beautifully serene, dramatically romantic waltz "Woods." Pieranunzi wrote another two, a more upbeat waltz "O Toi Desir (pour Stefi)," with one pianist following the other via animation, a flying bridge, and some groove, while the multi-elemental "Si Peu de Temps" sports minimalist yet kinetic phrases, a swing section, meditation, marching, and frantic improv, a demonstration of real high drama. The pianists co-penned several songs, including the "Daedalus Suite," with the "Ouverture" fleshing out each other's notions; "Mosso" using ascending and descending crisscrossing and playful counterpoint; "Adagissimo" is like "Daedalus" rising in a pitch black, ominous mood; and "Short Tune," which displays brilliant orgasmic bursts and a resolution. The remaining four cuts are brief joint improvs, three are about a minute in length. "Two for Two" uses playful and bluesy tradings, "Hymn" is simply solemn, the three minute "Guitar Blues" has a probing stance and charcoal shadings, while "Pour Claude" is merely a slip of an improv that comes and goes in the mist. Wonder what Keith Jarrett, Kurt Ellenberger, or perhaps Chick Corea might think of this? Fans of those brilliant pianists should also gravitate toward this special recording. - Michael G. Nastos at AMG

    Artist: Oscar Peterson
    Album: Collection (2 LP compilation)
    Label: Verve/Polygram Records
    Release: 1972
    Genre: mainstream jazz
    Format mp3, bitrate: 320 kb/s
    Time: 1:18:53
    Size: 181 Mb

EVERY DAY IS AN OSCAR PETERSON DAY !

A wonderful "collection" of songs taken from doctor Oscar Emmanuel Peterson's repertoire, mostly from the fifties recordings. Released only on vinyl in 1972 and on audio K7 in 1990 this double LP is a fine introduction for the casual listener.