Artist: Blossom Dearie
     Album: Sings Rootin' Songs
     Label - DIW
     Orig. Year: 1963
     Quality: mp3; 192 kb/s
     Size: 61 MB
     Time: 30:44



     Her first album after leaving Verve Records, Blossom Dearie Sings Rootin' Songs was recorded for Hires Root Beer, on whose television      commercials Dearie had sung. The album was available for 50ў and two bottle caps. Vinyl copies are now rare, and the CD was re-released by DIW Records, a Japanese record label in 2005.

     Artist: Chihiro Yamanaka
     Album: Runnin' Wild
     Label: Verve UCCJ-2077
     Quality: FLAC
     Size: 325MB
     Time: 58:22

     Artist: Makoto Deguchi
     Album: Don't Be At a Loss
     Label: AE AECA-10015
     Quality: FLAC
     Size: 325MB
     Time: 57:49

     Artist: Carol Kidd
     Album: I'm Glad We Met
     Label: Linn AKH 017
     Year: 1991, release: 1992
     Quality: FLAC (LP rip)
     Size: 197MB
     Time: 43:09

Somone once described heaven as relaxing in a warm bath with a glass of malt whisky, listening to the flugelhorn. Personally I would substitute the last of these three ingredients for a Carol Kidd album.

There is more variety in this release than in her last one, The Night We Called It A Day; variety in the choice of material, in the arrangements, and more significantly, in that a half of the 12 numbers, she is accompanied by a large string section. Her trio is there too, and in David Newton (piano), Dave Green (bass), and Alan Ganley (drums), it is hard to imagine a better, more sympathetic line-up. Messrs Green and Ganley for example, swing superbly on a vocal/bass/drums version of Please Don't Talk About me When I'm Gone. David Newton's thoughtful piano playing enhances every track.

And what of the vocalist? Well her phrasing, diction and delivery are impeccable. She is at her best on the ballads and her rendition of the Johnny Mardel tune I Wish I'd Met You is a masterpiece. And you can add to that a Peggy Lee-ish interpretation of Lean Baby and a soulful Georgia On My Mind with an orchestration drawing heavily on the Ray Charles version.

If labels have to be stuck on such releases, then this can hardly be classed as a jazz recording. It leans far more to middle-of-the-road popular music. However quality will out, whatever the tag. You'll be glad to get I'm Glad We Met. ~ linnrecords.com

     Artist: Carol Kidd
     Album: Carol Kidd
     Label: Aloi AKH 003 (UK) (1959)
     Year: 1984
     Quality: FLAC (LP rip)
     Size: 195 MB
     Time: 44:10

Recorded in 1984, this title features standards such as The More I See You and We'll Be Together Again, plus a witty Mel Torme arrangement of I Like To Recognise The Tune. Carol is supported by her excellent trio, whose long-standing collaboration ensures sensitive and instinctive performances.

Her best known admirers include Frank Sinatra, who personally invited her to open for him at his Scottish shows, and Tony Bennett who, following a live performance, enthused to Carol: "Where have you been?! You should be world famous!"

Carol Kidd's debut album confirmed her status as a leading jazz singer of modern times and marked the beginning of a career spanning three decades. Carol remains a popular performer in the UK and worldwide, performing sell-out concerts in Jakarta, Bali, Singapore and most recently China in 2007. She was a particular favourite of the late Ronnie Scott. In recent years jazz legends such as George Chisholm, Buck Clayton, Eddie Thomson, Humphrey Lyttelton, Cliff Hardie, Bob Brookmeyer and Martin Taylor have been pleased to work alongside and enthuse about Carol's singing. ~ Murray Smith

     Artist: Millicent Martin
     Album: Millicent
     Label: Columbia 33SX 1145 (UK) (1959)
     Quality: FLAC (LP rip)
     Size: 141MB
     Time: 36:34

     Artist: Sylvia Telles
     Album: The Face I Love
     Label: Kapp KL-1503 (1966)
     Style: Vocal jazz, Brazilian Jazz
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320 (LP rip)
     Size: 138 MB & 65 MB
     Time: 28:57
     AMG rating

Although it was recorded in Rio De Janeiro in the mid-'60s, it's likely this Sylvia Telles album was geared toward the international market, as she sings almost entirely in English on this collection. Too, although she recorded many Antonio Carlos Jobim songs in her career (and in fact recorded an entire album of Jobim material, Sylvia Telles Sings the Wonderful Songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim, around the same time), there's only one Jobim tune here, "Pardon My English" (co-written with Aloysio De Oliveira). Telles does indeed sing well in English on this record, with an only faintly detectable accent and confident phrasing. While a few of the songs are covers of American popular standards (Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II's "It Might as Well Be Spring," George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin's "If Not for Me," and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads"), in the main she stuck to English translations of Brazilian songs, though "Balanco Zona Sul" is sung in the original Portuguese. Marcos Valle co-wrote three of the numbers with Paulo Sergio, and these especially "The Face I Love" and "Surfin' in Rio" are highlights, with a somewhat sassier, more uninhibited feel than much of the rest of the record. It's classy period mid-'60s bossa nova with polished arrangements, if a little on the poppy side, showing Telles remaining in top form not long before her premature death in a car accident.

     Artist: Charles Mingus
     Album: Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus
     Label: Impulse
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 260 MB & 91 MB
     Time: 40:33
     AMG Rating:

     Having completed what he (and many critics) regarded as his masterwork in The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, Charles Mingus' next sessions for Impulse found him looking back over a long and fruitful career. Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus is sort of a "greatest hits revisited" record, as the bassist revamps or tinkers with some of his best-known works. The titles are altered as well -- "II B.S." is basically "Haitian Fight Song" (this is the version used in the late-'90s car commercial); "Theme for Lester Young" is "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat"; "Better Get Hit in Your Soul" adds a new ending, but just one letter to the title; "Hora Decubitus" is a growling overhaul of "E's Flat Ah's Flat Too"; and "I X Love" modifies "Nouroog," which was part of "Open Letter to Duke." There's also a cover of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo," leaving just one new composition, "Celia." Which naturally leads to the question: With the ostensible shortage of ideas, what exactly makes this a significant Mingus effort? The answer is that the 11-piece bands assembled here (slightly different for the two separate recording sessions) are among Mingus' finest, featuring some of the key personnel (Eric Dolphy, pianist Jaki Byard) that would make up the legendary quintet/sextet with which Mingus toured Europe in 1964. And they simply burn, blasting through versions that equal and often surpass the originals -- which is, of course, no small feat. This was Mingus' last major statement for quite some time, and aside from a solo piano album and a series of live recordings from the 1964 tour, also his last album until 1970. It closes out the most productive and significant chapter of his career, and one of the most fertile, inventive hot streaks of any composer in jazz history. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

     Artist: Duke Pearson
     Album: Tender Feelin's
     Orig. rec.December 6, 1959; release:January 13, 2008
     Label: Blue Note, Japan
     Quality: FLAC
     Size: 258 MB
     Time: 40:30

     Artist: Tony Bennett
     Album: The Movie Song Album
     Label: Columbia CL 2472 (1966)
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320 (LP rip)
     Size: 150 MB & 82 MB
     Time: 36:59




By the mid-1960s, retreating from the rock & roll onslaught, that old-time staple of the pre-rock days, the big romantic ballad, had been relegated to Hollywood, where it turned up in the opening and closing credits of movies. Like other classic pop singers, Tony Bennett had sought it out there, and with this album, coincident with his first (and last) acting role in The Oscar, he devoted himself exclusively to movie themes, everything from "The Trolley Song" (Meet Me In St. Louis) to "Days Of Wine And Roses." Some of the tunes were not first-rate, but in "The Shadow Of Your Smile" and "The Second Time Around" (previously recorded by Frank Sinatra), Bennett found material worthy of him, and even when he was faced with minor material, be sang movingly. ~ William Ruhlmann, AMG

     Artist: Eden Atwood and the Last Best Band
     Album: Wild Women Don't Get the Blues
     Label: EA 6700 (2002)
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 320 MB & 111 MB
     Time: 54:34



Edwin Dobb - Writer, Harpers Magazine

REPOST with additional link from veronica!

     Artist: Grant Stewart
     Album: Recado Bossa Nova
     Label: Bird XQDJ-1008 (2008)
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 430 MB & 139 MB
     Time: 61:48





Toronto native Grant Stewart is a hard-swinging tenor saxophonist steeped in the jazz tradition. Introduced to jazz by his part-time jazz guitarist father, Stewart grew up listening to such legendary saxophonists as Charlie Parker, Wardell Gray, and others. By his early teens, Stewart had already found performance experience with such artists as Pat La Barbera and Bob Mover, and at age 19 moved to New York City. Since that time, Stewart has performed with a bevy of well-known jazz musicians, including Clark Terry, Brad Mehldau, Curtis Fuller, and many others. On his own, Stewart has released a handful of recordings, including 1992's Downtown Sounds, 1999's Buen Rollo, 2005's Grant Stewart + 4, and 2007's In the Still of the Night. ~ Matt Collar, All Music Guide

     Artist: Eden Atwood and the Last Best Band
     Album: Feels Like Home
     Label: EA 9744 (2003)
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 322 MB & 129 MB
     Time: 57:32

     The CD was masterfully recorded once again by Brad Edwards of Woods Recording, who attained the live sound by first taping the band live at the Emerson Cultural Center in Bozeman, then capturing Eden’s vocals in his Billings studio. Unlike many of today’s popular recordings that can take months, if not years, to perfect, ”Feels Like Home” was put together in a total of three days last May. >> more >>

     Artist: Betty Bennett
     Album: Nobody Else But Me
     Label: Atlantic AMCY-1065
     Year: 1955, release: 1991
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 192 MB & 82 MB
     Time: 37:33
     AMG Rating:

     Nobody Else But Me illuminates the dark corners of romance with rare depth and maturity--Betty Bennett's sultry, knowing vocals further establish the palpable feeling that this is a record for adults. Shorty Rogers and Andre Previn share arranger duties, and both operate in a framework emphasizing nuance and restraint, enabling Bennett to articulate her tales of love and loss without embellishment or redundancy--equal parts stylist and storyteller, she fully inhabits relatively little-known songs like "This Is the Moment" and "Treat Me Rough." ~ Review by Jason Ankeny, AMG.

     Artist: Chris Potter
     Album: Gratitude
     Label: Verve UMCF-4316-2 (2001)
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 436 MB & 161 MB
     Time: 71:23
     AMG Rating

     Saxophonist Chris Potter honors the legacy of some of jazz's greats on Gratitude, his debut for Verve. The award-winning virtuoso and composer is compelling on his tributes to John Coltrane, Eddie Harris, Wayne Shorter, Charlie Parker, and several other legendary saxophonists. Gratitude contains nine original compositions written by Potter, who plays tenor saxophone on the majority of the songs, switches to soprano saxophone on "Eurydice," his tribute to Wayne Shorter, and plays the alto saxophone and Chinese wood flute on "Star Eyes," the tribute to Charlie Parker. Chris Potter is outstanding on bass clarinet on his composition "The Visitor" for Lester Young and captures the ambience that reflects the many styles of these accomplished players, including sliding from one note to a higher or lower note with intermediate pitches on "The Source," his tribute to the glissandi (sheets of sound) of John Coltrane, and capturing the dense, soulful sound of Joe Henderson on "Shadow." Gratitude also includes a song titled "What's New," for the current generation which completes the set. Potter, leading his great quartet of contemporaries -- keyboardist Kevin Hayes, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade -- makes a significant contribution to jazz history with this project and offers musical statements and voices that are truly varied in scope and deep in their essence. ~ Paula Edelstein, AMG

    Artist: Eden Atwood
    Album: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    Label: Concord CCD-4599
    Year: 1993
    Release: 1994
    Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
    Size: 301 MB & 128 MB
    Time: 56:22
    AMG Rating:


    Eden Atwood is a young singer whose appeal sometimes compensates on her second Concord release for a few shortcomings. She has a clear and attractive voice and is at her best on ballads but occasionally (as on "Not While I'm Around") borders on being a cabaret singer. In contrast, on the uptempo mateiral her scatting and improvising skills are not fully mature nor all that adventurous. To her credit she gives her sidemen (particularly Ken Peploski on clarinet and tenor) plenty of solo space on the more cooking material. Atwood does write intelligent lyrics (best are "Silent Movie" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"), is quite expressive on the ballads and shows versatility but at this point she does not stand apart from the crowd of young jazz vocalists. Her future progress should be worth watching though.
    ~ Scott Yanow, AMG

     Artist: Jackie McLean
     Album: A Long Drink of the Blues
     Year: 1957
     Label: New Jazz
     Format: FLAC/mp3, 320 kb/s
     Size: 194 MB/101mb
     Time: 45:00
     AMG Rating:



   The first side of this obscure but worthwhile session is a loosely-organized, extended jam session on a blues in the key of F, much like Jimmy Smith's celebrated "Sermon." The cast combines obscure players (Gil Coggins, Webster Young) with established stars (Curtis Fuller, who offers some of his best choruses on record; Paul Chambers, the heart of the rhythm section; the long-lived, much-traveled Louis Hayes) . . .

     Artist: Ethel Ennis
     Album: Ethel Ennis
     Label: hilder productions 7 838 675 580-2 (1994)
     Quality: FLAC & MP3@320
     Size: 256 MB & 140 MB
     Time: 67:50





     2007 reissue of this album from the Baltimore native, originally released on RCA in 1958. In her heyday, the critics hailed as "the most accomplished singer performing today." That stature was earned by her magnificent voice, her brilliant compositions, her joyful performances and her collaboration with the finest musicians. Ethel Ennis first won national recognition for her recording 'Lullaby For Losers' in 1955. In 1958, Benny Goodman chose her as the female vocalist for the all-star band that he took to Europe for the Brussel's World Fair. This Is Ethel Ennis is highly indicative of the taste, originality and selectivity that went into her choice of songs. Poker.

   Artist: Tete Montoliu
   Album: A Spanish Treasure
   Label: Concord CCD-4493
   Year: 1992
   Format, bitrate: FLAC & MP3@320
   Size: 299 MB & 135 MB
   Time: 60:01
   AMG Rating:

   Tete Montoliu has long been one of the most talented pianists in jazz but, because he lives in Spain, he tends to be overlooked. A fine bop-based stylist, Montoliu generally offers few surprises to listeners but always swings. This CD is a typical outing for the pianist, featuring ten jazz standards, fine backup work by bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Akira Tana, and enjoyable improvisations from the virtuosic leader. Most of the performances are fairly concise, falling into the three- to seven-minute range except for a lengthy exploration of "What's New." Highlights include creative versions of the rarely played "Israel and "Tricotism," "Like Someone in Love" (which is taken as a jazz waltz) and a treatment of "All of You" that finds the 58-year old Montoliu sounding a bit like Chick Corea.
   ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

   Artist: Trudy Desmond
   Album: Make Me Rainbows
   Label: Koch Jazz KOC 3-7803-2H1
   Year: 1995
   Format, bitrate: FLAC & MP3@320
   Size: 285 MB & 102 MB
   Time: 54:13


   A fine singer who unfortunately passed away too young, Trudy Desmond is heard in top form on her third recording. Her delivery is basic and lightly swinging on a variety of standards and obscurities, with the highpoints including "You'd Better Love Me," "The Best Thing For You," "Falling In Love With Love" and "Too Close For Comfort." Desmond uses a variety of different personnel including a couple different rhythm sections (with Bill Charlap, Mike Renzi or Don Thompson on piano) and appearances by guitairst Ed Bickert, tenor-saxophonist Rick Wilkens, Tom Szezesniak on accordion and a string quartet on various cuts. This was one of Trudy Desmond's finest efforts, making one particularly wish that she had stuck around longer.
   ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide