Charles Lloyd - Manhattan Stories (2 CD, 2014/FLAC-HD)

Manhattan Stories is a trip back in time, a journey to a long gone and long-missed era. It's a window into the great Charles Lloyd's art at a period of transition. The shows presented on this beautifully packaged two-disc set—one recorded at the infamous Slugs' Saloon in the summer of 1965, the other recorded at Judson Hall in September of the same year—took place shortly after Lloyd left the employ of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley and before he became a cross-over sensation and hero to hippies, moving a million units of Forest Flower: Charles Lloyd At Monterey (Atlantic, 1966).

• Charles Lloyd, tenor saxophone, flute
• Gábor Szabó, guitar
• Ron Carter, bass
• Pete La Roca, drums

CD 1 (Live at Judson Hall, NYC, September 3, 1965)

01. Sweet Georgia Bright (17:49)

02. How Can I Tell You (11:56)

03. Lady Gabor (13:50)

CD 2 (Live at Slugs' Saloon, NYC, 1965)

01. Slugs' Blues (12:57)

02. Lady Gabor (13:50)

03. Dream Weaver (15:30)

Miles Davis Quintet - The Complete Columbia Studio Sessions 1965-68 (6 CD, 1998/FLAC)

 

By 1965 Miles Davis had gone through a handful of stages, from the Birth of the Cool nonet's multihued orchestrations to the development of a hard-bop sound keeled on Davis's midregister wooziness and the band's driving backbone in the "first" great quintet (featuring John Coltrane), to the modal freedom of Kind of Blue. So when the solidly established Davis convened a new quintet, known as his "second" great one, and hired youngsters Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, it seemed a skewed move. 

These six CDs show just how creatively and intelligently skewed the move really was. The material here, which has also been reissued on expanded single CDs of the main full-length original LPs (E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky), is immediately and unceasingly startling. Davis & Co. were quickly discarding their live performance practice of playing loads of standards and were further discarding traditional melodic structures for more rigorous harmonic exercises. Shorter in particular, at times the most prolific composer in the band, was advancing his tunes and his solos in equal proportion. The tunes are increasingly sharp-edged and, with Williams driving the band with a categorical balance of abandon and control, loopily energized. Miles blows with tighter and tighter control of his tone even while the band seems to be finding all kinds of expressive freedoms that easily elongate into lengthier studies. Toward the end of this box, you'll hear the seeds of the Miles that went on to unloose Bitches Brew. Even though the roots of the aggressively electric Miles are in these sessions, there are uncategorizable points of beauty strewn all over the tunes.

 

Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams - Third Plane (1977-2015) [192-24]

 Third Plane is an album by jazz bassist Ron Carter, released on the Milestone label in 1977. It features performances by Carter, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams. 

• Ron Carter – bass
• Herbie Hancock – piano
• Tony Williams – drums

01. Third Plane (5:54) 

02. Quiet Times (7:55)

03. Lawra (6:07) 

04. Stella By Starlight (8:26)

05. United Blues (3:02) 

06. Dolphin Dance (8:18)

Herbie Hancock & Carlos Santana – Live Under Sky 1981 [2020/FLAC]

 

Live Under the Sky was an annual multi-day summer jazz festival held in Tokyo's 10,000-capacity Denen Hall, featuring the cream of local and international talent. The climax of 1981's festival, broadcast by NHK radio was a jointly headlined set by Herbie Hancock and Carlos Santana, together with a band including Wynton Marsalis, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. A joyous blend of jazz and Latin-tinged funk, it is presented in full here, together with background notes and images. 

•     Double Bass – Ron Carter
•     Drums – Anthony Williams
•     Electric Guitar – Carlos Santana
•     Grand Piano, Keyboards – Herbie Hancock
•     Percussion – Armando Peraza, Orestes Vilato, Raul Rekow
•     Trumpet – Wynton Marsalis

A1 Watermelon Man > Evil Ways > Watermelon Man 25:33

B1 'Round Midnight 7:24

B2 Parade 9:54

B3 Unknown #1 7:47

C1 A Quick Sketch 17:39

C2 Love Theme From Spartacus 8:37

C3 Unknown #2 (Fade Out) 2:59

D1 Unknown #2 (Cont.) 3:24

D2 Unknown #3 5:55

D3 Europa 9:08

D4 Saturday Night 11:28

Miles Davis Quintet - Live At Newport 1966 & 1967 (2010/FLAC)

 It’s one thing hearing about “rare tapes circulating among private collectors” but it’s another thing getting to hear them. Now you can; this is a hugely valuable release, a window into the working life of one of the greatest bands in the history of jazz performing at probably the most famous platform of all during the Golden Era of Jazz (1950s to the late 1960s), the Newport Jazz Festival (plus two bonus tracks taken from a broadcast in Finland on 1 November 1967). The liner notes say “This release contains all of the surviving music from the Miles Davis Quintet’s Newport sets of 1966 and 1967,” and were taken from live broadcasts of the event, complete with Willis Connover announcements, which adds to the atmosphere of the occassion. With the exception of Miles In Berlin and the Plugged Nickel sets, live documentation of this band is thin on the ground, given its (relative) longevity.

• Miles Davis, trumpet
• Wayne Shorter, tenor sax
• Herbie Hancock, piano
• Ron Carter, bass
• Tony Williams, drums

    1. Introduction Into Gingerbread Boy

    2. All Blues

    3. Stella By Starlight [Incomplete]

    4. Gingerbread Boy

    5. Footprints

    6. 'Round Midnight [Incomplete]

    7. Introduction Into Footprints

    8. 'Round Midnight [Incomplete]

Miles Davis - The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 [8 CD, 1995/FLAC]

 

In late December 1965 recordings were made of two nights of performances by Miles Davis´ second great quintet at the Plugged Nickel nightclub in Chicago. Some tracks were available on Miles Davis compilations, but the full recordings were released thirty years later as a box set under the title The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965. The studio recordings of the quintet consist almost entirely of original compositions by members of the quintet. These club recordings show the group playing tunes which were either standards or had been in Davis's live repertoire for several years. The tunes are performed with substantially more rhythmic and harmonic freedom than on earlier recordings.

V.S.O.P. - The Quintet (1977/FLAC)

The Quintet is an album by V.S.O.P. It was compiled from two concert performances: one at the Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, on July 16, 1977; the other at the San Diego Civic Theatre on July 18, 1977. The musicians were Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and flugelhorn, Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass, and Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano saxophones. The recording was originally released in October 1977 as a 2-disc LP by Columbia Records. 

 

• Freddie Hubbard – flugelhorn, trumpet
• Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
• Herbie Hancock – piano, keyboards
• Ron Carter – double bass
• Tony Williams – drums