Ella Fitzgerald - Twelve Nights In Hollywood (4 CD, 2009) [FLAC]

 

Ella Fitzgerald's Twelve Nights In Hollywood is 4-CD box set of 73 completely unreleased live recordings from Ella in her relaxed, absolute prime. For Twelve Nights In Hollywood Verve Select dug into the vault to collect the best of her performances across her extended 10-night 1961 engagement at Los Angeles' Crescendo Club - which originally resulted in the hit LP Ella In Hollywood - and her two-night return engagement the following year, presenting an unforgettable experience that puts you right in the front seat at the club, without repeating any performances from the original album. It includes several tracks never before heard by Ella live, tracks she had just recorded or had yet to record in the studio, and old chestnuts she revisited in a fresh way. Standouts among many across the four discs include "But Not For Me," "Nice Work If You Can Get It," "Perdido," "How High the Moon" and "When Your Lover Has Gone."

The Vandermark 5 - Alchemia [12 CD, 2005] (FLAC + 320)

 People always asked why Grateful Dead fans used to tour with the band; the answer was that they never played the same show twice. This box-set recording of the Vandermark 5's five-night stand at the Alchemia Club in Krakow, Poland last March does not quite live up to that high standard, but it does offer a rare glimpse at a working band, well, working.

These 12 full-length CDs document the Vandermark 5 playing at Alchemia, a major nightclub in Kraków, Poland, for a period of five evenings in March 2005. Over the course of well more than 12 hours of music, the quintet solidifies its reputation as one of the most innovative and exciting jazz groups of its time, as magic fills the air every night. It is difficult to imagine a more compelling set of modern jazz.

Miles Davis- In Stockholm 1960 [4 CD, 1992] [FLAC]

 

This remarkable four-CD set features John Coltrane with the Miles Davis Quintet just a short time before 'Trane went out on his own. Davis sounds inspired by his star tenor and although Coltrane was reportedly bored with the repertoire ("On Green Dolphin Street," "All Blues," "Fran-Dance," "Walkin'" and two versions of "So What"), he is at his most explorative throughout this often-stunning music. In addition, the rhythm section (pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb) had been together for two years and is really tight. Although currently out of print, it is well worth any foot work that may be needed in order to acquire it. This highly recommended set also includes a brief interview with Coltrane from this period.

Bill Evans Trio - On A Friday Evening (2021) [Hi-Res FLAC]

 

Newly discovered live performance by Bill Evans Trio, featuring Eddie Gomez - bass & Eliot Zigmund - drums. The previously unreleased concert took place on June 20, 1975, at Oil Can Harry's, Vancouver, BC. Captured for radio host Gary Barclay, it was aired on his popular CHQM jazz show. For nearly half a century, the tapes lay forgotten - until now. Thanks to audio restoration by Plangent Processes & mastering by Paul Blakemore, it sounds just as fresh today as it did in 1975. 

1 - Sareen Jurer (Live At Oil Can Harry's / 1975)

2 - Sugar Plum (Live At Oil Can Harry's / 1975)

3 - The Two Lonely People (Live At Oil Can Harry's / 1975)

4 - T.T.T. (Twelve Tone Tune) (Live At Oil Can Harry's / 1975)

5 - Quiet Now (Live At Oil Can Harry's / 1975)

6 - Up With The Lark (Live At Oil Can Harry's / 1975)

7 - How Deep Is The Ocean (Live At Oil Can Harry's / 1975)

8 - Blue Serge (Live At Oil Can Harry's / 1975)

9 - Nardis (Live At Oil Can Harry's / 1975)

Donald Byrd - At the Half Note Cafe, Vol. 1 & 2 {RVG Edition 2003} [24-192]

Situated at 289 Hudson Street in New York City, the Half Note Cafe quickly established itself as the venue at which to catch some of the best up and coming jazz talents of the age. Its reputation was further enhanced with a series of live recordings conducted at the club, with John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery and the Art Farmer Quartet among those artists to subsequently release live albums. And then there was Donald Byrd, whose band comprised Donald (trumpet), Pepper Adams (saxophone), Duke Pearson (piano), Laymon Jackson (bass) and Lex Humphries (drums) and who gathered at the Half Note on 11 November 1960 to record their show. With local DJ Ruth Mason acting as MC, the show kicked off with the ten minute plus My Girl Shirl and closed some two hours later with When Sunny Gets Blue. When subsequently released on vinyl, the show had been mashed up somewhat, with the two albums showing no reference to the original running order. That does not detract from what is an excellent album, with its later companion volume equally enthralling and entertaining. First class performances all round, as you would expect, make this a compelling album.

Corea, Clarke & White - Forever (2 CD Live, 2011) [FLAC]

 

 

Forever is a double CD album of live acoustic recordings recorded in California, Tokyo and Seattle in 2009 by Return to Forever pianist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White and studio rehearsals with guests Jean-Luc Ponty, Bill Connors and Chaka Kahn which was released on the Concord label I 2011.

• Chick Corea — piano (Disc One and Disc Two, tracks 3-7 & 10), keyboards (Disc Two, tracks 1, 2, 8 & 9)
• Stanley Clarke - bass (Disc One and Disc Two, tracks 1, 4-7 & 10), electric bass (Disc Two, tracks 2, 8 & 9)
• Lenny White - drums (Disc One and Disc Two, tracks 1-3 & 5-10)
• Bill Connors - guitar (Disc Two, tracks 2 & 7-9)
• Jean-Luc Ponty - violin (Disc Two, tracks 4-5 & 7-9)
• Chaka Khan - vocals (Disc Two, tracks 6-7)

 

Art Pepper - Unreleased Art, Vol.10: Toronto (3 CD, 2018/FLAC)

 For many jazz fans, the high point of Art Pepper’s late-’70s comeback was a fournight stand at New York’s Village Vanguard that was recorded for Contemporary Records and released, at first, as four albums, and later as a nine-CD set. These rangy, sometimes raucous performances with pianist George Cables, bassist George Mraz and drummer Elvin Jones, captured the questing, Coltrane-inflected sound of his later years, while still reflecting the lyric, bop schooled virtuosity of his early work.

This 3 CD set (Vol. 10) from Widows Taste just released may well be among the most interesting and historically significant, as any in the series. On June 16, 1977, Art appeared with a quartet at the Bourbon Street club in Toronto. It is a dry run for those sessions recorded six weeks before the Vanguard shows and it finds Pepper in front of a different rhythm section, but obtaining much the same results.

Bill Evans Trio - Turn Out the Stars : The Final Village Vanguard Recordings (6 CD, 1996) [FLAC]

  

New York City's legendary jazz club the Village Vanguard was the setting for Evans's musical triumphs in the early 1960's, and it's ironic it was the scene of his last triumphs. This six-disc set was recorded there in June 1980--Evans would pass away three months hence. Accompanied by bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera, Evans gives several of his classic tunes definitive readings. The interplay between these three is astonishing, the audio quality is overall superb, and Evans plays often with what can only be called quiet fire. TURN OUT THE STARS proves he left this world at the top of his game.



Recorded live at the Village Vanguard just months before Evans' sudden death in September, 1980, this material was originally earmarked for an album later that year. However, it remained unissued until 1996 when the compilers discovered Evans' handwritten notes concerning the aborted release.

Listening to these performances with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joe LaBarbera, one is struck by how little Evans' overall style had changed in the twenty-four years since his 1956 debut: luxuriously-phrased piano lines, almost horn-like in their length and melodicism, which never lapse into mere vapid prettiness (even on tunes as slick as Paul Simon's "I Do It For Your Love") due to their cerebral, near-abstract quality. Johnson and LaBarbera are an intuitive unit, responding with ease and grace to their leader's occasional flights of fancy.

 

VA - The Best Jazz Is Played with Verve - Your Guide To North Sea Jazz Festival 1994 (2 CD, 1994/FLAC)

 

The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. This is because the Statenhal where the festival was held before was demolished in 2006. As of 3 November 2017 the festival officially will be known as the NN North Sea Jazz Festival.

The founder of the three-day festival was Paul Acket, a businessman and jazz lover who made a fortune in the 1960s with his pop magazine publishing company. When Acket sold his company in 1975, he was able to start and sponsor the North Sea Jazz Festival. Acket wanted to present American jazz and European avant-garde jazz. In 1976 the first edition of the festival took place. It was an immediate success: six stages, thirty hours of music, and 300 performances drew over 9000 visitors. Acts included Count Basie, Miles Davis, Billy Eckstine, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, James Taylor, Benny Goodman, and Sarah Vaughan among others. 

Stan Getz, Chet Baker - Stockholm Concerts 1983 [3 CD, 1999/FLAC]

  

According to this set's annotator, Mike Hennessey, and Stan Getz's biographer, Donald Maggin, the circumstances surrounding the making of these 1983 recordings was unpleasant in the extreme. For various reasons, Getz was unhappy to be concertizing with Baker and forced him out before the 35-date tour was halfway finished. Before Baker left, however, the men played a pair of concerts in Stockholm, which were fortunately recorded for posterity. Fortunately not because Getz and Baker shared any special rapport that led to a classic performance, but because the resulting album gives listeners another example of how wonderful a player Chet Baker was, even after years of drug addiction and general dissolution. Getz is his typical self -- lyrical, facile almost to the point of glibness, but musical nevertheless. Baker, on the other hand, is as he ever was -- one of the most spontaneously creative, emotionally compelling voices in jazz. The band is good if unspectacular; drummer Victor Lewis was a particularly nice choice in that he could drive a band like this without overwhelming the rather brittle lead voices. And Getz is excellent; if you're a Getz fan, he's in fine form here, so you won't be disappointed. Baker, on the other hand, is superb; it's his inimitable musicality that ultimately makes this rather pricey three-disc set a bargain.

 

The Phil Woods Six - Live From The Showboat (2 CD, 1976/2014/FLAC)

 

Recorded at the Showboat Lounge, Silver Spring, MD.,

 November 1976.

• Phil Woods - alto, soprano sax
• Mike Melillo - piano
• Harry Leahey - guitar
• Steve Gilmore - bass
• Bill Goodwin - drums
• Alyrio Lima - percussion

 Disc 1

01. A Sleepin' Bee (7:38)

02. Rain Danse (8:20)

03. Bye Bye Baby (7:56)

04. Django's Castle (All Mine Almost) (5:55)

05. Cheek To Cheek (11:51)

06. Lady J (5:32)

07. Little Niles (13:04)

Disc 2

01. A Little Peace (8:24)

02. Brazilian Affair (Intriga Amorosa) (21:35)

03. I'm Late (7:26)

04. Superwoman (5:54)

05. High Clouds (5:55)

06. How's Your Mama (Phil's Theme) (5:32)

Chick Corea, Miroslav Vitous, Roy Haynes - Trio Music, Live In Europe (1986/FLAC)

 

• Bass - Miroslav Vitous
• Drums - Roy Haynes
• Piano - Chick Corea

Recorded September 1984 in Willisau and Reutlingen

A1 - The Loop 6:29  Written-By - Corea

A2 - I Hear A Rhapsody 6:40 Written-By - Gasparre, Fragos, Baker

A3 - Summer Night / Night And Day 14:23 Written-by  Porter / Dubin, Warren

Side 2

B1 - Prelude No. 2 / Mock Up 12:19 Written-by (Mock Up) - Corea / (Prelude No. 2) - Scriabin

B2 - Hittin' It 5:19 Written-By - Haynes

B3 - Mirovisions 11:30 Written-By - Vitous

Richie Beirach & Gregor Huebner - Live at Birdland New York [2017/FLAC]

 

Fans of over-the-top piano playing: this album’s for you. Richie Beirach should probably be a far bigger name than he is. A classically trained virtuoso, he has worked with Stan Getz and Chet Baker and also enjoyed fruitful collaborations with guitarist John Abercrombie and saxophonist Dave Liebman, whilst also focusing his own deeply personal solo projects.

Sun Ra All Stars - Milan, Zurich, West Berlin, Paris (5 CD, 2008/FLAC)

 5 concerts from Milan, Zurich, West Berlin and Paris. Recorded on the European tour between October 27, 1983 and November 1, 1983.

• Sun Ra - piano, keyboards, vocals
• Lester Bowie - trumpet
• Don Cherry - trumpet, vocals
• Marshall Allen - alto saxophone, flute, oboe
• John Gilmore - tenor saxophone, vocals
• Archie Shepp - tenor & soprano saxophones, vocals
• Richard Davis - bass
• Famoudou Don Moye - drums, percussion
• Philly Joe Jones - drums
• Clifford Jarvis - drums

 

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

Lester Young - In Washington D.C., 1956 Vol. 1 - 5 (5 CD, 1998/FLAC)

 On the 3rd. December 1956 Lester Young started a six night residency at Olivia Davis`s Patio Lounge in Washington DC, accompanied by the Bill Potts Trio. Fortunately, Potts recorded the proceedings, which were released in 1980 by Norman Grantz`s Pablo label. 

Miles Davis - Complete Miles Davis at Montreux 1973-1991 [20 CD, 2002]

 

The Complete Miles Davis Live at Montreux 1973-1991 compiles 20 CDs documenting every performance by the trumpeter at the famed Swiss jazz festival in its entirety. What's more, 19 of these volumes have never before been issued in any form.

 

Miles Davis - On The Crest Of The Airwaves [4 CD, 2011/FLAC]

 

4 x CD in book/DVD-style tall packaging.

Containing 3 rare and previously unreleased concerts from San Francisco 1970, England 1970 and Melbourne Australia 1988. These concerts highlight the genius that was Miles Davies and are also an important piece of jazz history. All discs have been digitally remastered for superior sound quality .The iconic artwork and in dept sleeve notes make this a must have release for all true jazz fans

• Miles Davis (tp);
• Gary Bartz (ss, as);
• Chick Corea (el-p);
• Keith Jarrett (org);
• Dave Holland (b, el-b);
• Jack DeJohnette (d);
• Airto Moreira (perc);
• Michael Henderson (el-b);
• Jumma Santos [Jim Riley] (perc);
• Robert Irving III, Adam Holzman (synth);
• Joe "Foley" McCreary (lead-b);
• Benny Rietveld (el-b);
• Ricky Wellman (d);
• Marilyn Mazur (perc)

CD 1 - Live At The Berkshire Music Center Tanglewood (18.8.1970)

1.Directions
2.Bitches Brew
3.It's All About That Time
4.Sanctuary
5.Spanish Key/The Theme
6.Miles Runs The Voodoo Down

CD 2 - Live At The Fillmore West, San Francisco, (15.10.1970)

1.Honky Tonk
2.What I Say
3.Sanctuary
4.Yesternow
5.Bitches Brew
6.Funky Tonk/The Theme

CD 3 - Live At The Concert Hall, Melbourne, (2.5.1988)

1.In A Silent Way - Intruder
2.New Blues (Star People)
3.Perfect Way
4.The Senate - You And Me
5.Human Nature
6.Wrinkle
7.Tutu
8.Movie Star
9.Splatch

CD 4 - Live At The Concert Hall , Melbourne (Cont)

1.Time After Time
2.Heavy Metal
3.Don't Stop Me Now
4.Carnival Time
5.Tomaas
6.Burn
7.Portia

Miles Davis - The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 [6 CD, 2005/FLAC]

 

The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 is a 2005 reissue of several 1970 concerts given by Miles Davis, at the Washington, DC nightclub, The Cellar Door.

Significant portions of Davis' Live-Evil were edited and compiled from the music that appears on discs 5 and 6.

It is one of the few recordings that has Keith Jarrett playing electric piano. Live-Evil and this collection are the only live recordings of John McLaughlin live performances with Miles Davis.

• Miles Davis: electric trumpet with Wah Wah
• Gary Bartz: soprano and alto sax:
• John McLaughlin: electric guitar (CDs 5-6 only)
• Keith Jarrett: Fender Rhodes electric piano, Fender electric organ
• Michael Henderson: electric bass
• Jack DeJohnette: drums
• Airto Moreira: percussion, Cuica (CDs 2-3-4-5-6)
  

 

Bill Frisell – Live Download Series (Vol.1 - 18)

 

These sets includes exclusive download-only released songs through Bill Frisell's Live Download Series.