John Scofield & Pat Metheny - I Can See Your House From Here (1994~2014, 2LP) [FLAC]

 

Guitar wizards John Scofield and Pat Metheny have consistently made commercially successful, accessible music while remaining true to their improvisational leanings. It's no surprise that their collaboration sounds so relaxed, fluid, and musically serene. Listeners shouldn't necessarily expect a series of slashing duels, but it's certainly not vapid new age or retrograde fusion. Scofield and Metheny divide compositional duties and play masterful, expressive solos. Guitar fans will be especially impressed with the mastering, which makes Scofield and Metheny's guitars sound right in the room. Even those who don't like sessions without horns, brass, or keyboards shouldn't spurn this one; it still has plenty of muscle. 

Lionel Hampton - The Legacy Of Bluebird (1937-1940) [3 CD, 1990/FLAC]

 

Lionel Hampton was the first jazz vibraphonist and was one of the jazz giants beginning in the mid-'30s. He has achieved the difficult feat of being musically open-minded (even recording "Giant Steps") without changing his basic swing style. Hamp started out as a drummer, playing with the Chicago Defender Newsboys' Band as a youth. His original idol was Jimmy Bertrand, a '20s drummer who occasionally played xylophone. Hampton played on the West Coast with such groups as Curtis Mosby's Blue Blowers, Reb Spikes, and Paul Howard's Quality Serenaders (with whom he made his recording debut in 1929) before joining Les Hite's band, which for a period accompanied Louis Armstrong.

John McLaughlin - Montreux Concerts [17 CD, 2003/FLAC]

 

This monumental compilation features all the artist's concerts at the Montreaux Jazz Festival spanning the years 1974 through 1999.


Featuring

Shakti in July 1976 & 1977 (3 discs),

John McLaughlin & The One Truth Band in July 1978,

John McLaughlin & Chick Corea in July 1981,

Mahavishnu Orchestra in July 1984 (2 discs),

John McLaughlin & Paco DeLucia in July 1987 (2 discs),

John McLaughlin & The Free Spirits in July 1993 & 1995 (3 discs),

John McLaughlin & The Heart Of Things in July 1998

John McLaughlin & Remember Shakti in July 1999.

The last disc is a bonus CD containing two tracks one featuring McLaughlin performing with Santana in July 1993 'Canto de Xango' & another with McLaughlin & Paco DeLucia in July 1996 'Frevo'.

Miles Davis - Chronicle. The Complete Prestige Recordings (1951-1956) [8 CD,1993/FLAC]

 

The 17 extraordinary sessions led by Miles for Prestige from 1951 to 1956, sessions frequented by such legends as Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins and, of course, the original Davis Quintet of Coltrane, Garland, Chambers and Jones.

James Taylor Quartet - Hammond-Ology: The Best Of The James Taylor Quartet [2 CD, 2001/FLAC]

 There are many JTQ compilations but this is the first time a truly comprehensive anthology, covering material from all the group's albums, has been put together. Hammond-Ology features 35 tracks, including all the favourites like "Blow Up", "Mission Impossible", and "Theme From Starsky & Hutch". It culminates in a new and previously unreleased track, "Message From Sicily", which gives a taste of the brand new studio album to be released by Sanctuary Records in 2002. At the centre of JTQ is Hammond ace James Taylor, who has lent his distinctive sound to such musical giants as U2, Manic Street Preachers, Tom Jones and Nitin Sawhney. 

The Complete CBS Recordings Of Eddie Condon And His All Stars [5 CD, 1994] [FLAC]

 

Chicago jazz and Dixieland fans should go out of their way to pick up this limited-edition five-CD boxed set. The first four discs date from 1953-1957 and feature freewheeling performances (originally out on seven LPs) with such classic soloists as cornetists Wild Bill Davison and Bobby Hackett, trumpeter Billy Butterfield, trombonists Cutty Cutshall, Lou McGarity, and Vic Dickenson, clarinetists Edmond Hall, Peanuts Hucko, Bob Wilber, and Pee Wee Russell and tenorman Bud Freeman among others. Eddie Condon's comments during his band's waterlogged performance at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival alone are worth the price. The final disc of material (all from 1962) is somewhat commercial but still has its moments of interest. 

Eddie Condon, guitar ; his All-Stars (variously: Wild Bill Davison, cornet ; Cutty Cutshall, Lou McGarity, Vic Dickenson, trombone ; Edmond Hall, Peanuts Hucko, Pee Wee Russell, Bob WIlbur, clarinet ; Gene Schroeder, piano ; John Mortillaro, piano, celeste ; Walter Page, Al Hall, Leonard Gaskin, Jack Lesberg, bass ; Cliff Leeman, George Wettling, Buzzy Drootin, drums ; Billy Butterfield, trumpet ; Dick Cary, alto horn ; Bud Freeman, saxophone).

Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda [1970/FLAC]

Journey in Satchidananda is the fourth solo album by Alice Coltrane. Its title (and title track) reflects Coltrane's inspiration by Swami Satchidananda, to whom she had become close, and whose disciple she was.

"Shiva-Loka", or "realm of Shiva" — the realm of the third member of the Hindu trinity, the "dissolver of creation". "Stopover Bombay" refers to a five week stay in India and Sri Lanka on which Coltrane was due to go in December 1970. "Something About John Coltrane" is based on themes by her late husband, John Coltrane. "Isis and Osiris", on which Charlie Haden replaces Cecil McBee on bass, and Vishnu Wood plays oud, indicates Coltrane's interest in Middle Eastern and North African music and culture. The presence of the tamboura, played by Tulsi, reflects Coltrane's interest in Indian music and religion.

• Alice Coltrane — harp, piano
• Pharoah Sanders — soprano saxophone, percussion
• Vishnu Wood — oud (on track 5)
• Charlie Haden — bass (on track 5)
• Cecil McBee — bass
• Tulsi — tambura
• Rashied Ali — drums
• Majid Shabazz — bells, tambourine

Al Jarreau - Works (2 CD, 2021) [FLAC]

 Few artists made more of an impact on popular music during the last three decades of the 20th century than the late, great Al Jarreau. His courageous blending of soul, jazz, scat and other styles made him an icon among music lovers, even as he sometimes frustrated record company executives who wanted to put him “in a box.”

Among his many, many albums over his career, Jarreau accumulated a slew of hits, a nice collection of which are included on his new compilation, Works. But the disc also includes some rare gems that haven’t been available for years.   

Dave Brubeck - For All Time (5 CD, 2004) [FLAC]

Popularity is double-edged, and perhaps no jazz artist exemplifies this better than Dave Brubeck. The unparalleled success of his classic quartets with Paul Desmond, which expanded the market for jazz into colleges and the homes of suburbia, often obscured his very real musical innovations. The ever-increasing professional sheen of Brubeck's '60s albums for Columbia, his interest in writing for orchestras, the quartet's base in traditional swing rather than bop, and their largely white, middle-class fan base have all led some to brand Brubeck as a lightweight, or worse yet, an 'entertainer.' Although there is a grain of truth to this characterization, extended exposure to Brubeck's best work argues otherwise.

Columbia Records' long-overdue reissue program of classic Brubeck albums has gone some way towards rehabilitating Dave's reputation. The latest release is a 5- CD box set entitled For All Time , which brings together all of the classic quartet's albums devoted to exploring unusual time signatures and rhythmic combinations: Time Out (1959) and Time Further Out (1961), which were already available in remastered editions, along with three records that have never appeared on CD domestically; Countdown: Time In Outer Space (1962), Time Changes (1964), and Time In (1965).

Coleman Hawkins - The Complete Recordings 1929 - 1941 [6 CD, 1995]

  

Coleman Hawkins's first major gig was with Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds in 1921, and he was with the band full time from April 1922 to 1923, when he settled in New York City. In the Jazz Hounds, he coincided with Garvin Bushell, Everett Robbins, Bubber Miley and Herb Flemming, among others. Hawkins joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, where he remained until 1934, sometimes doubling on clarinet and bass saxophone. Hawkins's playing changed significantly during Louis Armstrong's tenure with the Henderson Orchestra (1924–25). In the late 1920s, Hawkins also participated in some of the earliest interracial recording sessions with the Mound City Blue Blowers. During his time with Henderson, he became a star soloist with an increasing amount of solos space on records. While with the band, he and Henry "Red" Allen recorded a series of small group sides for ARC (on their Perfect, Melotone, Romeo, and Oriole labels). Hawkins also recorded a number of solo recordings, with either piano or with a pick-up band of Henderson's musicians in 1933–34, just prior to his period in Europe. He was also featured on a Benny Goodman session on February 2, 1934 for Columbia, which also featured Mildred Bailey as guest vocalist.

In late 1934, Hawkins accepted an invitation to play with Jack Hylton's orchestra in London, and toured Europe as a soloist until 1939, performing and recording with Django Reinhardt and Benny Carter in Paris in 1937. Following his return to the United States, on October 11, 1939, he recorded a two-chorus performance of the pop standard "Body and Soul", which he had been performing at Bert Kelly's New York venue, Kelly's Stables. In a landmark recording of the swing era, recorded as an afterthought at the session, Hawkins ignores almost all of the melody, with only the first four bars stated in a recognizable fashion. In its exploration of harmonic structure it is considered by many to be the next evolutionary step in jazz recording after Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues" in 1928.