VA - The Pacific Jazz Piano Trios - Mosaic Select (3 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 The three discs included in "The Pacific Jazz Piano Trios" present four of the best 1950's West Coast piano jazzers in trio settings:

- Russ Freeman
- Richard Twardzik
- Jimmy Rowles
- Clare Fisher

Weather Report - The Legendary Live Tapes 1978-1981 [4 CD, 2015/FLAC/@320]

 

Weather Report's The Legendary Live Tapes features four discs of sensational unreleased performances all "completely, totally, unapologetically and insanely live" recorded by the legendary jazz group from 1978 to 1981.

Django Reinhardt - Djangology [10 CD, 2005]

  

Django Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953) was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer.

Often regarded as the first important European jazz musician who made major contributions to the development of the idiom, he is also revered by guitarists worldwide as among the foremost exponents of the instrument. Reinhardt invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique (sometimes called 'hot' jazz guitar) that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, he co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, described by critic Thom Jurek as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become jazz standards, including "Minor Swing", "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42", and "Nuages". This great 10 cd box set is an excellent addition to the collection of any Django Reinhardt  fan.

Art Pepper - Kind Of Pepper 1954-1959 (10 CD, 2009)

 

CD01 - Diablo’s Dance (00:57:10)

CD02 - Long Ago And Far Away (00:59:01)

CD03 - Angel Wings (00:58:13)

CD04 - Blues In (01:03:07)

CD05 - Red Pepper Blues (00:47:01)

CD06 - Road Waltz (00:41:44)

CD07 - Art Pepper Big Band (00:32:22)

CD08 - Art Pepper & Marty Paich Quartet (00:26:20)

CD09 - Spices (00:36:58)

CD10 - With Mel Torme & The Marty Paich Quartet (00:37:24)

Ornette Coleman - Beauty Is A Rare Thing : The Complete Atlantic Recordings [6 CD, 1993]

  

Beauty Is A Rare Thing contains Ornette Coleman's entire surviving recorded output for the Atlantic label from 1959-1961 (a number of other sessions were recorded, but they were destroyed, along with countless other priceless Atlantic masters, in their infamous warehouse fire of the mid-1970s.) It features over seven hours of music, six previously unreleased tracks, and contains a booklet of photos, a discography and contemporary commentaries by Ornette Coleman and a host of supporters and detractors.

• Ornette Coleman (alto & tenor saxophones),
• Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet),
• Don Cherry (pocket trumpet, cornet),
• Freddie Hubbard (trumpet),
• Robert DiDomenica (flute),
• The Contemporary String Quartet (strings),
• Eddie Costa (vibraphone),
• Bill Evans (piano),
• Jim Hall (guitar),
• Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro, Jimmy Garrison, Alvin Brehm, George Duvivier (acoustic bass),
• Billy Higgins, Ed Blackwell, Sticks Evans (drums)

Chet Baker - Love Walked In (4 CD, 2006/FLAC)

 Chet Baker was a primary exponent of the West Coast school of cool jazz in the early and mid-'50s. As a trumpeter, he had a generally restrained, intimate playing style and he attracted attention beyond jazz for his photogenic looks and singing. But his career was marred by drug addiction. 

Dizzy Gillespie - The Dizzy Gillespie Story 1939-1950 (4 CD,2001/FLAC)

 This four-disc, 100-track box set traces famed bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's career from his early years with Teddy Hill, Lionel Hampton and Cab Calloway through his work with figures like Coleman Hawkins and Billy Eckstine. It includes his 1947 concert at Carnegie Hall with Charlie Parker and concludes with the famous sessions that Gillespie recorded with Parker and Thelonious Monk for Norman Granz in 1950. At a budget price, this package captures Gillespie's peak years and performances and makes a deep introduction to this amazing musician. The sound transfers are decent, but audiophiles may find that the noise reduction processes used on these tracks leaves some of them sounding a little on the thin and muted side. 

Peggy Lee & June Christy - The Complete Peggy Lee & June Christy Capitol Transcription Sessions (5 CD, 1998/FLAC)

Mosaic, the Rolls-Royce of record companies, has produced another of its limited-edition gems (5,000 copies and no more). This five-CD boxed set highlights the early work of two of the more famous vocal graduates of the swing era -- Peggy Lee and June Christy. Recently signed by Capitol, they were the company's attempt to break into the transcription business. Transcriptions were records provided to radio stations to fill a constant need for music that regular commercial releases were unable to meet. Most of the songs on this album, cuts from 1945 through 1949, were never before or since recorded by Lee and Christy, so they are a nice addition to their respective discographies. Of the two, Peggy Lee's style is clearly the most advanced. She had a successful tenure with Benny Goodman in the early '40s. After completing a hiatus as a homemaker for her husband, Dave Barbour, who accompanies her on several of these cuts, she started recording with Capitol in 1946. Her languid, laid-back approach that was to characterize her singing for the next 50-plus years was pretty well-developed by this time. In contrast, June Christy, who had just joined the Stan Kenton band, was still searching for her singing personality. The early cuts reveal she was still very much bound to Billie Holiday's style. But, by the time of the 1946 sessions on this album, the voice that was to become one of the most recognized by popular song fans, with Kenton and, later, with Pete Rugolo, Lou Levy, and others began to unfold. One surprise on the Christy sides is the valve-trombone work by Gene Roland. Noted more for his arranging skills than his soloing, his trombone work glistens on such cuts as "How High the Moon." Like all Mosaic releases, this album comes with complete annotations and an informative booklet.

Lionel Hampton - Vibe Boogie [4 CD, 2005/FLAC]

 

This wonderful Japanese import, released in 2005, is a 4 CD set consisting of 70 tracks from the Jazz great! The set includes compositions from 1937-1978 .

Miles Davis - Tutu (2 CD Deluxe Edition, 2011/FLAC)

 

Tutu is an album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, released in 1986 by Warner Bros. Records. It was recorded primarily at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles and Clinton Recording in New York, except the song "Backyard Ritual", which was recorded at Le Gonks in West Hollywood. Davis received the 1986 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist Grammy Award for his performance on the album.

Originally planned as a collaboration with pop singer/songwriter Prince, Davis ultimately worked with bassist/multi-instrumentalist Marcus Miller. Miller wrote and arranged all the songs, except "Tomaas" (co-written by Davis), "Backyard Ritual" (by keyboardist George Duke), and "Perfect Way" (by pop group Scritti Politti). The music is strongly inspired by mid-1980s R&B and funk, with heavy use of synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines.

• Miles Davis - trumpet
• Marcus Miller - bass guitars, guitar, synthesizers, drum machine programming, bass clarinet, soprano sax, other instruments.
• Jason Miles - synthesizer programming
• Paulinho da Costa - percussion on "Tutu", "Portia", "Splatch", Backyard Ritual"
• Adam Holzman - synthesizer solo on "Splatch"
• Steve Reid - additional percussion on "Splatch"
• George Duke - all except percussion, bass guitar, and trumpet on "Backyard Ritual"
• Omar Hakim - drums and percussion on "Tomaas"
• Bernard Wright - additional synthesizers on "Tomaas" and "Don't Lose Your Mind"
• Michał Urbaniak - electric violin on "Don't Lose Your Mind"
• Jabali Billy Hart - drums, bongos