Anthony Braxton – The Complete Arista Recordings Of Anthony Braxton [8 CD, 2008/FLAC]

  

Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s. Among the array of instruments he plays are the flute; the sopranino, soprano, C-melody, F mezzo-soprano, E-flat alto, baritone, bass, and contrabass saxophones; and the E-flat, B-flat, and contrabass clarinets.

Chico Hamilton -The Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings of the Chico Hamilton Quintet (6 CD, 1997/FLAC)

 

The original Chico Hamilton Quintet was one of the last significant West Coast jazz bands of the cool era. Consisting of Buddy Collette on reeds (flute, clarinet, alto, and tenor), guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Carson Smith, and the drummer/leader, the most distinctive element in the group's identity was cellist Fred Katz. The band could play quite softly, blending together elements of bop and classical music into their popular sound and occupying their own niche. This six-CD, limited-edition box set from 1997 starts off with a Hamilton drum solo from a 1954 performance with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet; it contains three full albums and many previously unreleased numbers) by the original Chico Hamilton band and also has quite a few titles from the second Hamilton group (which has Paul Horn and John Pisano in the places of Collette and Hall). In addition, there are three titles from the third Hamilton Quintet (with Eric Dolphy on flute and alto) and a 1959 Duke Ellington tribute date that featured both Collette and Horn. Most of these performances were formerly quite rare and never reissued coherently before. 

VA - Blue Note Explosion : Sharp Shades and Finger Snaps [2 CD, 2006/FLAC]

2006 two CD compilation series from the team that brought you the Blue Series, the biggest selling Jazz series ever. These compilations will all cover distinct historical and stylistic phases of the label's history, gathering together tracks that are rarely anthologized alongside some of the more well known cuts. Each one will then be housed in a distinctive sleeve that looks like a Blue Note compilation that was done at the specific period covered by the release. Sharp Shades & Finger Snaps features 19 tracks including cuts from Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Hank Mobley, McCoy Tyner, Grant Green, Lee Morgan and others.

Sidney Bechet - Petite Fleur (1931-1952) [10 CD, 2008/FLAC]

DISC 1 - Maple Leaf Rag (60:52)

DISC 2 - Okey - Doke (61:25)

DISC 3 - Jungle Drums (61:08)

DISC 4 - Sydney’s Blues (72:51)

DISC 5 - Swing Parade (59:52)

DISC 6 - Blues In The Air (66:09)

DISC 7 - Jazz Me Blues (73:06)

DISC 8 - Buddy Bolden Stomp (70:33)

DISC 9 - Tin Roof Blues (65:06)

DISC 10 - Petite Fleur (68:52)

Melodic Art-Tet - Melodic Art-Tet [2013/FLAC]

 This fascinating archival album captures a live in the studio performance by a collective group featuring Charles Brackeen on flute, soprano and tenor saxophones, Ahmed Abdullah on trumpet, William Parker on bass, Roger Blank on drums and Tony Waters (Ramadan Mumeen) on percussion. This performance was recorded in 1974 at the beginning of the loft scene in New York City and shows how the group takes a wide range of jazz history from hard bop to free jazz and melds it into a language of their own. 

Larry Young - The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of Larry Young (6 CD, 1991/FLAC)

 Larry Young, one of the most significant jazz organists to emerge after the rise of Jimmy Smith, is heard on this limited-edition six-CD set at the peak of his creativity. Formerly available as nine LPs, the set includes the original Larry Young albums Into Somethin', Unity, Of Love and Peace, Contrasts, Heaven on Earth, and Mother Ship, while drawing from the compilations 40 Years of Jazz, The History of Blue Note (Dutch), The World of Jazz Organ (Japanese), and The Blue Note 50th Anniversary Collection Volume Two: The Jazz Message, and also including guitarist Grant Green's Talkin' About, Street of Dreams, and I Want to Hold Your Hand. Young was still very much under Smith's influence on the first four sessions released as Talkin' About, Into Somethin', Street of Dreams, and I Want to Hold Your Hand (all featuring a trio with Green and drummer Elvin Jones plus guests Sam Rivers or Hank Mobley on tenor and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson). However, starting with the monumental Unity session (a quartet outing with Joe Henderson on tenor, trumpeter Woody Shaw, and Jones), Young emerged as a very advanced and original stylist in his own right. Young's final four dates (Of Love and Peace, Contrasts, Heaven on Earth, and Mother Ship) are generally pretty explorative and feature such notable sidemen as altoist James Spaulding and Byard Lancaster, guitarist George Benson, and trumpeter Lee Morgan along with some forgotten local players. This definitive Larry Young set is highly recommended. 

Judy Garland - Over The Rainbow 1936-1952 (4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 Singer/actress Judy Garland had a varied career that began in vaudeville and extended into movies, records, radio, television, and personal appearances. She is best remembered as the big-voiced star of a series of movie musicals, particularly The Wizard of Oz, in which she sang her signature song, "Over the Rainbow." But unlike most other film stars of her era, she also maintained a career as a recording artist, and after her movie-making days were largely over, she was able to transfer her stardom to performing and recording, culminating in her Grammy-winning number one album Judy at Carnegie Hall. 

Nina Simone - Original Album Classic (5 CD, 2009/FLAC)

 

1968- Nuff Said'

1969- To Love Somebody

1970- Black Gold

1974- It Is Finished

1969- Nina Simone and Piano

Clifford Jordan - The Complete Strata - East Sessions [6 CD, 2013/FLAC]

 

A really amazing set of work from tenorist Clifford Jordan – a player who first rose to fame in the hardbop scene of the late 50s, but who moved into tremendous new territory with these Strata East recordings of the late 60s and early 70s! Jordan was a Chicago contemporary of players like Johnny Griffin and Von Freeman, but he was never content to rest on his laurels – and stretched out on these records with a spiritual vibe that he'd never expressed before – and which would go onto inspire countless other musicians in years to come! This set brings together all the Dolphy Series recordings that Jordan recorded – either as an artist or producer – two of which were never issued on record at the time. Jordan's own albums for the label are wonderful enough – the double-length Glass Bead Games, one of our favorite records ever – and the killer In The World, which is great too. But this set also adds in other Strata East albums that really help illustrate the scene in which Jordan was working – including the excellent Pharoah Sanders non-Impulse session, Izipho Zam; the modern music of Charles Brackeen on Rhythm X, with Don Cherry on trumpet and Brackeen on tenor; and the great Cecil Payne album Zodiac, which has some of the last trumpet work ever from Kenny Dorham. Plus, the set also features two extremely rare albums – the never-issued Shades Of Edward Blackwell – led by the drummer, with Don Cherry on trumpet and Luqman Lateef on tenor, plus a bit of log drum from Jordan – and the obscure Super Bass album from Wilbur Ware, which features Jordan on tenor, in a quartet with Ware on bass, Don Cherry on trumpet, and Ed Blackwell on drums! These two albums are worth the price of the package alone – even if you have other Strata East albums in your collection – and the whole thing features the usual sublime Mosaic package and booklet.

Jackie McLean - The Complete Blue Note 1964-1966 Sessions (4 CD, 1993/FLAC)

 

Altoist Jackie McLean has recorded so many fine albums throughout his career, particularly in the '60s for Blue Note, that Mosaic could have reissued his complete output without any loss of quality. This four-CD limited-edition box set contains six complete LPs worth of material plus one "new" alternate take. The music (which also features trumpeters Charles Tolliver and Lee Morgan; pianists Herbie Hancock, Larry Willis, and Harold Mabern, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassists Cecil McBee, Bob Cranshaw, Larry Ridley, Herbie Lewis, and Don Moore, drummers Roy Haynes, Billy Higgins, Clifford Jarvis, Jack DeJohnette, and Billy Higgins) is explorative (showing the influence of Ornette Coleman) but without totally disregarding McLean's bebop roots. The performances straddle the boundaries between advanced hard, post and free bop jazz with Jackie McLean consistently emerging as the main star. His solos are consistently exciting, full of unexpected twists and turns.