Django Reinhardt - Djangologie 1928-1950 [20 CD, 2009]

 

The 20 cd Djangologie box set is the place to go once you've decided to take the plunge into Django's music. It covers all 4 decades chronologically, but rather than trying to comprehensively collect all of Django's recordings (including all of the ones where he is a sideman in dance bands etc) it largely concentrates on the Quintette and other small group recordings, which is what most people want to hear. The sound quality is very good and relatively consistent throughout the collection.

Arcana - Arc of the Testimony (1997/2021 remaster/FLAC)

 Arc of the Testimony is the second and final album by American jazz fusion band Arcana. It was released on bassist Bill Laswell's Axiom label on October 14, 1997. Unlike the trio configuration on the first album, this project features a spacier, slightly less abstract form of fusion music. Bill Laswell and drummer Tony Williams composed and developed the music, and co-produced the album together.

Laswell invited a number of musicians to contribute, including legendary tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. Other contributors included alto saxophonist Byard Lancaster, and electric guitarists Nicky Skopelitis and Buckethead. Tony Williams died suddenly on February 23, 1997 while this album was still in production, and thus it represents his last recorded work. 

- Bill Laswell / bass, producer

- Tony Williams / drums

With:

- Graham Haynes / coronet

- Buckethead / guitar

- Nicky Skopelitis / guitar

- Peter Apfelbaum / sax

- Byard Lancaster / sax

- Pharoah Sanders / sax

Herbie Mann - Original Album Series (5 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

CD1 - Herbie Mann at the Village Gate (1961) 

CD2 - Do the Bossa Nova with Herbie Mann (1962) 

CD3 - Nirvana (with the Bill Evans Trio) (1964) 

CD4 - Muscle Shoals Nitty Gritty (1970) 

CD5 - Hold On, I'm Comin' (1973) 

The Harold Land - Carmell Jones Quintets - Complete Studio Recordings (2 CD, 2007/FLAC)

This excellent compilation documents the musical collaboration between saxophonist Harold Land and trumpeter Carmell Jones. Though perhaps best known for his appearance on Horace Silver’s classic album, “Song for My Father”, Jones recorded a handful of fine dates with Land in the early 1960s: “The Remarkable Carmell Jones”, “Hear Ye”, “Jazz Impressions of Folk Music” and “Business Meetin’”. The first three albums are reproduced in their entirety here, as well as a few selections from the last. Among the sidemen are pianist Frank Strazzeri, and bassist Red Mitchell (who received co-billing with Land on “Hear Ye”). Land and Jones work beautifully together—a strong musical synergy between them. Their partnership may not have produced a whole lot of albums, but what it did produce was hard bop of the highest calibre.

VA - Latin Rhythms Collection (8 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 

• CD1 - Tito Puente and his Orchestra - Cha Cha 
• CD2 - Perez Prado - Kings of Mambo 
• CD3 - Aragon Orquesta Cubana - Cha cha cha, Maracas, Bongo y Conga 
• CD4 - The Rene Bloch Orchestra - Mucho rock with Rene Bloch 
• CD5 - Xavier Cugat - Cugat`s Favorite Rumbas
• CD6 - Benny Bennett & his Latin Orchestra - Sexy Mambo 
• CD7 - Ben and The Tropical Rhythm Kings - El Negro Zumbon 
• CD8 - The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra - Tea for Two Cha Chas 

Yusef Lateef - Yusef's Mood : Complete 1957 Sessions with Hugh Lawson (4 CD, 2008/FLAC)

 

This massive four-disc set of Yusef Lateef's first recordings as a leader was issued by Spain's Fresh Sound imprint and contains a total of eight different records, all but one recorded under the guidance of engineer Rudy Van Gelder for the Savoy, Verve, and Prestige/New Jazz imprints. Considering he was 37 when he began recording as a leader -- and had served tenures in New York with Hot Lips Page, Roy Eldridge, and Ernie Fields -- Lateef was fully developed as a composer and arranger. His band for these sessions is stellar. His Detroit crew was comprised of monsters even as the band mutated a bit: the original unit featured Lateef with trombonist Curtis Fuller, bassist Ernie Farrow, pianist Hugh Lawson, and drummer Louis Hayes. Changes would take place later in the year: Oliver Jackson replaced Hayes, and flugelhorn boss Wilbur Harden took over the chair vacated by Fuller. In the Lateef vision, these differences were all part of the plan: exploring his passions in uniting African and Asian folk traditions with American music. 

Shelly Manne - Here That's Manne - Shelly Manne & His Men, Septet And Quintet Sessions 1951-1958 (3 CD, 2009/FLAC)

 

Shelly Manne made a countless number of records from the 1940s into the '80s but is best-known as a good-humored bandleader who never hogged the spotlight. Originally a saxophonist, Manne switched to drums when he was 18 and started working almost immediately. He was with Joe Marsala's band (making his recording debut in 1941), played briefly in the big bands of Will Bradley, Raymond Scott, and Les Brown and was on drums for Coleman Hawkins's classic "The Man I Love" session of late 1943. Manne worked on and off with Stan Kenton during 1946-1952, also touring with Jazz at the Philharmonic (1948-1949), and gigging with Woody Herman (1949). After leaving Kenton, Manne moved to Los Angeles where he became the most in-demand of all jazz drummers. He began recording as a leader (his first session was cut in Chicago in 1951) on a regular basis starting in 1953 when he first put together the quintet Shelly Manne & His Men. Among the sidemen who were in his band during their long string of Contemporary recordings (1955-1962) were Stu Williamson, Conte Candoli, Joe Gordan, Bob Enevoldsen, Joe Maini, Charlie Mariano, Herb Geller, Bill Holman, Jimmy Giuffre, Richie Kamuca, Victor Feldman, Russ Freeman, Ralph Pena, Leroy Vinnegar, and Monty Budwig. Manne, who had the good fortune to be the leader of a date by the André Previn Trio that resulted in a major seller (jazz versions of tunes from My Fair Lady), always had an open musical mind and he recorded some fairly free pieces on The Three and the Two (trios with Shorty Rogers and Jimmy Giuffre that did not have a piano or bass, along with duets with Russ Freeman), and enjoyed playing on an early session with Ornette Coleman. In addition to his jazz work, Manne appeared on many film soundtracks and even acted in The Man with the Golden Arm. He ran the popular club Shelly's Manne-Hole during 1960-1974, kept his music open to freer sounds (featuring trumpeter Gary Barone and tenor saxophonist John Gross during 1969-1972), played with the L.A. Four in the mid-'70s, and was very active up until his death. Throughout his career Shelly Manne recorded as a leader for Savoy, Interlude, Contemporary, Jazz Groove, Impulse, Verve, Capitol, Atlantic, Concord, Mainstream, Flying Dutchman, Discovery, Galaxy, Pausa, Trend, and Jazziz, in addition to a few Japanese labels. 

Chet Baker - Chet In Paris: The Complete Barclay Recordings Of Chet Baker Vol. 1-4 (4 CD, 1988/FLAC)

 

• Chet Baker - Trumpet, Vocals
• Richard "Dick" Twardzik - Piano
• Gerard Gustin - Piano
• Raymond Fol - Piano
• Ren Urtreger - Piano
• Francy Boland - Piano
• Jimmy Bond - Bass
• Benny Vasseur - Trombone
• Jean Aldegon - Alto Sax
• Bobby Jaspar - Tenor Sax
• Jean-Louis Chautemps - Tenor Sax
• Benoit Quersin - Bass
• Eddie de Haas - Bass
• Jean-Louis Viale - Drums
• Nils-Bertil Dahlander - Drums
• Peter Littman - Drums
• Charles Saudrais - Drums

Lonnie Smith discography [1967-2018]

 

Lonnie Smith (born July 3, 1942), styled Dr. Lonnie Smith, is an American jazz Hammond B3 organist who was a member of the George Benson quartet in the 1960s. He recorded albums with saxophonist Lou Donaldson for Blue Note before being signed as a solo act. He owns the label Pilgrimage.

VA - Blue Note Explosion: Hip Hammond & Soulful Grooves (2 CD, 2016/FLAC)

A double CD collection of Blue Note music from the first half of the 1960's that focuses on the organ based music of the time.