Dave Douglas - The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note (6 CD, 2012/FLAC)

The 2013 box set The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note includes three of trumpeter Dave Douglas' albums with his String Group, as well as three albums by other artists on which he was featured. Included is 1993's Parallel Worlds, 1996's Five, and 1999's Convergence, as well as Rova's 1995 album John Coltrane's Ascension, bassist John Lindberg's 1998 release Bounce, and bassist Mark Dresser's 1994 album Force Green. With over six hours of music, this anthology compiles much of the genre-crossing, exploratory modern creative jazz that brought Douglas to the attention of the greater jazz community. With beautifully remastered sound, this Black Saint and Soul Note collection is a must-have for Douglas fans who have yet to discover this period of the prolific artist's career.

 

 

Wynton Marsalis - Live at the Village Vanguard (7 CD, 1999)

 

This stupendous seven-CD collection from the all-world trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Wynton Marsalis chronicles the amazing evolution of his underrated live septets at the legendary Village Vanguard from 1990 to 1994. Sequenced to simulate a week-long gig, the set melds together three different incarnations of Marsalis's ensemble: the gifted New Orleans-born drummer Herlin Riley, the ebullient Wessel Anderson on sopranino and alto saxes, and the fluent trombonist Wycliffe Gordon are the constants. The mercurial Marcus Roberts and the fleet-fingered Eric Reed alternate on piano, while Ben Wolfe and Reginald Veal lock it down on the bass. These selections showcase the astounding "school" of musicians that followed Marsalis's first superband with his brother, Branford Marsalis, the late Kenny Kirkland, and Jeff "Tain" Watts. 

 

 

Billy Bang's Survival Ensemble - Black Man’s Blues / New York Collage (2 CD, 2011/FLAC)

 This release contains never earlier released Survival Ensemble session from 29th May, 1977 recorded at A Day of Solidarity with Soweto in New York City.

Violinist Billy Bang made his recording debut as a leader with the Survival Ensemble, the first working band he ever led, on New York Collage in 1979. Bang, saxophonists Bilal Abdur Rahman and Henry Warner, bassist William Parker, and percussionists Rashid Bakr and Khuwana John Fuller played incendiary free jazz more clearly indebted to the New York avant-garde of the preceding decade than any album Bang would record again. The music’s urgency and passion arose from the exhilaration of artistic self-discovery shared by everyone in the group, and the intensity of their need to express their feelings. The albums really are a loft era classic. Proudly flaunting its New York roots, it insists that music based on the innovations of Coltrane, Ayler, Taylor, could grow in new directions, absorb new influences, and engage contemporary political realities.

• Billy Bang – violin, poetry, bells, shaker, percussion
• Bilal Abdur Rahman – tenor and soprano saxes, bull horn, percussion
• Henry Warner – alto sax, bells, shaker, percussion
• William Parker – bass
• Khuwana Fuller – congas
• Rashid Bakr – drums 

CD1 Black Man’s Blues 1977 (01:12:35)

1 Spoken Introduction 1:07

2 Albert Ayler/Know Your Enemy 19:27

3 Ganges/Enchantment/Tapestry 30:47

4 Black Man Blues 18:27

CD2 New York Collage 1978 (00:44:36)

1 Nobody Hear The Music The Same Way (Dedicated To John Coltrane) 12:17

2 For Josie Part II 10:28

3 Illustration 8:22

4 Subhanallah 14:35 

Jack DeJohnette discography [1968-2017]

 

Jack DeJohnette (born 9 August 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. An important figure of the fusion era of jazz, DeJohnette is one of the most influential jazz drummers of the 20th century, due to extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians like Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Sonny Rollins, and John Scofield.

 

 

John Coltrane - The Prestige Recordings (16 CD, 1991/FLAC)

 

The 16 CDs in this compendium represent nearly everything that John Coltrane recorded for the Prestige label during a 32-month period between May 7, 1956, and December 26, 1958. What's missing are Coltrane's contributions to the mid-'50s Miles Davis band, which are on the equally exhaustive and highly recommended Davis Chronicle box set released in 1990. 

Otherwise, listeners are treated to the sessions that produced the seminal long-players Coltrane, Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette, Traneing In, Soultrane, Lush Life, Settin' the Pace, Standard Coltrane, Stardust, The Believer, Black Pearls, Bahia, and The Last Trane -- all of which highlight the artist as either a leader or co-leader. Not included in that list are an additional 19 albums that boast Coltrane's involvement as a support musician. The music is presented primarily in a chronological fashion -- commencing with a pair of May 1956 outings with pianist Elmo Hope and tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Wrapping things up are five tunes cut the day after Christmas of 1958 alongside trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Coltrane's legend is ingrained in the grooves of such indispensable entries as "How Deep Is the Ocean?" flanked by tenor saxophonists Zoot Sims, Hank Mobley, and Al Cohn -- as originally heard on Tenor Conclave. There is also the Tadd Dameron-commanded "Soultrane" and the definitive "The Way You Look Tonight," during one of the many Mal Waldron confabs, plus "Undecided," sporting Red Garland at the helm. And who could forget the Great American Songbook selections "Lush Life," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Lover," "Russian Lullaby," "Why Was I Born?," "Lover Come Back to Me," "Stardust," and "Time After Time"? 

 

 

Larry Coryell, Badi Assad, John Abercrombie - Three Guitars (2005/FLAC)

 What happens when you combine three guitar masters—each with a lifetime of impressive musical experiences, and have them play together for the first time in the wonderful acoustic setting of New York's St. Peter's Church? You have the ideal set of ingredients for an eclectic and original masterpiece. With our signature high-resolution recording process, Chesky Records captured with amazing sonic clarity this historic combination of three original styles and creative personalities to bring you one unforgettable experience...

• Larry Coryell - Grimes Acoustic Guitar
• Badi Assad - Fisher Nylon String Classical Guitar, Vocals, Mouth And Body Percussion, Kalimba, Copper Flute
• John Abercrombie - Gruen Acoustic Guitar

 

01. Seu Jorge E Dona Ica (6:00)

02. New Lute - Prelude (1:34)

03. Niew Lute - Interlude (3:14)

04. Soundtrack (4:17)

05. After The Rain (4:56)

06. Descending Grace (5:28)

07. Metamorphosis (4:03)

08. No Flight Tonight (4:24)

09. Ralph's Piano Waltz (5:09)

10. Suspended Circles (5:25)

11. Exercise In Fourths (2:33)

12. Autumn Breeze (3:30)

13. Timeless (7:04)

Kamasi Washington discography [2007-2018]

 

Kamasi Washington (born February 18, 1981) is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, producer, and bandleader. Washington is known mainly for playing tenor saxophone. He received widespread acclaim for his 2015 album The Epic.

Kamasi Washington didn't pick up a saxophone until he was 13 years old, but by that point, he'd already been playing several other instruments. That's when he found his calling. Within a couple years, he was the lead tenor saxophonist at Hamilton High School Music Academy in his native Los Angeles. After graduation, he attended UCLA to study ethnomusicology. While enrolled at UCLA, he recorded a self-titled album with Young Jazz Giants, a quartet he had formed with Cameron Graves and brothers Ronald Bruner, Jr. and Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner, released in 2004.

 

 

Bud Powell - The Complete Blue Note And Roost Recordings (4 CD, 1994/FLAC)

 The Complete Blue Note and Roost Recordings is a four-disc box set, released on October 4, 1994, containing the bulk of jazz pianist Bud Powell's recordings as leader for Blue Note Records, plus two early sessions for Roost Records.

Although pianist Bud Powell recorded some great albums elsewhere (most notably his first couple of sessions for Verve), on the whole his Blue Note records were his most significant and definitive. This four-CD set has all of the music from his five Blue Note albums, his two sessions for the Roost label, and all known alternate takes. Powell literally changed the way that the piano is played in jazz, and this magnificent set has more than its share of classics. In addition to the many trio performances, trombonist Curtis Fuller sits in on three numbers, there are a few solo cuts, and one date features Powell at the head of a quintet with trumpeter Fats Navarro and the young tenor Sonny Rollins. Although there are a few faltering moments in the later dates, this essential release (unlike the similar Verve reissue) is quite consistent. 

 

 

Blue Note Works 1500 series Vol.1591-1599

 

Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label, owned by Universal Music Group and currently operates in conjunction with Decca Records. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. Originally dedicated to recording traditional jazz and small group swing, from 1947 the label began to switch its attention to modern jazz. While the original company did not itself record many of the pioneers of bebop, significant exceptions are Thelonious Monk, Fats Navarro and Bud Powell.

Many great jazz musicians recorded for Blue Note, but the man responsible for the quality of label’s recordings – their high dynamic and tonal range and lifelike presence – was sound engineer, Rudy Van Gelder. It was his recording equipment, choice and placement of microphones, the work at the mixing desk, the selection and rejection of takes, and the active supervision of the whole recording process from monitoring the dials through to cutting of the master lacquer, that created the “Blue Note sound”.

Van Gelder always sought to be at the forefront of recording technology – the Scully lathe he used for cutting lacquer masters was the first to feature variable pitch/depth control to optimise groove-width and loudness. He deployed the newest Neumann/ Telefunken U-47 condenser microphone, which he had specially modified for use very close to instruments. His recordings were made on the latest Ampex tape recorders.

Blue Note made the switch to 12" LPs late in 1955. The Modern Jazz Series continued with the following 12" LPs. Many of these were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and stereo versions (BST 81500 series), sometimes in electronically rechanneled stereo. In certain cases, the stereo versions of recordings from 1957 onwards only appeared many years later. Beginning in 1956 with BLP 1509, Reid Miles designed most of the Blue Note LP covers. The 1500 series has been systematically reissued by Toshiba-EMI in Japan ("Blue Note Works 1500" series, 20-bit 88.2 kHz CDs); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-1501, etc.

 

BN.1591- Lou Donaldson- 1958- Lou Takes Off {RVG Remaster}
BN.1592- Sonny Clark- 1957- Sonny Clark Quintet (not released)
BN.1593- Lou Donaldson- 1958- Blues Walk
BN.1594- Louis Smith- 1958- Smithville
BN.1595- Cannonball Adderley- 1958- Somethin' Else {RVG Remaster}
BN.1596- Kenny Burrell- 1958- Blue Lights, Vol.1
BN.1597- Kenny Burrell- 1958- Blue Lights, Vol.2
BN.1598- Bud Powell- 1958- Time Waits. The Amazing Bud Powell (vol.4) {RVG Remaster}
BN.1599- Bennie Green- 1958- Soul Stirrin'

Kenny Dorham discography [1953-1966]

 McKinley Howard (Kenny) Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did or public recognition. For this reason, writer Gary Giddins said that Dorham's name has become "virtually synonymous with underrated." He also composed the jazz standard "Blue Bossa," which first appeared on Joe Henderson's album Page One.