CD compilation series by the Blue Note label
Polar Bear discography 2004-2015 [FLAC]
Not to be confused with the American alternative rock outfit of the same name, Polar Bear are a British experimental post-jazz five-piece influenced by the likes of Beethoven, Stevie Wonder, and Björk. Formed in London in 2004 by drummer Sebastian Rochford, previously an early member of Babyshambles, saxophonists Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart, double bassist Tom Herbert, and electronic musician/guitarist Leafcutter John, the band first attracted attention with its 2004 debut album, Dim Lit, whose eclectic fusion of avant jazz, folk, electronica, and punk earned them a nomination for Best Band at the BBC Jazz Awards.
They received their highest-profile accolades to date in 2005, when their sophomore effort, Held on the Tips of Fingers, was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. After headlining Noel Fielding's Mighty Boosh Festival in 2008, they released their self-titled third album, and followed it up two years later with Peepers. After intensive touring and a brief period of rest to reassess their direction, the band returned with In Each and Every One in 2014, a multifaceted album that veered from sprawling ambient compositions to hip-hop-flavored electronic beats. It was issued by The Leaf Label, and was also shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. Assured of their new direction, Polar Bear played shows and festivals in support, then immediately returned to the studio. The end result was Same as You, another diverse offering that revealed the group had permanently moved beyond genre restrictions. Released in the spring of 2015, it featured a guest appearance from Shabaka Hutchings (Sons of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down), and earned the band a nomination for a MOBO Award in the category of Best Jazz.
Polar Bear - 2004 Dim Lit
Polar Bear - 2005 Held On The Tips Of Fingers
Polar Bear - 2008 Polar Bear
Polar Bear - 2010 Peepers
Polar Bear - 2014 In Each And Every One
Polar Bear - 2015 Same as You
Esbjörn Svensson Trio discography 1993-2012 [FLAC]
Esbjörn Svensson Trio (or e.s.t.) was a Swedish jazz piano trio formed in 1993 consisting of Esbjörn Svensson (piano), Dan Berglund (double bass), and Magnus Öström (drums). Its music has classical, rock, pop, and techno elements. It lists classical composer Béla Bartók and rock band Radiohead as influences. Its style involves conventional jazz and the use of electronic effects and multitrack recording.
The trio deliberately blurred genres, with Svensson's musical catholicism drawing on a wide variety of artist influences. e.s.t. was also renowned for its vibrant style in live performances, often playing in rock and roll oriented venues to young crowds. It achieved great commercial success and critical acclaim throughout Europe. Its 1999 release From Gagarin's Point of View started its international breakthrough, being the first e.s.t. album to be released outside of Scandinavia through the German label ACT.
Svensson died in a scuba diving accident in Stockholm on 14 June 2008. He is survived by his wife and two sons. The publication All About Jazz remarked that the loss "will surely deeply sadden music lovers everywhere."
Since 2013 Magnus Öström and Dan Berglund are touring with the project e.s.t. symphony with Swedish arrangeur and conductor Hans Ek, performing symphonic versions of the e.s.t. songs.
(1993) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - When Everyone Has Gone
(1995) Esbjorn Swensson Trio - E.S.T. Live (2001)
(1996) Esjborn Svensson Trio - Plays Monk (1998)
(1997) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Winter in Venice
(1999) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - From Gagarin's Point Of View
(2000) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Good Morning Susie Soho
(2001) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Somewhere Else Before
(2002) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Strange Place for Snow (FLAC)
(2003) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Seven days Of Falling
(2005) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Viaticum & Live in Berlin
(2005) Esbj”rn Svensson Trio - Viaticum
(2006) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Tuesday Wonderland
(2007) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Live In Hamburg
(2008) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Leucocyte
(2009) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - Retrospective - The very best of e.s.t
(2012) Esbjorn Svensson Trio - 301
Ahmad Jamal - The Classic 1958-1962 Recordings [5 CD, 2013/FLAC]
The 2013 four-disc Ahmad Jamal anthology The Classic 1958-1962 Recordings brings together all of the albums made by Jamal and his trio at the height of their initial success. This includes his seminal 1958 live album, Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me. Also included are such albums as Happy Moods, Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra, All of You, Ahmad Jamal at the Blackhawk, Portfolio of Ahmad Jamal, and others. For fans looking for a consolidated overview of the influential pianist's early years, The Classic 1958-1962 Recordings is a superb option.
Miles Davis Quintet - Live At Newport 1966 & 1967 (2010/FLAC)
It’s one thing hearing about “rare tapes circulating among private collectors” but it’s another thing getting to hear them. Now you can; this is a hugely valuable release, a window into the working life of one of the greatest bands in the history of jazz performing at probably the most famous platform of all during the Golden Era of Jazz (1950s to the late 1960s), the Newport Jazz Festival (plus two bonus tracks taken from a broadcast in Finland on 1 November 1967). The liner notes say “This release contains all of the surviving music from the Miles Davis Quintet’s Newport sets of 1966 and 1967,” and were taken from live broadcasts of the event, complete with Willis Connover announcements, which adds to the atmosphere of the occassion. With the exception of Miles In Berlin and the Plugged Nickel sets, live documentation of this band is thin on the ground, given its (relative) longevity.
- Miles Davis, trumpet
- Wayne Shorter, tenor sax
- Herbie Hancock, piano
- Ron Carter, bass
- Tony Williams, drums
1. Introduction Into Gingerbread Boy
2. All Blues
3. Stella By Starlight [Incomplete]
4. Gingerbread Boy
5. Footprints
6. 'Round Midnight [Incomplete]
7. Introduction Into Footprints
8. 'Round Midnight [Incomplete]
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Complete Columbia Albums Collection (5 CD, 2012/FLAC)
CD1 - The Inner Mounting Flame
CD2 - Birds Of Fire
CD3 - The Lost Trident Sessions
CD4 - Between Nothingness & Eternity
CD5 - Unreleased Tracks From Between Nothingness & Eternity
Keith Jarrett - Mysteries: The Impulse Years 1975-1976 (4 CD, 1996/FLAC)
Mysteries: The Impulse Years 1975-1976 is a four CD collection of the Keith Jarrett albums Mysteries, Shades, Byablue and Bop-Be. The set was released in 1996 by Universal Music Group. Previously unreleased alternate takes are present on each disc.
The music was performed by Jarrett and his affectionately-titled 'American Quartet', composed of Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, and Dewey Redman. Guilherme Franco contributed additional percussion to Mysteries and Shades.
Keith Jarrett – The Impulse Years 1973-1974 (5 CD, 1997/FLAC)
Keith's killer quartet (with Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian) did their most powerful work for the Impulse label, and this 5-CD set presents it in its complete and digitally enhanced form for the first time ever! Nine of the 29 tracks have never been released, and three are classic tracks in their complete, unedited form for the first time. It's Keith Jarrett in his prime!
Sarah Vaughan discography [1944-2007]
Nicknamed "Sailor" (for her salty speech), "Sassy" and "The Divine One", Sarah Vaughan was a Grammy Award winner. The National Endowment for the Arts bestowed upon her its "highest honor in jazz", the NEA Jazz Masters Award, in 1989.
Miles Davis - That’s What Happened 1982-1985: Bootleg Volume 7 (3 CD, 2022/FLAC)
That’s What Happened 1982-1985: Bootleg Volume 7 is the next installment in the celebrated, award-winning archival series that began in 2011, shining an in-depth light onto different eras of the legendary career of Miles Davis.
In the 1980s, popular music had moved to a smoother, electronic-based sound that traded the steam of previous years for subdued arrangements meant to elicit peace and deep reflection. Miles Davis embraced this era, pulling inspiration from FM radio and an upstart music video channel called MTV. He was searching for the next frontier, letting his creativity roam. This music on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 captures that exploration, and finds Miles beginning to re-emerge in a creative landscape far different than the one he left in 1975. He’s touched every inch of pop culture while keeping true to his iconoclastic vision of jazz as amorphous art that’s supposed to bend and flow and mutate to something else. On That’s What Happened, we get to play in the rubble of what would become yet another period of unprecedented innovation. Beauty resides in evolution. The set collects nearly 4 hours of unreleased music including 2 CDs of studio material from 1982 to 1985 plus another CD containing a complete, blistering show of one of Miles’ last amazing bands captured live at the Festival International De Jazz De Montreal in July 1983. Side men include a multi-generational who’s who of jazz talent from JJ Johnson, John McLaughlin, Al Foster and John Scofield to Mike Stern, Marcus Miller, Daryl Jones and Vince Wilburn.
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