Dexter Gordon – The Complete Trio & Quartet Studio Recordings 1974/1975/1976 (8 CD, 2003) [FLAC]

This mammoth eight-disc box set contains all of the recordings Dexter Gordon cut for Steeplechase Records during the mid-'70s during the last years of his long sojourn in Paris. While his earlier Blue Note sides are often considered his finest, these dates, placing him in the company of brilliant musicians such as Kenny Drew, Tete Montoliu, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Albert Heath, Billy Higgins, Barry Harris, Sam Jones, and others, unquestionably rival them in quality. In addition to the great catalog Gordon amassed at Steeplechase, he left a ton of alternate takes and unreleased material on the shelf. This set brings together all of it, including 24 never-before-issued performances, making this, along with the Blue Note box set, the definitive Dexter Gordon caught at both his creative peaks. 

Michel Petrucciani - Montreux Years (2 CD, 2023) [24-96]

The brand-new release in The Montreux Years series is a collection of Michel Petrucciani’s most memorable performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival from 1990 – 1998.

Jaco Pastorius - Modern American Music... Period! The Criteria Sessions (1974/2014) [24-48]

Modern American Music... Period! The Criteria Sessions presents a series of demo recordings that bassist Jaco Pastorius made two years before his landmark debut album, 1976's Jaco Pastorius. Recorded after hours at Miami's Criteria Studios, these tracks represent some of the earliest solo cuts from Pastorius. 

Miles Davis & John Coltrane - The Best of Miles Davis and John Coltrane (2019) [24-48]

Coltrane had been a sideman with Davis on and off since 1955; they were both born in 1926, but their careers took drastically different paths. Davis was already a minor star in 1945, at the age of nineteen, when he recorded with Charlie Parker. Three years later, at twenty-two, he led a nonet, featuring intricate arrangements, that proved vastly influential. (They’re gathered under the title “Birth of the Cool.”) Davis had a huge and significant discography as a leader by the time he hired Coltrane, an unheralded musician best known as a rarely soloing sideman, who’d never yet led a record date. With Davis, Coltrane quickly found his voice, and expanded it during a stint in 1957 with Thelonious Monk. Coltrane had led dates on several labels; recorded the influential “Giant Steps,” in 1959; and was ready to go out on his own.

01 - Round Midnight 05:56

02 - Airegin 04:25

03 - My Funny Valentine 06:01

04 - Half Nelson 04:45

05 - The Maids of Cadiz 03:54

06 - Blues for Pablo 05:20

07 - Generique - Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud 02:48

08 - Au Bar Du Petit Bac - Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud 02:53

09 - Miles 05:42

10 - Summertime 03:19

11 - It Ain't Necessarily So 04:25

12 - So What 09:04

13 - All Blues 11:32

14 - Someday My Prince Will Come 09:04

15 - Giant Steps 04:44

16 - Syeeda's Song Flute 07:01

17 - Naima 04:21

18 - Like Sonny 05:52

19 - My Favorite Things 13:42

20 - Equinox 08:33

21 - Aisha 07:37

22 - Greensleeves 09:58

23 - Soul Eyes 05:24

24 - Tunji 06:33

25 - In a Sentimental Mood 04:14

Laboratorium - Anthology 1971-1988 [10 CD, 2006]

 

The end of the 60s was an important period in jazz, as well as rock music, in Poland and the rest of the world, with the development of many styles and trends in popular music. In 1970 the jazz rock fusion band, Laboratorium was formed in Kraków. Their music soon developed in jazz rock fusion, and so were pioneers in this music in Poland. In their first years, Laboratorium's music was acoustic, cleverly avoiding any limiting definitions. At the beginning of the 70's there was very limited access to Western recordings but this did not prove an obstacle for the band, because of the musicians searching and experimenting in the field. On the contrary and because of their relative isolation, Laboratorium developed an unique sound which was often noted in various critical reviews.

The Laboratorium's album debut was released in January 1973, consisting of two tracks recorded in April 1972 in a studio belonging to the PR III of the Polish Radio. The recording session was in fact, an award for taking second place on the Jazz Nad Odr¹ '72 festival. The tracks were noted for their unusual approach both towards harmony and tension-building. The first song 'Chora³' included a vocal fragment by Marek Stryszowski. Later his singing was to become an important and significant element of Laboratorium's music, often utilising electronic voice-modulation effects.

Didier Lockwood, Allan Holdsworth - The Unique Concert (1980/2020) [24-96]

Concert at the Paris Jazz Festival on November 1, 1980 at the Théâtre de la Ville.

On November 1, 1980 at the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris, an exceptional concert brought together some of the greatest French and European jazz musicians of that time. An exceptional roster that is not necessarily the assurance of a big concert, and yet, that evening, it was!

VA - The Complete Gershwin Songbooks (3 CD, 1995) [FLAC]

 

The Complete Gershwin Songbooks collects three discs also released separately: 'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous, and 'S Paradise. The first two discs include the greatest vocalists Verve had to offer, including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Anita O'Day, Shirley Horn, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Bing Crosby, Joe Williams, Fred Astaire, and even Antonio Carlos Jobim. Obviously, the songs are all classics and the versions presented are quite legendary themselves. The third disc in the set includes instrumental versions of Gershwin standards (by Bill Evans, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Clifford Brown, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson) that focus on the composer's stunning gift of melody and harmonic interplay -- just as the vocalists' versions highlight his lyrical prowess. Not all the versions are definitive, but The Complete Gershwin Songbooks includes many treats for fans of classic traditional pop. 

Swing Time: The Encyclopedia Of Jazz (100 CD, 2008) [320]

Giant 100 CD boxset 

All-star swing groups with their most famous recordings

Membran Music 2008

see tracklist & info

 

Al Di Meola, Jean-Luc Ponty, Stanley Clarke / Live At Montreux 1994 (2005) [24-48]

It was at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1994 that Al Di Meola, Jean-Luc Ponty and Stanley Clarke played as a trio for the first time. Clarke and Di Meola had been part of Return to Forever and while they were comfortable in the familiarity of knowing each other, Ponty reached in and became a perfect fit. That language of understanding is seen to advantage on this portrait.

• Al DiMeola (guitar)
• Jean-Luc Ponty (violin)
• Stanley Clarke (bass)

Guest artist: Monty Alexander (piano on "Song to John")

01 - Song To John 12:57

02 - Memory Canyon 10:13

03 - La Cancion De Sofia 13:42

04 - Summer Country Song 06:41

05 - School Days 06:43

06 - Eulogy To Oscar Romero 06:19

07 - Renaissance 09:55

08 - Chillean Pipe Song 06:31

09 - Song To John 13:31

10 - Indigo 08:04

Stan Getz, Chet Baker - Stockholm Concerts 1983 [3 CD, 1999/FLAC]

  

According to this set's annotator, Mike Hennessey, and Stan Getz's biographer, Donald Maggin, the circumstances surrounding the making of these 1983 recordings was unpleasant in the extreme. For various reasons, Getz was unhappy to be concertizing with Baker and forced him out before the 35-date tour was halfway finished. Before Baker left, however, the men played a pair of concerts in Stockholm, which were fortunately recorded for posterity. Fortunately not because Getz and Baker shared any special rapport that led to a classic performance, but because the resulting album gives listeners another example of how wonderful a player Chet Baker was, even after years of drug addiction and general dissolution. Getz is his typical self -- lyrical, facile almost to the point of glibness, but musical nevertheless. Baker, on the other hand, is as he ever was -- one of the most spontaneously creative, emotionally compelling voices in jazz. The band is good if unspectacular; drummer Victor Lewis was a particularly nice choice in that he could drive a band like this without overwhelming the rather brittle lead voices. And Getz is excellent; if you're a Getz fan, he's in fine form here, so you won't be disappointed. Baker, on the other hand, is superb; it's his inimitable musicality that ultimately makes this rather pricey three-disc set a bargain.