Marcus Miller — Original Album Classic (5 CD, 2009/FLAC)

 

CD 1 – The Sun Don’t Lie (1993)

CD 2 – Free (2007)

CD 3 – M² (2001)

CD 4 – Silver Rain (2005)

CD 5 – Tales (1994)

Billy Cobham discography 1973-2010

 

William C. Cobham (born May 16, 1944 in Panama), is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970's.
Coming to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Cobham is, in the words of Steve Huey, "generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer with an influential style that combines explosive power and exacting precision.

1973 Spectrum

1974 Crosswinds

1974 Total Eclipse

1975 A Funky Thide Of Sings

1975 Shabazz (Recorded Live In Europe)

1976 Life & Times

1976 "Live" On Tour In Europe [as The Billy Cobham - George Duke Band]

1977 Magic

1978 Inner Conflicts

1978 Simplicity of Expression - Depth of Thought

1980 Live: Flight Time

1981 Stratus [as Billy Cobham's Glassmenagerie]

1985 Warning

1986 Powerplay (Power Play)

1987 Picture This

1989 Incoming

1994 The Traveler

1996 Nordic

1998 Focused

1998 Live: Mississippi Nights

1999 By Design

1999 Nordic / Off Color

2000 North By Northwest

2001 Drum 'n' Voice: All that groove

2001 Rudiments: The Billy Cobham Anthology [Compilation]

2001 The Art Of Three

2002 Culture Mix

2005 Colours [as Billy Cobham's Culturemix]

2006 Drum 'n' Voice due 2

2007 Fruit From The Loom

2008 De Cuba Y De Panama [with Asere]

2010 Drum 'n' Voice vol. 3

2010 Palindrome

George Duke - My Soul: The Complete MPS Fusion Recordings [4 CD, 2008/FLAC]

  

An amazing package of work from George Duke - 6 of his legendary fusion albums for MPS Records, including the never-reissued double-length set Solus / The Inner Source! That incredible album is worth the price of the package alone - as it begins with some sublime trio work from Duke, rooted in jazz but already stretching out in amazing ways - then moves into some even hipper Latin-styled grooves, with Jerome Richardson on reeds and Luis Gasca on a bit of trumpet!
Other albums in the set are equally great - and trace Duke's evolution from straighter jazz into funky freer fusion and soul - an incredible musical shift that's presented on the albums Faces In Reflection, Feel, I Love The Blues She Heard My Cry, The Aura Will Prevail, and Liberated Fantasies - each of them classics in their own right, presented together wonderfully here in this complete MPS package! The set is amazing - with a whopping 64 titles in all, and complete notes on all the music - including some recollections from Duke himself.

Thelonious Monk - The Riverside Tenor Sessions (7 CD, 1998/FLAC)

 

Despite various reissue formats over several decades, the seven original LPs contained in Thelonious Monk -- The Riverside Tenor Sessions stood perfectly well on their own at the time of initial release and remain among the highest achievements of a truly golden age. Recorded and released between 1956 and 1961, these seven Monk combo albums were critical in Monk's emergence from a decade of ridicule and neglect to his status at the pinnacle of the jazz pantheon. In addition to some of his best recorded piano performances and more than two dozen of his profoundly personal compositions, these albums provide an overview of the era's major tenor saxophonists, with contributions by Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, Johnny Griffin, Charlie Rouse and Harold Land. Max Roach, Art Blakely, Roy Haynes and Thad Jones are among the other jazz immortals featured on the essential Brilliant Corners, Monk's Music, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, Thelonious in Action, Misterioso, 5 by Monk by 5 and Quartet Plus Two at the Blackhawk. Like the Miles Davis quintet records contained in Analogue Productions' Miles Davis Quintet: The Prestige Recordings, these Monk albums are among the pinnacle of the LP art -- and they have never sounded better.

Paul Desmond discography [1954-2020]

 

Paul Desmond is widely recognized for his genius as a melodic improviser and as the benchmark of cool jazz sax players. His warm, elegant tone was one that he admittedly tried to make sound like a dry martini. He and Art Pepper were virtually the only alto players of their generation not directly influenced by Charlie Parker. Desmond was influenced by Lester Young, but took it further, into melodic and harmonic worlds never before traveled by reedmen -- especially in the upper registers.

 

 

Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of American Music [22 CD, 2000] [FLAC]

 

Jazz was a 2000 documentary miniseries, directed by Ken Burns. It was broadcast on PBS in 2001, and was released on DVD later that year by the same company.

On November 7, 2000, 22 companion single-artist compilation albums, all titled Ken Burns Jazz, were released by the Verve and Columbia/Legacy labels.

The following albums were released by Verve:

• Count Basie - Allmusic link
• Art Blakey - Allmusic link
• John Coltrane - Allmusic link
• Ella Fitzgerald - Allmusic link
• Dizzy Gillespie - Allmusic link
• Coleman Hawkins - Allmusic link
• Billie Holiday - Allmusic link
• Charlie Parker - Allmusic link
• Sonny Rollins - Allmusic link
• Sarah Vaughan - Allmusic link
• Lester Young - Allmusic link

The following albums were released by Columbia/Legacy:

• Louis Armstrong - Allmusic link
• Sidney Bechet - Allmusic link
• Dave Brubeck - Allmusic link
• Ornette Coleman - Allmusic link
• Miles Davis - Allmusic link
• Duke Ellington - Allmusic link
• Benny Goodman - Allmusic link
• Herbie Hancock - Allmusic link
• Fletcher Henderson - Allmusic link
• Charles Mingus - Allmusic link
• Thelonious Monk - Allmusic link

Sonny Rollins- The Freelance Years- The Complete Riverside & Contemporary Recordings [5 CD, 2000/FLAC]

 Gathering the sessions for both Riverside and Contemporary Records between 1956 and 1958, this five-disc box is chock-full of the magic that has made Rollins the legendary icon he is. Not only are the saxophonist's essential records WAY OUT WEST, THE SOUND OF SONNY, SONNY ROLLINS PLAYS, FREEDOM SUITE, and SONNY ROLLINS AND THE CONTEMPORARY LEADERS included, but classic sessions led by Thelonious Monk, Kenny Dorham, and Abbey Lincoln are also here.

Together these discs show Rollins as a magnificent soloist who had his style fully developed while John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter were still in finishing school. The included booklet contains a thoughtfully written essay on Rollins during this period and a priceless collection of photographs of the legendary participants herein. Even if you only dimly consider yourself a Sonny Rollins fan, these recordings should be in your collection.

Dave Brubeck - Time Signatures: A Career Retrospective (4 CD, 1992/FLAC)

With material from 1946 to 1991, this handsome box set reveals the enormous breadth of Brubeck's interests, accomplishments, and collaborations. There are tracks, for example, with Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Rushing, Gerry Mulligan, and Carmen McRae. There's even a duo with Charles Mingus. Also here is the full range of Brubeck's studied structures, involved harmonies, and elements unusual to jazz, including expansive time signatures and the use of fugue form and 12-tone theory. Included, of course, are such signature hits as "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and "Take Five." Brubeck came up playing hillbilly, swing, and Dixieland, and at college studied modern composition. All of that--and little constraint--informed his complex, idiosyncratic style. The package includes an 80-page booklet with his biography, rare photographs, and descriptions of every track. 

Jimmy Smith- Complete Sermon Sessions (1957-1958) (2 CD, 2009) [FLAC]

 This release contains Jimmy Smith's complete classic Sermon sessions for the first time ever on a single set, in chronological order. These are his only preserved collaborations with Lee Morgan, the formidable trumpet player whose life came to a tragic end after being shot by his girlfriend at the tender age of 33. Tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks is also featured here. The outstanding reedman would pass away at the age of 42 after a life of drug addiction and self abuse. When these recordings were made, all of these musicians were in their early or late twenties.

Bud Powell -The Scene Changes: The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 5 (2015) [24-192]

Pianist Bud Powell made several fine recordings for Blue Note during the 1950s, including The Scene Changes, his last album for the label in 1958. He's joined by bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Taylor on a handful of his own compositions. Powell is in excellent form, and there's a simple elegance to the small setting with each of the players sharing equal space in the stereo spectrum. The title cut bops along at a snappy pace before taking time out toward the end for a Taylor solo, while 'Down With It' is pushed forward by Powell's forceful, driving rhythm. Extra touches here and there, like the piano intro on 'Cleopatra's Dream' and the drum roll that kicks off 'Duid Deed,' lets the listener know these players are in the groove. Only 'Boderick' sticks out as minor, and the fact that the players only devote two minutes to this parlor-piano piece seems to indicate they felt the same way. Powell, Chambers, and Taylor make amends for this on the eight-minute 'Coming Up,' a medium-tempo piece with idiosyncratic piano lines and a thumping beat (the bonus cut includes a shorter version of the composition). The Scene Changes is a fine album filled with good compositions and nice interplay between three musicians in top form.“