HR-Bigband (featuring Billy Cobham) - Meeting of the Spirits (A Celebration of the Mahavishnu Orchestra) [2006/FLAC]

 

Meeting of The Spirits / Celebrating The Music Of The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Bring together the mighty Hessische Rundfunk Big Band, the legendary drummer, Billy Cobham, the outstanding compositions of John McLaughlin and the consummate arranging skills of Colin Towns and you have an infallible recipe for success. For John McLaughlin, this project was, in his own words, a dream come true. 

Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald - The Complete Decca Sessions (1934-1941) [8 CD, 2013/FLAC]

 

A massively comprehensive look at the earliest years of Ella Fitzgerald on record – the legendary recordings she made with the Chick Webb orchestra at the end of the 30s and start of the 40s! Ella was way more than just another singer with a band – as her presence in the Webb group really dominated its recording history, so much so that there were nearly five times as many Chick Webb singles with vocals by Ella as there were instrumentals by the group! Fitzgerald's placement was for good reason, too – as her singing abilities were landmark – almost more with the deftness of an instrument than most other singers who'd come before, and developed amazingly over the course of the seven years presented in the set. If you only know Ella from all her later famous sides – and plenty of those are wonderful, too – you'll find even more to love here – a beautifully remastered presentation of 187 titles that were originally issued on 78rpm singles, all collected here for the first time ever – with amazing notes, photos, and details on all the music. The set's not only a great illustration of the strength of the Webb and Fitzgerald team, but also of the way that Mosaic's talents for compilation can work especially well for the pre-LP years of jazz!

Norah Jones — Come Away with Me (Super Deluxe Edition) [3 CD, 2022/FLAC]

 Norah Jones’ 2002 debut album Come Away With Me was reissued for its 20th anniversary, in April.

The album’s blend of jazz, blues, country, folk and pop – had an enormous appeal and Come Away With Me has, to date, sold nearly 30 million copies, and has garnered multiple awards, including eight Grammys.

22 unreleased tracks: demos, session outtakes, alternate versions & mixes Norah’s earliest demos—the tracks that got Blue Note’s attention, and the demos she recorded for the label—some of which were released on the promo-only EP First Sessions.

The full previously-unreleased original version of the album—including 11 unreleased cuts—produced by Craig Street and now newly-mixed by Tony Maserati, with alternate versions of well-known tracks and unheard performances

Jan Garbarek discography [1969-2009]

 

Jan Garbarek (born 4 March 1947 in Mysen, Norway) is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czeslaw Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter.

Garbarek's sound is one of the hallmarks of the ECM Records label, which has released virtually all of his recordings. His style incorporates a sharp-edged tone, long, keening, sustained notes, and generous use of silence. He began his recording career in the late 1960s, notably featuring on recordings by the American jazz composer George Russell (such as Othello Ballet Suite and Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature). If he had initially appeared as a devotee of Albert Ayler and Peter Brötzmann, by 1973 he had turned his back on the harsh dissonances of avant-garde jazz, retaining only his tone from his previous approach.

Sonny Rollins Quartet With Don Cherry - Complete Live At The Village Gate 1962 [6 CD, 2015/FLAC]

 

The 1962 live engagement at the Village Gate marked Sonny Rollins’ first recording ever with Don Cherry, as well as one of th earliest made by the saxophonist following his three-year long selfimposed musical exile. It was all recorded in a piano-less quartet format with Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums.

While only three tunes from the gig (“Dearly Beloved” in a highly edited form) were included on the famous LP "Our Man in Paris" (RCA Victor LPM 2612), this 6-CD collection adds all existing music taped during those live sessions, totaling more than five hours of previously unreleased material in brilliant stereo sound.

Among the many highlights here are the unedited "Dearly Beloved" (which is 10 minutes longer than the LP version), the issued Oleo with an extra minute at the beginning, Rollins’ only known reading of "Alexander’s Ragtime Band", and "Home Sweet Home", plus extended renditions of songs he only rarely recorded, such as "Solitude" and "Love Walked In".

                                                       

Maynard Ferguson - The Complete Roulette Recordings of the M.F. Orchestra [10 CD, 1994/FLAC]

 

Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson led his greatest big band during the years that he was signed to Roulette and all of the music from his 13 Roulette LPs (plus 11 previously unissued selections) are included on this deluxe limited-edition ten-CD box set. Although three of the LPs were originally recorded as dance records (and stick close to the melodies), this box as a whole finds Maynard at his peak and with an orchestra that includes such talented soloists as trombonists Slide Hampton and Don Sebesky (both of whom contributed arrangements), altoist Lanny Morgan, the tenors of Carmen Leggio, Willie Maiden, Joe Farrell, and Don Menza, pianists Jaki Byard and Joe Zawinul, and drummer Rufus Jones in addition to the leader. The music is very jazz-oriented and contains more than its share of classic moments, particularly the sessions that resulted in A Message From Newport and Newport Suite.

 

Miroslav Vitous discography [1969-2018]

 

Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš (6 December 1947) is a Czech jazz bassist who is known for his extensive career in the US.

Best known as one of the foremost young bassists in the jazz-rock movement of the late '60s and early '70s, Miroslav Vitous is one of Europe's most versatile imports, equally at home in mainstream idioms and even pop music. A sometime-leader, his bass dances and skitters around an ensemble as an equal member of the front line, and he makes very creative use of the bow. He is influenced not only by bassists like Scott LaFaro, Ron Carter, and Gary Peacock, but also by Czech folk music.

 

Dexter Gordon - The Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions [6 CD, 1996/FLAC]

The Complete Blue Note Sixties Sessions is an attractive six-disc box set featuring all of Dexter Gordon's '60s recordings for the label in chronological order. Such classic albums as Dexter Calling and Go! were recorded during these years, and they are presented in their entirety, as are two complete sessions that have been previously unavailable on CD and several unreleased alternate takes.

 

Charlie Parker - Bird In Boston - Live At The Hi-Hat 1953-1954 (2 CD, 2016/FLAC)

  

For over two decades, the Hi-Hat Club occupied a choice location among the jazz clubs of Boston’s South End district, at the corner of Columbus and Massachusetts Avenue. After the end of World War II, lesser luminaries took over the band-stand, and after a while entertainment practically stopped altogether.

Dave Coleman, a jazz promoter, had taken over management of the club in 1949. Through Coleman’s personal initiative, the Hi-Hat enjoyed its most successful years, and by 1951 it was the only club featuring a consistent policy of presenting modern jazz.

Between 1953 and 1954 Charlie Parker made several visits to Boston, where he was often hired to play as a “single” at the Hi-Hat, backed by local musicians. The performances contained in these two albums come from radio broadcasts emceed by famed disc-jockey “Symphony Sid” (Sid Torin), duplicating here his New York role from the control booth inside the Hi-Hat for his nightly radio show on WCOP.

• Charlie Parker (as), 
• Herb Pomeroy, Herbie Williams (tp), 
• Jay Migliori (ts), 
• Dean Earle, Rollins Griffith (p), 
• Bernie Griggs, Jimmy Woode (b), 
• Bill Graham, Marquis Foster, George Solano (d)

 

VA - The Complete Felsted Mainstream Collection (1958-1959) [5 CD, 2011]

 

 Between January of 1958 and April of 1959, famed English jazz writer Stanley Dance produced nine glorious LPs of traditional jazz for the Felsted label. Among the performers were many superb jazzmen who had been forgotten for decades or had rarely recorded as leaders. This 5-CD box set puts together, for the first time ever, all of the Felsted swing albums in their complete form, half of which had never previously appeared on CD, while many others have been long unavailable and truly hard to find. The leaders on the nine albums are clarinettist Buster Bailey, trombonist Dicky Wells (two LPs), tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins, Buddy Tate and Budd Johnson, pianists Earl Hines and Billy Strayhorn, and drummer Cozy Cole. Also featured are: Buck Claytonlayton, Charlie Shavers (tp),Johnny Hodges (as), Vic Dickenson (tb), Willie “The Lion” Smith, Hank Jones, Dick Caryary (p), Kenny Burrell (g), Rayay Brown (b),Jo Jones (d), among many others.