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Miles Davis – Collectors’ Items (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) (1956/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 43:32 minutes | 429 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Artwork: Digital Booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: January 30, 1953 (#1-4) WOR Studios, New York City and March 16, 1956 (#5-7) at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2008, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Any 1950s Miles Davis recording could easily be called a “collector’s item,” but these selections have special claims to this description. The first four offer Charlie Parker in his only recordings in support of Miles, who had begun his disc career as Bird’s sideman. The last four feature a unique Davis/Mingus encounter. In between is Miles just before launching his first great Quintet, heading two groups loaded with top talent of the “post-bop” period.
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Miles Davis – Bags’ Groove (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) (1957/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:14 minutes | 525 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz | Artwork: Digital Booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: June 29 & December 24, 1954 at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, HJ
Remastered: 2007, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Bag’s Groove was recorded in 1954 for Prestige Records but was not released until 1957. Most of the album was recorded on June 29, 1954, but the title track was recorded at one session on December 24 of the same year. Several of the tracks on the album were written by Sonny Rollins and would go on to become jazz standards in their own right. (more…)
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Mendelssohn & Bruch – Violin Concertos – Itzhak Perlman, London Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 00:53:58 minutes | 1,05 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz | Digital Booklet | © Warner Classics
Recorded: Studio No.1, Abbey Road, London, 27 & 28 November 1972
Itzhak Perlman and André Previn have worked together in the recording studio on many occasions and on a wide-ranging repertoire. The latter has conducted the former in eleven works, their first joint production (Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole and Ravel’s Tzigane for RCA) dating back as far as 1968. All the albums that followed were made for EMI, beginning with this one, which they recorded in 1972. After that, they appeared together in orchestral works by Bartók (see volume 6), Goldmark and Sarasate (volume 17), Sibelius and Sinding (volume 21) and Conus and Korngold (volume 27). In addition, Previn moved to the keyboard to accompany Perlman on a number of rag and jazz albums (volumes 10 and 24) although, unlike Anne-Sophie Mutter and Gil Shaham (on DG), Perlman has never recorded Previn’s own sonatas or concertos.
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Felix Mendelssohn – Songs without Words – Javier Perianes (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 01:16:55 minutes | 1,44 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: eClassical | Digital Booklet | © Harmonia Mundi
“If Javier Perianes was setting out to show the full range of Mendelssohn’s genius as a writer for the piano, he has certainly succeeded with this disc…Perianes’s singing right hand moulds the melodies with great affection…[he] has not only impeccable technique but the sharpest of ears for textures and for nuances at the lower end of the dynamic range.” –BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2014
“There’s nothing small-scale about his conception of this music and, where need be, climaxes are bold…He can charm without trying to, thanks to a haloed sound well caught by Harmonia Mundi’s engineers…There’s great clarity to Perianes’s fugal textures and handled.” –Gramophone Magazine, December 2014
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Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy – Lieder ohne Worte, Books 5-8 – Ronald Brautigam (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 01:13:33 minutes | 1,1 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: eClassical | Digital Booklet | © BIS Records
Recorded: August 2014 at Österåker Church, Sweden
Ronald Brautigam, piano During the early 19th century a number of composers began to write in new genres inspired by literature: Chopin’s Ballades, Schumann’s Novelletten and, later, Liszt’s symphonic poems are all examples of this Romantic urge to create works that transcend the divide between the arts. In 1828 Felix Mendelssohn invented a genre of his own, when he presented his sister Fanny with a ‘song without words’ for her birthday. He went on to compose a large number of such Lieder ohne Worte and published no less than six sets of six pieces each. These became immensely popular with amateur and professional pianists, as well as with their respective audiences. Mendelssohn’s death in 1847 did not affect the huge demand for the pieces, and the publisher Simrock soon issued another two sets, compiled from pieces that the composer had set aside for later publication. Mendelssohn himself supplied a few of the songs with more or less descriptive subtitles, but his aim was not to tell an existing story in music instead of words, but rather to communicate something that could only be conveyed through music. To Mendelssohn, music was more exact than language – in his own words: ‘the music I love expresses ideas that are not too vague to be captured in words, but on the contrary too precise.’ When Ronald Brautigam’s recording of Books 1-4 was released in 2012, the reviewer in International Record Review wrote: ‘One could scarcely hope for performances more vivid or poetic than these.’ This second volume includes the last four published sets of Lieder ohne Worte, as well as a number of other piano miniatures. Brautigam performs them on the same instrument as on the previous disc, a copy by Paul McNulty after a piano from 1830 by Ignaz Pleyel, preserved at Musée de la musique in Paris.
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Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy – Lieder ohne Worte, Books 1-4 – Ronald Brautigam (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 01:09:19 minutes | 1,04 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: eClassical | Digital Booklet | © BIS Records
Recorded: August 2011 at Österåker Church, Sweden
If claims could be made for a certain composer to have invented a genre single-handedly, Felix Mendelssohn would be a strong candidate with his ‘Songs without Words’. The term itself can be traced back to 1828, and a letter in which Fanny Mendelssohn mention having received a ‘song without words’ as a birthday present from her brother.
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Marvin Gaye – Trouble Man (1972/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 38:30 minutes | 1,43 GB | Genre: R&B, Soul, Soundtrack
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Artwork: Front cover | © Universal Motown
Recorded: 1972, Hitsville West, Los Angeles, California
In 1972, things were rapidly shifting in Marvin Gaye’s world. He was coming off of one of his most wide-reaching hit albums with 1971’s instant classic What’s Going On, and his recording contract with Motown subsidiary Tamla was renewed for a cool million dollars and total creative control, making him one of the most successful R&B artists of his day. With Motown’s offices migrating west from Detroit to Los Angeles, Gaye followed suit, beginning work on Trouble Man, both the score to a blaxploitation film of the same name and the soundtrack that would be his next album. With minimal singing (Gaye sings through only the title track, adding fragmentary vocalizations minimally throughout the rest of the album), Gaye wrote, arranged, and conducted the entire soundtrack, working with both Motown players and a full orchestra over the course of its recording. It’s been speculated by some that Trouble Man was a concerted effort to move away from the expectations of a carbon-copy follow-up to the almost immeasurably high standards of What’s Going On, but it’s best to look at the record as an entity unto itself rather than the next Marvin Gaye album in the chain. Though largely absent of his one-of-a-kind vocal presence, the arrangements are richer and more sophisticated than the majority of early blaxploitation fare, with some of the same theatricality and filmic urgency of the best Morricone or David Axelrod soundtracks. With instrumentation more ambitious than even the enormity of What’s Going On, Trouble Man never stays in one place for long. “‘T’ Plays It Cool” paints a hustling cityscape with its solid beat and nervous synthesizer bubbles. Plaintive sax trades verses with rudimentary keyboards and Marvin’s soulful wails on “Life Is a Gamble,” and mournful passages of chamber strings give way to bounding funk grooves. Isaac Hayes’ Shaft soundtrack would become debatably more widely remembered than the movie it scored, and Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly soundtrack had a similar reception. Likewise, Trouble Man the soundtrack album outperformed Trouble Man the movie by leaps and bounds, enjoying Top 20 chart success in its day while the movie sank rapidly into obscurity. Looking at the album outside the trends of its era and inward to the art that Gaye was sculpting shows Trouble Man as a mostly wordless statement on the rapidly changing times for both young black America and Marvin’s personal life. The compositions well over with equal parts tension and detached cool, moving through modes of heartbreaking struggle, searching wonder, and playful street scenes. While it’s been relegated to the lesser status of Gaye’s one-off blaxploitation soundtrack, it rises far above the wandering wah-wah guitars and dated bongos of its peers. Trouble Man might not be as immediate or universally relatable as Gaye’s soul-searching on What’s Going On or his later sensual fixations, but a deep listen will show it’s very much part of the same overarching genius that touched all of his work. ~~ AllMusic Review by Fred Thomas
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Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue (1963/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:38 minutes | 1,55 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet | © Blue Note Records
Recorded: Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, January 8, 1963
Originally released as Blue Note BLP 4123 (mono) and BST 84123 (stereo)
“In preparing these hi def remasters, we were very conscientious about maintaining the feel of the original releases while adding a previously unattainable transparency and depth. It now sounds like you’ve set up your chaise lounge right in the middle of Rudy Van Gelder’s studio!” – Blue Note President, Don Was.
Midnight Blue is Kenny Burrell’s understated masterpiece and one of the finest displays of bluesy-jazz guitar playing. The guitarist whose tone entranced Jimi Hendrix and whose style was emulated by Stevie Ray Vaughan moves deliberately and patiently through this intimate set. Standouts include the smokin’ opener, “Chitlins Con Carne” and the stunning “Soul Lament.” His elegant choice of chords and melodic intensity are powerful and fluid. This star-studded affair also features tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, double-bassist Major Holley Jr., drummer Bill English and conga-player Ray Barretto. In 2005, NPR included the album in its “Basic Jazz Library,” describing the album as “one of the great jazzy blues records.” (more…)
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Kenny Burrell with Coleman Hawkins – Bluesy Burrell (1963/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:32 minutes | 425 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, September 14, 1962; #8 – August 15, 1963
Remastered: 2008, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Kenny Burrell performs with Coleman Hawkins and his rhythm section. Burrell is in optimum form on all the numbers and in their varied expressions. The leading neo-bop guitarist, he is capable of a far reaching range of expression. His chords can be as lush as, say Johnny Smith’s can, but his lines are always rhythmically spirited by a very powerful jazz energy and blues-in-formed charge that I think no contemporary guitarist can equal.
“… (Hawkins) clearly enjoys playing with Burrell, as much as you’ll enjoy playing the record.””
—All About Jazz
Features the BONUS TRACK “I Never Knew.” (more…)
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Karol Beffa – Into the dark – Karol Beffa, Karine Deshayes, Arnaud Thorette, Emmanuel Ceysson, Ensemble Contraste, Johan Farjot (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:13:05 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz | Digital booklet | © Aparté
Recorded: 31 janvier, 1er février et 14 février 2013 au Temple Saint Marcel, Paris
The music of contemporary French composer Karol Beffa takes us through the mirror into a dream world that is at once strange and intimately familiar. It invites us to explore inner harmony and rhythm. This new recording includes ‘Into the Dark’, ‘Rainbow’, ‘Dédales’ for piano and string orchestra and ‘Nuit obscure’ for string orchestra and voice. Gorgeously executed by Ensemble Contraste under the direction of Johan Farjot, this recording features mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes, harpist Emmanuel Ceysson, violist Arnaud Thorette and the composer on piano. Pianist and improviser, Karol Beffa is a composer whose works have been performed in France Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Russia, the United States and Japan by such well-known ensembles as A Sei Voci, Maîtrise de Radio France, Cambridge Voices, and the leading orchestras (Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Lyon, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen…). As composer-in-residence of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (2006-09), Karol Beffa wrote Paradis artificiels (2007), a Violin Concerto, premiered by Renaud Capuçon (2008), and a Piano Concerto, first performed by Boris Berezovsky (2009). In addition, he has composed two incidental scores as well as the music for 15 films.
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John Coltrane – Traneing In (1958/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 37:52 minutes | 225 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: August 23, 1957 at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2006, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Recorded in one day (August 23, 1957) at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Hackensack, NJ. This date of ballads and burners features the young tenor saxophonist John Coltrane leading a quartet comprised of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Arthur Taylor.
Liner notewriter (original and reissue) Ira Gitler remarks, “In the ‘50s I was called upon to name many of the untitled songs at Prestige. Traneing In came to me because of the way [Coltrane] homed in after Garland’s opening solo [on the song].” This album is significant in that it took place halfway through Coltrane’s break with Miles Davis’ classic quintet of the ‘50s and it was the same year that the tenor saxophonist hooked up with Thelonious Monk to record the recently discovered live Carnegie Hall masterpiece. (more…)
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John Coltrane – Stardust (1963/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 37:22 minutes | 433 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: July 11, 1958 (#1, 3), December 26, 1958 (#2, 4) at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2007, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Stardust is an album that was assembled from two different recording sessions that took place at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1958.
It’s hard to believe after hearing the eloquence of “Then I’ll Be Tired of You” or the title track, but John Coltrane’s ballad mastery was the last of his skills to receive wide appreciation. The notion that Coltrane the balladeer was as commanding as Coltrane the uptempo wizard or Coltrane the blues player finally gained acceptance in the early 60s, when this album first appeared and quickly became an important exhibit in the reconsideration.
The extended performances boast additional delights, including Paul Chambers’s arco bass on “Stardust,” Red Garland’s well-paced choruses on “Time After Time,” some of Wilbur Harden’s best trumpet work on “Love Thy Neighbor,” and Freddie Hubbard’s earliest on “Then I’ll Be Tired of You”; they were recorded at Coltrane’s final two sessions for Prestige.
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John Coltrane – Soultrane (1958/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 40:02 minutes | 267 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: February 7, 1958 at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2006, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Soultrane was John Coultrane’s fourth album, originally released in 1958 on Prestige Records. It was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, and features John Coltrane on sax, Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Art Taylor (drums).
This album is a part of the Rudy Van Gelder Remasters series; these albums have been remastered by Rudy Van Gelder (the original session engineer).
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John Coltrane – Settin’ The Pace (1961/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 52:41 minutes | 639 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: March 26th, 1958 at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2007, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Jazz saxophonist John Coltrane’s album Settin’ The Pacewas originally released in 1961. Coltrane had recorded some unissued recordings while under the label Prestige, after his fame grew and he was no longer with the label they used these recordings and released albums without Coltrane’s approval. This was one such album. The decision to release this album now is to a certain extent determined by economic considerations, but it also happens to throw light on certain aspects of the jazz business which warrant discussion. Had the album been released at the time it was recorded it would have reached the small nucleus of Coltrane followers then active, and of the rest been largely ignored.
One aspect of Coltrane’s work, apparent here, is just beginning to be noticed. He is one of our most lyrical musicians, but it is not a standard form of lyricism—it does not gush and does not cloy—and that quality went unnoticed for a long time when the discussions of his work were primarily concerned with the technical innovations he was making. Settin’ The Pace features popular song “I See Your Face Before Me”, composed by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz.
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John Coltrane – Lush Life (1961/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 36:55 minutes | 243 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital booklet | © Prestige Records
Recorded: May 31, 1957 (#5), August 16, 1957 (#1-3), January 10, 1958 (#4) at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ
Remastered: 2005, Rudy Van Gelder at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Lush Life is an album that was assembled from two different recording sessions that took place at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1957-1958. Released 1961 under Prestige Records.
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