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Dave Liebman – Ceremony (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 47:49 minutes | 2,00 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chesky Records
The National Endowment of the Arts’ Jazz Master, Dave Liebman, was born in New York City on September 4th, 1946 during a period of change in jazz, one that has yet to be properly documented by even its most noted musicians, writers, filmmakers, and serious academics. It was a time when Afro-Cuban based dance music and its driving polyrhythms were taking the city, and eventually the country, by storm. At its epicenter was the Machito Afro-Cubans, a big band led by the amazing multi-instrumentalist (clarinet, alto sax, lead trumpet) Mario Bauzá and his brother-in- law Frank Grillo (Machito). Thus Afro-Cuban jazz, the first form of Latin jazz, was born and Afro-Cuban percussion would become part of mainstream jazz in America.
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Dave Liebman – Aural Landscapes (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:09:55 minutes | 572 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Jazzline
David Liebman is considered a renaissance man in contemporary music with a career stretching over fifty years. He has played with masters including Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, McCoy Tyner and others; authored books and instructional DVDs which are acknowledged as classics in the jazz field; recorded as a leader in styles ranging from classical to rock to free jazz. He has performed on over 500 recordings with over 200 as a leader/co-leader featuring several hundred original compositions.
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Dave Koz & Friends – The 25th Of December (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:03 minutes | 1,16 GB | Genre: Smooth Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Concord Records
Nothing sets the tone for the holidays better than the music – it’s why we love hearing these songs, year after year. They’re more than just notes or lyrics – the songs become guideposts of our lives…reminders of Christmases past, of special moments spent with family and friends – they can return us to childlike innocence and jog our memories back to simpler times.
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Dave Koz And Friends – Summer Horns II From A To Z (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 54:53 minutes | 664 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Concord Records
Dave Koz’s first Summer Horns installment, from 2013, was an all-saxophone affair. Retaining Gerald Albright and Richard Elliot from that outing, Koz assembles another front line of marquee musicians for Summer Horns II: From A to Z, including new arrivals Rick Braun (trumpet) and Aubrey Logan (trombone/vocals), who contribute a brassier texture to the proceedings. The goal is less individual solo spotlights and more about the classic horn-section sound that prevailed in rock, pop, and soul of the ’60s and ’70s. The menu, therefore, is spot-on: Songs by Spiral Starecase, Earth, Wind & Fire, Paul Simon, and Stevie Wonder are arranged by session veteran Tom Scott, big-band leader Gordon Goodwin, or Tower of Power’s Greg Adams. (The subtitle, From A to Z, refers to the unlikely medley of “Take the ‘A’ Train” and JAY-Z’s “Roc Boys.”)
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Dave Koz – Lucky Man (1993/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 59:52 minutes | 1,95 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records
Saxophonist Dave Koz has become one of the most successful and beloved instrumentalists of his time, and helped establish smooth jazz as a musical force to be reckoned with. His career catapulted with 1993’s Lucky Man, one of Koz’ slickest and most commercial releases (which is not a bad thing by any means) to date. The album has an undeniably crisp and clean feel, akin to the color schemes used in the artwork. The musical styles range from funky and peppy, as in the opening “Shakin’ the Shack,” “Silverlining,” and the evergreen “You Make Me Smile,” to tender and sweet, as in “Faces of the Heart,” “Lucky Man,” and “Tender Is the Night,” which features hypnotic vocals courtesy of Phil Perry. A definite highlight is the unstoppable and downright electrifying “Saxman,” which features an A list who’s who of influential saxophonists jamming along with Koz. The album also utilizes hip-hop scratches and beats on his wonderfully soulful cover of “Don’t Look Any Further” (which features former C+C Music Factory belter Zelma Davis) and a gospel choir on “Show Me the Way.” Closing with his wonderful and touching rendition of “Misty,” Lucky Man is a must for any fan of contemporary and smooth jazz, and ranks as an absolute highlight in Dave Koz’ enduring catalog.
– Jose F. Promis
Dave Koz – Dave Koz and Friends 20th Anniversary Christmas (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:39 minutes | 478 MB | Genre: Smooth Jazz, Holiday
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Concord Records
Dave Koz is one of the most popular smooth jazz artists in the world and his Christmas albums are unparalleled. For his 2017 addition to his oeuvre of Holiday hits, he revisits some of the songs on his first Christmas album ‘December Makes Me Feel This Way” exactly 20 years later. The album is Dave plus “Friends”, this time the special guests include David Benoit, Rick Braun and Peter White. It’s a formula that saw success with previous Summer Horns and Christmas albums. Dave has continually shown skill and showmanship and has proven that he can deliver what holiday music fans crave.
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Dave Holland, Zakir Hussain & Chris Potter – Good Hope (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:25 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Edition Records
Under the collective group name of Crosscurrents Trio, Dave Holland, Zakir Hussain and Chris Potter release Good Hope, a monumental and exceptional album that will inspire and excite a global audience for its formidable display of virtuosity, brilliance and sophisticated musical language. An international supergroup featuring giants of American and Indian music, Good Hope is masterfully crafted, an inspired and generous album that displays a clarity and intensity of vision with a deep desire of mutual respect for collaboration and sharing a love of this music.
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Dave Holland, Derek Bailey – Improvisations For Cello And Guitar (Live At Little Theater Club, London / 1971) (1971/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:54 minutes | 759 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM
If you’ve ever picked up a guitar and played those short strings between the end of the neck and the pegs and wondered if one could make viable music with that kind of sound, then look no further, for that is precisely the pinpoint aesthetic captured on this rare recording. These improvisations are miniscule and entomological, whispering with the nocturnal regularity of a cricket. Holland and Bailey shift from pops and plucks to more sustained tones at the drop of a hat, but always with an ear keenly tuned to the other player. The two take full advantage of extended techniques to create a wide palette of sounds. These are delicate pieces, but no less full of verve and character for their utter precision. Sometimes the music is incredibly expansive. Other times it seems to implode, by turns galactic and subterranean. Because both musicians are so skillful at what they do, one can truly appreciate the spontaneous dynamics of their playing, the ways in which they react and prompt each other into action. They are never afraid to take separate paths, for they always seem to rejoin, and in doing so they add seemingly endless variety as the energy flows and ebbs. It’s always fascinating to hear Dave Holland’s earlier work, and this meeting with Bailey is certainly an archival treat.
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Dave Holland Quartet – Conference Of The Birds (1973/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 39:42 minutes | 1,35 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ECM
Bassist Dave Holland leads his quartet on this 1973 release which earned four stars from The Penguin Guide to Jazz and is now considered an essential album in any jazz collection.
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Dave Holland – Another Land (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:39 minutes | 1,24 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Edition Records
Another Land is the new album from the all-star trio featuring Dave Holland, Kevin Eubanks and Obed Calvaire and a power-packed set of originals. This is a potent studio set of fluid themes developed by the band and forged in the furnace of live performance. During the live shows that preceded the recording of Another Land, Dave explains “we were doing a continuous set, once we started we very rarely stopped, we just kept going,”. The Guardian described the shows as a “blues-fuelled inferno summoning the spirit of Hendrix”
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Kjetil Mulelid Trio – What You Thought Was Home (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 37:06 minutes | 417 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rune Grammofon
Kjetil Mulelid Trio debut ”Not Nearly Enough To Buy A House” (2017) received wide international acclaim, with writers most typically mentioning Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans. All About Jazz noted their conversational style and sometime gospel feel, Textura made a point out of their melodic sense and folk-like character while The Wire noted the grooves, rich harmonies and lyrical melodies and concluded about “just how magical this album is. What You Thought Was Home continues in this tradition, with eight new beguiling Mulelid compositions expertly balancing energetic, often rhytmically complex and harmonically rich music with beautiful and evocative melodies.
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Kiyoshi Shomura – godfather love theme (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:09:21 minutes | 2,69 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © EXTON
During a recent visit to Japan, I met with two of Japan’s most prominent guitarists: Kiyoshi Shomura and Shin-Ichi Fukuda. Each has had a brilliant career performing, teaching, and recording. Together and separately they have greatly raised awareness of classical guitar in the Land of the Rising Sun and championed guitar music composed by their countrymen on stage and on record. Toru Takemitsu dedicated three significant works to Shomura. And Fukuda has also been the dedicatee of new music and is currently documenting works by top Japanese composers in a series of albums for the Naxos label.
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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Laminated Denim (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 30:00 minutes | 370 MB | Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © KGLW (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard)
Laminated Denim is made up of two fifteen minute songs meant to be used as intermission music at King Gizzard’s late 2022 shows held at Colorado’s famed Red Rocks amphitheater. They were originally scheduled there in 2020, and the band concocted intermission music for the occasion, but the shows were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Never a band to waste material or let down fans, they released the music under the name Made in Timeland after the band were able to play an epic Melbourne concert. When the time grew closer to the rescheduled shows at Red Rocks, they realized they wanted to treat fans to something brand new. (For fans of wordplay, Laminated Denim is an anagram of Made in Timeland.) The first of the tracks “The Land Before Timeland” is a motorik jam with slots for harmonica solos, avant garde jazz guitar noodling, a laid back melody sung in falsetto, and an ending that swirls into a psychedelic dust storm. It makes for exactly the kind of relaxed vibes concert patrons might want after watching the Gizz go wild onstage for ninety minutes. The other piece, titled “Hypertension,” feels a little more filler-y as it unspools one fuzzy, proggy guitar solo after another, never really going much of anywhere but sounding good as it meanders. It does come to a nice climax, with flutes, guitars, and chanted vocals locking into a strong groove that builds excitment as it grows in intensity. Again, perfect for taking up time until the stars of the show return to the stage. Does it make for good home listening? Is it King Gizzard at their best? yes, and not exactly. It certainly slots in a level below their more considered releases, but if one is fully onboard with the King Gizzard experience, Laminated Denim is certainly worth adding to an ever expanding collection of works. – Tim Sendra
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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Infest The Rats’ Nest (2019/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 34:54 minutes | 419 MB | Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © KGLW
The planet is in trouble. Dire trouble. But fear not: Melbourne seven-piece King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard return to save us all, this time armed only with blast beats, an arsenal of well-oiled guitars that are locked and loaded, and a desire to melt faces clean off. Their fifteenth studio album, Infest The Rats’ Nest, out Aug 16th, is by far The Gizz’s hardest and heaviest album to date. How metal is it? Very Metal. Maybe even more.
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King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Eyes Like The Sky (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 27:47 minutes | 321 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © KGLW
Some time in July 2012 we played a show in Castlemaine with Brod Smith. He’s a crazy-genius-western-nut-ex-rocker and is also Ambrose’s father. This was not long after we had collaborated with him on the recording of Sam Cherry’s Last Shot so we performed an off the cuff version of that song to half-a-dozen confused locals. That got me thinking about trying a multi-song, read-along, narrative based, western musical record. Brod seemed keen to compose a story and provide narration so Cavs, Lucas and I raced to my parents garage and recorded Fort Whipple and The Killing Ground. You can hear my parents dogs barking in the background and my dad banging on some old rusted saw blade. I didn’t really have much of an idea about recording back then (still don’t really). I think I had 2 microphones and I was recording onto this hunk-of-shit-but-kinda-awesome digital 8 track machine. We had no mic stands so one mic was taped onto a shoebox in front of a guitar amp and one was hanging over the drum kit boxing ring style from the roof truss. I sent these recordings to Brod and he wrote the first chapter of Eyes Like the Sky that night and send me a recording of him reading it into his computer mic. It sounded kind of fucked up so played it though a guitar amp, recorded it, and synched it to the next recording we made which ended up being the title track. Brod and I went back and forward from there, sometimes the music inspiring the words or the words inspiring the music. It all came together pretty fast. So as you may be able to tell, it is flattering and bemusing to me that people would want to listen to this fried, weird, lo-fi record of ours.
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