East Coast Jazz, Vol.5 – Milt Hinton (1955/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:06 minutes | 505 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: PrestoClassical | Front Cover | © Bethlehem Records
Volume five in Creed Taylor’s East Coast Jazz series showcases double bassist Milt Hinton and his quartet: A.J. Sciacca on clarinet, Dick Katz on piano and Osie Johnson on drums. About half the tunes on this 1955 release are original compositions by either Hinton or Katz. Generally a swingin’ jam release.
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East Coast Jazz, Vol.4 – Herbie Mann (1954/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 23:27 minutes | 361 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: PrestoClassical | Front Cover | © Bethlehem Records
Jazz flute innovator Herbie Mann is the focus of this fourth installment in producer Creed Taylor’s East Coast Jazz series, initiated to differentiate the jazz coming out of New York from the jazz being produced in California in the mid-1950s. This 1954 session was Mann’s first record as a solo artist, originally issued on 10-inch vinyl.
Mann contributes three original tunes incuding The Purple Grotto, written at the request of New York disc jockey Al “Jazzbo” Collins who was a big fan and wanted Mann to write something “moody and funky”.
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East Coast Jazz, Vol.3 – Joe Puma (1954/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 27:41 minutes | 526 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: PrestoClassical | Front Cover | © Bethlehem Records
Hardly a household name, jazz guitarist Joe Puma had a 50-year career as a sideman for other artists but rarely recorded under his own name. He was a favourite guitarist of Peggy Lee and Tony Bennett but recorded with dozens of other major names in jazz during his career. Puma performs here with Vinnie Burke on bass, Don Elliott on vibes, Barry Galbraith on guitar and drummer Todd Sommer. This album is part of the East Coast Jazz series launched by producer Creed Taylor at Bethlehem Records in 1954 to distinguish the new music emerging in New York from the new jazz in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
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Dirty Projectors – Dirty Projectors (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 48:14 minutes | 566 MB | Genre: Alternative
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: 7Digital | Front cover | © Domino Recording Co
Dirty Projectors is an American Experimental/Indie Rock band, fronted by David Longstreth. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes, but has remained centered around Longstreth. “Dirty Projectors” is the band’s self-titled seventh studio album.
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Ferenc Snetberger – Titok (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 60:50 minutes | 1,17 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Mora.jp | Digital Booklet | © ECM
Hungarian guitarist Ferenc Snétberger leads a trio comprising Swedish double bassist Anders Jormin and American drummer Joey Baron on the warm and involving album Titok. The group’s intensely melodic improvisation draws the listener gently into its sound world, featuring Snétberger’s gracefully flowing guitar framed by an enveloping rhythmic undertow and the highly creative playing of his bandmates. There is soloistic brilliance and high level interaction, the music taking the time it needs to unfold, breathing very naturally. The trio’s compound sound of acoustic nylon string guitar, bass and drums is special: Baron shades and colours the material with great subtlety using brushes, sticks and his hands while the rapport between Snétberger and Jormin is evident from the outset.
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The Anita Kerr Singers – Mellow Moods Of Love (1965/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 37:36 minutes | 834 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds | Front Cover | © Legacy
Anita Kerr is easily the most remarkable and accomplished female musician of the Space Age Pop era, yet she barely rates a mention in most pop music reference books. In the mid-1950s and ’60s, the Anita Kerr Singers were one of the most popular group of backup vocalists in all of country music, appearing on countless recordings by renowned Nashville artists. Along with the Jordanaires, her group, the Anita Kerr Singers, were the seminal backing vocal unit of the era, and it is estimated that at their early-’60s peak, they graced fully one-quarter of all of the records coming out of Nashville’s studios.
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The Allman Brothers Band – Win, Lose Or Draw (1975/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 38:42 minutes | 1,67 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: 7Digital | Front cover | © Mercury Records
Win, Lose or Draw is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Allman Brothers Band. Produced by Johnny Sandlin and the band themselves, the album was originally released in August 1975. Reviews of the album were negative, commenting on a lack of energy, formulaic songwriting, and indifferent sound. The album reached #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart based on their previous popularity. The record had been highly anticipated a year earlier, but now the Allmans’ moment was passing.
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Livingston Taylor – Safe Home {Binaural+} (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 52:54 minutes | 1,54 GB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Digital Booklet | © Chesky Records
Safe Home, the new album from the venerated songwriter, Livingston Taylor, who is celebrating his 50th anniversary of making music. The album is set to be released March 3rd, 2017. Featuring a world class band of Shelly Berg (piano), David Finck (bass), Bashiri Johnson (percussion), and Chelsea Berry (vocals), the album gives playful bend to musical classics like “Anything You Can Do”, and also presents Livingston originals such as “I Must Be Doing Something Right”. Livingston Taylor’s career as a professional musician has spanned 50 years. He maintains a performance schedule of more than a hundred shows a year, delighting audiences with his unique brand of popular music which includes mostly original repertory from his thirteen albums. In addition to his performance schedule, Livingston is a full professor at Berklee College of Music, passing on the extensive knowledge gained from his long career on the road to the next generation of musicians. Part of the Chesky Binaural + Series, all recorded with a single microphone, the band appears right before you with this spacious, lush and multi-dimensional recording. Now headphone users will hear the same three-dimensional sound and imaging as audiophiles have for the past 25 years with Chesky Recordings. Also these new Binaural+ Series albums capture even more spatial realism for the home audiophile market, bringing you one step closer to the actual event. You will hear some of the most natural and pure music ever recorded.
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Billy Joel – The Complete Albums Collection (2011/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 11:14:08 minutes | 13,9 GB | Genre: Rock, Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz| Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy
Although Billy Joel never was a critic’s favorite, the pianist emerged as one of the most popular singer/songwriters of the latter half of the ’70s. Joel’s music consistently demonstrates an affection for Beatlesque hooks and a flair for Tin Pan Alley and Broadway melodies. His fusion of two distinct eras made him a superstar in the late ’70s and ’80s, as he racked an impressive string of multi-platinum albums and hit singles.
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Cappella Nova – James MacMillan: Tenebrae (2007)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 70:21 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: LINN | Artwork: Front cover
The outstanding Scottish group gives a beautiful performance of three world premiere recordings of works by leading contemporary composer James MacMillan. Originally released in 2007 MacMillan: Tenebrae has been re-issued as part of Linn’s ECHO series which offers a second chance to enjoy the best of the label’s award-winning catalogue. (more…)
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Opeth – Pale Communion (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:50 minutes | 1,1 GB | Genre: Rock, Metal
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Front cover | © Roadrunner Records
Pale Communion follows 2011’s critically acclaimed Heritage which proved a milestone album for Opeth, earning them widespread acclaim and an ever-growing fan following. Debuting Top 20 on the Billboard 200 and racking up numerous ‘Best Of’ accolades in 2011, Heritage landed at #2 on both Decibel’s “Top 40 Albums of 2011” and Guitar World’s “Top 50 Albums of 2011” lists. (more…)
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Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – Going To A Go-Go (1965/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 00:33:54 minutes | 1,38 GB | Genre: R&B, Soul
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz | Artwork: Front cover | © UNI/Motown
The only album from the Miracles to break into the US top 10, Going To A Go-Go from 1965 spawned four top 20 hit singles, including The Tracks Of My Tears, included at number 50 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The tune was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007 and has also been preserved by the United States Library of Congress as an “culturally, historicall, and aesthetically significance” to the National Recording Registry. (more…)
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Anna Garano, Anais Tekerian – Ansahman (2016)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 40:02 minutes | 1,59 GB | Genre: Folk,World
Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Digital Booklet | © Fonè Records
Recorded and mixed by Kamilo Kratc; Mastered by Giulio Cesare Ricci
Anna Garano, classical and Flamenco guitarist from Trieste, Italy, has arranged a repertoire of Armenian songs for voice and guitar. Here in New York at Alwan she is joined by Anaïs Alexandra Tekerian, one third of the acclaimed Armenian a cappella trio Zulal, in this lyrical, poignant fusion of Flamenco and vocals of the Old World.
In light of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Anna and Anaïs will present a selection of Armenian songs of love and idealization, of loss and despair, of questioning and hope.
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Gustav Mahler – Das Lied von der Erde – Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Marc Albrecht (2013)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:03:01 minutes | 2,48 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Front Cover | © Pentatone Music B.V.
Recorded: Beurs van Berlage, Yakult zaal, Amsterdam, June 21,22 – 2012
Das Lied is considered the most personal of Mahler’s works. It represents a synthesis of the two great pillars in Mahler’s oeuvre, the symphony and the song. On the face of it, it is cycle of six orchestral songs. But at the same time, it features three protagonists: not just the two solo voices, but the orchestra as well, and its formal structure is symphonic in nature.
The two soloists on this recording are the best known for this work. They sing it all over the world with top orchestras to fabulous reviews and PentaTone is delighted to welcome them to their label. The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra has a splendid reputation for its Mahler performances mainly under previous Music Director Harmut Haenchen.
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Franz Schubert – String Quintet – Amsterdam Sinfonietta Soloists (2015)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 00:52:27 minutes | 2,07 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Digital Booklet | © Channel Classics Records B.V.
Recorded: Stadsgehoorzaal, Leiden, 1-2 december 2013
‘The richest and most productive eighteen months in music history’ is how the English composer Benjamin Britten described Franz Schubert’s final period, when works including the magisterial String Quintet in C major saw the light of day. For besides the quintet, Die Winterreise (Winter Journey), the Symphony in C major (‘the Great’) and the last three piano sonatas flowed from Schubert’s pen. Since Beethoven’s death in 1827, Schubert was engrossed in the development of largescale musical forms, and certainly succeeded in this in the fifty minutes of the quintet. It is not the music of a man who knows he will die by the age of thirty-one, but music born of an almost volcanic ambition, comparable to that of Beethoven when he entrusted his string quartets opus 18 to paper. Notable is Schubert’s preference for a second cello, shared with Boccherini, rather than a second viola as in the quintets of Mozart and Beethoven. Although the four-movement plan of Schubert’s quintet is entirely in the classical tradition of his age, it is already quite clear from the first two movements that there is mention of a grand scheme, as they slowly unfold to reveal a large-scale structure not unlike the later symphonic cathedrals of Anton Bruckner (who was four years old at the time).
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