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Mark Lettieri – Deep: The Baritone Sessions, Vol. 2 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 46:39 minutes | 598 MB | Genre: Jazz, Funk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Leopard
Mark Lettieri is known for his tight, aggressively grooving rhythm game, whether in the service of GRAMMY-winning band Snarky Puppy, the Fearless Flyers or on his six solo albums and has found the perfect algorithm for funk.
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Marcus Strickland Twi-Life – People Of The Sun (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:56 minutes | 912 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records
With his band Twi-Life, which includes trumpeter Keyon Harrold, bassist Kyle Miles, drummer Charles Haynes, and organist and pianist Mitch Henry, Marcus Strickland has always explored jazz from multiple angles. Produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, the saxophonist’s first album for BlueNote/Revive is influenced by a wide range of styles, drawing inspiration from the late hip-hop producer J Dilla, Fela’s afrobeat, Charles Mingus and even Bartók’s music! With People of the Sun, Strickland tells the musical and social tale of African diaspora from the present to the past with the aim of portraying his own identity: “I thought about where we come from and how that both clashes and goes hand in hand with what we’ve created here as Black Americans”. The result is a beautiful, dense, complex and welcoming album where Western African (the griot culture, afrobeat) and American (post-bop, funk, soul) influences collide and Bilal, Pharoahe Monch, Greg Tate, Jermaine Holmes, Weedie Braimah and Akie Bermiss cross over. These are rather unsurprising choices given that Strickland grew up in Miami surrounded by Haitian sounds, Afro-Cuban rhythms and southern rap, as well as Stevie Wonder, John Coltrane and P-Funk, his father’s favourite artists… This is a multifaceted piece of work zigzagging between Jazz, Soul, Funk and Rhythm’n’Blues in which Strickland’s sax gives us genuine melodic gems. – Max Dembo
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Dan Wilson – Things Eternal (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:06:23 minutes | 820 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Brother Mister Productions
The first song on guitarist/composer Dan Wilson’s Things Eternal opens with a recorded voicemail from the late organist, personal mentor and dear friend Joey DeFrancesco, serving as a tribute, guiding light and mission statement. Throughout a curated selection of 12 songs, Wilson gathers hope and inspiration from ancestral wisdom, dedicated to the enduring quality of the human spirit. From unique takes on classics from The Beatles, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Michael Brecker, Freddie Hubbard and McCoy Tyner to original compositions, Wilson has crafted an impeccable statement for the world to take notice.
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Ana Popovic – Power (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 40:19 minutes | 323 MB | Genre: Blues, Blues Rock, Soul, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © artisteXclusive records
Internationally renowned guitarist Ana Popovic has built her career on defining and describing, on her own terms, the essence of American music, simultaneously pushing limits, bending genres, and reinventing her music and herself with each new record.
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Moonchild – Little Ghost (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 54:57 minutes | 547 MB | Genre: Neo Soul, R&B, Nu Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Tru Thoughts
‘Little Ghost’ marks the return of LA-based trio Moonchild with their fourth album to date. Led by first single “Too Much to Ask”, the release sees multi-instrumentalists Amber Navran, Max Bryk, and Andris Mattson channel boundless sonic energy as they explore some of the most personal aspects of human relationships. With a unique style of soul and new-school jazz that has cemented their spot in the LA music scene, Moonchild continue to intertwine lyrical concepts with expansive glistening melodies, harmonies and irresistible interludes. Taking its name from the most emotional of celestial bodies (in the eyes of the band), ‘Little Ghost’ follows the widely-praised ‘Voyager’ [2017], ‘Please Rewind’ [2015] and ‘Be Free’ [2012] which were shown love by DJs like Gilles Peterson, Don Letts and Huey Morgan (BBC 6Music) to Jamie Cullum (BBC Radio 2), Jamz Supernova (BBC 1XTRA) and Anthony Valadez (KCRW) alongside Jazz FM who named the band Soul Act Of The Year 2018. The releases garnered press and line praise from The Fader, Echoes Magazine, Saint Heron, Kick Mag, KCRW and Okayplayer and racked up 8.5+ million streams Spotify for ‘Voyager”s “Cure” and 4.5 million streams Spotify for “The List” – for which the video has also reached 7+ million views YouTube – taken from the same LP. Moonchild have collaborated and toured with highly-respected names in the soul-jazz crowd including Stevie Wonder, Jill Scott, India.Arie, Leela James, The Internet, and built up a host of iconic supporters from Robert Glasper (who collaborated with Navran on his latest release with R+R=Now) and Laura Mvula to James Poyser, Jazzy Jeff, Jose James, 9th Wonder and Tyler, The Creator.
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Monty Alexander – Love and Sunshine (1975/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 41:34 minutes | 795 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPS Classical
Monty Alexander is in top form in this 1974 studio session made for MPS, joined by guitarist Ernest Ranglin, bassist Eberhard Weber, and drummer Kenny Clare. His wailing interpretation of Milt Jackson’s “S.K.J.” could easily be mistaken for Oscar Peterson. But Alexander is hardly a Peterson clone, as his haunting and spacious arrangement of “Summer of ’42” would likely stump many so-called experts in a blindfold test. The quartet’s romp through “Now’s the Time” showcases Ranglin’s fluid solo first before the leader takes charge with a blistering one of his own. Alexander was hardly the first jazz musician to discover the possibilities within Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” but he makes the most of them in a trio setting omitting the guitarist. Following a shimmering solo introduction, he gives it a calypso flavor. He even makes something out of the lightweight pop tune “Feel Like Making Love,” the hallmark of a great jazz musician. The pianist even toys with a bit of boogie-woogie within his introduction to the upbeat treatment of “On a Clear Day.” This well-recorded date includes enthusiastic applause from producer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer’s invited guests that never interferes with the performances themselves.
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Luba Mason – Triangle (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:36 minutes | 453 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Canoe Records
Vocalist Luba Mason’s as comfortable acting on stage as she is singing in a vocal booth, and equally adept at interpreting Brazilian music as she is reassessing chart-topping Stateside hits.
In a move that almost seems like the inverse of Marilyn Manson covering the Eurythmics, Mason’s including a take of “Toxicity” by System of a Down on Triangle, her upcoming album set for release on Oct. 23.
On a program of covers spanning Czech chanson, Colombian pop and a Beatles classic, Mason employs a novel instrumentation for Triangle, her vocals supported only by vibraphonist Joe Locke and bassist James Genus.
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Livingston Taylor – Ink (1997/2003)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:54 minutes | 970 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chesky Records
While somewhat overshadowed by his more famous brother James, Livingston Taylor is a fine singer-songwriter in his own right–superficially, his voice recalls that of his sibling, but Liv is less moody, more folk-like. INK is a “tribute” album of sorts–instead of paying homage to a particular artist, Taylor interprets hit songs by various writers from several eras, leaning a bit toward classic R&B/soul hits. Songs made famous by Ray Charles, the Jackson Five, and Stevie Wonder are re-imagined via the gentle, genial imagination of Livingston Taylor.
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Jonathan Butler – Ubuntu (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 56:28 minutes | 642 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Artistry Music
Legendary singer-songwriter Jonathan Butler traveled back to his home country of South Africa to craft his most exciting and deeply personal album to date. Featuring producer/bassist Marcus Miller, Ubuntu is a reintroduction of Butler’s life story, going back 60 years to his upbringing in apartheid-era Capetown, which shaped his world view, prompted years of advocacy and instilled the ideology of ‘Oneness’ (Ubuntu). Featuring special guests Keb’ Mo’ and Stevie Wonder, the new album serves both as a rebirth of musical creativity and reconciliation with systemically biased history to forge a brighter future.
“I am, because you are.”
Ubuntu is the universal Bantu philosophy adopted by South Africa as a guiding principle after the abolition of apartheid.
Ubuntu encompasses the interdependence of humans on one another and the acknowledgment of one’s responsibility to their fellow humans and the world around them.
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Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good! (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 40:26 minutes | 523 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © EMI
Jessie Ware’s 2020 release What’s Your Pleasure was one of the early pandemic’s great revelations — a pop album that successfully brought the movement, yearning, and euphoria of the dance club into everyone’s homes. It was a perfect setting for the British singer and songwriter’s voice, luxurious and sophisticated but still highly accessible.
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Liane Carroll – The Right To Love (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 46:36 minutes | 879 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Quiet Money Recordings
Liane Carroll’s talents, as singer, pianist and all-round musical force of nature, seemed to defy all efforts to capture them successfully on record. Until, that is, she began working with producer James McMillan. This, their fourth album together, displays a characteristic mixture of deceptive simplicity and emotional depth. Following the loose theme of attitudes to love, Carroll calls on songs by, among others, Stevie Wonder, Tom Waits, Jacques Brel and Hoagy Carmichael, whose I Get Along Without You Very Well provides the most touching moment.
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Leroy Hutson – Love Oh Love (1973/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 37:16 minutes | 637 MB | Genre: R&B, Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Acid Jazz
After working as a writer and producer for such soul music stalwarts as Donny Hathaway and a stint replacing Curtis Mayfield as the lead vocalist in the Impressions, Leroy Hutson embarked on a solo career with 1973’s Love Oh Love. The album combines the kind of smooth soul music that Hutson performed with the Impressions with more ambitious and conceptual outings in the vein of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. When Hutson sticks to love songs, Love Oh Love is magical: “So in Love With You” combines a honey-sweet romantic vocal from Hutson with a spine-tingling string arrangement to create an elegant and heartfelt ballad, while the title track raises its tale of lost love to an up-tempo level with jazzy horns and a percolating rhythm arrangement. “As Long as There’s Love Around” is another effective romantic track that layers Hutson’s velvety vocals over a complex instrumental track that combines gentle strings and brash horns with an insistently grooving bassline. The progressive-minded tracks are less satisfying: “Time Brings on a Change” is a political commentary song whose use of a Martin Luther King sample is a little too gimmicky for its own good, and “Getting It On” is a funk instrumental that fails to work any memorable hooks into its pleasant groove. Despite these problems, nothing on the album is less than listenable and everything flows together nicely to create a cohesive (if somewhat short) album. In short, Love Oh Love is one of the most consistent albums in the Leroy Hutson catalog and a good introduction to his silky soul style.
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Leon Spencer – Where I’m Coming From (Remastered) (1973/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 33:46 minutes | 678 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Craft Recordings
Where I’m Coming From is the fourth and last album by jazz organist Leon Spencer recorded for the Prestige label in 1973.
The very definition of ‘70s soulful jazz, Where I’m Coming From has all the hallmarks of Prestige Records at its finest, with an all-star cast of sidemen (Welcome back, Idris Muhammed! Hello to Madlib’s uncle, Jon Faddis! Greetings to the funky flute of Hubert Laws!) recorded at Van Gelder’s studio and packed with down and dirty grooves top to bottom. From the opening cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” through to the low-slung original headnodder “Where I’m Coming From,” with stops along the way for dips into the catalogs of Curtis Mayfield (“Give Me Your Love”), Marvin Gaye (“Trouble Man”) and the Four Tops (“Keeper Of The Castle”), Leon Spencer’s rippling organ lines sear this prime example of groove jazz.
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Livingston Taylor – Ink (2003)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 48:54 minutes | Artwork (PDF) | 2,69 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo & 5.1 multichannel Surround sound
FLAC 24bits/96khz | 970 MB
While somewhat overshadowed by his more famous brother James, Livingston Taylor is a fine singer-songwriter in his own right–superficially, his voice recalls that of his sibling, but Liv is less moody, more folk-like. INK is a “tribute” album of sorts–instead of paying homage to a particular artist, Taylor interprets hit songs by various writers from several eras, leaning a bit toward classic R&B/soul hits. Songs made famous by Ray Charles, the Jackson Five, and Stevie Wonder are re-imagined via the gentle, genial imagination of Livingston Taylor.
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Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, Øystein Baadsvik & Jaakko Kuusisto – Journey (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:35 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS
Called ‘the God of the Indian violin’, Lakshminarayana Subramaniam has collaborated with leading representatives of Indian and Western classical traditions, from Ravi Shankar to Yehudi Menuhin. But with a strong belief in music as a universal language he is also a leading figure in fusion music, collaborating with musicians of all genres and nationalities, from Stephane Grappelli or George Harrison to Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock.
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