McCoy Tyner – Illuminations (2004/2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/176,4 kHz | Time – 57:09 minutes | 1,83 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | @ Telarc
Illuminations finds the iconic pianist, McCoy Tyner, leading a star-studded affair that features trumpeter Terence Blanchard, bassist Christian McBride, saxophonist Gary Bartz and drummer Lewis Nash. The eclectic album features compositions written by Tyner, stunning covers and works by fellow bandmates. Included on the album are the blistering Latin-inspired “Angelina,” the joyous “New Orleans Stomp,” and Blachard’s energetic “Blessings”. The album would win the GRAMMY Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album. (more…)
Read moreMcCoy Tyner – Nights Of Ballads & Blues (1963/1997)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:47 minutes | 782 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | @ GRP Records
On this fantastic audiophile recording, Tyner is accompanied by the formidable pair of drummer Lex Humphries and bassist Steve Davis as the trio performs an eclectic mix of standards and bebop classics. Infused with his unique touch and styling, Tyner reinvents classics such as Parker’s “Star Eyes,” and Ellington and Strayhorn’s “Satin Doll.” Also included is a chilling take on the classic “‘Round Midnight.” This intimate listen is essential for any jazz lover’s library. (more…)
Read moreMcCoy Tyner Trio – Inception (1962/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 32:42 minutes | 633 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: ProStudioMasters | @ Impulse! Records
Those familiar with the dense, percussive style that pianist McCoy Tyner has cultivated since the 1970s onwards may be surprised by what they hear on Inception. Like Reaching Fourth and Nights of Ballads and Blues, this album gives listeners the chance to hear what a very young Tyner sounded like outside the confines of the classic John Coltrane quartet of the early ’60s; it reveals a lyrical approach to jazz piano that seems a far cry from Tyner’s mature style. The choice of material is fairly evenly split between modal pieces like “Inception” and more harmonically involved tunes like “Speak Low,” and the pianist’s treatment of both demonstrates the extent to which his early work was rooted in bebop. Tyner had yet to develop the massive orchestral sound and highly distinctive vocabulary of modal licks that would mark his later style, and throughout this album he spins dizzyingly long and singing lines with an exquisitely light touch. The irresistible rush of forward momentum that he maintains on tracks like “Effendi” and “Blues for Gwen” is breathtaking, and there is an exuberant, almost athletic quality to much of his solo work. Bassist Art Davis and drummer Elvin Jones provide superb accompaniment throughout, and they lay a solid rhythmic foundation for Tyner’s sparkling melodic flights. The pianist’s penchant for drama, which asserts itself more strongly in his later work, is on brief display in the original ballad “Sunset”; his skills as an arranger, though evident on several tracks, are perhaps best illustrated by the intricate contrapuntal treatment of “There Is No Greater Love.” –AllMusic Review by Alexander Gelfand
Read moreGerald Cannon – Gerald Cannon Live at Dizzy’s Club the Music of Elvin & Mccoy (Live) (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:12:22 minutes | 897 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Woodneck Records
Recorded at the famed Jazz at Lincoln Center venue, jazz veteran Gerald Cannon’s Live at Dizzy’s Club. The Music of Elvin & McCoy honors two musical giants: McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones, with whom the heralded bassist proudly played alongside for 14 years, and nine years respectively. Invoking the true essence of McCoy and Elvin, Cannon’s vehicle features an outstanding ensemble of musicians who also shared the stage with these giants.
Read moreSteph Richards feat. Joshua White, Stomu Takeishi, Gerald Cleaver, Max Jaffee – Power Vibe (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:01 minutes | 720 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Northern Spy
Trumpeter Steph Richards’ latest full-length, Power Vibe marries avant garde and cinematic moods with an infectious and patently pleasing tunefulness. “Sensory electronics” –– subtle but compelling textures and tactile rhythms which are physically triggered by drum-mounted sensors –– compel fascination here, interweaving a kind of aural hyper-lucidity throughout the record.
Read moreAdam King – Feels Like Home (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:08 minutes | 505 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ubuntu Music
Leading British jazz label Ubuntu Music’s latest upcoming offering is a celebration of the multi-cultural melting pot that is London’s vibrant jazz scene. With a history spanning Greece, the USA, and the UK, saxophonist Vasilis Xenopoulos and pianist Paul Edis’ upcoming record is a musical reflection of the paths and relationships their lives in music have led them on.
Vasilis and Paul began playing together 20 years ago when both relocated to West London to study. Originally from Greece, Xenopoulos had just finished studying at Berklee College in the US, while Edis had moved South from the Northeast of England.
In the intervening years, they’ve played numerous shows together, releasing their debut album ‘A Narrow Escape’ in 2016 to critical acclaim. With Joel Barford (drums) and Adam King (double bass), their latest recording features original music inspired by the theme of ‘home’… home in this sense not only represents the many places they’ve both lived, but also the people they’ve known along the way.
The duo describe the music on Feels Like Home: “Rooted in the jazz tradition, this is music that’s eclectic, groove based and fundamentally melodic. Including elements of hard bop, latin jazz, gospel and even folk, there are nods to Dexter Gordon, Stanley Turrentine, John Coltrane, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau, McCoy Tyner and more besides. This is honest music full of emotions, inspired and unified around the central theme of ‘home’.”
Read moreDavid Schumacher – Smoke In The Sky (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 53:29 minutes | 589 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Cellar Live
An accomplished versatile virtuoso baritone saxophone player, Chicago native Dave Schumacher has been a mainstay on the New York jazz scene for more than forty years. His big, bold baritone first came to international attention during the eighties, spending much of those years touring the world with Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra. Schumacher garnered further notice following that with nearly two decades as a member of the orchestra of Harry Connick, Jr. In the 90’s he also toured with T.S. Monk’s Monk on Monk band and the Tom Harrell Octet, as well as freelance work with many others in New York and on the road.
Read moreNoah Haidu – Standards II (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:36 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sunnyside
Pianist Noah Haidu sees a certain irony in his current recorded output. “I love composing but improvisation has always been my greatest passion. When I started releasing music in 2011 I relied on my songwriting to make a unique artistic statement, but I’ve come full circle and realized that finding my own voice on a simple, unadorned standard is a rare and necessary endeavor.” Haidu embraced that endeavor on his 2023 release Standards, and on Standards II, due out April 12, 2024 on Sunnyside Records. The new album is a breathtaking masterpiece featuring Haidu with two of the music’s most esteemed players, Buster Williams on bass and Billy Hart on drums.
Read moreBruno Montrone – Unaware Beauty (Studio) (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 58:11 minutes | 732 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © A.MA RECORDS
A.MA Records’ high quality Jazz output continues with Unaware Beauty, the new album from the Bruno Montrone Trio. An album that fuses straight Jazz with new interpretations of standards and Montrone’s original compositions, Unaware Beauty pulls strands together and weaves a fine cloth. An Italian/US collaboration of musicians Bruno Montrone on piano, Giulio Scianatico on double Bass and near legendary Joe Farnsworth on drums. It is perhaps the latter name that will ring many a bell with New Yorker Joe’s previous works touring with the likes of Horace Silver, Lou Donaldson, McCoy Tyner and Pharaoh Sanders and a veteran of over 100 recordings as leader and sideman. Bruno Montrone is a young pianist who is somewhat of a prodigy with a performance and recording CV that belies his young years. Similarly Giulio Scianatico has built a huge reputation for himself in Italian Jazz, not least with his playing on Enrico Le Noce’s Social Music album also released by A.MA. Joined by guests New Yorker Sarah Hanahan, a graduate of the Jackie McLean Institute and of Juilliard, on Saxophone and Sarah Grittani on vocals, Unaware Beauty is an album that can be best understood in the context of its bold improvisations, impeccable swing and blend of the contemporary with nods to the greats that came before. Try to listen to the title track Unaware Beauty featuring Sarah Grittani’s haunting vocals and the innovative interpretation of Harold Mabern’s Edward Lee which is given a fresh and invigorating take, not least with Sarah Hannahan’s breathtaking Sax solos and you’ll see what we mean.
Read moreRamon Valle, Omar Rodriguez Calvo, Ernesto Simpsons – Take Off (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:40 minutes | 492 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © IN+OUT Records
It’s time to wipe away the patina: Cuban music in 2015 has long since emancipated itself from the clichés of the Buena Vista Social Club and salsa parties. On the jazz terrain, the island has produced a wealth of creative and innovative forces that coherently and excitingly combine its Caribbean heritage with a sonic language that can be understood worldwide. At the forefront of this new generation of jazz is pianist Ramón Valle, who with his trio is now embarking on a major international career with his trio.
Read morePeter Bernstein – What Comes Next (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:31 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Smoke Sessions
The title of What Comes Next, the latest album by guitarist Peter Bernstein, certainly echoes a question that we’ve all been asking ourselves in recent months. Locked away, wary of leaving the house during a global pandemic, divided by politics and protests, all during the most vital Presidential election in living memory – any one of those issues would spell an uncertain future.
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Hank Mobley – A Caddy For Daddy (2009)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 39:45 minutes | 1,64 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): Analogue Productions – CBNJ 84230 SA
Analogue Productions’ Blue Note & Nat “King” Cole Reissues WIN A Positive Feedback 2010 Brutus Award!
“…if you haven’t picked up every 1 of the Blue Note & Nat King Cole reissues from Chad Kassem & company at Acoustic Sounds, you’re really missing out!” – David W. Robinson, Positive Feedback, Issue 52
Hank Mobley was a perfect artist for Blue Note in the 1960s. On this LP, which is a straight reissue of the 1965 session, Mobley is joined by trumpeter Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Bob Cranshaw & drummer Billy Higgins (a typically remarkable Blue Note lineup) for the infectious title cut, 3 other lesser-known but superior originals, plus Wayne Shorter’s “Venus Di Mildew.”
AllMusic:
Hank Mobley was a perfect artist for Blue Note in the 1960s. A distinctive but not dominant soloist, Mobley was also a very talented writer whose compositions avoided the predictable yet could often be quite melodic & soulful; his tricky originals consistently inspired the young all-stars in Blue Note’s stable.
Mamiko Watanabe – Being Guided By The Light (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:18 minutes | 1,11 GB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Jojo Records
BEING GUIDED BY THE LIGHT is the fifth album by pianist Mamiko Watanabe and the fifth album to be released by acclaimed record label, Jojo Records. It is the representation of a musician in full flower, an artist reveling in her endless state of exploration. Mamiko plays the piano with the grace of a master but also the feral intensity of a jungle cat. This has led esteemed bassist Santi Debriano, one of her long-time collaborators and in the trio on this album, to compare Mamiko to the legendary McCoy Tyner.
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