Search Results for "Duke Ellington"

Andrea Pozza Trio – Sweet Lorraine (2005) [Japan 2018] SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

SACD / DSD By admin · June 18, 2022 · Comments off

Italian pianist Andrea Pozza admires Wynton Kelly, Hampton Hawes and Red Garland, and his straight-ahead style reflects their influences as well as his own touches of lyricism and sophisticated harmonies. The Japanese label Venus Records is known for finding talent early, and this 2005 recording and his debut CD for the label (reissued here as a deluxe gate-fold paper sleeve edition) is a great example, as Pozza had recorded only one previous album as a leader before this one. Playing a collection of well-known standards, this album served as a perfect introduction of his piano style to the Japanese audience who since then has come to regard Pozza as one of the top Italian jazz pianists. A strong and thrilling piano trio album.

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Amendola vs. Blades – Greatest Hits (2016/2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 13, 2022 · Comments off

Wil Blades and Scott Amendola conjure various sonic deities though only a duo. For the past 10 years, their live shows have been generating a buzz around the San Francisco Bay Area. The two got their start as a group when Scott had the vision of performing Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite in duo with Wil. While quite a daunting task translating a suite (originally written for a big band) into duo, the Hammond Organ had previously been used in the 1940s and 1950s to emulate the sound of big bands. With Wil’s knowledge of this tradition and Scott s desire to push boundaries, they were able to pull it off in an explorative, yet cohesive manner. The duo continues to perform pieces from the Ellington suite, while also developing their original material. Their live performances are fun and playful, yet deeply musical. They can cover everything from Avant Garde to Funk, Bebop to Rock, sometimes within one song. In June 2015, at Duende in Oakland, CA, they set up shop for two nights and recorded in front of a live audience. The resulting release, entitled ‘Greatest Hits’, is due in October 2016 and will feature versions of both Scott and Wil’s original compositions.

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Amendola vs. Blades – Everybody Wins (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 13, 2022 · Comments off

Amendola vs. Blades - Everybody Wins (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

If told about a band that consisted of only keyboards and drums, one wouldn’t be faulted for thinking, “Where’s the rest of the group?” But one listen to Amendola Vs. Blades—the funky California-based duo of Wil Blades on Hammond organ and clavinet and Scott Amendola behind the kit—and all fears will be assuaged. Blades’s cutting solos and deep bass lines make for a thick stew of soulful harmony and daring improvisation. And Amendola’s beats are simply unstoppable, simultaneously pushing the duo to heights unknown and sending the listener into a joyful sonic trance. But, in a move away from their debut album, ‘Greatest Hits,’ the new album from Amendola Vs. Blades is bursting not only with creativity, but with personnel. ‘Everybody Wins’ features only three tracks that are exclusively duo. The rest of the album sees contributions from guitarist Jeff Parker (Tortoise), saxophonist Skerik (Les Claypool, Garage A Trois), percussionist Cyro Baptista (Herbie Hancock, Sting), and keyboardist Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio, Laurie Anderson). Unsurprisingly, the music is as outsized as the roster of guest musicians. Moving between any number of styles and moods, ‘Everybody Wins’ is sure to expand minds and preconceptions.
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Allen Toussaint – American Tunes (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 12, 2022 · Comments off

Nonesuch presents American Tunes, a new studio album by legendary New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint. Toussaint had just completed the album when he passed away in November of last year during a European tour.

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Albert Mangelsdorff – Tromboneliness (1977/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 7, 2022 · Comments off

Albert Mangelsdorff - Tromboneliness (1977/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz] Download

Albert Mangelsdorff stands alongside the likes of Jack Teagarten and J. J. Johnson in the pantheon of trombone greats. Recorded in 1976, this album affords the listener the opportunity to hear Albert solo in all his wondrous multiphonic diversity. It starts with the down-home singing harmonies on Do Your Own Thing. Trombonliness and Brief Inventions are essentially pieces improvised on the spot – ‘spontaneous compositions’.

Duke Ellington’s Creole Love Call is the only non-Mangelsdorff piece, “part of my feeling for the tradition of jazz. Ellington is very important to me”. Bonn “is a theme I thought of one day while strolling through the streets after a concert.” Questions to Come explores the trombone’s harmonics in more of a balladic form, whereas Mark Suetterlyn’s Boogie features Albert’s solo sped up to sound like a trumpet and dubbed over his trombone background, and Für Peter was dedicated to bassist Peter Trunk. Not only is this album a display of astounding invention and technique; it swings. Albert emphasized that, “to me, jazz is a rhythmic music – if you want to keep your playing exciting.”
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Gerry Mulligan – All that Jazz, Vol. 147: Mullenium! (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 7, 2022 · Comments off

The most famous and probably greatest jazz baritonist of all time, Gerry Mulligan was a giant. A flexible soloist who was always ready to jam with anyone from Dixielanders to the most advanced boppers, Mulligan brought a somewhat revolutionary light sound to his potentially awkward and brutal horn and played with the speed and dexterity of an altoist.

Mulligan started on the piano before learning clarinet and the various saxophones. His initial reputation was as an arranger. In 1944 he wrote charts for Johnny Warrington’s radio band and soon was making contributions to the books of Tommy Tucker and George Paxton. He moved to New York in 1946 and joined Gene Krupa’s Orchestra as a staff arranger; his most notable chart was “Disc Jockey Jump.” The rare times he played with Krupa’s band was on alto and the same situation existed when he was with Claude Thornhill in 1948.

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Alan Wakeman – The Octet Broadcasts 1969 and 1979 (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 6, 2022 · Comments off

The Octet Broadcasts is made up of two BBC sessions from 1969 and 1979 respectively. Taken and mastered from the original analogue tapes by Gearbox, the album offers a snapshot of a time when British jazz was at another high, featuring such names as John Taylor, Alan Skidmore, Paul Lytton, and Art Themen, who themselves were contemporaries of and collaborated with the likes of Evan Parker, Michael Garrick, Ian Carr, and Roscoe Mitchell.

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Various Artists – Opus 3 – Test CD 4: Acoustic Music In Authentic Enviroments (2001) SACD ISO

SACD / DSD By admin · June 4, 2022 · Comments off

CD 4 is an extended version of Test Record 4 on vinyl. Contents now include 6 completely new tracks & a few replacements, & the total time is more than 76 minutes. In this the 4th test record, the 3 basic concepts of: Depth of Image, Timbre & Dynamics have been linked together as a basis for evaluation of HiFi equipment.

Test CD 4, like its predecessors, contains a generously varied selection of acoustic music from the Opus 3 catalogue, with advisers concerning special points to listen for on each track. Again like its predecessors, the new test record makes an enjoyable music sampler, all the more so as it includes no fewer than 17 tracks from 17 different Opus 3 titles, most of them recent releases.

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Ahmad Jamal – Carpeta Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions Vol.1 1956-1962 (2010/2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 3, 2022 · Comments off

“When I listen to these records now… when I listen to the Pershing, it’s phenomenal, I must say. What they were doing, phenomenal, the lines and the purity. It’s so pure … It was sheer joy working with these two individuals. Master musicians,” writes pianist/bandleader Ahmad Jamal in the liner notes to this collection.

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Ahmad Jamal – Saturday Morning (2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · June 3, 2022 · Comments off

Following on from Blue Moon, Ahmad Jamal and his dream team are back with a joyful album made up of the kind of ballads to which only he holds the key. Each one is a moment of grace, shining like a star in the sky of American Classical Music it also features one wonderful Duke Ellington cover and a tribute to Horace Silver. With his light-fingered but rhythmic style, he sends us into a sensuous trance and leads us to a musical climax: a sound which is pure groove.

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Aaron Diehl – The Bespoke Man’s Narrative (2013) DSF DSD128 + Hi-Res FLAC

SACD / DSD By admin · June 3, 2022 · Comments off

In fashion circles, the adjective “bespoke” denotes custom-made suits and shirts and signifies the person who designs and constructs them. On The Bespoke Man’s Narrative, pianist Aaron Diehl extrapolates this notion to matters of musical invention. The five originals and five arrangements comprising the programme were chosen specifically for Diehl’s quartet of young all-stars: vibraphonist Warren Wolf, bassist David Wong and drummer Rodney Green.

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Aaron Diehl – Space, Time, Continuum (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · May 29, 2022 · Comments off

Aaron Diehl - Space, Time, Continuum (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Aaron Diehl – Space, Time, Continuum (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:36 minutes | 1,11 GBGenre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mack Avenue

Widely acknowledged as a modern master in the aftermath of his acclaimed 2012 Mack Avenue debut, The Bespoke Man’s Narrative, 29-year-old pianist-composer Aaron Diehl ups the ante with the 2015 release Space, Time, Continuum.
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Harry Skoler – Living In Sound: The Music of Charles Mingus (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · May 19, 2022 · Comments off

Harry Skoler - Living In Sound: The Music of Charles Mingus (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Harry Skoler – Living In Sound: The Music of Charles Mingus (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:55 minutes | 1,24 GBGenre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sunnyside

The righteous and bombastic nature of the great bassist/composer Charles Mingus made him a polarizing personality. His unique personality, combined with his groundbreaking music, were magnetic for open-minded listeners. Clarinetist Harry Skoler discovered Mingus and his music early in life. This discovery would change his entire trajectory as a person and musician, which Skoler celebrates on his new recording, Living In Sound: The Music of Charles Mingus.
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Weather Report – Night Passage (1980) [Reissue 2018] PS3 ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

SACD / DSD By admin · April 14, 2022 · Comments off

Night Passage is the eleventh album by Weather Report, released in 1980. The tracks were recorded in August 1980 at The Complex studios in Los Angeles (before a crowd of 250 people who can be heard on a couple of tracks), except for “Madagascar”, recorded live in Osaka, in June of the same year. The album introduces a new member to the band, percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. Night Passage loses the over-done production layers of some of Weather Report’s earlier releases (most notably 1978’s Mr. Gone). What is lost in layers of overdubs is made up in solo improvisation in the classic jazz tradition.

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Ethan Iverson – Every Note Is True (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · March 9, 2022 · Comments off

As part of The Bad Plus, Ethan Iverson was often the unruffled presence at piano, stoic and hard to read. In interviews, he could go completely silent. Since leaving the trio, which he co-founded in 2000, Iverson has played with Albert “Tootie” Heath, recorded with Tom Harrell and even fostered a career as a freelance writer in the pages of The New Yorker. Here in a nearly all-instrumental album he compares to Money Jungle, the famous 1962 trio record of Duke Ellington, Max Roach and Charles Mingus, Iverson has decided to stretch his more accessible sides, in what he calls, “a set of attractive tunes that have a bit of a pop influence,” and where “that bright big piano is back.” Veteran bassist Larry Grenadier (Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau) and drummer Jack DeJohnette (Miles Davis) complete what is, if not a traditional power trio of sorts, then a trio with an immense reserve of experience and artistry.

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