Joel Lyssarides – Stay Now (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Joel Lyssarides - Stay Now (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Joel Lyssarides – Stay Now (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 42:30 minutes | 800 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © ACT Music

With his ACT debut, Swedish piano rising-star Joel Lyssarides and his trio celebrate the magic of the moment. With great sensitivity and expressiveness and a vocabulary that draws equally from European classical music, jazz from both sides of the Atlantic and great songwriting, with all its depth and accessibility.
(more…)

Read more

Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas – Scandal (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas - Scandal (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas – Scandal (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:06:36 minutes | 748 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Greenleaf Music

“Scandal” marks the first time that trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist Joe Lovano have recorded a full studio album of material together, revealing a passionately adventurous band for whom no territory is off-limits. As on their live debut recording, Sound Prints features pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Joey Baron. The super group heads off into swinging, heartfelt and sophisticated new territory inspired by saxophonist giant Wayne Shorter. Two of Shorter’s pieces receive special treatment. A truly fantastic and original group playing new originals and music by Shorter.
(more…)

Read more

Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas – Other Worlds (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas - Other Worlds (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas – Other Worlds (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:09:57 minutes | 1,34 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Greenleaf Music

Other Worlds, the new studio album from saxophonist Joe Lovano and trumpeter Dave Douglas’s Sound Prints quintet was recorded following a week at New York’s Village Vanguard in January 2020. Their third full length release, this further nod to jazz visionary Wayne Shorter features boisterous and playful originals as well as a couple of beautiful ballads. The rhythm section features the powerful multi-generational lineup of pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Joey Baron, who continue to provide a fluid and firm footing for the two horn players. The album artwork features a unique illustrated cover by cartoonist Dave Chisholm.
(more…)

Read more

Joe Farrell – Moon Germs (1973/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Joe Farrell - Moon Germs (1973/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

Joe Farrell – Moon Germs (1973/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 37:32 minutes | 1,57 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CTI Records

Recorded in 1972 and released in 1973 with Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, and Jack DeJohnette, Joe Farrell’s Moon Germs was a foray into the electric side of jazz. On the opener, “Great George,” Farrell leads off with the hint of a melody before careening into legato streams of thought along striated intervallic paths. DeJohnette is like a machine gun, quadruple-timing the band as Clarke moves against the grain in a series of fours and eights, and Hancock’s attempts to keep the entire thing anchored are almost for naught. On the title track there is more of a funk backdrop, but the complex, angular runs and insane harmonic reaches Farrell attempts on his soprano, crack, falter, and ultimately turn into something else; the sheer busy-ness of the track is dazzling. “Bass Folk Song” by Clarke, is the only thing on the record that actively engages melody rather than harmonic structures. Farrell uses his flute and Hancock strides into the same kind of territory he explored with Miles Davis, chopping up chordal phrases into single lines and feeding them wholesale to the running pair of frontmen–in this case Clarke and Farrell. DeJohnette uses a Latin backdrop to hang his drumming on and pursues a circular, hypnotic groove on the cymbals and toms. It’s a gorgeous piece of music and utilizes an aspect of space within the melodic frame that the rest of these firebrand tunes do not. This is sci-fi Farrell at his creative best. –AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek
(more…)

Read more

Joe Beck, Ali Ryerson – Django (Remastered) (2001/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Joe Beck, Ali Ryerson - Django (Remastered) (2001/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz] Download

Joe Beck, Ali Ryerson – Django (Remastered) (2001/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 55:33 minutes | 956 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © DMP

Joe Beck and Ali Ryerson have been working as a team for more than four years, playing concerts and other gigs under the name Duo. This is their second album, and, with the name Django, one would assume it is in honor of guitarist Django Reinhardt. Instead, the set is dedicated to the members of the Modern Jazz Quartet, who pioneered chamber jazz, the style that dominates this session with flautist Ryerson. John Lewis’ “Django” is one of the tunes on the agenda that they play within the chamber style. Ryerson’s passion for Brazilian music is documented on her six albums for Concord Jazz. She gets to show her mastery of this tempo on “Carioca Blue” and “O Barquinho.” Jazz veteran Joe Beck, one of the first to mix jazz and rock guitar, uses an alto guitar which he invented. It provides a strong harmonically mellow and rhythmic cushion upon which Ryerson carries the melody line with her expressive, buoyant flute. Their mutual comfort is evident on such tunes as the medley “Come Together”/”Alone Together” and expresses itself on a haunting rendition of “Tenderly.” If anything, this album is epitomized by some striking improvising. The two generally take one chorus, stating the melody, and then let their collective imagination take over. That they play together rather than separately when they extemporize makes this album distinctive. And they do it successfully whether the tune be one by Miles Davis or Johnny Mercer. With just the two instruments, their inventive way of collaborating makes sure that the listener’s attention will not drift away. Recommended. – Dave Nathan
(more…)

Read more

Ron Carter – Bitter Head (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Ron Carter – Bitter Head (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 46:55 minutes | 921 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Nuccia

Ron Carter is among the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz. With more than 2,500 albums to his credit, he has recorded with many of music’s greats: Tommy Flanagan, Gil Evans, Lena Horne, Bill Evans, B.B. King, the Kronos Quartet, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, and Bobby Timmons. In the early 1960s he performed throughout the United States in concert halls and nightclubs with Jaki Byard and Eric Dolphy.

(more…)

Read more

John McLaughlin – The Montreux Years (Live) (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

John McLaughlin - The Montreux Years (Live) (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

John McLaughlin – The Montreux Years (Live) (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:22:38 minutes | 955 MB | Genre: Jazz Fusion, Jazz Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd

Unlike saxophonists or pianists, jazz guitarists are hardly legions. But when they get noticed, they often become a genre on their own. John McLaughlin falls squarely into this category. To the point that the English guitarist born in 1942 is one of the most important figures in jazz fusion. Sparkling in Miles Davis’ first electric band in the late 60s (he is at the heart of In A Silent Way, the trumpeter’s revolutionary album), McLaughlin will become a superstar in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, a revered formation offering a daring cocktail combining jazz, rock and Indian music. Whether he works with Miles, Santana, Tony Williams or Jaco Pastorius, John McLaughlin has always deployed this incredible combination of virtuosity mixed with mysticism and especially taste. Alternating acoustic and electric projects, tirelessly pursuing his experimentation and inscribing his art in a personal spiritual quest, he has always made each of his concerts moments of rare communion with his audience. The Montreux Years is the perfect proof of this! Released in March 2022, this album brings together eight tracks (selected by the master himself) recorded at the prestigious Swiss festival between 1978 and 2016. Over almost four decades, McLaughlin has conducted the Mahavishnu Orchestra (with Bill Evans, Mitchell Foreman, Jonas Hellborg and Danny Gottlieb), as well as with Paco de Lucia, but also in the bands One Truth (with Stu Goldberg, L. Shankar, Tom Stevens and Sonship Theus), Heart Of Things (with Gary Thomas, Jim Beard, Matt Garrison and Dennis Chambers), Free Spirits (with Joey De Francesco and Dennis Chambers) and 4th Dimension (with with Gary Husband, Étienne M’bappé and Ranjit Barot). The ideal setting to taste the art of a musician who has never stopped putting his incandescent virtuosity at the service of his music.
(more…)

Read more

John Coltrane – Giant Steps (2020 Remaster) (1960/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

John Coltrane - Giant Steps (2020 Remaster) (1960/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

John Coltrane – Giant Steps (2020 Remaster) (1960/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 37:32 minutes | 1,55 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Atlantic

History will undoubtedly enshrine this disc as a watershed the likes of which may never truly be appreciated. Giant Steps bore the double-edged sword of furthering the cause of the music as well as delivering it to an increasingly mainstream audience. Although this was John Coltrane’s debut for Atlantic, he was concurrently performing and recording with Miles Davis. Within the space of less than three weeks, Coltrane would complete his work with Davis and company on another genre-defining disc, Kind of Blue, before commencing his efforts on this one. Coltrane (tenor sax) is flanked by essentially two different trios. Recording commenced in early May of 1959 with a pair of sessions that featured Tommy Flanagan (piano) and Art Taylor (drums), as well as Paul Chambers – who was the only bandmember other than Coltrane to have performed on every date. When recording resumed in December of that year, Wynton Kelly (piano) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) were instated – replicating the lineup featured on Kind of Blue, sans Miles Davis of course. At the heart of these recordings, however, is the laser-beam focus of Coltrane’s tenor solos. All seven pieces issued on the original Giant Steps are likewise Coltrane compositions. He was, in essence, beginning to rewrite the jazz canon with material that would be centered on solos – the 180-degree antithesis of the art form up to that point. These arrangements would create a place for the solo to become infinitely more compelling. This would culminate in a frenetic performance style that noted jazz journalist Ira Gitler accurately dubbed “sheets of sound.” Coltrane’s polytonal torrents extricate the amicable and otherwise cordial solos that had begun decaying the very exigency of the genre – turning it into the equivalent of easy listening. He wastes no time as the disc’s title track immediately indicates a progression from which there would be no looking back. Line upon line of highly cerebral improvisation snake between the melody and solos, practically fusing the two. The resolute intensity of “Countdown” does more to modernize jazz in 141 seconds than many artists do in their entire careers. Tellingly, the contrasting and ultimately pastoral “Naima” was the last tune to be recorded, and is the only track on the original long-player to feature the Kind of Blue quartet. What is lost in tempo is more than recouped in intrinsic melodic beauty. Both Giant Steps [Deluxe Edition] and the seven-disc Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings offer more comprehensive presentations of these sessions.
(more…)

Read more

Kenny Clarke’s Sextet – Plays André Hodeir (High Definition Remaster 2023) (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Kenny Clarke’s Sextet – Plays André Hodeir (High Definition Remaster 2023) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:21 minutes | 464 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © J. Joes J. Edizioni Musicali

Recorded during 1956-1960, the initial years of drummer Kenny Clarke’s permanently settling in Europe, these four sessions display his versatility and consistently commanding musicianship over richly varied settings, some graced, among others, by the stellar presence of US tenor giants Lucky Thompson and Don Byas.

(more…)

Read more

Jean-Marie Machado, Danzas – Cantos Brujos (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Jean-Marie Machado, Danzas - Cantos Brujos (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz] Download

Jean-Marie Machado, Danzas – Cantos Brujos (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:00:56 minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © La Buissonne Studios

This record is the result of a particularly inspired approach. An eclectic composer and a pianist of a rare elegance, Jean-Marie Machado has accustomed us, since the eighties, to opening the doors of modern jazz to other musical worlds. With his variable geometry ensemble Danzas he took a new step in 2006 by creating several works taking their inspiration from sources as diverse as song, traditional music, dance and classical music. In Cantos brujos all these aesthetics are mingled in a fascinating abyss.
(more…)

Read more

Hank Mobley – Workout (1961/2011) DSF DSD64

Hank Mobley – Workout (1961/2011)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz  | Time – 46:33 minutes | 1,84 GB | Genre: Jazz
Source: ISO SACD | ©  Blue Note Records

During his stint with Miles Davis, Mobley’s four Blue Note sessions with bandmates Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers are considered his finest and most lyrical work. Grant Green and Philly Joe Jones complete the group on this gem.

This is one of the best-known Hank Mobley recordings, and for good reason. Although none of his four originals (“Workout,” “Uh Huh,” “Smokin’,” “Greasin’ Easy”) caught on, the fine saxophonist is in top form. He jams on the four tunes, plus “The Best Things in Life Are Free,” with an all-star quintet of young modernists — guitarist Grant Green, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones — and shows that he was a much stronger player than his then-current boss Miles Davis seemed to think. –Scott Yanow

(more…)

Read more

Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage (1965) [Analogue Productions 2010] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage (1965) [Analogue Productions 2010]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:23 minutes | Scans included | 1,34 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 896 MB

Less overtly adventurous than its predecessor, Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage nevertheless finds Herbie Hancock at a creative peak. In fact, it’s arguably his finest record of the ’60s, reaching a perfect balance between accessible, lyrical jazz and chance-taking hard bop. By this point, the pianist had been with Miles Davis for two years, and it’s clear that Miles’ subdued yet challenging modal experiments had been fully integrated by Hancock. Not only that, but through Davis, Hancock became part of the exceptional rhythm section of bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams, who are both featured on Maiden Voyage, along with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and tenor saxophonist George Coleman. The quintet plays a selection of five Hancock originals, many of which are simply superb showcases for the group’s provocative, unpredictable solos, tonal textures, and harmonies. While the quintet takes risks, the music is lovely and accessible, thanks to Hancock’s understated, melodic compositions and the tasteful group interplay. All of the elements blend together to make Maiden Voyage a shimmering, beautiful album that captures Hancock at his finest as a leader, soloist, and composer.

(more…)

Read more

Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (1973) [Japanese SACD Reissue 1999] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (1973) [Japanese SACD Reissue 1999]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 41:32 minutes | Scans included | 1,3 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 861 MB

Head Hunters is the twelfth studio album by American jazz musician Herbie Hancock, released October 13, 1973, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place during September 1973 at Wally Heider Studios and Different Fur Trading Co. in San Francisco, California. Head Hunters is a key release in Hancock’s career and a defining moment in the genre of jazz funk. In 2003, the album was ranked number 498 in the book version of Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2007, the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry, which collects “culturally, historically or aesthetically important” sound recordings from the 20th century.

(more…)

Read more

Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (1973) [Japanese Reissue 2020] MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (1973) [Japanese Reissue 2020]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 & DST64 4.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 41:40 minutes | Scans included | 3,11 GB
or DSD64 4.0 Quadrophonic (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Scans included | 4,12 GB
or DSD64 2.0 Stereo (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Basic Scans included | 1,65 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (carefully converted & encoded to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Scans included | 925 MB
Features Stereo and Quadrophonic Surround Sound | Sony Japan # SICJ 10014

Sony Japan continues with their limited edition quad SACD series with one of the greatest masterpieces of the fusion jazz genre. The 1973 “Head Hunters” album from keyboardist Herbie Hancock gets a reissue in multi-channel surround. Not only is the packaging unique to other editions, for the first time, the actual 4 channel quad version of the album has been released in a digital format. This should not be confused with the SACD that was issued by Sony Japan back in 2008, a multi-channel version which was reconfigured from the four channel master tapes. Instead this newly remastered 2020 edition truly gives quadrophonic collectors the original mix on a great format, and directly takes fans back to the 70’s quad era.

After recording with Miles Davis over several years starting in 1963, Hancock’s solo career blossomed on the Blue Note label with his classic albums Maiden Voyage, Empyrean Isles, and Speak Like a Child. After leaving Miles Davis’s group, Hancock put together a new band called The Headhunters and, in 1973, recorded Head Hunters. This album became a pivotal point in his career, bringing him into the limelight of fusion jazz. Drawing heavily from Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield and James Brown, Hancock developed a deep funky, texturally gritty rhythms over which he took liberties with electric synthesizer solos. Maintaining all of the sensibilities of jazz, particularly with his long improvisational solos, he firmly tied jazz to the rhythms of funk, soul, and R&B, in turn giving the album a mass appeal.

(more…)

Read more

Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (1973) [APO Remaster 2016] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (1973) [APO Remaster 2016]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 & DST64 4.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 41:33 minutes | Full Scans included | 2,93 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 41:53 mins | Scans included | 815 MB
Features Stereo and Quadrophonic surround sound

Head Hunters was a pivotal point in Herbie Hancock’s career, bringing him into the vanguard of jazz fusion. Hancock had pushed avant-garde boundaries on his own albums and with Miles Davis, but he had never devoted himself to the groove as he did on Head Hunters. Drawing heavily from Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown, Hancock developed deeply funky, even gritty, rhythms over which he soloed on electric synthesizers, bringing the instrument to the forefront in jazz. It had all of the sensibilities of jazz, particularly in the way it wound off into long improvisations, but its rhythms were firmly planted in funk, soul, and R&B, giving it a mass appeal that made it the biggest-selling jazz album of all time (a record which was later broken). Jazz purists, of course, decried the experiments at the time, but Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop.

(more…)

Read more
%d bloggers like this: