Pieces Of A Dream – No Assembly Required (2004)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 47:19 minutes | Full Scans included | 3,14 GB
Genre: Jazz, Smooth Jazz | Publisher (label): Heads Up – HUSA 9080
Run down the roster of some of the greatest jazz and pop music collectives of the late 20th century – the Beatles, Earth, Wind and Fire, Weather Report, just to name a few – and the old adage rings true: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
In a career that spans nearly thirty years, Pieces of a Dream has remained true to that lesson, maximizing the talents and ideas that each individual member has brought to the mix over the years and distilling them into a compelling and satisfying whole. Their latest effort, No Assembly Required, merges the seasoned songwriting skills of charter and founding members James Lloyd and Curtis Harmon with the talents of some newer members of the roster. The resulting whole is indeed greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Heads Up International released No Assembly Required (HUCD 3080) with a simultaneous worldwide release in 5.1 surround sound (HUSA 9080).
The creative dynamic may have been a little different with this project – more collaborations than usual for Pieces, according to Lloyd – but the resulting album is consistent with the band’s usual entertaining and compelling groove. “It’s really cool when you work with people whom you respect musically and personally,” he says. “You just sort of get a vibe going and bam, there it is.”
As with any Pieces album, the high points among the ten tracks are numerous. Vocalist Tracy Hamlin returns (following her debut with the band on their 2002 release, Love’s Silhouette) with an upbeat and inspiring rendition of Earth Wind and Fire’s “Devotion,” a tune first heard thirty years ago on EWF’s 1974 release, Open Our Eyes.
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Sonny Clark Trio – Sonny Clark Trio (2003) [Audio Fidelity SACD #AFZ-001]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 1:14:45 minutes | Full Scans included | 3,05 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): Audio Fidelity – AFZ 006
This lesser-known Sonny Clark session (his only studio album not made for Blue Note) is sometimes issued under drummer Max Roach’s name too. They are joined by bassist George Duvivier for a set of generally obscure Clark originals including “Minor Meeting,” “Blues Mambo,” & “My Conception” (which is taken as an unaccompanied piano solo). Although not obvious while listening to his recording, Clark’s life was on the decline & this would be his penultimate date as a leader.
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Southern Brothers – Gopalnath Newton Srinivason (1999)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 47:57 minutes | Full Scans included | 2,14 GB
Genre: Jazz, Folk, World, Indian Classical, Carnatic, Fusion | Publisher (label): Water Lily Acoustics – WLA-CS-56-SACD
Southern Brothers was recorded in a mere 5 hours. It must have taken many more to write the 19 pages of liner notes that accompany the CD & attempt to locate it within a celebrated tradition of cross-cultural musical encounters. While the album is certainly interesting as an experiment, it does not achieve a great new synthesis, but instead, reflects the difficulty of actually bridging the gulf between cultures. It sounds as though Gopalnath & Newton are literally working out their relationships as the recording session unfolds. They appear like 2 congenial strangers who meet in a formal setting & then proceed to manufacture the illusion of a very heady conversation. Nevertheless, Southern Brothers does contain segments of dazzling virtuosity. The difficulties of the encounter are also interesting to observe.
~Joshua Levin
Miles Davis – Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet (Analogue Productions 2014) (1957/2014)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 00:33:48 minutes | Full Scans included | 1,61 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): Analogue Productions – CPRJ 7094 SA
Hybrid Mono SACD for sale individually and as part of Analogue Productions’ Prestige Mono Series
Mini “old style” gatefold jacket packaging
These SACD jackets feature printed wraps mounted to chipboard shells, producing an authentic, “old school” look and feel. Some people call these “mini LP” jackets.
Cookin’ With the Miles Davis Quintet is the first classic album of four total that emerged from two marathon and fruitful sessions recorded in 1956 (the other three discs released in Cookin’s wake were Workin’, Relaxin’ and Steamin’). All the albums were recorded live in the studio, as Davis sought to capture, with Rudy Van Gelder’s expert engineering, the sense of a club show á la the Café Bohemia in New York, with his new quintet, featuring tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. In Miles’s own words, he says he called this album Cookin’ because “that’s what we did—came in and cooked.” What’s particularly significant about this Davis album is his first recording of what became a classic tune for him: “My Funny Valentine.” Hot playing is also reserved for the uptempo number “Tune Up,” which revs with the zoom of both the leader and ’Trane.
Originally released in 1957
https://store.acousticsounds.com/d/79326/Miles_Davis-Cookin_With_The_Miles_Davis_Quintet-Hybrid_Mono_SACD
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Miles Davis – Cookin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet [Japanese SHM-SACD 2014 # UCGO-9045]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 33:22 minutes | Full Scans included | 1,41 GB
Genre: Jazz, Hard Bop | Publisher (label): Prestige – UCGO-9045
【SA-CD～SHM仕様～】【限定生産】
黄金のマイルス・クインテットによる名高いマラソン・セッションから生まれた1枚。ほぼ全曲がワン・テイクで収録されたのが信じられない完成度。中でも「マイ・ファニー・ヴァレンタイン」における孤高の美は唯一無二。〈パーソネル〉マイルス・デイヴィス(tp) ジョン・コルトレーン(ts) レッド・ガーランド(p) ポール・チェンバース(b) フィリー・ジョー・ジョーンズ(ds)
★1956年10月26日、ニュージャージーにて録音
https://www.universal-music.co.jp/miles-davis/products/ucgo-9045/
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Monty Alexander – Stir It Up (The Music of Bob Marley) (1999)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 01:10:49 min | Scans incl. | 2,89 GB
Genre: Jazz, Reggae, Pop | Publisher (label): Telarc SACD-63469
Stir It Up features pianist Monty Alexander, his trio and a reggae band performing 12 Marley favorites.
It’s a Direct to DSD recording and has excellent sound quality. Highly Recommended
Various Artists – Opus 3: A selection from Test-records 1, 2 & 3 (2008)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 / 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 00:51:28 min | Scans incl. | 2,5 GB
Genre: Jazz, Blues, Classical, Folk, World, & Country | Publisher (label): Opus 3 – SACD 195201
Classic Opus 3 from 1977 – 1984
In 1995, this album was released as an ordinary CD. (CD 19500)
On this totally re-mastered version for SACD – directly from the original analogue tapes – we have added two ”Bonus tracks”: One with our nowadays famous artist, Eric Bibb from his debut album on Opus 3 in 1977, ”Rainbow People” – an album that in the past only been available on LP. (Soon, it will be re-mastered and released on SACD!)
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Pain – Coming Home (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:26 minutes | 902 MB | Genre: Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Nuclear Blast
‘Coming Home’, is the 8th studio release of the Industrial institution PAIN. Take a deep breath, before you jump into this sea of Industrial Metal, thunderous orchestra arrangements and thrilling conspiracy theories – and Swedes, who are just designed to piss you off, in their most elegant way.
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Stuttgarter Kammerorchester & Thomas Zehetmair – #4 Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 23 & 38 “Prague” / Violin Concerto No. 3 (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:41 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © SKO RECORDS
What can we hear on this album? Firstly, a symphony that is only around nine minutes long, formally and tonally an Italian piece (with three merged movements). KV 181 in D major, composed in May 1773, shortly after the Milan premiere of “Lucio Silla”, begins with fanfares in Allegro spiritoso, followed by highly dramatic, expansive contrasts between major and minor, forte and piano, light and shadow, spanned over a “walking” bass, as well as effective dialogues between the first and second violins, which audibly emulate the tonal ideals of the Mannheim School. In the second movement, an Andantino grazioso, the solo oboe sings a melody that resembles a (two-part) opera aria. The Presto assai finale, a finely structured Rondo, uses dotted notes as it marches towards a happy end in a narrative that speaks to us without words.
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Space Time Continuo – Terra e cielo (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:50 minutes | 1,00 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Leaf Music Distribution
Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new recording, terra e cielo (STC2024) from Montreal’s Space Time Continuo baroque bass ensemble. This captivating album, to be released on March 8, re-imagines Italian vocal and instrumental music spanning the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. It features works by Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi, Diego Ortiz, Giulio and Francesca Caccini and Girolamo Frescobaldi.
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Matt Maltese – Songs That Aren’t Mine (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 36:39 minutes | 708 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Tonight Matthew
“The Earth is a Very Small Dot” is an original song by Matt, and this album is confirmed to be an album of covers, so I removed “The Earth is a Very Small Dot” from the tracklist of this album. “Kiss Me” is implied to be the first track on the record, so I made it track one for the time being as well.
Read more![Pablo Barragán, Juan Pérez Floristán, Andrei Ioniţă - Brahms: Complete Clarinet Sonatas & Trio (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/10/02/awtylzccfdonb_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Pablo Barragán, Juan Pérez Floristán, Andrei Ioniţă – Brahms: Complete Clarinet Sonatas & Trio (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:05:37 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © IBS Classical
It is clear and undisputed that the Sonatas belong to the outstanding clarinet music-literature. Brahms succeeds in his two Sister Sonatas to show the full sonority of the woodwind instrument while treating the piano as an accompaniment, but equal chamber music partner. Clarinet and piano always stay together in support and in dialogue. The composition in all of these works can be experienced as a contribution to any understanding of expression and inter-musical relationships: this becomes clear on an inter-musical level of the composition and on an inter-humane level of the interpreters. It is especially this aspect which makes Brahms still experienceable in performance and interpretable today. In this performativity , the works experience their raison d être; and in their performance, the intimate dialogue of friendship becomes reality. It is hard to find such a well-balanced and creative union between three artists, whose solo careers speak for themselves, but whose collaboration evoke the true essence of music-making. The most notable element perhaps, which brings Pablo Barragan, Juan P. Floristan, and Andrei Ionita together is their common vision of the communicational power of chamber music, its capacity to inspire and transform and its importance for their professional and personal development.
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Mathias Højgaard Jensen – Is As Is (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 51:51 minutes | 513 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Fresh Sound New Talent
My debut album features 9 original compositions and an amazing band. I’m thrilled to share what I think is an honest and ambitious musical statement. The band is: Jacob Sacks on piano, Steven Crammer on drums and David Mirarchi on alto saxophone, and my self on bass
Read more![Porches - All Day Gentle Hold ! (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/10/06/eeksvocyszg5a_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Porches – All Day Gentle Hold ! (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 25:10 minutes | 292 MB | Genre: Indie Pop, Electronic
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Domino Recording Co
All Day Gentle Hold ! is the fifth album from Aaron Maine and a celebratory collection of songs. Harder, faster, shorter and louder than any other Porches record, it’s direct and pointed, charged up and chaotic, described by Maine as “the most energetic, off-the-cuff moments, collaged together into the most captivating songs [he] could make.”
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