風街ろまん Happy End

Guy Lafitte - Happy! (1979) {Black & Blue BB 989.2 rel 2004}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 358 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 159 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 29 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1979, 2004 Black & Blue Distribution | BB 989.2
Jazz / Cool / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

A fine swing tenorman whose main inspiration was always Coleman Hawkins, Guy Lafitte appeared in many mainstream settings through the years. LaFitte started out paying clarinet including with swing-oriented gypsy bands. After switching to tenor in 1947 and moving to Paris, he worked with Big Bill Broonzy (1950), Mezz Mezzrow (1951), Bill Coleman (off and on starting in 1952), Dicky Wells and Buck Clayton.

Influenced by Milt Jackson, Cal Tjader and Lionel Hampton, who hailed him as one of the greatest vibes players on the scene today, Johnny Lyttle was noted for his brilliant technique and a personal sound ideal for the kind of grooving organ combo he led on Blue Vibes and Happy Ground, his debut albums from the 60s included here. He was good enough to record with the best Louis Armstrong, Hampton, Wynton Kelly, even Miles Davis but, despite a prolific recording career, never achieved iconic status as a jazzman. That was probably more due to his desire for control over his music, which made him refuse to sign up for any major label, than to any lack of talent on his part…

Robert Earl Keen - Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions (2015) {Dualtone Records 80302-01685-27}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 321 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 123 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Dualtone Music | 80302-01685-27
Bluegrass / Country / Country Folk / Folk / Progressive Country / Americana

Robert Earl Keen has been playing the Texas singer/songwriter circuit for over three decades, and as a guy who often favors the acoustic side of the country and Americana music scenes, it's no kind of surprise that he's crossed paths with the bluegrass music community, and it certainly makes sense that he's a fan. What is a bit of a surprise is not that Keen has decided to cut a bluegrass album, but that the respected tunesmith has chosen to make it a collection of covers rather than writing a new set of songs.

Kate Rusby, often hailed as the 'First Lady of Folk', celebrates an amazing 30 years as a professional musician in 2022 with the release of a brand new album 30 : Many Happy Returns. The album features a stellar array of guest musicians who have all inspired Kate during her career: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Richard Hawley, Darlingside, KT Tunstall, Sarah Jarosz, Sam Kelly, Dan Tyminski, Beth Nielsen Chapman and Damien O'Kane. The songs are newly recorded versions of favourites from across Kate's career.

When trombonist/producer Wayne Henderson, pianist/keyboardist Joe Sample, sax-man Wilton Felder, and drummer Stix Hooper changed their name from the Jazz Crusaders to the Crusaders back in 1971, it signaled a more R&B-minded direction for the group – they were always funky, but in the '70s, they became even funkier. And so, the names the Crusaders and the Jazz Crusaders came to stand for two different things – if the Jazz Crusaders were synonymous with a funky yet acoustic-oriented approach to hard bop (à la Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers), the Crusaders were about electric-oriented jazz-funk and fusion. In 1995, Henderson (who left the Crusaders in 1975) resurrected the name the Jazz Crusaders and produced Happy Again for the small, Los Angeles-based Sin-drome Records.