Ahead Exek

Commemorating 15 years on the road, in late 1980 the Grateful Dead presented a total of 25 – or 26 if you count New Year's Eve – concerts highlighted by a rare acoustic set. Appropriately enough, this run of shows reached an apex on Halloween with a closed-circuit TV special and FM radio simulcast throughout North America…

Beverly-Glenn Copeland releases The Ones Ahead - his first new album in 20 years via Transgressive Records. For decades, the Pennsylvania-born, Canada-based singer, songwriter, and composer has illuminated questions of human interconnectedness with his sincere, searching voice and nimble melodicism. His new album, The Ones Ahead - his first collection of new music in nearly two decades - deepens his explorations into the ways all of us must carry each other forward into the next world.

Miles Davis - Miles Ahead: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) {Columbia–Legacy 88985306672}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 474 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 182 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 75 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2016 Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music / Sony Pictures | 88985306672
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Fusion / Jazz Funk / Soundtrack / Trumpet

The release of the movie MILES AHEAD, Don Cheadle's wildly entertaining and moving exploration of Miles Davis, will be accompanied by this new soundtrack featuring musical highlights from Miles' career and new recordings overseen by Grammy Award-winning jazz/hip-hop artist Robert Glasper. This is a perfect primer on Davis' career for the new fan and a brilliant audio keepsake of the film for those who've studied his works inside and out. The album features 11 tracks from across Miles' catalogue from 1956 to 1981, select dialogue from the film featuring Cheadle in character, and five original compositions written, co-written, produced or performed exclusively for MILES AHEAD by Robert Glasper. These cues include "What's Wrong with That?" a jam that closes the movie imagining Cheadle as Miles playing in the present day with guest performers Glasper, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Gary Clark, Jr. and Esperanza Spalding; plus "Gone 2015," an end-credits song featuring guest verses from rapper Pharoahe Monch. Cheadle also pens new liner notes for the album discussing the selection and creation of the songs on the soundtrack.

None of Jethro Tull's progressive rock tendencies or classical influences followed Mick Abrahams into his creation of Blodwyn Pig, even with the inclusion Jack Lancaster's sax- and flute-playing prowess. Instead, Abrahams built up a sturdy British blues-rock sound and used Lancaster's horn work to add some fire to the band's jazzy repertoire…

In the summer of 1999, Steps Ahead founder/vibraphonist Mike Mainieri joined Eliane Elias, Bob Berg, Marc Johnson and Peter Erskine for a reunion tour of Europe. They recorded several of those shows but Mainieri didn’t listen to the tapes for two years. He eventually did, and the result is the two-CD set Holding Together (N.Y.C.). The musicians perform the tunes with great sensitivity to one another, both as an ensemble and in solo spotlights. “Uncle Bob” just swings along, while Mainieri’s gliding vibes impart an almost magical quality to a lovely version of Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood,” and “The Time Is Now” is a 22-minute-plus opus that gives everyone a chance to shine. There are too many high points on this solid set to mention, but it should be noted that Berg’s playing is vigorous and inventive throughout and provides a poignant reminder of the profound loss the jazz world suffered when he was killed in a car accident.

The debut domestic recording by Steps Ahead (following three sets only released in Japan) features the 1982 version of the group: vibraphonist Mike Mainieri, tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker, pianist Eliane Elias (a young unknown at the time), bassist Eddie Gomez, and drummer Peter Erskine. The music is essentially high-quality funky fusion, with Brecker typically blowing up a storm, Mainieri often playing the synthivibe, and Elias showing some early individuality. Best known among the seven originals are Don Grolnick's "Pools" and Mainieri's "Islands." The inventive but pretty accessible set concludes with "Trio," a fairly free improvisation featuring Brecker, Gomez, and Mainieri.