As Young As You Feel (1951)

1951-1952 (2003). In response to shortsighted comments implying that Stan Getz and Zoot Sims sounded too much like each other and too similar to Lester Young, Ira Gitler liked to use the analogy of "…a friend calling you on the telephone. You know who it is immediately. It's the same thing when you hear a musician play." The secret, of course, is to listen so carefully and consistently that you feel as though you have become a friend of the artist. This sort of empathy is a vital ingredient in jazz - the empathy between composers, players, and listeners. Hearing Stan Getz recorded live in performance at Boston's Storyville club on October 28, 1951, spells it out marvelously. Backed by pianist Al Haig, guitarist Jimmy Raney, bassist Teddy Kotick, and drummer Tiny Kahn, Getz sounds as though he has arrived at a hard-won maturity…

Even critics who feel (against the recorded evidence to the contrary) that little of tenor saxophonist Lester Young's postwar playing is at the level of his earlier performances make an exception for this session. Young was clearly inspired by the other musicians (trumpeter Roy Eldridge, trombonist Vic Dickenson, pianist Teddy Wilson, guitarist Freddie Green, bassist Gene Ramey, and drummer Jo Jones), who together made for a very potent band of swing all-stars. The five songs on this album include some memorable renditions of ballads and a fine version of "You Can Depend on Me," but it is the explosive joy of the fiery "Gigantic Blues" that takes honors.

Stunning 100 CD set containing a plethora of classic Bebop Jazz. Bebop marked the beginning of Modern Jazz, a musical and technical revolution and the first example of Jazz as an art. New harmonic structures coupled with improvising at a fast tempo together with hip outfits.

The first disk surveys film music from the thirties and forties; jazz was no longer "jungle music" (i.e., ludicrously termed as "non-white" music), but still "youth-oriented," as the liner notes assert. Off the bat, the best track is most certainly the eighth, Artie Shaw's all-too-brief Nightmare (from MGM's Dancing Co-Ed).

Charlie Parker - Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker On Verve (1946-1954) {2005 10CD Box Set Verve-Universal 983 3382}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks) +CUE+LOG -> 2.71 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.79 Gb
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© 1949-54, 2005 Verve / Universal Music Italia Srl | 983 3382
Jazz / Bop / Small Group / Big Band / Saxophone

As a leader, Charlie Parker recorded for Savoy and Dial during 1945-1948 and then for Verve exclusively (at least in the studios) during 1949-1954. This remarkable ten-CD box set, which adds quite a bit of material to an earlier ten-LP set, contains all of these recordings plus Bird's earlier appearances with Jazz at the Philharmonic. The JATP jams are highlighted by Parker's perfect solo on "Oh Lady Be Good," a ferocious improvisation on "The Closer," and a solo on "Embraceable You" that tops his more famous studio recording. In addition, this box has all of the "Bird and Strings" sides, his meetings with Machito's Cuban orchestra, the 1950 session with Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk, small-group dates (including a 1951 meeting with Miles Davis), odd encounters with voices and studio bands, the famous "Jam Blues" with fellow altoists Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter, and his final recordings, a set of Cole Porter tunes. The fact-filled 34-page booklet is also indispensable. Highly recommended.

There are several reasons to own this Vox Box 2CD set. For the first, it includes five great violin concertos in some of the very best performances in their discography. For the second, Ivry Gitlis (born 1922) is a great living violinist and these recordings made in early 1950s show his art in the best way, when Ivry's violin sounded powerful and brilliant.

Beyond the Music is a special 15-CD edition celebrating contralto Marian Anderson, the first Black singer at the Met. On April 9, 1939, a cold Easter Sunday, a woman in a fur coat walked down the steps of Lincoln Memorial, ready to perform open-air after being refused the largest hall in Washington because she was Black. As contralto Marian Anderson raised her voice to sing the words of My Country, ’Tis of Thee to the 75,000 who gathered to listen to her, an unforgettable historic moment unfolded. The great voice of “The Lady from Philadelphia,” first discovered by her local neighborhood, took her to global fame on the stages of Europe, Asia, and America. She became the first Black woman to perform at the Met in New York, she sang for presidents and kings, was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and with her dignity, courage, and unwavering belief in equal rights she became an icon in her supportive role for the civil rights movement.