Fifth Avenue Band

Billie Holiday - Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia (1933-1944) [10CD Box] {2009 Columbia Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.74 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.42 Gb
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© 2009 Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music | 88697538062
Jazz / Blues / Swing / Vocal

When Sony/Columbia began its ambitious Legacy reissue project, those who followed their jazz titles knew it was only a question of time before the massive Billie Holiday catalog under their ownership would see the light in its entirety. The question was how? Years before there was a host of box sets devoted to her material, but the sound on those left something to be desired. Would they remaster the material in two- or three-disc sets with additional notes? Would it be one disc at a time? Would the material be issued as budget or midline material or at full price? The last item could be ruled out based on the label's aggressive and very thorough packages of single discs by Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and others.

The Stanley Clarke Band moniker goes back at least as far as 1985's electro-funk-inflected Find Out!, and picked up in earnest with 2010's eponymously titled The Stanley Clarke Band. The only real through-line, however, is virtuoso bass pioneer Clarke, who leads his ever-evolving bands through what are usually a stylistically varied set of songs that touch upon driving jazz-fusion, funky crossover jams, harmonically nuanced acoustic modal bop, and even forays into classical. It's a cross-pollinated vibe he championed on 2014's Up and one he returns to with conceptual gusto on 2018's expansive The Message. Joining him are pianist Beka Gochiashvili (who previously played Up), keyboardist Cameron Graves, and drummer Mike Mitchell.

As a tight, longstanding jazz ensemble, Yellowjackets has explored a universe all its own of electro-acoustic soundscapes in its nearly four-decade history. Since the band’s eponymous 1981 debut album, Yellowjackets has consistently forged ahead with innovative and challenging artistic statements. For Jackets XL, its 25th album and fourth for Mack Avenue Music Group, the band continues to stretch and reinvent itself with an exciting, full-bodied collaboration with the superb WDR Big Band of Cologne, Germany. The project combines the shapeshifting, multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning quartet with the renowned big band, re-imagining well-known band originals with dynamic new arrangements that feature twists and turns, textures and colors, moving harmonies and bold solos.

Glenn Miller - The Complete Glenn Miller & His Orchestra 1938-1942 (1991) {RCA Bluebird Digital Download rel 2014}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download (deezer.com) -> 4.38 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 2.01 Gb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 1991, 2014 RCA Bluebird
Jazz / Big Band / Sweet Bands / Swing

This 13-CD set completely reissues the contents of the nine double-LP series of the same name, all 277 studio recordings (including 20 alternate takes placed on the 13th disc) that were made by Glenn Miller's extremely popular orchestra. In addition to all of the hits and the occasional jazz performances, the misses (and the many Ray Eberle vocals) are also on this set, so general collectors just wanting a taste of Miller's music would be better off getting a less expensive greatest-hits set. However, true Glenn Miller fans should consider this remarkable reissue to be essential; it's all here.

Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions (2012) {3CD+DVD5 NTSC, Nonesuch 7559-79626-0}
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DVD5 -> 3.94 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 16:9 | English (Dolby AC3, 2 ch) | ~ 88 min | ISO Image
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© 2012 Nonesuch Records | 7559-79626-0
Rock / Alternative / Alternative Folk / Protest Songs

The two volumes of Mermaid Avenue, released in 1998 and 2000 and named after the New York street where legendary folk artist Woody Guthrie lived in the 1940s, were collaborations between cult American alt-country/avant-garde rockers Wilco and revered British protest singer Billy Bragg, on which they set to music previously unreleased lyrics by Guthrie. This exhaustive four-disc set features both releases together with a whole new album of previously unreleased songs and the documentary Man in the Sand, which chronicles the project.

Band on the Run is the third studio album by Paul McCartney and Wings, released in December 1973. It marked the fifth album by Paul McCartney since his departure from the Beatles in April 1970. Although sales were modest initially, its commercial performance was aided by two hit singles - "Jet" and "Band on the Run" - such that it became the top-selling studio album of 1974 in the United Kingdom and Australia, in addition to revitalising McCartney's critical standing. It remains McCartney's most successful album and the most celebrated of his post-Beatles works. In 2000, Q magazine placed it at number 75 in its list of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever". In 2012, Band on the Run was voted 418th on Rolling Stone's revised list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Recorded over three consecutive nights in December of 2014, Live at the Village Vanguard showcases bassist Christian McBride and his trio in concert at the storied New York venue. A four-time Grammy winner, McBride has been a superstar in the jazz world since debuting as a teenager in the late '80s.

Finnish alternative rockers Sunrise Avenue favor a brand of melodic, semi-hard rock with apparent influences ranging from Pearl Jam to Bon Jovi. The band was formed in Espoo, Finland in 1992 by lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist Samu Haber; after several years of shifting personnel, including a few years spent in Spain, Haber established a consistent lineup featuring keyboardist Jukka Backlund, bassist Raul Ruutu, and drummer Sami Osala.

Not the perfect vehicle for the late Chicago blues guitarist – it's a tad too slick, and some of the song choices fall into the realm of overworked cliche – but Scott's major-label debut album was a credible swan song, his enthusiastic vocals and clean guitar work ringing through well. Chicago guitarist Kenneth "Buddy" Scott hailed from an extended musical brood, to put it mildly. His brothers, singer Howard and guitarist Walter, are mainstays on the local scene; his son, guitarist Kenneth "Hollywood" Scott, leads Tyrone Davis' Platinum Band, and even his grandmother Ida knew her way around a guitar – she played on the South Side with the likes of Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson back in the 1950s.