For Count Basie Trio

Throughout his career, Count Basie was modest about his own abilities as a pianist, and his success at streamlining his style to the bare essentials often made listeners underrate his playing talents. This 1974 session was a rarity, an opportunity for Basie to be featured in a trio setting (with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Louie Bellson), during which he provides enough variety to hold one's interest and enough technique to lead many to reassess his piano skills.

"April in Paris" (1956), "King of Swing" (1954), "The Atomic Mr. Basie" (1957) and "The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards" (1956) are presented here on a superbly remastered double CD.
April in Paris (1956). One of the staples in the Count Basie discography, April in Paris is one of those rare albums that makes its mark as an almost instant classic in the jazz pantheon. April in Paris represents the reassembly of the original Count Basie orchestra that define swing in the 1930s and 1940s. The title track has come to define elegance in orchestral jazz. Recorded in 1955 and 1956, April in Paris proved Count Basie's ability to grow through modern jazz changes while keeping the traditional jazz orchestra vital and alive…

"What A Wonderful World Of Jazz Singing" one would like to exclaim about the content of this gathering of 21 top jazz singers and their recordings made between 1946 and 1962. A musical spectrum spreads out that comes across as dazzling and multi-layered as these singing personalities, who come from all sources of the infamous American melting pot and have driven their roots deep into all ingredients of American popular music: into the blues of the Mississippi and the metropolises, the swing of the Jazz Age and the black ghettos and the New York ballrooms, the effervescent bebop and the cool jazz of the Californian West Coast…

Joe Williams was the last great big-band singer, a smooth baritone who graced the rejuvenated Count Basie Orchestra during the 1950s and captivated audiences well into the '90s. Born in Georgia, he moved to Chicago with his grandmother at the age of three. Reunited with his mother, she taught him to play the piano and took him to the symphony. Though tuberculosis slowed him down as a teenager, Williams began performing at social events and formed his own gospel vocal quartet, the Jubilee Boys.

John Surman, Stu Martin, Barre Phillips - The Trio (1970) {2CD Set, Victor–Dawn Records, Mini LP 20bitK2, VICP-62207~8}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 680 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 238 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1970, 2002 Victor Japan / Dawn Records | VICP-62207~8
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz

This set was also issued as two separate LPs under John Surman’s name, Vogue VJD 505/1 and VJD 505/2. Rare bit of free jazz by this trio of British players from the early 70′s. The music is very intense, without any of the noodling that sometimes ruins Brit sessions from the time. Surman plays baritone, soprano, and bass clarinet, and he really blows like mad in some passages. The sound quality of this album is stunning! In the autumn of 1969, John Surman decided to make a break and joined forces with Barre Phillips and Stu Martin, to form a group they called The Trio. Phillips had a varied background, having worked as a sideman with Archie Shepp, Jimmy Giuffre and George Russell, as well as performing solo in Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (15 August 1925-23 December 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist, vocalist and composer. Originally from Montreal, Quebec, Peterson is said to be one of the most technically brilliant and melodically inventive jazz pianists of all time, with a career that lasted more than 65 years. Some of his musical associates have included Ray Brown, Ben Webster, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, Ed Thigpen, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Louis Armstrong, Stéphane Grappelli, Ella Fitzgerald, Clark Terry, Joe Pass, Count Basie, and Stan Getz.