It Aint't Easy

Dave Pike - It's Time For Dave Pike (1961) {Riverside OJCCD-1951-2 rel 2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 256 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 92 Mb
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© 1961, 2001 Riverside | OJCCD-1951-2
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Hard Bop / Groove / Vibes

Dave Pike was never an innovator, but his best albums are definitely solid. A perfect example is 1961's It's Time for Dave Pike, which was recorded when the vibist was only 22. By 1961 standards, this album isn't experimental or forward-thinking – certainly not compared to some of the adventurous, challenging sounds that were coming from modal and avant-garde improvisers in the early '60s. But it's easy to enjoy if you appreciate swinging, inspired bop along the lines of Milt Jackson, who is one of Pike's primary influences.

There are few periods in the post-Reunion era as busy as 2005-2009, a five-year stretch that saw the release of four studio albums each with accompanying tours, surely none more fun for Bruce Springsteen himself than 2006’s sojourn in support of The Seeger Sessions.

She’s back! Grammy Award-winning, global superstar Meghan Trainor releases her anxiously awaited fourth full-length album, Takin’ It Back. This time around, she made a conscious decision to hark back to the signature sound she introduced on her 2015 full-length debut, Title, and bring it forward.

Many of Chicago's blues clubs could be described as "blues and soul clubs" because that's exactly what they are. Although blues is the main focus of those West Side, South Side, and North Side venues, so many of the artists they book include a lot of R&B in their sets. One of those soul-minded bluesmen who lives in Chi-Town is Detroit native Quintus McCormick, whose Put It on Me is a perfect example of an album that has one foot in electric urban blues and the other in soul (specifically, old-school soul of the ‘60s and '70s variety). Actually, McCormick's résumé says a lot about his musical outlook; he has been a sideman for both James Cotton and Otis Clay, and that explains why he handles blues and soul equally well on this 2010 recording…

For ten years, San Francisco’s I the Mighty has been going strong. While maintaining the same lineup, the group has managed to carve out a niche within the saturated post-hardcore, alternative rock scene distinctly their own. Highly influenced from genre-bending bands like Coheed and Cambria, I the mighty have always shown the same fearlessness with every release. Whether it is a ballad or a fiercely fast paced guitar driven song, the group sounds equally at home. With the release of their third LP, Where The Mind Wants To Go / Where You Let It Go, I the Mighty show no signs of slowing.

Returning to the studio after a brief hiatus, Rhino Bucket deliver this 11-song session that is frighteningly similar to Bon Scott-era AC/DC. In fact, the comparisons are so similar that it's easy to accuse lead vocalist Georg Dolivo of outright stealing Scott's style and the rhythm guitar from Malcolm Young…

Curtis Fuller - Jazz …It's Magic! (1957) {Savoy Jazz SV-0153 rel 1991}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 189 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 96 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 8 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957, 1991 Savoy Jazz / Nippon Columbia | SV-0153
Jazz / Hard Bop / Trombone

Trombonist Curtis Fuller's recordings for Savoy in the 1950s, like those of labelmates Hank Mobley, Milt Jackson, Wilbur Harden, Donald Byrd, and others, were prototypes in the development of hard bop. The next stage would come with the subsequent work of many of the same artists for Blue Note, where improved recording technique, greater attention to writing and arranging, and a more generous policy with respect to preparation and rehearsal time helped bring in the classic hard bop era of the late '50s and early '60s. On Fuller's Jazz…It's Magic, the hard bop prototype is still under refinement, but it's easy to enjoy the music in its essential elements: elegant, bluesy melodies; earthy, yet sophisticated, solo work; and fresh treatments of standards.

There's little argument that Slash is a great guitarist, capable of making rock and blues clichés sound fresh. On his solo project, Slash's Snakepit, he plays a lot and most of his playing is quite amazing. It's too bad that nobody in the band bothered to write any songs.

Whatever the reason that Betty Davis' Is It Love or Desire – also known as Crashin' from Passion – remained unreleased until 2009 no longer matters. Davis remembers a personal rift with Island's Chris Blackwell. Studio In the Country manager Jim Bateman (in Bogalusa, LA) claims the studio was never paid and therefore refused to release the masters to Island, etc. It makes no difference, because hearing this album, a ten-song set that was to be.