Jazz Bar 2001

Beautiful melodies of melancholy loved beyond borders and time. We will open the 23rd year of "Jazz Bar," Japan's best-selling and steadfast best jazz compilation. Everyone enjoys jazz in his or her own way, and the word "jazz" is full of various kinds of music. "Jazz Bar" features melodies tinged with melancholy that tug at the heartstrings. If such music were played at a jazz bar on a street corner, you might find yourself frequenting the place. This is the best compilation that has been released every year since 2001, contributing to the discovery of new masterpieces that can be considered next-generation standards and new-generation musicians. Please enjoy the beautiful songs and melodies that Yasukuni Terashima has discovered over the past year tonight.

Preston Love - Omaha Bar-B-Q (1969) {Kent–BGP Records CDBGPM138 rel 2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 194 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 69 Mb | Full Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1969, 2001 Kent / BGP Records / Ace Records | CDBGPM 138
Jazz / Funk / Soul Jazz / Soul Funk / Saxophone

Saxophonist Preston Love was far more associated with the early sounds of West Coast R&B in the 1940s and 1950s than he was with modern soul-funk. However, he, like numerous other R&B vets, actually did make some recordings in a much more modern style that have been relatively ignored. By the time this CD came out in 2001 early funk was undergoing a renaissance among collectors, spurring the reissue of Love's rare 1969 LP. Helping Love out on this collection of instrumental soul-funk tunes were the legendary Johnny Otis on piano and vibraphone, Clifford Soloman on tenor sax, and, on one of his earliest recordings, legendary guitarist (and son of Johnny Otis) Shuggie Otis, just 14 years of age when this was made.

Don Ellis was such a talented trumpeter, composer, and organizer that everything he recorded as a leader has at least some unusual moments worth exploring. His big bands were characterized by big brassy arrangements, odd meters that somehow always swung, lots of trumpet solos by Ellis, and an often visceral excitement. Although not equal to his best records such as Electric Bath, this late recording of Ellis' band is filled with all these traits, and thus exudes lots of excitement and electricity. At this stage in his career, the trumpeter seemed to be searching for a breakthrough, perhaps on a popular level. This manifests itself with occasional Age of Aquarius vocals and spacy harmonies that appeal to a broad audience…

Vienna Art Orchestra - A Centenary Journey (2001) {QUINTON 0104-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 503 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 179 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 502 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2001 QUINTON | 0104-2
Jazz / Big Band / Experimental Big Band / Progressive Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz

One has to hand it to the Vienna Art Orchestra; this is one adventurous band of Austrians. On Centenary Journey, recorded live in March ’01 at the Sofiensäle, Vienna, the VAO makes an heroic (and broadly successful) effort to compress a century of ever–shifting Jazz styles into one expansive snapshot. Unlike Ken Burns’ recent (and controversial) television series, Jazz, which was weighted heavily in favor of the music’s early pioneers with the last forty years or so telescoped into one hour–long (or ninety–minute) episode, The VAO’s enterprise leans rather conspicuously in the opposite direction, being evenly divided between Jazz as it developed from 1900 through the ’50s (the first seven selections) and in the years from 1960 to the present (the last seven).

Bill Evans & Don Elliott - Tenderly: An Informal Session (1956-1957) {Milestone 0025218931724 rel 2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 159 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 136 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 9 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1956-57, 2001 Milestone Records / Fantasy | 0025218931724
Jazz / Cool / Modal Music / Piano / Vibes

Bill Evans, the pianist, and Don Elliott, the multi-instrumentalist, were longtime friends and colleagues. They had a band together when they were New Jersey teenagers in the mid-1940s. During Evans’ period of heavy freelance work a decade later, he frequently played in his old pal’s group. The music on this CD comes from tapes recorded by Elliott in his home studio during 1956 and 1957 as the two worked out ideas. An Informal Session, the CD’s subtitle accurately calls it. The occasional car horn filters in from outside. We plainly hear Evans straining to bend a song to his conception. We hear the musicians’ comments and laughter. “That was fun. You were cookin’, man,” Evans tells Elliott.