Jazzman Blues

A tireless showman and an underrated musical talent, Louis Prima swung his way to icon status thanks to an irresistible, infectious sound whose appeal translated across generations. Nominally a swing artist, Prima's distinctive sound also encompassed New Orleans-style jazz, boogie-woogie, jump blues, R&B, early rock & roll, and even the occasional Italian tarantella.

Anybody interested in Don Byron gets his range, and his willingness to try almost anything that tickles his fancy, whether it be klezmer, swing, funk, out jazz, blues or funky soul. He explores and leaves his mark on something and moves on. From Music for Six Musicians and Tuskegee Experiments to Nu Blaxploitation and Bug Music, from Fine Line: Arias and Lieder and Plays the Music of Mickey Katz to Ivey-Divey, Byron has explored - not usually reverently - his inspirations and curiosities with mixed results, but it's the investigation that counts for him in the first place. Do the Boomerang: The Music of Junior Walker is a curious outing in that Walker didn't always write his own material, but he wrote enough of it (five cuts on this set) and, like Byron, put an indelible stamp on anything he took on, from singing to blowing the saxophone. Byron assembled a dream band for this offering that includes guitarist David Gilmore…

The music in Bailador is abundant, torrential, brilliant and sophisticated. Everything in Portal is here: rigour and fun, knowledge and generosity, dazzling technique, pleasure in profusion, precision, and jeté… You can hear him everywhere: a playful hedonist enamoured of sharing and, at the same, a cerebral, cutting-edge musician. (Source: EmArcy website)

Excellent addition to any Progressive-folk music collection.
Fresh, intimate, strangely funky, beautifully melancholic, Reflection sank like a stone in 1971. Now it's time to welcome it back.

Grant Green - The Latin Bit (1962) {Blue Note CDP 8376452 rel 1996, Ron McMaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 429 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 142 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 24 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1962, 1996 Blue Note / Capitol | CDP 7243 8 37645 2 5
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Guitar

Grant Green, being known mainly as a soul jazz guitarist, eventually gravitated into the popular boogaloo sound. The Latin Bit is the natural bridge to that next phase, though a bit premature for most in 1961-1963, even relative to the subsequent bossa nova craze. Pianist Johnny Acea, long an underrated jazzman, is the nucleus of this session, grounding it with witty chops, chordal comping, and rhythmic meat. The Latino rhythm section of drummer Willie Bobo and conga player Carlos "Patato" Valdes personify authentic, seasoned spice, while at times the chekere sound of Garvin Masseaux makes the soup too thick.