Little Data, Big Data

Jimmy Heath - Little Man Big Band (1992) {Verve Records 314513956-2}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 354 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 141 Mb
Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 16 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1992 Verve Records / PolyGram ‎| 314 513 956-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modern Big Band / Saxophone

Bill Cosby produced Little Man Big Band to give journeyman composer and saxophonist Jimmy Heath a larger palette for his work. Most known for his work with small ensembles, especially the Heath Brothers with siblings Percy Heath on bass and Tootie Heath on drums, Jimmy Heath brings to life his compositions, including his greatest hits "CTA" and "Gingerbread Boy," with blaring, upper register trumpets, punchy trombone countermelodies and swirling saxophone ensembles. He is an able practitioner of big band orchestration, concentrating largely on using the band to frame soloists, most prominently himself.

Starkly printed in black and white with washed-out, grainy photographs, this is one heavy slab of blues by a player who is not as well-known as he should be. Guitarist Jimmy Rogers was usually overshadowed by the leaders he worked for, Muddy Waters particularly. He was also sometimes confused with the hillbilly singer Jimmie Rodgers, and although they might have sounded good together, they don't have anything in common. This reissue collection grabs 14 tracks done at various times in the mostly early '50s which involve practically a who's who of performers associated with the most intense and driving Chicago blues. This includes the aforementioned Waters, leaving behind his role as leader for a few numbers to add some stinging guitar parts. There is also a pair of harmonica players, each of whom could melt vinyl siding with their playing. These are the Walters, big and little, as in Big Walter Horton and Little Walter. Pianist Otis Spann, bassist Willie Dixon, and drummer Fred Belew are also on hand, meaning the rhythm section action is first class.

Colin Towns + NDR Big Band - Frank Zappa's Hot Licks (And Funny Smells) (2005) {Rent A Dog}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 442 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 156 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 170 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2005 Rent A Dog / Provocateur Records / NDR | rad 2007-2
Jazz / Jazz Rock / Experimental Big Band

If this scorching live set is anything to go by, the November tour by Germany's NDR Big Band playing Colin Towns' arrangements of Frank Zappa classics will be unmissable. One-time rock keyboardist Towns (who worked for Deep Purple star Ian Gillan) became a film and TV composer, then a jazz bandleader, and the founder and funder of creative indie label Provocateur Records. His writing for big jazz ensembles mixes rock, improv, postbop and a slashing Stravinskyesque melodic wildness - but the result often comes at you with a visceral energy of such heat that it melts the edges.