Cab Calloway, who first became popular in 1930, retained his popularity (despite a lot of competition) throughout the swing era. On this excellent CD (the fifth of 12 in the European label Classics' Complete Calloway series), highlights include "Keep That Hi-De-Hi in Your Soul," "Nagasaki," "Copper Colored Gal," "Frisco Flo" and a crazy "That Man Is Here Again." With fine soloists in trumpeters Lammar Wright and Shad Collins, trombonist Claude Jones and (by 1936) the great tenor Ben Webster (along with a top-notch rhythm section that includes bassist Milt Hinton), this was a much better swing orchestra than it is generally rated in jazz history books.
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005. The lists presented were compiled based on votes from selected rock musicians, critics, and industry figures, and predominantly feature British and American music from the 1960s and 1970s. From 2007 onwards, the magazine published similarly titled lists in other countries around the world.
How We Operate is the fifth studio album by the British rock band Gomez, which was released in May 2006. The album was produced by Gil Norton and was recorded at RAK Studios, London. The band have again adopted the more minimalist and mellow sound for which they are famed and acclaimed.It received mostly positive reviews, and reached #69 in the UK charts.
This fine 1995 release represents yet another offshoot of the band Gong, as this outing features "Gong-based" alumni such as legendary guitar god Allan Holdsworth, guitarist Bon Lozaga, vibist Benoit Moerlen, bassist Hansford Rowe, and other luminaries from the progressive rock and jazz fusion genres. With the opener, "Gongzilla," the band commences the proceedings with a tongue-in-cheek aural depiction of Japanese monster Godzilla's ominous footsteps weaving a path of destruction through Tokyo, whereas Lozaga's vicious crunch chords and the rhythm section's power-packed pulse set the stage for the remainder of the production.
The men behind the European downtempo outfit Zero 7 – producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker – launched their careers in the music industry as tea boys at a London recording studio. Shortly thereafter, however, both were in the thick of action, working alongside a string of well-known British musicians such as the Pet Shop Boys and Robert Plant. They spent the best part of the '90s honing their production skills behind the scenes. Then, after taking on the name of a nightclub in Honduras, the duo gradually began unleashing their own ideas onto an unsuspecting public.
Upon its release, the 1973 LP Brain Salad Surgery had been hailed as Emerson, Lake & Palmer's masterpiece. A long tour ensued that left the trio flushed and begging for time off. Before disbanding for three years, they assembled a three-LP live set (something of a badge of achievement at the time, earned by Yes in 1973 with Yessongs and, somewhat more dubiously, Leon Russell with Leon Live)…