Outside From February 2013

It's difficult to call a guitarist who routinely shows up in the upper reaches of "100 Greatest Guitarists Ever" lists underappreciated, and yet the first impression the towering seven-disc box set Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective makes is that Duane Allman does not receive his proper due…

David Murray - The Complete Remastered Recordings On Black Saint & Soul Note, Vol. 2 (2013) {7CD BoxSet CAM Jazz rec 1979-1993}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.39 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 910 Mb | Full Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1979-93, 2013 CAM Jazz / Black Saint / Soul Note | BXS 1024
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Saxophone / Bass Clarinet

Murray's first box set in this series was one of Black Saint/Soul Note's better reissues. And this second volume is it's equal, and in some instances possibly better. The seven albums here span the years 1979 to 1993, and show Murray in different playing styles, but always close to the top of his skills. If you've read this far you're probably familiar with Murray's music, so I'll be brief in my album notes.

Volker Kriegel - Lost Tapes: Mainz 1963-1969 (2013) {2CD Set Jazzhaus 101 726}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 707 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 326 Mb
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© 1963-69, 2013 SWR / Jazzhaus | 101 726
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Guitar

The complete - and previously unheard - early work of a later celebrated jazz guitarist recorded in first-class audio quality and produced by SWF-Landesstudio Rheinland-Pfalz in Mainz, as it was then known. It is fascinating to discover the sources from which Volker Kriegel - just 19 years old at the time of the first session - derived inspiration for some of the best known jazz standards: John Lewis' Django, a relaxed Thelonious Monk (Rythm-A-Ning), Autumn Leaves, Norwegian Wood, and other down-tempo numbers of the bop and beat era before discovering his personal laid-back style.

For those unindoctrinated to the obsessive world of Grateful Dead culture that goes past fandom into a somewhat disconcerting preoccupation, the Deadhead's need for rampant collection and cataloging of live recordings of the band's jammy shows may seem completely insane. Ranging from the many, many live albums officially released when the band was still active to countless bootlegs and even more low-quality audience-recorded tapes, almost every minute of the group's over 2,000 concerts have been documented in some form, with newly refurbished or remixed gigs coming out from the vaults every year. To untrained ears, these shows could sound like interchangeable noodly nonsense, but even the most reluctant listener would be struck by what the initiated already hold dear from a recording like Sunshine Daydream: Veneta, OR, August 27th, 1972…

Chet Baker - Italian Movies (1958-1964) {3CD Set Moochin' About MOOCHIN03 rel 2013}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 660 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 305 Mb
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© 1958-64, 2013 Moochin' About | MOOCHIN03
Jazz / Cool / Stage & Screen / Continental Jazz / Original Score / Trumpet

Before delving into the music on this collection, it's important to offer a note of caution to Chet Baker fans: Italian Movies is not a really a compilation of the trumpeter's work, so much as a series of film scores by the great composer Piero Umiliani between 1958 and 1964 on which he is featured either as a soloist or as part of the orchestra. It might better have been marketed to Umiliani fans, but it's tough to fault label Moochin' About for a little creative license when repackaging a previous issue of this music that appeared on Liuto Records – that one was co-billed to the pair. Other than on disc three – where Baker doesn't get to solo until track nine in the score for 1962's Smog, yet is still featured for 20 minutes – there is plenty of him to go around as he works amid his Italian contemporaries.

One of Germany’s best-loved classical performers joins forces with a legendary close- harmony group for a winter-themed album to bring warmth to the dark months of the year: Albrecht Mayer & The King’s Singers. The pairing of probably the world’s most famous and accomplished oboist, Albrecht Mayer with the UK’s celebrated vocal ensemble is a heavenly musical partnership, and the interplay of colours, melodies and harmonies between these performers enchant and delight with Baroque, classical and seasonal favourites. The album has a Yuletide theme with tracks such as ‘Let It Snow’, ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’.

Island Presents Roots collects 37 of the best-loved and most sought-after Roots sides of the mid-to-late seventies, all of which first saw issue outside Jamaica on Blackwell’s famed imprint…