Pan Alley

This 10-CD box set features all 213 soul singles released by Stax/Volt in this period (1972-1975) are contained in Volume 3, which like the previous compilations features a panoply of big hits as well as a surprising number of undeservedly obscure gems. Artists include Eddie Floyd, Albert King, The MG's, The Emotions, Black Nasty, Major Lance, Katie Love, Inez Foxx, The Bar-Kays and many more.

”Little Things” is the debut album by Norwegian singer and songwriter Hanne Hukkelberg.

Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building is Neil Diamond's equivalent of, say, one of Barbra Streisand's Broadway albums. It's Broadway that Diamond is returning to as well; specifically, the corner of 49th Street, where he and many others turned out songs for music publishers. Some of these songs were written there; most were only in the spirit of that modern Tin Pan Alley. Handling the work of his then-rivals, such as "Spanish Harlem," "A Groovy Kind of Love," and "River Deep, Mountain High," Diamond adopts his usual hammy style. Peter Asher patented a neo-'60s production style in crafting oldies for Linda Ronstadt in the '70s, and he does the same thing here.

On his first solo-piano CD, dedicated to the pioneering bandleader James Reese Europe, Sample demonstrates his jazz cred with a mastery of stride and ragtime. Save for reflective and expansive reprises of hits "Spellbound" and "Soul Shadows," Sample delves into early 20th Century pop and Tin Pan Alley standards. The supple, southern syncopations on Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" and Jelly Roll Morton's sizzling "Shreveport Stomp" offer evidence of Sample's strong left hand and the elegance of his improvisations, mixing blues feeling, Creole rhythms, and elements of the European classics.

Not only was Fats Waller one of the greatest pianists jazz has ever known, he was also one of its most exuberantly funny entertainers – and as so often happens, one facet tends to obscure the other. His extraordinarily light and flexible touch belied his ample physical girth; he could swing as hard as any pianist alive or dead in his classic James P. Johnson-derived stride manner, with a powerful left hand delivering the octaves and tenths in a tireless, rapid, seamless stream. ~ AllMusic

John McLaughlin - Thieves And Poets (2003) {Glenray}
EAC rip (secure mode) | APE(image)+CUE+LOG -> 204 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (tif) -> 63 Mb
© 2003 Glenray / Emarcy / Universal | 0602498010743
Jazz / Post Bop / Guitar

Since the late '60s, John McLaughlin's name has been synonymous with electric fusion guitar. But McLaughlin is equally accomplished on the acoustic guitar; he has a long history of excelling on that instrument, which he plays exclusively on Thieves and Poets. This 2003 release, in fact, isn't fusion in the amplified jazz-rock sense but rather acoustic-oriented post-bop with Euro-classical leanings.

In 1966, CBS Television invited some of North America's greatest blues performers to gather in a studio in Toronto. The artists were recorded together and individually in sessions that lasted three days.