Quintet 1979

Various Artists - Spiritual Jazz, Vol. 4: Americans In Europe 1963-1979 (2013) {2CD Set Jazzman ‎JMANCD 057}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 792 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 302 Mb
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© 1963-79, 2013 Jazzman Records | ‎JMANCD 057
Jazz / Spiritual Jazz / Modal Jazz / Progressive Jazz

It's well known that throughout the 20th century, fed up with poor working conditions and racism in their home country, many American jazz musicians chose to leave the US in order to live and work in Europe. What's less well known is how their music developed and evolved during their time on the continent, and how the experience of being a musician in Europe was to shape their lives.

Jean Françaix declared motto of always having aimed to create "musique pour faire plaisir" partially conceals the great variability and frequent inscrutability of the music created by this composer, born in Le Mans in 1912. Françaix succeeded in finding and consolidating his own style at an early stage and became known almost overnight in 1932: According to the critic Heinrich Strobel, this work communicated the impression of "fresh water gushing forth from the source with the elegant originality of all natural elements and at the same time appears as the creation of an artist with a clarity and awareness seldom observed in our time." He retained his mastery of composition which effervesced with ingenious ideas and musical humour and his ability to combine musical grace and irony up to an advanced age. 2012 sees the 100th birthday of Jean Françaix. In an anniversary box, WERGO has compiled selected works from original recordings (CDs and LP from our program), showing the wide range of music by the French composer and pianist.

Herbie Hancock recorded for Columbia between 1972 and 1988. During that period, between the label's American and Japanese divisions, he released 31 albums, both solo and with an astonishing variety of players in an equally breathtaking panorama of styles, from straight-ahead post-bop, to fusion, jazz-funk, disco, R&B, smooth jazz, and even hip-hop. Though Hancock had a celebrated career before signing to Columbia, it was his longest label association; and during his tenure there, he experienced his greatest commercial success and his name was etched permanently into the history of popular music. This box set contains 34 discs – 28 single and three double albums – all housed in handsome individual LP and gatefold sleeves.

Gathered here for the first time are all of the recordings Herbie Hancock (b. 1940) made for Columbia Records U.S. and CBS/Sony Records Japan between 1972 and 1988–a stunningly creative, 17-year period, yielding 31 albums. Eight of the titles in this set have never been released outside of Japan. This collection of 34 newly-remastered CDs showcases Herbie's virtuosity in a dazzling display of musical styles. It is a testament to his fearlessness, innovation, and ever-evolving curiosity, as well as his significant commercial success–the platinum certifications of Head Hunters and Future Shock.

This ambitious and beautifully produced two-CD set includes nearly all of Iannis Xenakis' chamber music for strings, piano, and strings and piano combined. Chamber music constituted a small part of the composer's output, since large ensembles and large forms were vehicles more commensurate with the aesthetic of his monumental, granitic music. There are no small pieces here, though; in each of these works, ranging from solos to a quintet for piano and strings, Xenakis was able to express his uncompromising vision no less ferociously than in his orchestral works. While all of the pieces have an elemental character, many with a visceral punch, the actual sound of the music is surprisingly varied, and the individual works have distinctive and individual characters. In spite of the weightiness and rigor of the music, the tone is not necessarily heavy, and some pieces, like Evryali for piano and Dikhthas for violin and piano, have moments of what could almost be described as whimsicality.