St.louis Blues 1939

Africa and Latin America together have moulded American popular music since the beginning of the twentieth century. African influences have led to the development of jazz, gospel and blues while successive waves of dance music from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica have largely determined its rhythm. Dance forms and musical stylings such as habanera, bolero, tango, rumba, conga, samba, baion, calypso, mambo, charleston, cha-cha-cha, bossa nova and twistall have their origins outside the USA. This compilation aims to demonstrate just how far back the roots of Latin jazz stretch, well beyond the partnership that Dizzy Gillespie forged with Chano Pozo in founding cubop, the post-war marriage of bebop with Cuban music.

For over 35 years, Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins was known as the leading performer of traditional Texas blues, his distinctive guitar style and sly mix of humor and tradition mixing to make him one of the most popular performers of his day. Moving from the guitar to the piano, Elmar, AR, native Roosevelt Sykes' influential style led to a successful recording career that endured for over half a century. In this release, both musicians sit down to discuss their rich legacies before offering evidence as to just how they made their mark in music history with a pair of unforgettable performances.

In the spring of 1959, when Louis Armstrong took the stage in Belgium to play the concert captured on this DVD, he had much to smile about. The irrepressible trumpeter and singer had cut his first records with King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band some thirty-six years earlier. In the interim, he had completely redefined the possibilities of both instrumental jazz and popular singing. His concept of what it meant to swing had become the very essence of jazz rhythm, and his ceaseless ability to create coherent melodic improvisations over a given set of chord changes had reconstructed the very nature of the jazz ensemble.

This five-disc box collects Reinhardt's first 124 recordings between 1934-1939. Curiously enough, these sides aren't chronological. Rather, while each disc's featured sessions are presented mostly chronologically, the discs themselves are rather awkwardly sequenced, with different discs covering different years in a seemingly random order. That doesn't really detract from the set's appeal, however, as this music is terrific no matter how it's presented. If there is a flaw, it's that the remastering isn't nearly as superb as the fawning front-cover quotation would lead one to believe. To his credit, however, Kendall admits that he has attempted no "enhancement" of the sound, but has instead concentrated on clearing away much of the audio rubble. His work is, in fact, generally excellent - especially on the later sides, many of which are virtually devoid of hiss…

Part of a Fantasy sampler series that features musicians (and in this case a notable vocalist) performing the blues, this CD features Ella Fitzgerald on 11 performances taken from a variety of sessions. Although she never specialized in the blues, Ella had no difficulty swinging over blues changes and sometimes putting strong emotion into the lowdown variety. There is one song apiece from the 1950s and '60s, while the remainder of the program dates from 1971-1979.

Billie Holiday - Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia (1933-1944) [10CD Box] {2009 Columbia Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.74 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.42 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 243 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2009 Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music | 88697538062
Jazz / Blues / Swing / Vocal

When Sony/Columbia began its ambitious Legacy reissue project, those who followed their jazz titles knew it was only a question of time before the massive Billie Holiday catalog under their ownership would see the light in its entirety. The question was how? Years before there was a host of box sets devoted to her material, but the sound on those left something to be desired. Would they remaster the material in two- or three-disc sets with additional notes? Would it be one disc at a time? Would the material be issued as budget or midline material or at full price? The last item could be ruled out based on the label's aggressive and very thorough packages of single discs by Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and others.