Swinging Island

The Complete Keen Years: 1957–1960, collects Sam Cooke’s body of work as he began releasing secular albums, stepping away from the Soul Stirrers where he found great success as a gospel singer. Cooke had been releasing and dominating the gospel sales market over the six years previous to “You Send Me” and “Summertime” being released. Within this newly remastered collection are his unique versions of standards alongside performances that showcase his songwriting skills. Sam Cooke defined himself as a voice ahead of his time elevating the sound of soul at the turn of the decade.

As iconic in 2014 for her timeless beauty and stage appeal as she is for her artistic versatility, Freda Payne remains among music’s and show business’ brightest shining star survivors. Her latest album, Come Back To Me Love (her first for the Artistry Music imprint) marks not only a return to the big band and stringsladen classics from her mid-`60s beginnings with Impulse! but also marks a return to her hometown of Detroit. That makes this 14-song album featuring Grammy® award-winner Bill Cunliffe’s musical arrangements—from the vibes-kissed Kenny Rankin waltz “Haven’t We Met” to the lonely evening fireplace musings of “Lately”—a beautiful homecoming.

Koop, the duo of Oscar Simonsson and Magnus Zingmark, seem to grasp what many other trip-hop production units never did – that, no matter which instruments are used in your productions, digital or acoustic or electric, a sense of place is what should never be lost. Their debut album Waltz for Koop, with its languruous textures and tugging sense of melancholy, one-upped a parade of other deservedly recognized acts who had come in the wake of Air (groups like Royksopp, Zero 7, and Groove Armada).

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata (1971) {2014 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-27919}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 244 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 88 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 15 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1971, 2014 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27919 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Reeds

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. A totally amazing album – and one of the clearest examples of Roland Kirk's genius approach to reeds! The set's essentially solo, and features Kirk playing without any tape tricks or overdubbing – but still at a level that has multiple saxophones layered on top of one another – thanks to his creative approach to playing more than one instrument at once, and groundbreaking use of circular breathing! The record has these fantastic throbbing pulsating reed lines –with one horn blowing rhythm, and one playing an adventurous solo – and both being blown live a the same time, in a style that's still very soulful and swinging overall – and amazingly done without any sense of overindulgence.

Five CD sets containing 100 classic tracks by legendary artists, one of the biggest selling and best remembered musical icons of all time.

Finally available again after a 30-plus year absence from American shelves is the soundtrack to Shirley Clarke's gritty but brilliant 1964 film, Cool World, about young people growing up in Harlem. The score was written and arranged by pianist Mal Waldron but was performed and recorded by Dizzy Gillespie's quintet of the time. This set is one of Diz's best records of the 1960s (which is saying something), and one of the best jazz film scores period. Diz's band at the time included James Moody on tenor and flute, a young Kenny Barron on piano, bassist Chris White, and Rudy Collins on drums. The 11 cues that range between two and five minutes are deeply rooted in the language of hard bop and blues with some excellent, if brief, modal touches by Waldron…

Charles Mingus - In A Soulful Mood (1960) {Music Club-Candid MCI 50004 rel 1996}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 407 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 165 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960, 1996 Music Club / Candid | MCI 50004
Jazz / Post Bop / Bass

Very nice set of Mingus' legendary Candid recordings – produced in 1960, after Mingus angrily departed Columbia records, and was finally given the freedom to work in the way that he wanted. The recordings are some of Mingus best – and they feature a righteous anger and sheer jazz power that's unmatched by few other recordings.

Lee Morgan & Wayne Shorter - The Complete Vee Jay Lee Morgan-Wayne Shorter Sessions (2000) {6CD Set, Mosaic MD6-202 rec 1959-1961}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.70 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 0.99 Gb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1959-61, 2000 Vee Jay / Mosaic / Rhino | MD6-202 / R2 7532
Jazz / Hard Bop / Trumpet / Saxophone

Mosaic Records continues to repackage and remaster previously released and unreleased material by jazz legends past and present. Here, the ongoing saga continues with this sharply produced set featuring trumpeter Lee Morgan and saxophonist Wayne Shorter's recordings for the now defunct, Chicago, IL-based Vee-Jay recording label. With this six-CD compilation, the listener will find meticulously detailed annotations of the story behind Vee-Jay, chronological accounts of the musicians' backgrounds and basically what was transpiring during 1959 and 1961, which denotes the time frame of these sessions.