Swingle Singer

The fourth album by Procol Harum was released as the band was in the midst of a significant shift. With the departure of organist Matthew Fisher, guitarist Robin Trower stepped more to the fore. The two-keyboard approach was still being utilized, with singer Gary Brooker's piano being joined on some selections by the organ playing of multi-instrumentalist Chris Copping. However, the stately grandeur that had been previously applied with grace and subtlety gave way to a band that rocked much harder…

Despite the departure of organist Matthew Fisher, Procol Harum survived, and this album is ample proof. Fisher was one of the prime architects of the Harum sound, and his work on such classics as "Shine on Brightly" and, of course, "Whiter Shade of Pale" underline that. Procol continued as a four-piece, and it was indeed a good thing that they decided not to replace Fisher…

Shine on Brightly was influential in the development of progressive rock by breaking all pop and rock music standards with the 17-minute epic "In Held Twas In I", which marked the beginning of the lengthy progressive rock suites that would occur later in the 1970s…

Pianist John Lewis, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Kenny Clarke first came together as the rhythm section of the 1946 Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra and they had occasional features that gave the overworked brass players a well-deserved rest. They next came together in 1951, recording as the Milt Jackson Quartet. In 1952, with Percy Heath taking Brown's place, the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) became a permanent group. Other than Connie Kay succeeding Clarke in 1955, the band's personnel was set. In the early days Jackson and Lewis both were equally responsible for the group's musical direction but the pianist eventually took over as musical director…

Modern Jazz Quartet - A Night At The Opera (1993) {Jazz Door ‎JD 1244}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 221 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 94 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1993 Jazz Door / ITM-Media | ‎JD 1244
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Third Stream / Piano / Vibes

Pianist John Lewis, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Kenny Clarke first came together as the rhythm section of the 1946 Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra and they had occasional features that gave the overworked brass players a well-deserved rest. They next came together in 1951, recording as the Milt Jackson Quartet. In 1952, with Percy Heath taking Brown's place, the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) became a permanent group. Other than Connie Kay succeeding Clarke in 1955, the band's personnel was set. In the early days Jackson and Lewis both were equally responsible for the group's musical direction but the pianist eventually took over as musical director.

The songs heard on The Love Album first came to light nearly 30 years after their recording, but they should never have lingered in the vaults so long; what's more, if an LP had appeared on schedule, it would have easily remained Doris Day's finest album of the '60s. But neither her commercial fortunes nor the market for Tin Pan Alley songs (even standards) appeared particularly bright in 1967. Day had just broken with her record label Columbia, and was producing herself for the first time; and most of her contemporaries were either fighting the tide of pop culture or only keeping their head above water by covering new standards such as "Sunny" or "The Windmills of Your Mind." Day chose instead to sing a collection of songs whose cumulative age was something like 350 years old (although the chestnut "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" had been revived by Elvis Presley only a few years earlier)…