The Blue Room

In 1976, Elvis Presley was in an unusual position – he was still the King of Rock & Roll and could sell out arenas all across the nation, but Top 40 radio played him only as an oldies act, and his new material popped up on the Easy Listening and Adult Contemporary charts when it charted at all. Tired of working in the studio where scheduling pressures stifled his creative spirit, Presley converted his den at his mansion Graceland into a recording studio with the help of RCA's mobile unit. Working with members of his top-notch road band, Presley recorded the sort of material he wanted to try – songs that reflected his own maturity and that of his audience – and the home-recorded sessions would become the basis for two albums, 1976's From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee and 1977's Moody Blue.

This is the second album of German progressive rock band. Their debut album “Crying of the Whales” was released a couple of years ago by the same record label. Fuzzed roaring guitars, soaring keyboards (predominantly, organ), melodic solos, strong singing mixed at the front, sumptuous backing vocals, mid-tempo throughout… While all of these components do originate in the 1970s, however, this is a very modern sounding record: the production is crisp yet warm, very much in your face yet elegant at the same time. It's a record that will appeal to fans of heavy prog, symphonic prog, psychedelic and all those who like good melodies, slick arrangements, and a strong sense of what the musicians want to achieve.

Jimmy Smith - The Complete Sermon Sessions (2009) {2CD Set Groove Hut Records–Blue Note rec 1957-1958}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 0.98 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 351 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 45 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957-58, 2009 Blue Note / Groove Hut Records | GH 66712
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Organ Hammond B-3

2009 release from the Jazz great containing Smith's complete classic Sermon sessions, in chronological order, together for the first time ever on a single set. These are his only preserved collaborations with Lee Morgan, the formidable trumpet player whose life came to a tragic end after being shot by his girlfriend at the tender age of 33. Tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks is also featured here. The outstanding reedman would pass away at the age of 42 after a life of drug addiction and self abuse. The great Jimmy Smiths was a Jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument.

While the jazz fascists (read: purists) may be screaming "sellout" because Diana Krall decided to record something other than standards this time out, the rest of us can enjoy the considerable fruit of her labors. The Girl in the Other Room is, without question, a jazz record in the same manner her other outings are. The fact that it isn't made up of musty and dusty "classics" may irk the narrow-minded and reactionary, but it doesn't change the fact that this bold recording is a jazz record made with care, creativity, and a wonderfully intimate aesthetic fueling its 12 songs. Produced by Tommy LiPuma and Krall, the non-original material ranges from the Mississippi-fueled jazzed-up blues of Mose Allison's "Stop This World" to contemporary songs that are reinvented in Krall's image by Tom Waits ("Temptation"), Joni Mitchell ("Black Crow"), Chris Smither ("Love Me Like a Man"), and her husband, Elvis Costello ("Almost Blue").