The Don Davis

Trumpeter Miles Davis was without doubt one of the most important and influential jazz musicians of the post-war era, not only as a pioneer of the bebop movement but through being at the forefront of many stylistic and musical innovations over the years. His landmark debut album for Capitol “The Birth Of The Cool”, recorded during 1949 and 1950, became regarded as seminal in the history of cool jazz, exploring unusual harmonies and textures. This excellent-value 49-track 2-CD set comprises his studio recordings in small ensembles, in which he is the only trumpeter, from his studio debut in 1945 through to the end of 1948, just weeks before the first of the “Birth Of The Cool” sessions in January 1949.

The Miles Davis Quintet - Cookin' with The Miles Davis Quintet (1956) {2007 Rudy Van Gelder Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 203 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 77 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 13 Mb
© 2007 Concord / Prestige | 00888072301573
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Hard Bop

Cookin’ With the Miles Davis Quintet is the first classic album of four total that emerged from two marathon and fruitful sessions recorded in 1956 (the other three discs released in Cookin’s wake were Workin’, Relaxin’ and Steamin’). All the albums were recorded live in the studio, as Davis sought to capture, with Rudy Van Gelder’s expert engineering, the sense of a club show á la the Café Bohemia in New York, with his new quintet, featuring tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. In Miles’s own words, he says he called this album Cookin’ because “that’s what we did—came in and cooked.” What’s particularly significant about this Davis album is his first recording of what became a classic tune for him: “My Funny Valentine.” Hot playing is also reserved for the uptempo number “Tune Up,” which revs with the zoom of both the leader and Trane.

His ferocious soul-drenched vocals belying his tender teenage years, Stevie Winwood powered the Spencer Davis Group's three biggest U.S. hits during their brief life span as one of the British Invasion's most convincing R&B-based combos…

Don Davis - The Matrix [Orchestral Score] OST (1999)
MP3 | CBR 320 | 30:12 Mns | 69.13 MB

Musically avant-garde elements have been utilized in film scores for decades, usually as shock elements to denote horror or the otherworldly. In recent times, modern composer Philip Glass has enjoyed varying degrees of success adapting his minimalist techniques to film scoring. Given that background, Don Davis's powerful, innovative score to the Wachowski brothers' 1999 sci-fi hit The Matrix has all the makings of a landmark. Utilizing his extensive interest and training in the avant-garde, Davis has composed what's been touted as the first "New York school postmodern" film score, a jarring departure from his hugely successful work as an orchestrator of such populist fare as Titanic, Pleasantville, A Bug's Life, and Toy Story. The Matrix weds Davis's mastery of musical detail and coloration to a largely atonal postmodern concerto that's complex, dark, and unrelenting. Many film scores have driven tonal writing and heroic motifs into the ground; Davis's deft, sparing use of them here places them in stark, effective relief. The Matrix offers up a rewarding orchestral challenge that may just be a decade–or two–ahead of its time. –Jerry McCulley

The Spencer Davis Group reunited in 1973 and recorded Gluggo, its title referring to obscure slang for alcohol. In an attempt to keep with the times, the group chose a harder-rocking sound, which didn't sit well with their fondness for jazz and blues. Songs such as "Catch You on the Rebop", "Mr. Operator", and "Tumble Down Tenement Row" are characteristic of the group's 1960s sound, featuring precise drumbeats, loosely played organ, and hollered singing. Other songs include the instrumental "Today Gluggo, Tomorrow the World", a cover of the old blues "Trouble in Mind" (performed in the style of Nashville sound and twang vocals), and the country pop song "Legal Eagle Shuffle", which follows the genre's typical storyline of divorce and truck driving.