The Place of Quarantine

Yusef Lateef - The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef (1960) {Riverside OJCCD-759-2 rel 2006}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 262 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 11 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960, 2006 Riverside / Fantasy / Universal | OJCCD-759-2 / 00025218675925
Jazz / Hard Bop / Saxophone / Oboe / Flute

On The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef, Riverside seems eager to present Yusef Lateef, technical virtuoso, on a series of songs that step closer to jazz tradition than any of his work in the recent past. Largely absent are Lateef's experiments with Eastern modes, rhythms, and instrumentation, and in their place is a collection of largely upbeat, accessible songs, with a balanced mix of standards and originals. Much of the introspective, personal quality of his previous albums seems lost in the effort, but Lateef's playing still remains stellar, especially on oboe.

After many months we emerge from quarantine with new hopes for the future and new music for you ears. We hope you enjoy this new release and our exploration into the world of aural delights and cosmic inspiration in the form of a Progressive Rock record called COSMOLOGICA. Enjoy the ride. Classifying music in to genres is a funny thing. At its core, that action is anathema to me. Artists who are following their muse tend to dislike being pigeonholed and would rather think that each expression is unique. And I suppose it is. Yet we all know the blues when we hear it. Or country. Or jazz. But what about Progressive Rock? For me, the best description of Prog is “classical music using rock instruments”, (a Circe Link quote). In classical all rules can be broken. Time signatures, key changes, tempo modulation, and dynamic range are all fair game. And so, too, is it with Prog. And because it is so free, it is the least genre-fied genre, and therefore capable of being the most honest and unique artistic expression.

Fred Ho & The Green Monster Big Band - Year of the Tiger (2011) {Innova 789}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 453 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 165 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 32 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2011 Innova / Big Red Media | 789
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Experimental / Modern Big Band / Creative Orchestra

To approximate the first half of Fred Ho's album Year of the Tiger, it's necessary to imagine the sound that might be created if the members of Duke Ellington & His Orchestra were mixed with the players from Parliament/Funkadelic and set loose on the Michael Jackson and Jimi Hendrix catalogs. That's right, songs like "Thriller" and "Purple Haze" get severely retrofitted into an aggressive, irreverent jazz-funk style, with harsh, massed horn parts. Sometimes, the sound resembles a couple of high-school marching bands fighting it out on the same football field.

Austin singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg is an immersive masterwork of intimate beauty, contemplative elegance & atmospheric soundscapes…

The Overload is a record of great dexterity and curation, the output of a band who were raised on a 00s digital-revolution buffet of wide musical influences. Growing up on US MTV Hip-Hop, minimal 70s No-Wave and sharp-witted British indie, Yard Act benefit from this rich tapestry of musical near-history, using it to create something that feels like more than a trendy pastiche.