Woman From 27 July 2015

In 'The Fairy Queen,' two artistic geniuses met. The scenario is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; the music is by Henry Purcell, the greatest English composer of his day. The result is one of the first great operas, a dazzling display of music and emotion that has lost none of its power since its premiere in 1692. Much of the music has come to have a life beyond the opera itself: songs such as "The Plaint," "Thrice Happy Lovers" and "Hark! The Echoing air" now regularly grace the concert hall stage, a delight for singers and audiences alike.

Four years of hard work went into this project: Jimmy Reiter’s second album and the successor to his award-winning debut. "Told You So" features the current band on all tracks. This quartet is augmented by long-time friends and musical colleagues Kai Strauss (guitar) and Boston saxophone virtuoso Sax Gordon. Of the twelve tracks on this disc, nine are original compositions written or co-written by Jimmy. “Told You So” is musically varied, yet all stays within the Blues genre … sometimes more firmly anchored in the world of Chicago Blues. Excellent modern blues from a real expert and a great band that you will want to check out.

Arriving in 1967, Greatest Hits does an excellent job of summarizing Dylan's best-known songs from his first seven albums. At just ten songs, it's a little brief, and the song selection may be a little predictable, but that's actually not a bad thing, since this provides a nice sampler for the curious and casual listener, as it boasts standards from "Blowin' in the Wind" to "Like a Rolling Stone." And, for collectors, the brilliant non-LP single "Positively Fourth Street" was added, which provided reason enough for anybody that already owned the original records to pick this up. This has since been supplanted by more exhaustive collections, but as a sampler of Dylan at his absolute peak, this is first-rate.

Ariel Pocock - Touchstone (2015) {Justin Time JTR 8592-2} (Complete Artwork)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 332 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 152 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 50 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Justin Time Records | JTR 8592-2
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Piano / Vocal Jazz

With its pairing of a neophyte vocalist-pianist with four jazz heavyweights, this album might better have been titled Post-Millennial All-Stars Featuring Ariel Pocock. Not that the 22-year-old Floridian can’t hold her own in the company of tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland. Indeed, she is gifted well beyond her years.

Joe Cocker's debut album holds up extraordinarily well across four decades, the singer's performance bolstered by some very sharp playing, not only by his established sideman/collaborator Chris Stainton, but also some top-notch session musicians, among them drummer Clem Cattini, Steve Winwood on organ, and guitarists Jimmy Page and Albert Lee, all sitting in. It's Cocker's voice, a soulful rasp of an instrument backed up by Madeline Bell, Sunny Weetman and Rossetta Hightower that carries this album and makes "Change in Louise," "Feeling Alright," "Just Like a Woman," "I Shall Be Released," and even "Bye Bye Blackbird" into profound listening experiences. But the surprises in the arrangements, tempo, and approaches taken help make this an exceptional album. Tracks like "Just Like a Woman," with its soaring gospel organ above a lean textured acoustic and light electric accompaniment, and the guitar-dominated rendition of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" – the formal debut of the Grease Band on record – all help make this an exceptional listening experience.