Wonderland Take That

Jazz pianist Bill Evans began a quiet revolution in the early 1960s. Before Evans, jazz piano trios spotlighted the pianist while the others essentially accompanied him or her. Evans envisioned a trio where all three musicians were on an equal footing, where they'd truly interact. "Sunday at the Village Vanguard", recorded live in 1961, captures the original Bill Evans Trio at its peak. Drummer Paul Motian plays with grace, subtlety, and restraint that are equal to Evans's, and bassist Scott LaFaro (who also played with Ornette Coleman) has a rapport with the others that seems telepathic. Evans absorbed the bebop approach to the keys but also took inspiration from the suave pianism of Nat "King" Cole and 20th-century classical Impressionism. "Sunday" is piano trio jazz that's executed so beautifully one might not notice how complex it really is.

Sunday at the Village Vanguard is the initial volume of a mammoth recording session by the Bill Evans Trio, from June 25, 1961 at New York's Village Vanguard documenting Evans' first trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Its companion volume is Waltz for Debby. This trio is still widely regarded as his finest, largely because of the symbiotic interplay between its members. Tragically, LaFaro was killed in an automobile accident ten days after this session was recorded, and Evans assembled the two packages a few months afterward. While "Waltz for Debby" - in retrospect - is seemingly a showcase for Evans' brilliant, subtle, and wide-ranging pianism, this volume becomes an homage, largely, to the genius and contribution of LaFaro…

Bill Evans Trio - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961) {2001 Riverside Remaster 20bitK2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 531 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 183 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 28 Mb
© 2001 Riverside / Fantasy | RCD-9376-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Piano

Conventional wisdom, which in this case may be right, holds that Bill Evans' storied career peaked on June 25, 1961, a date that yielded two live records, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby, the final two documents of Evans' first, and best, trio, with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. In the two years he'd been playing with Evans, LaFaro had opened up new possibilities for the jazz bass, playing with a harmonically oblique, melodically flexible style that was, at the time, unprecedented. Ten days after this record was made he died, just 25 years old.

Bill Evans Trio - Sunday At The Village Vanguard (1961) {2008 Riverside} [Keepnews Collection Complete Series] (Item #23of27)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 459 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 161 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 311 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remastering
© 1961, 2008 Concord / Riverside | 0888072305090
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Piano

Conventional wisdom, which in this case may be right, holds that Bill Evans' storied career peaked on June 25, 1961, a date that yielded two live records, Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby, the final two documents of Evans' first, and best, trio, with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. In the two years he'd been playing with Evans, LaFaro had opened up new possibilities for the jazz bass, playing with a harmonically oblique, melodically flexible style that was, at the time, unprecedented. Ten days after this record was made he died, just 25 years old.

With her pre-bop piano style, cool but sensual singing, and fortuitously photogenic looks, Diana Krall took the jazz world by storm in the late '90s. By the turn of the century she was firmly established as one of the biggest sellers in jazz. Her 1996 album All for You was a Nat King Cole tribute that showed the singer/pianist's roots, and since then she has stayed fairly close to that tradition-minded mode, with wildly successful results…

The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective (2004) {2CD Tee Pee Records TPE-059}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 952 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 337 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 76 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2004 Tee Pee Records | TPE-059
Rock / Alternative / Indie / Neopsychedelic

Over the years, Anton Newcombe and the Brian Jonestown Massacre have gotten more promotional mileage out of their self-sabotage than they have ink spilled on their shambolic musical blend of the Stones, Velvets, and Summer of Love-derived transcendence. Megalomania, drug abuse, internal strife, aborted tours, and frustrated fans – it's a checklist for band destruction. And yet the Brian Jonestown Massacre endure. They got a boost outside of their sizable niche in 2003 with the release of a documentary that traced both their contentious relationship with the Dandy Warhols and Newcombe's mercurial antics/genius.

Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck - Live In Japan (2009) [4DVD Box Set] {A Wonderland Records}
4xDVD5 -> 13.5 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | Dolby AC3, 2 ch | ~ 8h 30m | ISO Images
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 152 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2009 A Wonderland Records Group Ltd. | WLR-2102
Rock / Blue Rock / Hard Rock / Guitar

Great news! Two guitar gods are coming to arena near you - if you live near the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, that is. That's where Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck will perform on 21 and 22 February. To say that Clapton and Beck are two of the preeminent guitarists in the rock era is, of course, an understatement - between them, they have almost 100 years of musical experience. Together in the blues-tinged Yardbirds and in their solo careers, they have revolutionzed the electric guitar in ways that border on the seismic. Since leaving The Yardbirds, the duo have performed together at album sessions, benefit shows and festivals in years past, but these concerts mark the first time the pair have ever shared the bill for major arena shows.