Basie Beginnings

The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Complete Modern Jazz Quartet Prestige & Pablo Recordings (2003) {4CD Set}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 1,44 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 703 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 21 Mb
© 50s, 80s, 2003 Fantasy / Prestige / Pablo | 4PRCD 4438-2
Jazz / Third Stream / Bop / Cool

In typical Fantasy Records aplomb, this four-CD set collects the eight albums which the Modern Jazz Quartet either mentored or collaborated on during their tenure at the commencement and nadir of their reign as jazz's premier chamber ensemble. Beginning with the 1952 issue of Modern Jazz Quartet/Milt Jackson Quintet recording (the earlier Milt Jackson Quartet sides are not here for obvious reasons, as the band did not commence its fully developed form on them) featuring original drummer Kenny Clarke before Connie Kay replaced him, and ending with This One's For Basie in 1985; the association the MJQ had with Prestige was a monumental one.

The Hammond organ, named after its inventor Laurens Hammond, debuted in 1935 as a cost-effective electro-acoustic alternative to the gigantic pipe organs mainly installed in churches. Among Hammond’s first customers were George Gershwin and Count Basie. Jazz pianists like Basie, Fats Waller, Wild Bill Davis and Milt Buckner were the founding fathers of the instrument’s international conquest, which led across all styles of popular music, from jazz to progressive rock, with its heyday in the 1960s and '70s…

While Hawkins represents the beginnings and one of the summits of jazz tenor saxophone, Frank Wess slips in the back door as one of the finest of the many second-generation players coming out of both Bean and Lester Young's lineage. Taking off from his groundbreaking work with Fletcher Henderson in the '20s and his pinnacle "Body and Soul" solo from 1939, Hawkins spent a good deal of the '40s rubbing shoulders with bebop youngsters and forward-looking swing players on a variety of small-combo recordings; he is heard here on a few such dates from 1940 and 1943. Teaming up with stellar big-band contemporaries like trumpeter Roy Eldridge, alto saxophonist Benny Carter, and drummer Sid Catlett, among others, Hawkins is in fine form on a mix of ballads and swingers for the 1940 session…

Various Artists - Masters Of Jazz - An Award-Winning Series (2004) {5DVD5 PAL Box Set DV1374704101}
5xDVD5 -> 17.6 Gb | All Regions | PAL 4:3 | Dolby AC3, 2 ch / Dolby AC3, 6 ch / DTS, 5 ch | ~ 360 min | ISO Images | subs: Nederlands
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 71 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2004 Documentary Plus | DV1374704101
Jazz / Documentary / Bop / Big Band / Hard Bop

Masters Of American Music The Story Of Jazz may be the most concise informative documentary on jazz to date. Five discs consisting of six and a half hours of material is presented in concise, informative segments. Comparisons to Ken Burns Jazz are inevitable, but unnecessary. This documentary combines extremely rare footage of performances and interviews to analyze the evolution of jazz and highlight four of its icons. Originally a television 'mini-series', the release of this limited edition digitally re-mastered set is good news for the world of jazz.

Between his auspicious beginnings with Armstrong, Jimmie Noone, and Erskine Tate during the late '20s and his proto-bebop big band of the '40s, Earl Hines found his '30s stride with these fine recordings. Part of a clutch of Classics discs charting his solo and big-band sides from 1928-1947, this collection finds Hines in the stellar company of such top arrangers as Jimmy Mundy, Quinn Wilson, and Cecil Irwin. While Mundy was the only one to achieve fame beyond the group (with Count Basie), all these chart-makers flourished under Hines' watch. Mundy's work especially stands out: Four of his contributions here - "Fat Babes," "Copenhagen," "Rock and Rye," and "Cavernism" - count as pinnacles of the form, replete with inventive horn parts and streamlined yet driving rhythm tracks…