Big Bam

Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy was a top-notch Kansas City swing band that, by 1939, featured the pop vocals of Pha Terrell, the more blues-oriented singing of June Richmond, creative arrangements by Mary Lou Williams, and some excellent soloing from pianist Williams and Dick Wilson on tenor. Most memorable in this entry in Classics' "complete" Andy Kirk CD series are "Floyd's Guitar Blues" (an odd but pioneering electric guitar feature for Floyd Smith), "Wham" and "Scratching In the Gravel."

This 15-track set puts together some amazing performances by Billy Eckstine's band from the early '40s when he was leading one of the more intense, smoking bands on the scene. Some of his players during these years included Fats Navarro, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, and Kenny Dorham, just to name a few. The Eckstine band was sophisticated, jumping, and they swung like mad no matter the tune. Here, of course, the emphasis is on Eckstine's vocals, his smooth as silk baritone that could sing a ballad like Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady," or a deep swinging blues by Doc Pomus ("She Got the Blues for Sale"). There's scat, solid jazz balladry, and jumping, tough-hitting blues here. Highly recommended.

GRAMMY-winning composer, bandleader, and pianist Arturo O’Farrill has fulfilled what he calls “a lifelong dream” with his signing to Blue Note Records and the release of his Blue Note debut …dreaming in lions… The album finds O’Farrill leading a colorful 10-piece assemblage he calls The Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, a scaled-down edition of his renowned Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. The program encompasses two inspired multi-movement suites that O’Farrill has conceived in collaboration with the Cuban Malpaso Dance Company: “Despedida,” a meditation on farewells, and “Dreaming in Lions,” inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s novella The Old Man and the Sea.

Duke Ellington - The Duke at Fargo 1940: Special 60th Anniversary Edition (2000) {2CD Set, Storyville 84385-38932 1}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 557 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 367 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1940, 2000 Storyville | 84385-38932 1
Jazz / Big Band / Swing / Early Jazz

The widely heralded recordings made of Duke Ellington & His Orchestra during a 1940 concert in Fargo, ND, have been justifiably praised for their historic value as well as for the surprisingly good sound obtained by a pair of young amateur engineers with a portable disc cutter. Both the soloists and Ellington's unique-sounding blend of reeds and brass are very distinct. Some of these tracks previously appeared on the Jazz Society label, followed by a Book-of-the Month Club set, and all of them appeared on the now-defunct Vintage Jazz Classics, but this latest version tops them all for sound quality.

On his first instrumental album in over a decade, German jazz trumpeter/flügelhornist and pop star Till Brönner offers his own tribute to one of his earliest inspirations: the sound of Creed Taylor's CTI label. Co-produced by the artist with keyboardist Roberto Di Gioia and Samon Kawamura, these 12 tunes employ a crack studio band as well as strings, and evoke memories of the label's arrangers Don Sebesky, David Matthews, and Bob James, but with distinctly modern charts. The mood is relaxed, open, and fluid, and creativity runs high. The production is warm yet crystalline; though attention is paid to detail, nothing feels constrained by nostalgia. These 12 cuts wed hip, soulful jazz-funk grooves to modern jazz, sometimes infused with a subtly cinematic panache. "Will of Nature" has a tight front-line horn vamp (Brönner and saxophonist Magnus Lindgren) that invokes hard bop but sticks closer to spacy soul-jazz – Lindgren even quotes "A Love Supreme" in the intro to his solo. Di Gioia's Rhodes makes room inside the mix for exploration, while staying deep in the pocket provided by Wolfgang Haffner's drum kit and Albert Johnson's double bass. "The Gate" opens with lush, impressionistic strings that hover and float in the intro, highlighted by Lindgren's flute. They introduce Brönner's smoky flügelhorn melody, followed by double bass, rim-shot snare, and cymbals. The strings vanish and, in a nice timbral contrast, the slippery head is led by Lindgren's bass clarinet and the horn.

BIG GOLD DREAMS documents the vibrant independent music scene to emerge in Scotland across the late 70s and 80s. Initially ignited by punk, labels sprang up in Glasgow, Edinburgh and elsewhere to give a voice to the explosion of new acts across the country.

The Columbia Years 1943–1952: The Complete Recordings is a 1993 box set album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. This twelve-disc set contains 285 songs Sinatra recorded during his nine-year career with Columbia Records.

Miles Davis - Young Miles (2001) {4CD Set, Proper Records PROPERBOX 17 rec 1945-1950}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 620 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 625 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 210 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2001 Proper Records | PROPERBOX 17
Jazz / Bop / Trumpetz

This box set contains 82 tracks recorded by Miles Davis between 1945 and 1950. Miles' spark of genius was already apparent right from the start, and it's clear after listening to this set why Prestige gave him a lucrative recording contract which he would fulfill from 1951-1956 on his way to super-stardom. His distinctive sound on the trumpet is unmistakable here, even as a twenty year old…a sound that would delight the world for decades! This set is solid gold, filled with nuggets of beautiful jazz from start to finish. Many people may be content to limit their early Miles Davis collection to the Complete Birth Of The Cool CD, and that's fine, but you'll be missing out on lots of great music from one of the finest jazz artists of the 20th century!! The sound quality on this box set is great, save for a handful of recordings that are a little garbled but were included anyway because the playing is so beautiful.