Carolyn Sampson Wadsworth

The Complete Motown Singles has been a dream project of Motown and soul fanatics for many years, ever since the first decade of Stax/Volt singles was compiled in an impressive nine-disc box set in 1991. Prior to that, no soul label had its output as thoroughly documented as that set – there had been the Atlantic R&B box, which collected highlights, but it never attempted to capture the label's entire run – and while The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 missed a B-side or two, it was an exceptional piece of music history, and pretty damn entertaining to boot.

Taken from a Jazz at the Philharmonic tour, Ella Fitzgerald is backed by pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Jo Jones on two well-rounded sets. Actually, the two dates are quite similar, with eight of the nine songs being repeated (although the second "Stompin' at the Savoy" and "Oh, Lady Be Good" find her backed by a riffing eight-horn all-star group), so this album is mostly recommended to her greatest fans. However, the music is wonderful, there are variations between the different versions, and her voice was at its prime.

This seven-CD box set features 95 tracks from legendary drummer Max Roach's small group, consisting of the 1956-1960 recordings for Emarcy and Mercury Records, as these noteworthy sessions also represent the drummer's post Max Roach-Clifford Brown Quintet output. In 1956 the jazz world witnessed the tragic and untimely deaths of the great trumpeter Clifford Brown and pianist Ritchie Powell. Within these seven CDs, we find Roach maintaining his assault on jazz along with trumpeter Kenny Dorham, pianist Ray Bryant, and the drummer's bandmates from the Clifford Brown years, tenor saxophone giant Sonny Rollins and bassist George Morrow.

Grateful Dead - Fare Thee Well, Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead (2015) {3CD+2BLU-RAY, Rhino}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.10 Gb
2xBLU-RAY -> 59 Gb | 1080i / 1.78:1 | Dolby TrueHD 5.1 / LPCM 2.0 | ISO Images
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 488 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Rhino / GD Prod. | 081227952297
Rock / Classic Rock / Psychedelic / Folk Rock / Jam Band

When it was announced in early 2015 that the Grateful Dead's 50th anniversary celebration would include a handful of reunion gigs – their first live appearances since the 1995 death of founder Jerry Garcia – the news was met with a cautious optimism. In the two decades since officially disbanding, numerous iterations have toured the band's catalog (the Dead, the Other Ones, etc.) featuring surviving members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart, collectively considered the "core four." Until 2015, though, the Grateful Dead brand had not been revived and, for some fans, the thought of playing a proper Dead show without Garcia still seemed sacrilegious.

This is a particularly fascinating CD, for it has the first 26 selections ever recorded by Big Bill Broonzy as a leader. The beginning of Document's complete reissuance of all of Broonzy's early recordings, the set starts with four duet numbers that Broonzy cut during 1927-28 with fellow guitarist John Thomas. Although his style was already a bit recognizable, the young guitarist/vocalist really started coming into his own in 1930……