Classic 100

Eric Dolphy - Last Date (1964) {Fontana Japan, 32JD-100, Early Press rel 1986 - direct from original master}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 245 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 109 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 172 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1964, 1986 Fontana / Nippon Phonogram Japan | 32JD-100
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modal Jazz / Flute / Saxophone

Allegedly Eric Dolphy's final recorded performance – a fact historians roundly dispute – this session in Hilversum, Holland, teams the masterful bass clarinetist, flutist, and alto saxophonist with a Dutch trio of performers who understand the ways in which their hero and leader modified music in such a unique, passionate, and purposeful way far from convention. In pianist Misha Mengelberg, bassist Jacques Schols, and drummer Han Bennink, Dolphy was firmly entwined with a group who understood his off-kilter, pretzel logic concept in shaping melodies and harmonies that were prime extensions of Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, and Cecil Taylor. These three Dolphy originals, one from Monk, one from Mengelberg, and a standard are played so convincingly and with the utmost courage that they created a final stand in the development of how the woodwindist conceived of jazz like no one else before, during, or after his life.

From New Orleans to Harlem. The most important recordings of the golden age. Mit King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Earl Hines, Jack Teagarden, Red Nichols, Clarence Williams, Muggsy Spanier, Frank Teschemacher, Adrian Rollini u.a. 100-CD-Box with original recordings. From the early days to the late 1950s, the highlights of Swing are presented on these 100 CDs.

Max Roach and Cecil Taylor - Historic Concerts (1979) {Soul Note 121 100/1 -2 rel 1984}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 622 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 256 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 79 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1979, 1984 Soul Note | 121 100/1 -2
Jazz / Post-Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano / Drums

Drummer Max Roach met up with the intense avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor for a 1979 concert that resulted in this double CD. After Roach and Taylor play separate five-minute solos (Taylor's is surprisingly melodic and bluesy), they interact during a two-part 78-minute encounter that finds Roach not shy of occasionally taking control. The passionate music is quite atonal but coherent, with Taylor displaying an impressive amount of energy and the two masters (who had not rehearsed or ever played together before) communicating pretty well. This set is weakened a bit by a 17-minute radio interview that includes excerpts from the concert one just heard, although some of the anecdotes are interesting. No revelations really occur in the music, but it certainly holds one's interest.

Lionel Hampton - The Lionel Hampton Quintet (1954) {Verve Master Edition 314 589 100-2 rel 2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 219 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 146 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit 96kHz remastering
© 1954, 2001 Clef / Verve / Universal | Verve Master Edition | 314 589 100-2
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Swing / Vibes

In 1954, producer Norman Granz held a couple of marathon recording sessions featuring vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, pianist Oscar Peterson, bassist Ray Brown, drummer Buddy Rich, and (on April 13) clarinetist Buddy DeFranco. This set has three selections from the DeFranco date (a 17-plus-minute "Flying Home," the original "Je Ne Sais Pas," and "On the Sunny Side of the Street") and one from the earlier session ("April in Paris"). Hampton is typically exuberant throughout (grunting rather loudly during a few later ensemble choruses on "Flying Home"), DeFranco and Peterson are as swinging as usual, and the overall music is quite joyous.

Exclusive US release, compiling 5 CD's in original individual jewelcases & packed in a slipcase box.