Denon

Denon Audio Technical CD
EAC+LOG+CUE | APE: 150 MB | Partial Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Denon # C39-7147 | Country/Year: Japan 1984
Genre: HiFi Test CD | Style: -

This is one of the most comprehensive of any of the test CD's. It can be used for anything from aligning tape head azimuth to speaker frequency range, testing noise levels of either your cd player or amplifier/receiver, etc…

Kazumi Watanabe has for the past 20 years been one of the top guitarists in fusion, a rock-oriented player whose furious power does not mask a creative imagination. Watanabe studied guitar at Tokyo's Yamaha Music School and he was a recording artist while still a teenager. In 1979, he formed the group Kylyn and, in 1983, he put together the Mobo band. Several of his recordings have been made available by Gramavision and they show that he ranks up with Al DiMeola (when he is electrified) and Scott Henderson among the pacesetters in the idiom.

Dogatana is a 1981 album by Japanese jazz guitarist Kazumi Watanabe. As usual for Watanabe, it features many acclaimed musicians. The album, compared to other Watanabe works, has a very acoustic sound and is characterized by peculiar guitar "duets".

A key figure in the development of jazz's new direction in the late '60s and '70s (thanks in large part to his contributions to Miles Davis' pioneering fusion work), Chick Corea has since become one of the most influential musicians of the genre. The tracks on EARLY DAYS were recorded in 1969. Around the same time, the Davis Quintet was recording the epochal IN A SILENT WAY and BITCHES BREW. The material here, featuring sidemen Woody Shaw, Jack De Johnette, and Bennie Maupin, explores similarly abstract rhythmic excursions that favor texture and atmosphere over conventional song structure.

To most listeners, Jeff Berlin is utterly unknown as a musician and composer; to progressive rock enthusiasts, however, Berlin is a god, ranked alongside Jaco Pastorious and Victor Wooten as one of the most exciting virtuoso bassists ever. Crossroads compiles his first two albums, Pump It! and Champion, into a single-disc "greatest hits" of sorts, although neither album had much impact beyond jazz-rock circles.

Eddie Gomez is a brilliant bassist whose flexibility and quick reflexes make him an ideal accompanist (although his own albums tend to be a bit erratic jazz-wise). He grew up in New York and was with the Newport Festival Youth Band during 1959-1961. After studying at Juilliard, Gomez played with Rufus Jones' sextet, Marian McPartland (1964), Paul Bley (1964-1965), Giuseppe Logan, Gerry Mulligan, and Gary McFarland, among others. Gomez came to fame during his long period with the Bill Evans Trio (1966-1977).

Billy Harper - Soran-Bushi, B.H. (1977) {Denon ‎Japan C38-7007 rel 1982}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 229 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 89 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 31 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1977, 1982 Denon ‎/ Nippon Columbia Japan | C38-7007
Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

One of the best-ever Billy Harper records from the 70s – and one of the rare sessions of his that only ever came out in Japan! Billy is in incredible form throughout – and plays with a stunning sense of imagination and creativity on the 3 long tracks that make up this LP – stepping out with brilliant post-Coltrane energy that fires up his tenor, and takes him to the skies on these wonderfully long, creative solos. He's playing here with Harold Mabern on piano, Everett Hollins on trumpet, Billy Hart on drums, and Greg Maker on bass – and the session's got that warm spiritual sound that characterizes his best work – but also has a lot of hard-blowing solos with the haunting searching quality that keeps us coming back to Billy's work again and again over the years. Titles include "Loverhood", "Trying to Get Ready", and his classic, the title cut, "Soran-Bushi BH".

Jim Hall Trio featuring Tom Harrell - These Rooms (1988) {Denon CY-30002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 314 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 157 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 94 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1988 Denon / Nippon Columbia | CY-30002
Jazz / Cool / Post Bop / Guitar / Flugelhorn

This 1988 studio date is one of the overlooked treasures in the considerable discography of Jim Hall, possibly due to the label's low-key promotion and less than eye-catching cover art. It is easy to understand why artists like Art Farmer and Paul Desmond omitted a pianist after hearing a release such as this one, because it would only clutter Hall's soft yet complete accompaniment. Joined by Tom Harrell (heard mostly on flügelhorn), bassist Steve LaSpina, and drummer Joey Baron, this CD is a delight from start to finish. The interaction of the musicians in the opener, a lively, waltzing "With a Song in My Heart," makes it sound like they have been a working unit for years.

Pianist Eliane Elias' second of two Denon CDs recorded before she hooked up with Blue Note is a lesser-known but worthy session. Elias is mostly featured in a trio with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jack DeJohnette performing originals, a pair of Charles Mingus compositions ("Peggy's Blue Skylight" and "East Coastin'"), "Beautiful Love," "When You Wish Upon a Star" and Bud Powell's "Hallucinations." Elias was quickly developing into a strong modern mainstream pianist.