Harold Davis

Since his emergence onto the New York scene in 1959, pianist Harold Mabern has become one of the few true living jazz stylists on the piano. Having played with everyone from Lionel Hampton to Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, and Lee Morgan, Mabern has the experience and the depth of knowledge sufficient to be called a master. There is no one on the scene who sounds like him, and his sense of lyricism, rhythm, time, and the entire range of dynamics in his playing attract other players as well as listeners. The Leading Man, issued in 1993, is considered a classic, both for its selection of material and the performances of the various ensembles Mabern assembled for the date…

Like drum 'n' bass, ambient is a genre which relies on making a little go a very long way; the resultant glut of weedy minimalist pastiches barely bears a cursory listen for the most part, but this collaboration between Harold Budd and Hector Zazou demonstrates better than any recent offering how the spaces between the sounds can be made pregnant with possibility. On "Pandas in Tandem", the ghost of Erik Satie treads lightly over a shuffle breakbeat; the result is fragile and crystalline, as tentatively pristine as snowflakes. Elsewhere, heavy rhythmic breathing carries "Around the Corner from Everywhere"; slivers of what sounds like hammered dulcimer undulate through "Johnny Cake", and clarinets collude conspiratorially on "As Fast as I Could Look Away She was Still There".

One of several excellent hard bop pianists from the Memphis area, Harold Mabern has led relatively few dates through the years, but he has always been respected by his contemporaries. He played in Chicago with MJT + 3 in the late '50s and then moved to New York in 1959. Mabern worked with Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, the Jazztet (1961-1962), Donald Byrd, Miles Davis (1963), J.J. Johnson (1963-1965), Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Joe Williams (1966-1967), and Sarah Vaughan. During 1968-1970, Mabern led four albums for Prestige, he was with Lee Morgan in the early '70s, and in 1972, he recorded with Stanley Cowell's Piano Choir.

Working with arranger Gil Evans for the first time since Birth Of The Cool, Davis created a set of lush, lyrical recordings backed by a 19-piece band.

Along with Kind of Blue, In a Silent Way, and Round About Midnight, Sketches of Spain is one of Miles Davis' most enduring and innovative achievements.

Miles Davis - On the Corner (1972) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition Analog Collection SICP 1227}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 385 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 136 Mb
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© 1972, 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1227 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Jazz Rock / Trumpet

Could there be any more confrontational sound in Miles Davis' vast catalog than the distorted guitars and tinny double-timing drums reacting to a two-note bass riff funking it up on the first track from On the Corner? Before the trumpet even enters the picture, the story has been broken off somewhere in the middle, with deep street music melding with a secret language held within the band and those who can actually hear this music – certainly not the majority of Miles' fan base built up over the past 25 years. They heard this as a huge "f*ck you." Miles just shrugged and told them it wasn't personal, but they could take it that way if they wanted to, and he blew on his trumpet.

Charlie Parker Records: The Complete Collection, Vol. 15 - Miles Davis + Lester Young (2012 CP Records 233193/15 rec 1946-47}
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© 1946-47, 2012 Charlie Parker Records / Membran Media / Documents | 233193 / 15
Jazz / Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Trumpet / Saxophone

Exhaustive 30 CD collection from the Jazz legend's short-lived label. Contains 44 original albums (421 tracks) plus booklet. Every record-collector has run across an album with the little sax-playing bird in it's label-logo, right next to the brand name Charlie Parker Records or CP Parker Records. Turning the sleeve over, especially if it was one of the non-Parker releases, and seeing a '60s release date under the header Stereo-pact! Was as exciting an experience as it was confusing. Was the claim Bird Lives meant more literally than previously thought?

Miles Davis - The Complete Blackhawk Sessions (1961) {2003 6xLP Box Set, Mosaic Limited Edition MQ6-220, 16-48}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/48kHz - Vinyl Rip -> 1.48 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 575 Mb
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© 1961, 2003 Columbia / Mosaic Records | MQ6-220
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Trumpet

MILES DAVIS QUINTET The Complete Blackhawk Sessions (Incredible 2003 US audiophile SIX LP limited edition boxed set, remastered & pressed on high quality 180gm virgin vinyl for the ultimate audio experience & featuring the classic sessionsrecorded live at the Blackhawk, San Francisco on April 21 & 22, 1961. The set is complete with an individually numbered 20-page illustrated booklet & housed in a superior textured picture box.