Japan Jazz Best Collection

Sonny Fortune - Infinity Is (1978) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit Remaster WPCR-27410}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 298 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 102 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 149 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1978, 2013 Atlantic / Rhino / WEA / Warner Japan | WPCR-27410 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Post Bop / Soul Jazz / Saxophone / Flute

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. A beautiful set from Sonny Fortune – a bit smoother than some of his earlier work, but still with a deeply soulful finish that keeps the album fresh throughout! Nearly every track was written (or co-written) by Larry Willis, who plays piano and Fender Rhodes on the set, and really feels like Sonny's co-leader on the session – and who gives the album a hiply swinging feel that's similar to his own work at the time. Titles include "Samba Touch", "Perihelion", "This Side Of Infinity", "Turning It Over", and "The Blues Are Green".

The Chico Hamilton Quintet - The Three Faces Of Chico (1959) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit Remaster WPCR-27276}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 225 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 84 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 192 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1959, 2013 Warner Bros. / Warner Japan / Rhino | WPCR-27276 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Cool / Hard Bop / West Coast Jazz / Drums / Percussion

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. A fine showcase for Chico Hamilton as a triple-threat artist: drummer extraordinaire ("Miss Movement," "Trinkets," etc.), vocalist ("She's Funny That Way," "The Best Things in Life Are Free," "Where or When"), and, of course, leader. His vocals are reminiscent of Nat King Cole, with subtleties all his own, and his drumming is just as impressive amid its own set of superlatives, many of which are shown off on the Hamilton originals "Happy Little Dance" and "Trinkets."

Clarke-Boland Big Band - Handle With Care (1963) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27294}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 262 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 81 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 111 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1963, 2013 Atlantic / Warner Japan / Rhino | WPCR-27294 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Modern Big Band / Progressive Jazz

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Great work by this legendary hard swinging band – an early 60s American album issued on Atlantic Records, in the years before the Clark Boland Band's legendary run on MPS! Despite the early date, the album's got all the core elements of the band's sound in place – soaring rhythms, sharp-edged frontlines, and some great solo work by players who include Benny Bailey, Derek Humble, Jimmy Woode, Shahib Shihab, Idrees Sulieman, and Fats Sadi – coming together in a brilliant trans-Atlantic meeting of jazz talents! Tracks include "Long Note Blues", "Speedy Reeds", "Sonor", and "Om Mani Padme Hum".

Nat Adderley - Autobiography (1966) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27011}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 244 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 86 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 105 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1966, 2012 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27011 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Cornet

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Cornetist Nat Adderley's first album as a leader after the collapse of Riverside found him switching to Atlantic and performing eight of his most rewarding compositions. With several brass players, Seldon Powell on tenor and flute, pianist Joe Zawinul (who provided the arrangements), bassist Sam Jones, Grady Tate or Bruno Carr on drums and guest spots by Victor Pantoja and Willie Bobo on Latin percussion, Nat performs such numbers as his greatest hit "Work Song," "Sermonette," "The Old Country," "Little Boy With The Sad Eyes" and "Jive Samba." It is a pity that the music on this valuable Lp has yet to be reissued on CD.

John Lewis - Evolution II (2000) {2014 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27942}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 289 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 123 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 207 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 2000, 2014 Atlantic / Warner Japan / Rhino | WPCR-27942 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Third Stream / Piano

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. On May 3, 2000, John Lewis turned 80 – and almost half a century after the formation of the Modern Jazz Quartet, he could still inspire a variety of reactions. Over the years, Lewis' detractors have insisted that his piano playing is too polite and overly mannered; his admirers, however, have exalted him as the epitome of class and sophistication. To be sure, Lewis' pianism is quite sophisticated, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't swing or that he isn't soulful. Recorded in 2000 and released in early 2001, Evolution II isn't going to convert anyone who isn't already an admirer of the pianist's cool jazz/third stream approach.

Shirley Scott - Something (1970) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27335}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 171 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 65 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 101 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remaster
© 1970, 2013 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27335 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Hard Bop / Organ

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Something is an album by organist Shirley Scott recorded in 1970 and released on the Atlantic label. It includes instrumental covers of several contemporary hits from artists such as the Beatles and the Jackson 5, along with the original song "Messie Bessie".

Shorty Rogers & His Giants - Way Up There (1955) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27159}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 200 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 96 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 112 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1955, 2012 Atlantic / WEA / Warner Japan | WPCR-27159 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Trumpet

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Shorty Rogers is definitely way up there with this classic album for Atlantic Records – hitting heights that even go beyond his more famous sides for RCA! The groove here is sharp, but also has room for lots of individual flavors too – thanks to different groupings of west coast players who include Bud Shank on alto, Jimmy Giuffre on baritone and tenor, Lou Levy on piano, Shelly Manne on drums, Barney Kessel on guitar, and Pete Candoli, Conte Candoli, Harry Edison, and Don Fagerquist on trumpets! Shorty himself wrote nearly all the tracks on the set – at a point at which he was really hitting his stride as a composer, doing an incredible job of mixing modern ideas and swinging jazz – as you'll hear on cuts that include "Pixieland", "Solarization", "Baklava Bridge", "March Of The Martians", "Moten Swing", and "Wail Of Two Cities".

Art Farmer - To Sweden with Love (1964) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27052)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 225 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 85 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 58 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1964, 2012 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan | WPCR-27052 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Flugelhorn / Guitar

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. The premise of this Atlantic set is a bit unusual. The Art Farmer Quartet (consisting of flügelhornist Farmer, guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Steve Swallow, and drummer Pete LaRoca), which was together from 1962-1964 (after the demise of the Jazztet), was passing through Stockholm, Sweden at the time of this date and the musicians felt inspired to record a full album of traditional Swedish folk songs.

Dave 'Fathead' Newman - Straight Ahead (1960) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27067}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 247 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 89 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 175 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1960, 2012 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27067 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Saxophone

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. The title of this 1961 release best sums up this quartet album. There is nothing particularly innovative about this recording, but the level of expertise and musical maturity displayed here is truly astonishing. This is simply straight-ahead hard bop performed by some of the finest musicians in 1960s jazz, including saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman and pianist Wynton Kelly.

Brother Jack McDuff - Do It Now! (1967) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit Remaster WPCR-27279}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 236 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 95 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 158 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remaster
© 1967, 2013 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27279 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Hammond Organ

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. There was a lot of change in the air in 1967 when Jack McDuff released “Do it Now”, and that is reflected on many of the tracks on this fine soul jazz disc. In 67 James Brown was still developing the new funk sound, he had already hit us with the semi-funk of “I Feel Good”, but had not quite hit the pure funk heights of “I Got the Feelin” and “Say it Loud”. The first and last cuts on side one of McDuff‘s “Do it Now” are not quite full-on funk jazz numbers, but you can clearly hear the influence of James’ recent hits. In fact, side two closer and title cut, “Do it Now“, sounds like its based on that famous walk down riff from “I Feel Good”.