What can we say? This is the ultimate Miles Davis album – the one that includes so many songs that we've heard way too much in Starbucks, in retail stores, or at a friend's house who claims to be a "jazz expert", but is really a yuppie dilettante. Yet somehow, over all the years, and all those playings, the record manages to still sound fantastic – a truly inspirational piece of music that's long deserved all the attention it gets! The legendary group on the album includes John Coltrane on tenor, Cannonball Adderley on alto, Bill Evans on piano, and Paul Chambers on bass – working with Miles in a relatively modal style, with brilliant rhythm changes and a wonderful sense of space.
A beautiful collaboration between Miles Davis and the great Gil Evans – and perhaps the most perfectly realized of all their projects! The album's got a wonderfully unified feel – as it begins with long compositions that have a distinct Spanish-tinge (and not a Latin-tinge, which is an important distinction to the way the album progresses.) Evans' arrangements have a majesty that takes the songs to the next level – working them as lush, lively backings for Davis' equally majestic trumpet solos, some of the finest he ever recorded with large group backing. Wonderful all the way through – and with the tracks "Concierto De Aranjuez", "Saeta", "The Pan Piper", and "Solea".
One of the finest live albums in the history of jazz, My Funny Valentine presents the Miles Davis Quintet live at the Lincoln Centre's Philharmonic Hall in 1964. Surrounded by the vibrant and youthful rhythm section of Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums), Davis was enjoying a strong new surge of creativity, and played with a stunning level of invention and passion throughout. The resonance of the long title track - one of those flawless performances that happens only very occasionally - dominates the record. Front-line partner George Coleman (tenor saxophone) chose a good evening to play some of the most beautiful solos of his life.
Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. One of the last sessions Oliver Nelson ever recorded – a genius batch of work recorded for the Japanese East Wind label, and maybe one of his greatest albums ever! The set's a wonderful link between the sophisticated large group sounds that Nelson did for Impulse Records in the 60s, and some of the more expansive styles he was trying out on the Flying Dutchman imprint in the 70s – a batch of work that both has that sense of majesty that Nelson could command at his best, but which still retains an earthy vibe overall.
One of the greatest sessions ever recorded by Ronnie Mathews – an excellent soul jazz pianist who's working here in a mode that's similar to that of Kenny Barron, Cedar Walton, or other 70s lyrical giants! Mathews' touch on the keys is incredible – at one moment extremely sensitive and pensive, at another racing forward with a searing searching spirituality that's driven on by the bass of Yoshio Suzuki and the drums of Louis Hayes – a great rhythm duo who really help give the record a very special, unique feel. The album features the original compositions "Ichiban", "K's Waltz", and "Jean-Marie" – plus a great version of "Manha Do Carnaval", which features Mathews on Fender Rhodes!
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. Recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 – after Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley had left the band – Davis teamed with Canadian arranger Gil Evans for the third time. Davis brought Evans the album's signature piece, "Concierto de Aranjuez," after hearing a classical version of it at bassist Joe Mondragon's house. Evans was as taken with it as Davis was, and set about to create an entire album of material around it. The result is a masterpiece of modern art.
The Gabor Varga Jazz Trio’s release of Cool Jazz in 2020 was one of that year’s biggest events on NativeDSD. With Cool Jazz going on to become a 2020 Album of the Year award winner. And a frequent entry on the NativeDSD Top Sellers List to this day.
Girl Of My Dreams is an album of New Orleans Style Jazz featuring the Fone Jazz Makers…