Love Crescendo

"Arthur! You don't know how long we've waited!" shouted one enthusiastic female member of the audience after Love had finished performing their first song. "But you know how long I've waited," Arthur Lee playfully tossed back, eliciting sharp cheers from the crowd. Such was the spirit at the Royal Festival Hall, where, on January 15, 2003, Lee and Love re-created the Forever Changes album live in London for the first time. What could have been a pathetic display – Lee, the onetime star, performing old hits by rote – actually becomes a transcendent experience through two virtues: inspired string and horn accompaniment from a Scandinavian eight-piece, and the sheer shock and relief that Lee is able to hold himself together despite his years of well-documented self-abuse. The Forever Changes Concert does not take any liberties with the content of the legendary Forever Changes album, preferring note-for-note replication over reimagining.

Count Basie & His Atomic Band - Complete Live At The Crescendo 1958 (2016) {5CD Box Set, Phono Records 870245}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.97 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 859 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 97 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1958, 2016 Phono Records | 870245
Jazz / Big Band / Bop / Swing

This superb 5-CD collection compiles all existing live recordings made by the Atomic band at the Crescendo Club, in Hollywood, in the summer of 1958, for the first time ever on a single edition. The sound quality is excellent throughout the set. Count Basie’s career was revived in late 1957 thanks to the success of the Neal Hefti-arranged LP Atomic Basie, which became one of his biggest hits. The orchestra was filled with stars, and Joe Williams’ vocals were heard to great effect supported by Hefti’s excellent scores and the superb quality of the band.

Vienna Art Orchestra - Duke Ellington's Sound of Love, Vol. 2 (2003) {EmArcy 0602498654194}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 417 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 142 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 40 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2003 EmArcy / Universal | 0602498654194
Jazz / Big Band / Experimental Big Band / Progressive Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz

In the jazz world, Vienna is about as far from New York's Lincoln Center as you can get. It follows that Mathias Rüegg's Vienna Art Orchestra has about as much in common with Wynton Marsalis' Lincoln Center big band as a Sacher torte has with a Hostess Cup Cake; while they share some ingredients, the Austrian product satisfies on a more profound level. By the turn of the century, the Lincoln Center paradigm defined the jazz big band as a finished concept – locked into the past, serving mostly as a repertory ensemble. The VAO, on the other hand, while hardly ignoring traditional jazz verities, lives in the present and looks to the future.

Dave Pell - Love Story (1956) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27079}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 223 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 102 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remaster
© 1956, 2012 Warner Japan / Atlantic | WPCR-27079
Jazz / Cool / Bop / West Coast Jazz / Saxophone

Features 24 bit digital remastering. Comes with a description. Dave Pell started out touring with the Tony Pastor, Bob Astor, and Bobby Sherwood bands as a teenager, before moving to California in the mid-'40s. He found work with Bob Crosby on the latter's Ford radio show in 1946, then played with the Les Brown band from 1947 to 1955. Drawing from the ranks of the Brown band, he began leading his own groups in 1953, usually in an octet format, augmented by guests like Pepper Adams, Benny Carter, Mel Lewis, Red Mitchell, Marty Paich, and Art Pepper.