In a similar vein as his 1999 release Green Chimneys: The Music of Thelonious Monk, guitarist Summers now offers tribute to jazz pioneer Charles Mingus. The collection is a little cobbled together, with an ill-conceived rap from Q-Tip over "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" and a sparse, unfunky reading of "Cumbia Jazz Fusion," but the former Policeman's bright guitar work works hard at tying it all together. Making more admirable guest spots are Randy Brecker bringing his crossover jazz trumpet to "Boogie Stop Shuffle," Deborah Harry singing on "Weird Nightmare," and the genre-bending Kronos Quartet performing a string arrangement of the final track "Myself." While at times overproduced and slick, Summers must be commended for approaching Mingus' daunting music head on and adapting it as his own.
Multi-Grammy Award nominee, Brazilian pianist/singer/composer/arranger Eliane Elias is known for her distinctive and immediately recognizable musical style which blends her Brazilian roots, her sensuous, alluring voice with her impressive compositional and piano skills. All her recordings went top five on Billboard and top five on the radio charts in the U.S., with many reaching number one. In Japan, four of Eliane’s recordings received the Gold Disc Award from Swing Journal, (including consecutively her last three releases). Her 2007 release, Something for You, received the Best Vocal Album of the Year Award in Japan. In 2008, Eliane was the number two artist in CD sales in France on the Annual Jazz Charts.
Charles Mingus's Town Hall Concert has long been considered a famous fiasco, and the original United Artists LP (which contained just 36 minutes of music and did not bother identifying the personnel) made matters worse. But this 1994 Blue Note CD does its best to clean up the mess. It contains over half an hour of previously unreleased music and programs the selections largely in the same order as the concert.
To complete their reissue programme The Blue Nile again worked alongside long term producer/engineer partner Calum Malcolm. This 2CD deluxe set, features all nine tracks remastered plus a bonus disc featuring four previously unreleased songs plus two extended remixes - over 32 minutes of new music!
The music of Blue Knights thrives on rhytmus and a very jazz influenced groove-piano. Amazing production, rich sounds and some very tight arranging and playing will capture all fun loving music gourmets. Music to dance to, songs to relax with, melodies like a sunset and rhytms that are perfect for lovers and dancers. Afun combination of colour and sensual music. Sexy jazz, light house grooves, some fine piano playing and high class audiophile production turn this music into a first rate music. Curtis McLaw who reached with his band Dancing Fantasy the Billboard Top 20 in USA, shines here as a producer on another project…
With 2 full albums by Spy Glass Blüe and 4 full albums by Scaterd Few in addition to 17 bonus tracks, the Scaterd Blüe Box is unquestionably an essential listening. All the music has been remastered by the competent Rob Colwell (Bombworks Sound), the impeccable box and album layout art by Scott Waters (No Life Til Metal), and is a collaborative between Retroactive Records and Allan Aguirre’s own Faceless Gen Recording Company. You also get an absurd amount of attention to detail, Allan Aguirre autographed lithograph prints, and six cool trading cards with the CD boxset. Only 500 of these will be made, so make sure to get yours. Two words: Get Stoked!! ….Doug Peterson / Music Critic
All albums in this CD box are the original Dutch Shocking Blue album releases from the sixties and seventies, housed in their original covers and with original artwork, representing the band at the time. For a long time Shocking Blue was believed only to be a hit singles band but their albums have well proven to stand the test of time, not only in the Netherlands but also internationally…
Walking Back Home is an album by Scottish pop rock band Deacon Blue released in 1999. It was their first album since reforming that year after disbanding in 1994. A part studio/part compilation album, it contains nine of their earlier songs coupled with eight brand-new or previously unreleased songs.