Pent

Sonny Rollins - Plus 4 (1956) {Prestige 50th Anniversary 20-bit K2 Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 115 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 70 Mb
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© 2002 Prestige / Fantasy | PRCD-7038-2 | 20-bit K2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

One of the true monumental figures of jazz who is still vibrantly recording and performing, Sonny Rollins was still an upstart tenor saxman in 1956 when he delivered Plus Four, a classic date with the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet (of which he was a member). About the session, which featured Brown in one of his last recording dates, liner note writer Ira Gitler points out, "Within the overall empathy of Brown/Roach were interior connections: Roach, a master soloist himself, with all the soloists; and the bonding of Rollins and Brown."

The cultured piano style of Kenny Barron has graced many albums in the last half century. He is an easy swinger deeply admired for his nonpareil musicianship and innate sensitivity to the needs of his musical companions of the moment. Born in 1943 he was gigging with Philly Joe Jones at sixteen and soon playing in a band with his tenor saxist brother Bill. In 1962 he was hired by Dizzy Gillespie and the five year stint he had with Dizzy established him firmly on the jazz scene throughout the world.

During his extended "stay" in Europe circa the late '50s and early '60s, Chet Baker produced half a dozen albums for the Riverside Records subsidiary label Jazzland. On Chet Baker in Milan – the first of his overseas sides – Baker revisits the familiar stomping grounds of West Coast cool, even though he is the only American in the band. The basic quartet includes Chet Baker (trumpet), Renato Sellani (piano), Franco Serri (bass), and Gene Victory (drums). However, on a majority of the cuts, that unit is upgraded to a sextet with sax players Glauco Masetti (alto) and Gianno Basso (tenor). According to Peter Drew's brief liner notes essay, these Italian players were found by a local record label and arrangements were essentially retrofitted to suit Baker.

Chet Baker & Paul Bley - Diane (1985) {SteepleChase SCCD-31207}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 162 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 119 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 7 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1985 SteepleChase | SCCD-31207
Jazz / Cool / Post Bop / Trumpet / Piano

Chet Baker recorded at every opportunity during the last decade or so of his tragic life, with widely varying results due to his drug addiction. But this surprising duo session with pianist Paul Bley is one of his better efforts from this period, focusing primarily on standard ballads by top composers. Bley's playing in the mid-'80s usually was freer in nature, but he willingly plays more mainstream backing for the trumpeter.