Bnla

Chico Hamilton - Chico Hamilton And The Players (1976) {2013 Japanese BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50557}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 249 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 98 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 228 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remaster
© 1976, 2013 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50557
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Cool

Chico Hamilton in the 70s just can't miss – he's really changed loads from his mellow 50s work in LA, and has a tendency to go for a hard grooving sound – but also one that's slightly left of center than the work of most other 70s jazz drummers – and we mean that in a good way! This cooking set for Blue Note is a great example of that offbeat approach – a tight set of fusion tracks with a warm finish and an edgey approach to the rhythms – awash with some really compelling numbers that will have you hunting down the rest of Chico's work from the decade!

Chico Hamilton - Peregrinations (1975) {2013 Japanese BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50544}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 231 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 89 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 220 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1975, 2013 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50544
Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Funk / Groove / Drums

One more amazing chapter in the mighty development of drummer Chico Hamilton – a killer 70s session for Blue Note – and a record that goes way beyond his earlier experiments of the 50s, modal grooves of the 60s, and funk work for the Flying Dutchman label! The style here is fusion, but way fresher than the usual type – neither jamming rock-styled, nor mellow and smooth – and instead always tickled by Hamilton's sense of a unique rhythm, and his continued great ear for inventive use of reeds – in this case handled by Arthur Blythe on alto and Arnie Lawrence on soprano and tenor sax. The set's also got Steve Turre on bass and trombone, and both Barry Finnerty and Joe Beck on electric guitars – but the real genius is Chico himself, who handled arrangements and wrote most of the album's great tracks. Titles include the exotic number "Abdullah & Abraham" – plus "Andy's Walk", "Peregrinations", "It's About That Time", "Sweet Dreams", "On & Off", "Little Lisa", and "Space For Stacy".

Elvin Jones - Mr. Jones (1972) {Blue Note Japan BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50551 rel 2013}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 234 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 92 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 177 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1972, 2013 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50551
Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Funk / Drums

A overlooked gem in Elvin Jones' Blue Note career – and an album that's virtually the blueprint for the Stone Alliance sound forged later in the decade by bassist Gene Perla and reedman Steve Grossman! Both players are working to full effect on this smoking little set – mixing some of the more spiritual modes of other group members with their own sharper-edged, funky-leaning styles – all held together perfectly by both Jones' tight work on drums, and his expansive musical vision! Other players are great too – and include Pepper Adams on baritone sax, David Liebman on flute and tenor, and Jan Hammer on acoustic piano – an instrument he handles with surprising subtlety and soul. Many cuts have a hard, choppy groove – and titles include a remake of "Gee Gee", plus "One's Native Place", "Mr Jones", and "What's Up – That's It".

Bobby Hutcherson - Cirrus (1974) {Blue Note Japan BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50539 rel 2013}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 272 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 95 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 174 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974, 2013 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50539
Jazz / Post Bop / Vibes

Righteous Bobby Hutcherson from the 70s – one of his last albums recorded in the company of reedman Harold Land – and one of his greatest too! There's a wonderful mix of modes going on here – modal jazz meets California sun, blending a sense of spiritualism with some of the warmth that Hutcherson was increasingly discovering in his music – especially on the album's use of marimbas, which are surprisingly great next to Bobby's vibes!

Wayne Shorter - Moto Grosso Feio (1970) {Blue Note Japan BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50501 rel 2012}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 244 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 99 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 174 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit 192kHz remaster
© 1970, 2012 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50501
Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

A perfect illustration of the rich new directions Wayne Shorter was taking at the start of the 70s – an amazing flurry of sounds and styles that's light years ahead of where he began in the 60s! Shorter's one of those players who was already great at the start – an amazing tenorist, both on his own and with the groups of Art Blakey and Miles Davis – yet by the time of this record, he'd absorbed a huge amount of influences from Brazilian music, modal jazz, the spiritual underground, and even the free European scene – all of which come to play on the long, complex tunes on the set!

John Lee & Gerry Brown - Still Can't Say Enough (1976) {2013 Japanese BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50546}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 289 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 99 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 179 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1976, 2013 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50546
Jazz / Fusion / Neo Bop / Jazz Funk

Reissue with the latest 24bit/192kHz remastering. Features original cover artwork. Comes with a descripton in Japanese. Great work from John Lee and Gerry Brown – a pair of fusion stalwarts who added key help to a number of classic 70s sessions for other artists – and got to make a rare few albums like this on their own! Lee's on bass and Brown's on drums, and the pair are in perfect time throughout – working with Skip Drinkwater production, which helps them find even more focus than before, and shake off some of the more jamming aspects of their rock-fusion performances with others – a move that helps them come up with a wonderfully soulful sound in the process – very much in the best Drinkwater soul jazz style of the time!

Ronnie Foster - Sweet Revival (1972) {2013 Japanese BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50567}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 298 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 105 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 33 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1972, 2013 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50567
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Groove / Organ

"Let me begin by saying that this is not the greatest jazz album you've ever heard." So states critic/DJ Harry Abraham in the liner notes on the back of Sweet Revival, Ronnie Foster's second album as a leader. Abraham was obviously trying to deflect criticism that this record is, in his words, "a commercial album that could have just as easily been titled 'Ronnie Foster Plays the Top 40 hits of the Seventies With Horns, Strings and Voices,'" but nothing he could write would make this album acceptable to jazz purists.

Moacir Santos - Maestro (1972) {2012 Japanese BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50522}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 190 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 84 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit/192kHz remaster
© 1972, 2012 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50522
Jazz / Latin Jazz / World Fusion / Saxophone

Reissue with the latest 24bit/192kHz remastering. Features original cover artwork. Comes with a descripton in Japanese. Amazing 70s work from Moacir Santos – the first album the Brazilian arranger recorded for Blue Note, and a set that sparkles with warmth and soul from the very first note! The approach is a brilliant updating of the famous sound that Santos crafted in Brazil the decade before – recast here with some warmer elements that includes great organ from Clare Fischer, electric piano from Bill Henderson, trombone from Frank Rosolino, and flute and tenor from Don Menza!

Ronnie Foster - Cheshire Cat (1975) {2013 Japanese BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50553}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 260 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 85 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 32 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1975, 2013 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50553
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Groove / Organ

Wicked keyboards from Ronnie Foster – and a set that really steps forward from his previous two Blue Note albums! The record really has Ronnie moving into a more rounded soul space – singing along with his keyboards, in ways that may well be aimed at making Foster the next Stevie Wonder – although still with some of the hipper, quirkier touches that make his music so great! The lineup of players is very top shelf – almost more of a CTI/Kudu session, with George Benson and Joe Beck on guitar, Mtume on congas, and lots of heavy bass from William Allen and Gary King. Foster wrote all the cuts – save for a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Tuesday Heartbreak" – and titles include "Funky Motion", which was covered by Roy Ayers – plus "Cheshire Cat", "Fly Away", "Heartless", and "Like a Child".

Gene Harris - Tone Tantrum (1977) {2013 Japanese BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50550}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 265 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 98 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 48 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1977, 2013 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50550
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Keyboards

Reissue with the latest 24bit/192kHz remastering. Features original cover artwork. Comes with a descripton in Japanese. Gene Harris never veered closer to mainstream jazz-funk than Tone Tantrum – a slick, propulsive record recalling Donald Byrd's classic sessions with the Mizell brothers (not surprising, given that Byrd turns up on a few tracks here). It's very much a product of its time, channeling influences from underground disco to Stevie Wonder, and remains arguably the most blatantly commercial release in the entire Blue Note catalog.