Sugar Ray

Ray Barretto's Carnaval combines two 1962 sessions, Pachanga with Barretto (his Milestone label debut as a leader) and Latino!. Both sets feature Barretto's first band, Charanga Moderna, with trumpeter El Negro Vivar and tenor saxophonist Jose Chombo Silva added to the front line for the latter LP. The first album is very much Latin jazz of its time, with all ten tracks designed for dancing the briefly popular pachanga, a dance that was simply too manic and difficult to catch on widely. The pachanga-friendly tempos on these ten brief cuts (most under three minutes) make the album sound rushed and nervous to ears unfamiliar with the dance fad. The far-better Latino!, recorded in nearly the same session, is a good old-fashioned jam session, with more leisurely tempos and extended playing times that give all the soloists – especially Vivar, Silva, and flutist Jose Canoura – plenty of room to stretch out. These two albums are very different, but hearing both of them in proximity reveals much about the state of the New York City Latin jazz scene in the early '60s.

Mark Wahlberg stars in Paramount Pictures' inspirational docudrama exploring the remarkable rise of Massachusetts-born, junior welterweight title winner "Irish" Micky Ward. A determined pugilist whose career in the ring was shepherded by his loyal half-brother, Dicky (Christian Bale) – a hard-living boxer-turned-trainer whose own career in the ring was nearly sent down for the count due to drugs and crime – perennial underdog Irish Micky rebounded from a disheartening series of defeats to win both the WBU Intercontinental Lightweight title and the WBU Light Welterweight title thanks to a fierce combination of determination and hard work. David O. Russell directs from a script by 8 Mile's Scott Silver and Paul Attanasio (The Bourne Ultimatum).

Ronnie Earl recorded Surrounded by Love with a new version of the Broadcasters. The most notable factor of the new lineup is the reappearance of Sugar Ray Norcia, the finest vocalist/harpist Earl ever recorded with. The band sounds tight and energetic, especially on the three tracks they cut with Robert Lockwood. Jr.. Parts of the album are a little slow, but the album is very entertaining, even with its minor flaws.

Miles Davis - The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions (1970) {5CD Box Set, Columbia C5K 86359 rel 2003)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.29 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 881 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 42 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1970, 2003 Columbia / Sony Music | C5K 86359
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Funk / Jazz Rock / Trumpet

Of all the Miles Davis recordings, the 16 weeks of sessions that created a single, two-selection LP produced by Teo Macero called A Tribute to Jack Johnson have been the most apocryphal. While the album itself was a confounding obscurity upon release – due to its closeness in proximity to the nearly simultaneous release of the vastly inferior yet infinitely more label-promoted Live at the Fillmore East – its reputation as the first complete fusion of jazz and rock is cemented. It also garnered a place in the history books for guitarist John McLaughlin, the axis around whose raw, slash-and-burn playing the entire album turns.