to Each His Own 1946

During World War I, small-town girl Josephine Norris has an illegitimate son by an itinerant pilot. After a scheme to adopt him ends up giving him to another family, she devotes her life to loving him from afar.

This fourth volume in the complete recordings of tenor saxophonist Don Byas opens with 13 sides recorded for the Savoy label in May of 1946. On the opening session, three gorgeous ballads are chased with a blistering version of Ray Noble's "Cherokee" and a mellow stroll through "September in the Rain." About three months later the saxophonist resumed recording for Savoy, now backed by a tougher rhythm section in drummer Max Roach, bassist Leonard Gaskin, and pianist Sanford Gold. These deservedly famous sides represent Byas at the very peak of his early maturity. A rare parcel of four recordings originally issued on the Gotham label finds Byas accompanied by a trio including pianist Beryl Booker…

His recording career as a leader in the United States lasted for about two years, from 1944-46. In the autumn of 1946 Don Byas left for Europe touring with the Don Redman Band; essentially, from that point on he simply stayed in Europe until his death in 1972. Considering the time period, and the extent of his talent, expatriation was a doubtful career move if he was concerned with his place in the contemporary jazz scene and ultimately his place in jazz history.
This four disc set, Don Byas: Complete American Small Group Recordings, documents Byas’ recordings as a leader prior to his emigration, with one disc documenting his work as a sideman in a variety of bands. Although he was later to record extensively in Europe, Byas should be established as a major tenor saxophonist based on this four disc set alone.

Django Reinhardt - Intégrale - La Collection Complète (1928-1953) {20 vols - 40CD - Fremeaux & Associes rel 1996-2005}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 8.28 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 1.32 Gb | 5% repair rar
© 1928-1953, 1996-2005 Frémeaux & Associés | FA 301 ~ FA 323
Jazz / Continental Jazz / Swing / Gypsy / Guitar

Set of Fremeaux’s definitive Integrale Django Reinhardt collection. Mastered by Daniel Nevers, there are 20 volumes of these, and each volume has 2 CDs – 40 CDs total. Each volume also comes with a fairly thick booklet with discography and notes. And the booklets and inserts have very nice B&W pictures of Django. Une réédition d’exception ! Depuis quelques années maintenant, les éditions Frémeaux ont entrepris la publication d’une intégrale des enregistrements de Django Reinhardt.

Django Reinhardt - Djangologie 1928-1950 (2009) {20CD BoxSet EMI Music France 64bit mastering 5099960605023}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.55 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.92 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 529 Mb | 5% repair rar | 64bit mastering
© 1928-1950, 2009 Pathé / EMI Music France | 5099960605023
Jazz / Continental Jazz / Swing / Gypsy / South/Eastern European Traditions / Guitar

277 tracks 1928-50, 64bit mastering. Django Reinhardt recorded prolifically in many different group settings over 4 decades. It's difficult to know where to start or where to go once you've gotten started collecting a few of his recordings. The 20 cd Djangologie box set is the place to go once you've decided to take the plunge into Django's music. It covers all 4 decades chronologically, but rather than trying to comprehensively collect all of Django's recordings (including all of the ones where he is a sideman in dance bands etc) it largely concentrates on the Quintette and other small group recordings, which is what most people want to hear. The sound quality is very good and relatively consistent throughout the collection. There is a minimum of tape hiss, clicks and pops. The sound mastering hasn't overemphasized any portion of the audio spectrum and has instead gone for a balanced group sound. Highly recommended if you want to get serious about listening to Django without all of the confusion that comes from piecing together smaller complilations.