Weather Report Sacd

Black Beauty: Miles Davis at Fillmore West is a live double album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded on April 10, 1970, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, shortly after the release of the trumpeter's Bitches Brew album. Black Beauty was produced by Teo Macero, Davis' longtime record producer. A jazz-rock album, Black Beauty captured one of Davis' first performances at a rock venue during the early stages of his electric period.

Native Dancer is the fifteenth album by Wayne Shorter. It is a collaboration with Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento, featuring some of his most acclaimed compositions, including "Ponta de Areia" and "Miracle of The Fishes". It is notable for including jazz rock and funk elements in addition to regional rhythms and Brazilian influence, in an attempt to create a "world" music accessible from many perspectives.

Native Dancer is the fifteenth album by Wayne Shorter. It is a collaboration with Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento, featuring some of his most acclaimed compositions, including "Ponta de Areia" and "Miracle of The Fishes". It is notable for including jazz rock and funk elements in addition to regional rhythms and Brazilian influence, in an attempt to create a "world" music accessible from many perspectives.

Vocalist Philip Bailey's high-flying falsetto made Earth, Wind & Fire an immortal supergroup. On this album, he's backed by a streamlined combo featuring saxophonist Bob Belden, keyboardists Scott Kinsey and Myron McKinley, and remixer DJ Smash. Nine of the 11 tracks are updated classic jazz, pop, and R&B/fusion-tinged tunes, from Nat "King" Cole's "Nature Boy" to Freddie Hubbard's "On the Red Clay". Thelonious Monk's "Ruby My Dear" is revived as a quiet-storm ballad, "Dear Ruby". "My Indiscretions", Bailey's take on the funky, futuristic Weather Report jam, "Indiscretions", features catchy lyrics by the singer's son, Sir Bailey. Chick Corea's "Sometime Ago" is turned into a club-friendly dance number, while Herbie Hancock's "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" is retouched with Afro-Latin tinges. The church-inspired EW&F hit, "Keep Your Head to the Sky", is rendered with hip-hop-styled rim shots. Philip Bailey's vocalisms show that Soul on Jazz does mix.

V.S.O.P.: Live Under the Sky is a 1979 live album by the V.S.O.P. Quintet, a record of a performance at the 1979 Live Under the Sky Festival as it was performed live in Japan over two days. This, the fourth VSOP release, once again featured Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, and Freddie Hubbard.

Listening to the Mysterious Shorter SACD in Surround Sound, you'll discover some interesting takes on Shorter's music. As Bob Belden suggests in the liner notes, they've taken some of his upbeat compositions and arranged them to take advantage of the Organ, Guitar, Sax and Trumpet in the group. The SACD also does a fine job of reproducing the performances. It definitely provides a "you are there" level of performance and Chesky's minimalist recording approach with no compression and overdubs offers a nice change of pace from the very compressed sounds we all too often hear in many of today's conventional audio disc releases. Weather Report and Jazz fans will enjoy this one.

Following the success of Word of Mouth Revisited, the critically acclaimed and award winning 2003 release on Heads Up International, the Jaco Pastorius Big Band has crafted a second chapter in their ongoing tribute to the brilliant legacy of the bassist/composer/arranger from whom they've taken their name. The Word Is Out!, an album that features an array of guest artists-not only on bass, but on a variety of other instruments.

Although they weren't as boldly innovative as the Beatles or as popular as the Rolling Stones or the Who, the Kinks were one of the most influential bands of the British Invasion. Like most bands of their era, the Kinks began as an R&B/blues outfit. Within four years, the band had become the most staunchly English of all their contemporaries, drawing heavily from British music hall and traditional pop, as well as incorporating elements of country, folk, and blues.

Jaco Pastorius was a meteor who blazed on to the scene in the 1970s, only to flame out tragically in the 1980s. With a brilliantly fleet technique and fertile melodic imagination, Pastorius made his fretless electric bass leap out from the depths of the rhythm section into the front line with fluid machine-gun-like passages that demanded attention. He also sported a strutting, dancing, flamboyant performing style and posed a further triple-threat as a talented composer, arranger and producer. He and Stanley Clarke were the towering influences on their instrument in the 1970s. "Jaco Pastorius" is his solo debut, released in 1976. The album was produced by Bobby Colomby, drummer and founder of Blood, Sweat & Tears.