180. MILESTONES - Miles Davis - Columbia

Kind of Blue might have received most of the acclaim but Milestones, the recorded debut of the Miles Davis Sextet, is in the same league. This remarkable super group (featuring Davis’’s trumpet, tenor-saxophonist John Coltrane, altoist Cannonball Adderley, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones) was arguably the greatest one Miles Davis ever led. “Two Bass Hit” features the two saxes trading off with fire and “Billy Boy” showcases the Red Garland trio (showing what they learned from Ahmad Jamal), but “Straight No Chaser” really demonstrates what a powerhouse band this was.
(AMG-Scott Yanow)

Personnel:
Cannonball Adderley, alto sax
Paul Chambers, bass
John Coltrane, tenor sax
Miles Davis, trumpet
Red Garland, piano
Philly Joe Jones. drums

Tracks:
1 Dr. Jackle
2 Sid’’s Ahead
3 Two Bass Hit
4 Milestones
5 Billy Boy
6 Straight, No Chaser
7 Two Bass Hit (alternate take)
8 Milestones (alternate take)
9 Straight, No Chaser (alternate take)

@320 kbps

210 - Kenny Dorham - Una Mas

Trumpeter Kenny Dorham was a significant presence in the bop and hard bop scenes, a musician whose distinctive, lyrical style had been apparent from his work in the late ‘’40s with Charlie Parker’’s quintet. The year 1963 was especially good for him. He had just returned from a trip to Brazil where he had been absorbing the bossa nova, and he had formed a musical partnership with Joe Henderson, a powerful young tenor saxophonist whose rugged sound and coiling lines were an ideal complement to Dorham’’s often subtler approach. This session is the first in a series of dates that would pair the two, and the fifteen minute “Una Mas,” a percolating mix of hard bop sonorities and a samba beat, was the first recorded example of Dorham’’s distinctive exploration of bossa nova (his “Blue Bossa” would become a jazz standard). Pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Tony Williams all take naturally to the new beat, handling it as effectively as they do “Straight Ahead.” --Stuart Broomer

Track listing
1. Una Mas :: One More Time
2. Straight Ahead
3. Sao Paolo
4. If Ever I Would Leave You - (bonus track)

Personnel
Kenny Dorham (trumpet); Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone); Herbie Hancock (piano); Butch Warren (bass); Tony Williams (drums). Producer: Alfred Lion. Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on April 1, 1963. Originally released on Blue Note (4127).

Format: Flac

233 - Bill Evans - You Must Believe in Spring

This well-rounded set (released posthumously) features the highly influential pianist Bill Evans in a set of typically sensitive trio performances. With his longtime bassist Eddie Gomez and his drummer of the period, Eliot Zigmund, Evans explores such songs as “We Will Meet Again,” Jimmy Rowles’’s classic “The Peacocks” and the “Theme from M*A*S*H.” It’’s a solid example of the great pianist’’s artistry.

Tracks
01 - B Minor Waltz (For Ellaine)
02 - You Must Believe in Spring
03 - Gary’’s Theme
04 - We Will Meet Again (For Harry)
05 - The Peacocks
06 - Sometime Ago
07 - Theme from M_A_S_H (aka Suicide is Painless)
08 - Without a Song
09 - Freddie Freeloader
10 - All of You

Format Flac

269 - Horace Silver - The Cape Verdean Blues

After the success of Song for My Father and its hit title cut, Horace Silver was moved to pay further tribute to his dad, not to mention connect with some of his roots. Silver’’s father was born in the island nation of Cape Verde (near West Africa) before emigrating to the United States, and that’’s the inspiration behind The Cape Verdean Blues. Not all of the tracks are directly influenced by the music of Cape Verde (though some do incorporate Silver’’s taste for light exoticism); however, there’’s a spirit of adventure that pervades the entire album, a sense of exploration that wouldn’’t have been quite the same with Silver’’s quintet of old. On average, the tracks are longer than usual, and the lineup—featuring tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson (a holdover from the Song for My Father sessions) and trumpeter Woody Shaw—is one of the most modernist-leaning Silver ever recorded with. They push Silver into more advanced territory than he was normally accustomed to working, with mild dissonances and (especially in Henderson’’s case) a rawer edge to the playing. What’’s more, bop trombone legend J.J. Johnson appears on half of the six tracks, and Silver sounds excited to finally work with a collaborator he’’d been pursuing for some time. Johnson ably handles some of the album’’s most challenging material, like the moody, swelling “Bonita” and the complex, up-tempo rhythms of “Nutville.” Most interesting, though, is the lilting title track, which conjures the flavor of the islands with a blend of Latin-tinged rhythms and calypso melodies that nonetheless don’’t sound quite Caribbean in origin. Also noteworthy are “The African Queen,” with its blend of emotional power and drifting hints of freedom, and “Pretty Eyes,” Silver’’s first original waltz. Yet another worthwhile Silver album.

1. The Cape Verdean Blues (4:57)
2. The African Queen (9:34)
3. Pretty Eyes (7:28)
4. Nutville (7:12)
5. Bonita (8:35)
6. Mo’’ Joe (5:45)

Horace Silver (piano); Woody Shaw (trumpet); J.J. Johnson (trombone); Joe Henderson (tenor sax); Bob Cranshaw (bass); Roger Humphries (drums)

Format: Flac

294. SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS - Sonny Rollins - Prestige
Recorded and released in 1956

Review by Scott Yanow
Sonny Rollins recorded many memorable sessions during 1954-1958, but Saxophone Colossus is arguably his finest all-around set. Joined by pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Doug Watkins, and drummer Max Roach, Rollins debuts and performs the definitive version of “St. Thomas,” tears into the chord changes of “Mack the Knife” (here called “Moritat"), introduces “Strode Rode,” is lyrical on “You Don’’t Know What Love Is,” and constructs a solo on “Blue Seven” that practically defines his style. Essential music that, as with all of Rollins’’ Prestige recordings, has also been reissued as part of a huge “complete” box set; listeners with a tight budget are advised to pick up this single disc and be amazed.

Tracks:
1 St. Thomas R
2 You Don’’t Know What Love Is
3 Strode Rode
4 Moritat
5 Blue 7

Personnel:
Sonny Rollins, Sax (Tenor)
Tommy Flanagan, Piano
Doug Watkins, Bass
Max Roach, Drums

@320 kbps, covers, premium

46. TENOR MADNESS - Sonny Rollins - Prestige

Recorded May 24, 1956, released on Prestige 1956

Review by Scott Yanow
This CD (whose contents have since been reissued many times) is highlighted by the one meeting on record between Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, an exciting battle on “Tenor Madness.” Otherwise this is a more conventional but no less worthy Rollins quartet session with him turning such odd material as “My Reverie” and “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” into creative jazz. [Concord Music Group reissued the album in 2006, repackaging it yet adding no bonus content.]

Tracks:
1 Tenor Madness Rollins 12:15
2 When Your Lover Has Gone Swan 6:12
3 Paul’’s Pal Rollins 5:12
4 My Reverie Clinton 6:08
5 The Most Beautiful Girl in the World Hart, Rodgers 5:35

Personnel:
Sonny Rollins, Sax (Tenor)
John Coltrane, Sax (Tenor) only on track 1
Red Garland, Piano
Paul Chambers, Bass
Philly Joe Jones, Drums

@ 320 kbps, covers included, premium

73. MOANIN’ - Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Blue Note
Recorded and released in 1958

Review by Scott Yanow
The third version of Art Blakey’’s Jazz Messengers debuted with this stunning album. Tenor saxophonist Benny Golson helped give the quintet its own personality with his compositions and arrangements (contributing “Blues March,” “Along Came Betty,” “Are You
Real,” and “The Drum Thunder Suite” to this set), 20-year-old trumpeter Lee Morgan quickly emerged as a powerful soloist and the funky pianist Bobby Timmons’’ “Moanin’’” became the Messengers’’ first real hit. This classic album, a major influence on hard
bop, is highly recommended.

Tracks:
1 Warm-Up and Dialogue Between Lee and Rudy
2 Moanin’’
3 Are You Real
4 Along Came Betty
5 The Drum Thunder Suite: First Theme: Drum Thunder/Second Theme: Cry a Blue
6 Blues March G
7 Come Rain or Come Shine
8 Moanin’’ [alternate take]

Personnel:
Benny Golson, Sax (Tenor)
Lee Morgan, Trumpet
Bobby Timmons, Piano
Jymie Merritt, Bass
Art Blakey, Drums

@ 320 kbps, covers, premium

528 - Oscar Peterson - Meets Roy Hargrove & Ralph Moore

mp3/320kbps
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01 - Tin Tin Deo
02 - Rob Roy
03 - Blues For Stephane
04 - My Foolish Heart
05 - Cool Walk
06 - Ecstasy
07 - Just Friends
08 - Truffles
09 - She Has Gone
10 - North York

065 - Horace Silver - Blowin’’ The Blues Away

Recorded in 1959, this is an early chronicle of one of the finest bands of the hard-bop genre, pianist Silver’’s classic quintet with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, bassist Gene Taylor, and drummer Louis Hayes. The group already epitomized Silver’’s own virtues of precision and hard swing, with each soloist committed to direct and concise statements, at all times both emotionally and musically focused. There’’s effective contrast, too, between Mitchell’’s subtle turn of phrase and Cook’’s raw intensity, each filling in Silver’’s vision of a music that combined the complexity of bop and the immediacy of blues and gospel. This session contains the original recordings of two Silver standards, the serene “Peace” and the joyously funky “Sister Sadie,” but the collective impact of the band is just as enduring. The group was so musically close-knit that when Silver disbanded five years later, the rest continued as the Blue Mitchell Quintet, with a young Chick Corea on piano. --Stuart Broomer

Format: mp3/variable (avg. bitrate 317kbps)
Free upload

01-blowin’’ the blues away.mp3
02-the st. vitus dance.mp3
03-break city.mp3
04-peace.mp3
05-sister sadie.mp3
06-the baghdad blues.mp3
07-melancholy mood.mp3
08-how did it happen.mp3

305 - Ahmad Jamal - Crystal

There are some magical moments on this quartet set featuring pianist Ahmad Jamal, bassist James Cammack, drummer David Bowles and percussionist Willie White. Jamal’’s control of dynamics and inventive use of space proved to be as effective as it had been when he first made his mark in the 1950s, although his chord voicings and general style had evolved. Jamal and his group perform ten of his originals with taste, swing and subtle surprises.

Format: APE/Lossless
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Covers
01 - Ahmad Jamal - Quest For Light.ape
02 - Ahmad Jamal - Arabesque.ape
03 - Ahmad Jamal - Avo.ape
04 - Ahmad Jamal - Piano Solo 11.ape
05 - Ahmad Jamal - For My Daughter.ape
06 - Ahmad Jamal - Perugia.ape
07 - Ahmad Jamal - The Last Day.ape
08 - Ahmad Jamal - Crystal.ape
09 - Ahmad Jamal - Swahililand.ape
10 - Ahmad Jamal - The Canteen.ape

344. Stan Getz & Cal Tjader, Stan Getz With Cal Tjader

In the vein of many a smooth West Coast jazz outing, this 1958 disc finds original cool stylist Getz paired with vibraphonist Cal Tjader on a very enjoyable selection of jazz standards and Tjader originals. The lineup includes pianist Vince Guaraldi, guitarist Eddie Duran, bassist Scott La Faro, and drummer Billy Higgins (this was one of the earliest record dates for either La Faro or Higgins, both of whom were playing with Getz at San Francisco’’s Black Hawk in between recording sessions). Guaraldi’’s spry “Ginza Samba” kicks thing off with nimble and imaginative statements by all the soloists. Tjader’’s swinging originals “Crow’’s Nest” and “Big Bear” provide prime solo vehicles as well, while his lovely waltz number “Liz-Anne” adds some nice contrast to the set, eliciting one of Getz’’s best solos in the process. The group rounds things out with fine ballad readings of “I’’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” and “For All We Know.” A suitable title for both Getz and Tjader fans. Highly recommended.

Format: mp3/320kbps
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01 - Ginza Samba
02 - I’’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face
03 - For All We Know
04 - Crow’’s Nest
05 - Liz-Anne
06 - Big Bear
07 - My Buddy

405. Kenny Burrell, Guitar Forms

Though this ranks as one of arranger Gil Evans’’ minor achievements in the grand scheme of things, for Kenny Burrell it was a career-defining moment, one of his most individual, most multi-faceted, most emotionally affecting recordings. Whether playing straight-ahead and countrified blues on electric guitar, dipping into the bossa nova and brooding post-Sketches of Spain backgrounds on acoustic guitar, or interpreting classical music, Burrell quietly lets the world know that he can be as versatile as he is tasteful. Evans collectors should know that Evans’’ charts only appear on five of the selections. On three others, Burrell is featured with a swinging conga-accented combo that includes pianist Roger Kellaway, and Burrell goes solo on a transcribed excerpt from George Gershwin’’s “Prelude No. 2” for piano. What is special about this release is not so much the improved sound as the inclusion of a truckload of outtakes from the small-group sessions, which have the effect of doubling the length of the original album. All of them — four takes each of the bluesy “Downstairs” and “Breadwinner” and three of “Terrace Theme” — are worth hearing, for Burrell’’s invention rarely flags, and what fluffs there are do not upset the group’’s swinging rapport.

Format: mp3/v2
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Kenny Burrell - 01 - Downstairs [master take]
Kenny Burrell - 02 - Lotus Land
Kenny Burrell - 03 - Terrace Theme [master take]
Kenny Burrell - 04 - Excerpt From ‘’Prelude No. 2’’
Kenny Burrell - 05 - Moon And Sand
Kenny Burrell - 06 - Loie
Kenny Burrell - 07 - Greensleeves
Kenny Burrell - 08 - Last Night When We Were Young
Kenny Burrell - 09 - Breadwinner [master take]
Kenny Burrell - 10 - Downstairs [alternate take 1]
Kenny Burrell - 11 - Downstairs [alternate take 2]
Kenny Burrell - 12 - Downstairs [alternate take 3]
Kenny Burrell - 13 - Downstairs [alternate take 4]
Kenny Burrell - 14 - Terrace Theme [alternate take 1]
Kenny Burrell - 15 - Terrace Theme [alternate take 2]
Kenny Burrell - 16 - Terrace Theme [alternate take 3]
Kenny Burrell - 17 - Breadwinner [alternate take 1]
Kenny Burrell - 18 - Breadwinner [alternate take 2]
Kenny Burrell - 19 - Breadwinner [alternate take 3]
Kenny Burrell - 20 - Breadwinner [alternate take 4]

430. Herbie Hancock, Head Hunters

Head Hunters was a pivotal point in Herbie Hancock’’s career, bringing him into the vanguard of jazz fusion. Hancock had pushed avant-garde boundaries on his own albums and with Miles Davis, but he had never devoted himself to the groove as he did on Head Hunters. Drawing heavily from Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown, Hancock developed deeply funky, even gritty, rhythms over which he soloed on electric synthesizers, bringing the instrument to the forefront in jazz. It had all of the sensibilities of jazz, particularly in the way it wound off into long improvisations, but its rhythms were firmly planted in funk, soul, and R&B;, giving it a mass appeal that made it the biggest-selling jazz album of all time (a record which was later broken). Jazz purists, of course, decried the experiments at the time, but Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop.

Format: FLAC/Lossless
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01 Chameleon
02 Watermelon Man
03 Sly
04 Vein Melter

511. Jimmy Smith, Damn!

Damn! marked Jimmy Smith’’s return to the Verve label after an absence of 20-plus years (he originally recorded for the label from 1963 to 1972), and paired with a group of young and sympathetic jazz players that includes Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton on trumpet and Ron Blake and Mark Tuner on sax, he sounds invigorated here, striding across the Hammond B-3 keys with definite energy. The whole album, start to finish, works a wonderful groove, but versions here of James Brown’’s “Papa’’s Got a Brand New Bag,” Herbie Hancock’’s “Watermelon Man,” and Charlie Parker’’s “Scrapple from the Apple” are particularly strong. Smith was arguably at his best in stripped-down trios, and his work for Blue Note between 1956 and 1960 will always be the quality reference point for his extensive canon, but Damn! is right up there with his best work, full of a joyous energy, and it sparked a resurgence of sorts for Smith.

Format: mp3/320kbps
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01 - Papa’’s Got A Brand New Bag
02 - Sister Sadie
03 - Woody ‘’n’’ You
04 - The One Before This
05 - Watermelon Man
06 - This Here
07 - Scrapple From The Apple
08 - Hi-Fly
09 - A La Mode

520. John Scofield, Works for Me

Guitarist John Scofield takes the traditional jazz route on Works for Me, an excellent collection of 11 compositions that feature the all-star lineup of Christian McBride on acoustic bass, Kenny Garrett on alto saxophone, Brad Mehldau on acoustic piano, and the dynamic Billy Higgins on drums. This CD is unlike the alternative rock and funk jazz fusion on his previous efforts A Go Go and Bump. On this offering, John Scofield gives a great reassessment of straight-ahead post-bop jazz that is distinguished and stimulating. On “Big J,” Scofield and saxophonist Kenny Garrett make a great team as they reach out with a call and response improvisation that engrosses the listener throughout its development. On “Loose Cannon,” Garret means business as he launches into some great straight-ahead hard blowing. The ensemble changes the mood on “Love You a Long Time” with a soft approach to this resonant, melodic ballad. Drummer Billy Higgins is impossible to miss on “Freepie” and Christian McBride performs his stellar top to bottom command of acoustic bass techniques throughout this great program. Christian McBride plays a great solo on “Heel to Toe.” From the hard swinging “Do I Crazy?” to the tranquil “Mrs. Scofield’’s Waltz,” the versatility of John Scofield shows why he is one of the “Big 3” of current jazz guitarists.

Format: mp3/192kbps
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John Scofield - 01 - I`ll Catch You
John Scofield - 02 - Not You Again
John Scofield - 03 - Big J
John Scofield - 04 - Loose Canon
John Scofield - 05 - Love You Long Time
John Scofield - 06 - Hive
John Scofield - 07 - Heel To Toe
John Scofield - 08 - Do I Crazy
John Scofield - 09 - Mrs. Scofield`s
John Scofield - 10 - Six And Eight
John Scofield - 11 - Freepie