Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorquino

Editor's info:
This release contains the superlative debut album Concepts in Unity, by the legendary Grupo Folklórico y Experimental Nuevayorquino. The 16-piece band was composed of the finest New York Puerto Rican & Cuban musicians, who combined their own traditional music with the Latin sounds heard on the streets of New York City. Includes comprehensive 12-page booklet with complete song lyrics!

Memorize the Sky

Editor's info:
The music played by Matt Bauder, Zach Wallace and Aaron Siegel - the three sides of the group Memorize The Sky - is like a sudden cold dive on the sea in a very hot summer day. You can't get fresher ideas than these. The instrumentation is the typical one in acoustic improvised music, the reeds-double bass-percussion formula in hard bop, free jazz and free bop, but there's nothing typical in what this troupe usually does, even because sometimes they sound. . . electronic. The motive may reside in the personal experiences of the three musicians coming from Michigan, very far from what's usually done in New York and Chicago, the two most important capitals of the American modern and avant-garde jazz ? they were or are presently involved, at the same time, with non-aligned rock bands and musicians like His Name Is Alive, Neil Michael Hagerty, Tara Jane O'Neil, Saturday Looks Good To Me and Low, and very well known experimentalists active in different fields, Anthony Braxton, Jim O'Rourke, Tony Conrad and Alvin Lucier, among others. They have also collaborated with the likes of Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek, Scott Rosenberg, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Greg Kelly and Jim Baker to name a few. MTS engages in free music without the turbulent side of it, and usually with a chamber-like or an ambient (yes, with drones) approach, always with surprising developments. It's Bauder, Wallace and Siegel alone we find in ''In Former Times'', and what they do is more than enough to conclude that they're changing the frontiers of jazz. It happens again, and that signifies just one thing: the future of this music language is under construction. You can say that this fact is natural when we're dealing with a living art form as this is, but even so it's always remarkable.

Tetterapadequ

Editor's info:
What is the meaning of this strange word, ''Tetterapadequ'', you may ask looking at the cover of this CD. Is this some Italian or Portuguese designation, considering that this project ensembles two Italian and two Portuguese young musicians? No, it isn't - it's an anagram coming from ''De Patter Quartet'', being De Pater the name of the club in Haia, Holland, where Giovanni di Domenico, Daniele Martini, Gonçalo Almeida and Joao Lobo played together after attending their classes at the local conservatory. The venue, by the way, where the project Tetterapadequ was born and began to develop. But there's something wrong with the anagram: to be correct, it shoud have one more ''r'', and that's why they titled the record as ''And the Missing R''. Any misteries solved, what you'll find in the music itself isn't exactly the product of what's being teached nowadays in a European music school with jazz courses. At De Pater, the quartet found the ideal space to play freely and to explore possibilities, something not very well accepted in an academic environment. So, this is not your average and well behaved jazz combo. You can easily call it jazz, no doubt about it, because that's the musical language used here, but there's much more on it besides the rhythmic patterns and the harmonic constructions we imediatly identify as jazz. Giovanni, Daniele, Gonçalo and Joao prefer to call ''confusionism'' to the kind of structured improvisation or spontaneous composition they perform, and precisely because they're always surprising us with unexpected and even bizarre solutions. Good for them and good for us: truth is we have here a new, different and audacious proposal, with its quality level put very high.

Conference Call [Gebhard Ullmann, George Schuller, Joe Fonda, Michael Jefry Stevens]

Editor's info:
If the axis of this band — now commemorating its 10th year — is defined by two of its most complicit collaborators, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens and bassist Joe Fonda, co-founders of the Fonda/Stevens Group, then the involvement of woodwind player Gebhard Ullmann and drummer George Schuller reinforces the universal idea of group interdependence. However, there's still enough room for each to add their own unique concepts to an ever-evolving and most rewarding project. And what a project it is, in some ways tied to the late Sixties sound of the BYG free jazz records, while in other ways teetering on the edge of the vast unknown personified, for instance, by the recent developments of the Wayne Shorter Quartet. With original compositions offered by all four members and special attention paid to timbre and harmonic integration, there's a certain bold affirmation about the music in 'Poetry in Motion'
revealing a relaxed sense of purpose and musical fortitude. All four are active in both mainstream and avant-fields and all have notable CVs: Stevens's toe-dipping classical constructions, Fonda's open
inventiveness (of course, stemming from his Anthony Braxton tutelage), Ullmann's extended reed skills and Schuller's knit-work craftsmanship — all combining to create music that swings outwardly, while at the same time, allows the listener to follow its inner abstractions. The liner notes of the CD speak of the joy, mystery and wonder felt by the performers during the recording sessions (their first studio recording
in eight years), and we can surely recognize that essence. It's a measure of true artistic accomplishment when music so demanding can touch an emotional thread, proving that even a street full of concrete
and glass can turn green and lush. Poetry in motion, indeed.

Mark Dresser / Ed Harkins / Steven Schick

Editor's info:
Being Mark Dresser, the most ''classical'' of jazz/improvised music bassists today, it is no wonder we find him in the company of two of the most accomplished improvisers coming from the new and classical contemporary fields, Ed Harkins with the trumpet family (piccolo, reed, 2-bell, slide and modular) and Steven Schick on everything percussive, from skins to Chinese temple bells and gongs. But House of Mirrors project isn't similar to the interpretations of Iannis Xenakis, Roger Reynolds or John Luther Adams which the last two musicians are famed for. It was born from Harkins' and Dresser's investigations of complex rhythm, pitch and timbre, enriched by the contribution of Schick in terms of sound and texture. In the end, this is a proposal emerging from the frontier between what we call ''jazz'' and the experimental lab of the academic music world, combining in defiant and playful ways, under a solid concept, written open scores and structured improvisation. And if you think that the double bass has a limited range when compared to the varied palette of timbres of the trumpeter and the percussionist, think again: in the hands of Mark Dresser the bass is permanently reinvented. He's known for finding unusual ways to amplify his instrument. Here he uses a ''surrealist'' (not our term: you find it in the technical sheet of the CD) pick-up system designed by Kent McLagan, and sometimes he even prepares the giant fiddle very much like John Cage prepared the piano. In one instrument you have several. The magnification of sounds from the bass and the mutation of the other instruments will cause you to relate to them in surprising ways. The collaborators themselves said in an interview with music critic Bill Shoemaker, that in some passages of this recording they have difficulties recognizing who plays what. That says it all-the difference of roles assumed by the performers of this trio in relation to both conventional jazz and contemporary music is really something else, and undoubtedly superb.

Adam Lane / Lou Grassi / Mark Whitecage

Audio Video, 2008-12:
''. . .Trio stosunkowo mało znanych muzyków chociaż dwóch (Lou Grassi i Mark Whitecage) to już nestorzyn amerykańskiej sceny free jazzowej. Pierwszym jednak nazwiskiem na płycie - w pełni zasłużenie - jest Adam Lane. Niezwykle utalentowany muzyk i kompozytor (połowa u i utworów na płycie wyszła spod jego pióra) mocno osadza muzykę w jazzowej tradycji. Świetny feeling podkreśla jeszcze głębię brzmienia basu, co znakomicie wykorzystuje Whitecage zwłaszcza gdy w improwizacji sięga po górne, skrajne rejestry altowego saksofonu. Świetna płyta nie tylko dla miłośników free jazzu. . .''

All About Jazz:
Drunk Butterfly explores the varied subtleties of acoustic swing in an increasingly eclectic post bop age. With a collective resume that includes work with Anthony Braxton, Burton Greene, Gunter Hampel, and John Tchicai, saxophonist Mark Whitecage, bassist Adam Lane and drummer Lou Grassi bring a resonant historical awareness to this session. With knowing restraint, Whitecage, Lane, and Grassi invest these pieces with a sober sense of maturity, without ever sacrificing the exploratory zeal that defines the finest free jazz.

Less a traditional saxophone trio recording than a summit meeting of three stellar improvisers, this date features the musicians on equal footing, as writer, soloist, and accompanist. Each member contributes a handful of pieces, with each tune distinctive in its own right yet thematically adherent to the set's overall post bop aesthetic. Open-ended in approach, the trio pays close attention to harmonic and rhythmic signposts throughout these melodic selections, maintaining a semblance of structure in even the most chaotic passages.

Focusing on alto sax and doubling occasionally on clarinet, Whitecage holds forth with a robust tone and facile linear phrasing, as he unfurls pungent cadences that curl into poignant Ornettish declarations. Lane, the youngest member of the trio and principle composer, demonstrates his deserved reputation as a rising star with tuneful writing and impressive virtuosity. His muscular pizzicato is robust and resolute, while his strident bowing summons an array of incandescent sounds.

Grassi offers a variety of approaches, from lithe cymbal work to roiling tom-tom workouts that recall primal African and Middle Eastern traditions. With an elastic sense of time, Lane and Grassi maintain rhythmic independence within these skeletal frameworks and rubato pulses while advancing the overall structures in subtly surprising ways.

Each tune builds on a core theme which the trio orbits with variable dynamics and spirited intensity, allotting ample space for each member to be heard. Encompassing a variety of moods, the trio ranges from the vigorous free bop of 'The Last of the Beboppers' and the surging deconstructed funk of 'Chichi Rides the Tiger' to the cinematic Eastern modality of 'Marshall' and the solemn dirge 'Like Nothing Else,' driven by Lane's acerbic arco work.

The title track is representative, as Whitecage introduces a soulful melodic kernel before Lane and Grassi enter with a jaunty abstract rhythm. Each member contributes pithy statements before collectively merging into three-way discourse; Whitecage's torrid alto trades circuitous fragments with Grassi's rolling toms which in turn parry Lane's subterranean bass figures.

With years of experience in this milieu, Lane, Grassi and Whitecage reveal careful listening and empathetic interplay throughout Drunk Butterfly—telling marks of only the finest improvised sessions.
By Troy Collins

Townhouse Orchestra [Evan Parker, Sten Sandell, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Paal Nilssen-Love]

Editor's Info:
Something so special as this European project would need to have a future. After a first recording with the joined forces of British legendary saxophonist Evan Parker and the very special Scandinavian rhythm section of Sten Sandell (piano), Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), here is the double CD that confirms the superband status of the Townhouse Orchestra. Not an orchestra, in spite of the name, but a quartet, truth is it sometimes sound as such. The extensive techniques used by the performers multiply the possibilities of each instrument, opening up the perspectives of the music played. Totally improvised, 'Belle Ville' is a wonder of energy, commitment and interplay, with two long tracks (one in each disc) of constant surprises. If the individual contributions are astonishing, proving the versatility of the musicians involved, even more magnificent are the collective combinations. No-one tries to overshadow the others, the only rule being the cooperative focus of every moment. Music can't be more democratic and free than this . . .

Peter Van Huffel / Sophie Tassignon

Editor's Info:
You may not be familiar with van Huffel's and Tassignon's names, but don't direct your attention to something else so quickly. Why? Because you're gonna hear about the saxophonist and the singer very often in the years to come. Both are values in fast ascension in the international scene and it's best to follow their tracks since the beginning. The Canadian, but living in New York, Peter van Huffel is a pupil of tenor great Tony Malaby, and only that information would be sufficient to have an idea of his profile - the words 'powerful' and 'lyrical' come to mind. But we have more data about him: he played already with people like Chris Potter, Clarence Penn and Danny McCaslin, and knowing this is enlightening. Belgian of origin and a former student of David Linx, Sophie Tassignon is getting more famous in Europe because of her very personal and unique way to deal with 'unsingable melodies' and her quick and inventive reactions in improvising situations. And she's not shy at all doing so, as we can verify listening to the vocal band she co-founded, Screaming Bitches. Trombonist Samuel Blaser and bassist Michael Bates are their partners in the quartet effort titled 'HuffLiGNon', and the same we have to say about them: watch out!

Angelica Sanchez

multikulti.com:
To druga płyta tej mało znanej dotąd pianistki jako liderki, pierwszą 'Mirror Me' nagrała w 2003 roku. Można ją było usłyszeć w nagraniach Malaby/Sanchez/Rainey Trio. Saksofonista Tony Malaby, jest jej mężem, ale myli się ten, kto myśli, że mamy tutaj do czynienia z nepotyzmem.
Płyta 'Life Between', na której obok liderki na instrumentach klawiszowych i Tony Malaby'ego na saksofonie tenorowym usłyszymy francuskiego gitarzystę Marka Ducreta i perkusistę Toma Rainey'a przynosi bardzo nowoczesną formę, zarówno pod względem struktury (całość materiału jest autorstwa liderki) jak też warstwy instrumentalnej.


Editor's Info:
The emergence of Angelica Sanchez on the international scene dates back to 1995 when she relocated from Arizona to New York. She has left her personal mark in numerous collaborations with world-class musicians and her remarkable CD 'Life Between' documents her individual improvisational and compositional voice. Her playing has a beautiful spacious abandon and a spirited willingness to let go and follow the essence of the music. Sanchez's compositions are multi-themed emotional landscapes. Each composition functions in harnessing and framing the dynamic improvisational power of her virtuoso ensemble.
Saxophonist Tony Malaby, is one of the most compelling living voices on his instrument who is able to musically expand in multiple musical directions. Drummer Tom Rainey, can capture, abstract and reconfigure rhythms, creating texture and multi-layers of propulsion as individually as any drummer on the planet. Drew Gress, MVP of bass players, distinguishes himself with profound tone, time, wonderful harmonic hearing and the ability to always serve the music first. Marc Ducret, the wonderful electric guitar virtuoso can rhythmicize, develop and fuse linearity, sound and microtonality into one fluid musical language.
If a band is a metaphor for a family, then the 'family values' of this ensemble is to blur the conventional boundaries of improvisation within composition. This has been developed to near telepathic levels between all the players. Delicate but free-flowing, the music in ''Life Between'' couldn't be more expressive of what is happening in new music today.


All About Jazz
[. . .] The tracks, all her compositions, can be noddingly memorable, like ''514'' and ''Name Dreamer,'' or emotionally packed as on ''Federico.'' When she prepares a piece that is open for a bit more improvisation such as ''Black Helicopters,'' her players release a very under controlled openness. Malaby's saxophone simmers and Ducret pokes-and-prods through his bag of guitar effects. The result here is a refined and controlled music making, easy to digest even though the playing is quite sophisticated. Sanchez's switch to acoustic piano playing here and on the short final piece ''Corner Eye'' is full of ringing bright notes. An excellent rejoinder to Malaby's thunderous tenor, and the shock of Ducret.

This quintet of some of jazz's finest improvisers allow Sanchez to realize her vision by tailoring their sound to this very special project. [. . .]
by Mark Corroto


freejazz-stef.blogspot.com; Ratings: * * * *
[. . .] The pieces are composed, at least harmonically and structurally, often also thematically. This more constrained form apparently allows her, as the pianist, to move more comfortably: lyrical, gentle and emotional, using the nice tonal possibilities of her Würlitzer electric piano, while at the same time leaving lots of space to her fellow musicians. As the other soloists, both Malaby and Ducret shine. Malaby has a versatility and broadness of pallette which allows him to play in any context, Ducret is in a guitar category of his own, neither playing jazz nor rock, yet a little bit of both, and he has so much to offer in creativity and character, that even in the more subdued moments, his sometimes wild approach offers depth and new perspectives to the music. [. . .]

By Stef

Daniel Levin Trio [Daniel Levin, Ingebrigt Häker-Flaten, Gerald Cleaver]

Editor's Info:
It's been said that instrumental music is at its root an extension of the sounds we produce with our voices. In the title track of 'Fuhuffah' the music began in just this way. First there was an abstract vocal sequence, which was translated to the cello, and finally, when set in trio format, the introduction of the other instruments (Ingebrigt Haker Flaten's bass and Gerald Cleaver's drumset) amplified and intensified the results. Bowed and plucked strings versus percussion: decidedly, this cello-bass-drums trio has something valuable to add to contemporary jazz music. Levin is surely one of today's masters of cello improvisation. His strong classical background was the starting point in developing his own personal jazz language, which has been enriched through his collaborations with musicians like Joe Morris, Rob Brown, and William Parker, among other stars of the avant firmament. The rhythm section of the Daniel Levin Trio is the best we can dream about, and it's wonderful how Flaten combines his double bass with the violoncello - sometimes like a bass player in a traditional jazz setting, sometimes as a chamber musician would - and how Cleaver both floats above it all and fuels the music from underneath at the same time. On 'Fuhuffah', we find subtlety, drive, and positive energy in equal measure. Amazing!

RIDD Quartet

Editor's info:
What do you expect from musicians who played with the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras, the Indie Rock band Bright Eyes, and many of the prominent improvisers of our time? You get the collective group The RIDD quartet, who embrace all of these influences and create a unique
improvising approach on 'Fiction Avalanche'. Jon Irabagon is a member of the ''self-destructing bebop cyborg band'' Mostly Other People Do The Killing and saxophonist of the free improvised RIDD Quartet. In this new century and millenium, truth is less and less jazzmen feel the need to take sides. It makes much more sense to take jazz in all its dimensions. Lester Young and Evan Parker, Sonny Rollins and Maceo Parker, Cannonball Adderley and Ornette Coleman, they're all references to this emergent performer who also digs the electro-pop of the Eighties and digital beat experimentalists like
> Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. Pianist Kris Davis has the same kaleidoscopic approach to jazz, from her reiterated colaborations with Tony Malaby in the post-bop lineage to her researches of extended piano techniques with the French avant-garde player Benoît Delbecq. Contrabassist Reuben Radding is
a central figure in both the New York and Seattle scenes, either in association with free jazz greats Roy Campbell, Daniel Carter, Rob Brown and Assif Tsahar or with creative minds like John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Marc Ribot, Stuart Dempster and Robert Dick. Drummer Jeff Davis is a frequent choice when hard bop forms meet with free-flowing collective improvisations, combining groove and textural work in equal measure. With these profiles, you have as result intense and inventive music, the kind you're not able to ignore.

Mauger [Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mark Dresser, Gerry Hemingway]

Audio Video, 2008-12:
''. . .Płyta który świetnie uczy pokory recenzentów - mało kto bowiem słyszał o saksofoniście Rudresh'u Mahanthappa'ie. Hindus, wychowany w Chicago, od 10 lat mieszka i tworzy w Nowym Jorku. W Polsce znany głównie z kwartetowych nagrań dla Pi Rechordings. Tutaj prezentuje swoje nowe, gwiazdorskie trio - basisty Maraka Dressera i perkusisty Gerry Hemingwaya miłośnikom jazzu nie trzeba bowiem przedstawiać. Muzyka zawarta na płycie niekiedy tylko odwołuje się do tradycji indyjskich przodków saksofonisty (tylko dwie kompozycje wyszły spod jego pióra). Ale polirytmiczność i długie frazy jakimi operują muzycy w tym nagraniu to także owoc hinduskiej (ragowej) muzyki. Znakomity album. . .''

Editor's info:
Members of the much remembered classic quartet of Anthony Braxton and bandleaders in their own right, Mark Dresser and Gerry Hemingway are the first names we consider when asked to mention the best improvisers on their respective instruments, the double bass and the drum kit. Extraordinarily gifted musicians, innovators of defining and expanding the meaning of contemporary jazz, and being of wholly creative minds, Dresser and Hemingway are always capable of surprising us. On ''The Beautiful Enabler'' these two veterans of creative music join forces with the younger, but equally notable, saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. His versatility and virtuosity combined with the depths of his multicultural roots (he was born in Italy to South Indian parents, raised in Colorado, educated in Boston and Chicago, now living in New York), justify his fame as a ''rising star''. This CD is a fine example of empathy and group interaction, something only possible when the musicians involved are selflessly concerned with the musical results of the ensemble and not their own individual performances. While this is always considered to be the ultimate goal of jazz (which at its core defines itself as a collective music), it is generally not easily accomplished. How many times have great virtuosos been unsuccessful in creating a cohesive message with their musical partners in the ways displayed on this recording?
On this album, overcoming this ostensibly difficult task seems easy and natural, and this fact alone speaks volumes to the approach and outlook of this trio. In his liner notes, Dresser writes about ''musical chemistry'', a notion that cannot simply be desired but perhaps can only arise under uniquely extraordinary circumstances. There is no recipe for this sense of gathering as its occurrence transcends skill and creativity and journeys into the realms of fraternity and humanity. It's no wonder that the artists thought it was necessary to give this group a name of its own: Mauger is more than the combination of these three human beings; it's an entity in itself.

Carlos Zingaro / Dominique Regef / Wilbert DeJoode String Trio

Editor's info:
Portuguese violinist Carlos ''Zíngaro'' is committed to reinventing chamber music through improvisation. Consider some of his past collaborations - in duo with Joelle Léandre, Dominique Pifarely, Peggy Lee, Peter Kowald, Derek Bailey, and Dominic Duval; in trio with Tom Cora and percussionist Roger Turner, Fred Lonberg-Holm and electronics explorer Lou Mallozzi, and with Hans Reichel and clarinetist Rudiger Carl; or in quartet with Elliott Sharp, Tomas Ulrich and Ken Filiano. He is specially interested in the string group format and in collectives with a solid string presence. In the 2007 Vision Festival, in New York, he was one of the violinists, along with Billy Bang, Mark Feldman, and Dave Soldier, paying a tribute to Leroy Jenkins. In the Spectrum String Trio, we find him in the company of the French hurdy-gurdy player Domique Regeff and the Dutch contrabassist Wilbert DeJoode. This music is somewhere between the worlds of avant-jazz and contemporary classical music, with reminiscences of folk troubadour songs; after all, the hurdy-gurdy has medieval origins. Zíngaro's sound world is an original one, coming from on one side, Paganini, Shostakovich, and Bartok, and on the other, Stuff Smith, Leroy Jenkins and, Ornette Coleman, whose ''bad'' violin playing constitutes for Zíngaro an example of how to fight academic virtuosic perfectionism.

Paulo Curado e o Lugar da Desordem

Editor's info:
One of the most accomplished musicians in the Portuguese jazz and free improvised music scene, Paulo Curado plays with a credo: give disorder a place to develop and grow. Disorder, for him, is a pillar of freedom, freedom to create and freedom to deal with the jazz idiom. More than a philosophical point of view, this is his pragmatic approach to music. The veteran alto saxophonist and flutist sees the trio format as a micro-cosmos of society, a musical combination that enables free-associations that reflect everyday life, exploring the differences in personalities, backgrounds, interests, and conceptions that are inherent in social activity. ''The Bird, the Breeze and Mr. Filiano'' is the result of the association of an unorthodox jazzman (Curado) who also composes for the performing arts and film (with a particular interest for animated cartoons), a bassist with classical education and strong roots in jazz history but also the vocation to go beyond the tradition (Ken Filiano), and a drummer who plays mainstream and avant-garde with equal conviction and skill (Bruno Pedroso). The recording is a wonder of purpose, delivery, drive and energy, with focused attention to detail and nuance. It demonstrates that a power jazz trio can be sensible and lyrical, even if in a twisted way.

Angels [Magnus Broo, Mats Äleklint, Martin Küchen, Mattias Stahl, Johan Berthling, Kjell Nordeson

Editor's Info:
Like Axel Dörner in Germany and Ernesto Rodrigues in Portugal, among others, Swedish alto (and sometimes baritone) saxophonist Martin Küchen spans the artificial divisions imposed between the ''new'' and the ''old'' improvising schools. His radical extended techniques, such as in the sonic use of saliva, are fundamental for the abstract, textural constructions on his solo album ''Homo Sacer.'' Although these techniques address sound itself rather than music as conventionally considered, Küchen is first of all a free jazz player. Küchen the free jazz artist is in fact what we find on ''Every Woman is a Tree.'' It is free jazz with a post-bop twist, profiting from contributions from some of the most interesting musicians on the Scandinavian scene: Magnus Broo (trumpet), Mats Äleklint (trombone), Mattias Stahl (vibraphone), Johan Berthling (contrabass, and yes, from the experimental pop group Tape), and Kjell Nordeson (drums). Although this recording is more ''thought out'' and structured, it's still organic and is even visceral, as the subject of this record - war - requires. There is, though, also similarities to be found between the music on ''Every Woman is a Tree'' and ''Homo Sacer'': the obvious melodic material, the repetitive use of rythmic material, a helplessly emotional approach to both the sound itself and to the ''music'' . . .all this you can find on both CDs, although they initially audible ''looks'' very different from each other. . . Martin Küchen is profoundly political, with strong convictions about such topics as the Iraq invasion and occupation, American foreign policy, Israel, racism, and immigration. This music reflects that commitment.

Viriditas Trio [Alfred Harth, Kevin Norton, Wilber Morris]

Audio Video, 2008-12:
''. . .Pod nazwą Trio Viriditas ukrywa się trójka cenionych improwizatów: saksofonista ale i trębacz Alfred Harth, basista Wilber Morris oraz multiperkusista Kevin Norton. Nagranie prezentowane na płycie dokonane zostało na Vision Festival w Nowym Yorku i, jak sądzę, miejsce determinuje garażowe, loftowe brzmienie płyty z silnym pogłosem zwłaszcza w niższych rejestrach. Jeżeli ktoś lubi takie surowe realizacje nie będzie jednak zawiedziony - muzyka to free jazz najwyższych lotów, zagrany z niekłamaną inwencją ale i wyczuciem formy i nastroju. Obok mocnych improwizacji niezwykła ballada (Mellancholy) wzbogacona wibrafonem Nortona i niezwykłą dziką i fascynującą frazę saksofonu Hartha. . .''

Editor's info:
Bassist Wilber Morris' contribution to contemporary jazz is still being documented, after his death. Such a rich career certainly deserves that attention. The idea for this trio came from the mind of Alfred Harth, a German (now living in South Korea) saxophonist, composer, improviser, and visual artist. He invited Morris and a drummer of Morris's preference to form a trio. The choice couldn't have been more fitting: Kevin Norton, a new presence then but now mainstay of the New York scene. This is indeed an uncommon band. Harth is active in the experimental field with projects defined by the influences of jazz, rock, and contemporary classical music, exemplified by his associations with Heiner Goebbels and by the band he co-founded, Cassiber and nowadays with Otomo Yoshihide.
He wanted to return to his roots of free jazz. Wilber Morris seemed to him the ideal companion to do this, and Norton represented the bridge between the worlds of avant-jazz and experimental music. The first CD of this not-as-strange-as-you-may-think combination was Clean Feed's 'waxwebwind@ebroadway.' This new release documents a memorable concert. The music boils, faithful to the tradition it comes from, but with a twist that refreshes it and adds another dimension to everything that happens. 'Live at Vision Festival VI' turns the page and envisions the future.

Jorge Lima Barreto

Editor's info:
As with any conceptual work of art - in this case an improvised work - this record has several layers. In its essence this is a piano solo recorded live in concert. It is simultaneously lyrical and experimental, a rare combination. It addresses dynamics of time and textural timbres, spontaneous preparations, and metamorphic melodic figures. The piano melds with a short wave radio receiver in ''Zul'' and with four CD players projecting a montage of natural sounds in ''Zelub.'' These techniques bring to mind the Avant Garde music and Fluxus movement of John Cage and his use of multimedia and interart (video, instalation, performance art) in some of his compositions. In the studio the live recordings were remastered and manipulated to create new textures and structures preserving the original solo piano. This concept come from the so called ''unrealized music energy,'' a theory developed by Lima Barreto with Joao Marques Carrilho. The idea is that, in the moment immediately before starting to improvise, the musician forms a purely mental investment of memory and intention, something of the metaphysical domain in which the music retains a dream-like flux. In Portugal, Lima Barreto is a legend for what he represents as a performer, writer and opinion maker and a political situationist. For almost two decades, from the end of the Sixties to the middle of the Eighties, his was the only voice in Portuguese newspapers and magazines that discussed free jazz, art rock, minimalism, musique concrete, and other avant-garde tendencies; today goes on with this project of cultural action. He also published books on subjects like history, philosophy, classification, terminology and aesthetics of the music comunication. His essay ''Revoluçao do Jazz'' anticipated ''Free Jazz / Black Power,'' by the French music writers Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli. An art historian who specialized in musicology, he transformed his theories into practice (concerts, records, videos). With Anar Band he was a pioneer in liveelectronics, with the project Telectu - still active today - he introduced minimalism, experimental rock, concréte and free improvisation to Portugal. Even if he played synthesizers at some moments in his career, piano was always his first love where he can be surprisingly romantic or spectacularly bold. ''Zul Zelub'' is the natural consequence of a life dedicated to music.

Sean Conly / Michaël Attias / Tony Malaby / Pheeroan Aklaff

Audio Video, 2008-12:
''. . .Pierwsze spotkanie z muzyką basisty Sean'a Conly wypada nader obiecującą także za sprawą partnerujących mu saksofonistów Michaela Attiasa i Tony'ego Malaby oraz perkusisty Pheeroana Aklaffa. Muzyka Conly'ego osadzona jest w jazzowej tradycji ale równie dużo czerpie z rocka oraz dokonań chicagowskiej sceny jazzowej z Kenem Vandermarkiem na czele. Podobnie jak chicagowski muzyk Conly opiera swej kompozycje na krótkich, niemal rockowych rifach, zdarza się także, że je zapętla. Ale nie ma tu dyscypliny i mocy The Vandermark 5, muzyka zdaje się być bardziej otwarta a brzmienie silnej przynależy do świata jazzu. . .''

Editor's info:
There aren't many jazz bands lead by the guy playing the bass, but the tradition is strong (remember Mingus?), so strong that we can feel it in the DNA of the music performed by Re:Action. This quartet formed by Sean Conly consists of the free jazz drumming legend Pheeroan Aklaff, the ever in demand, and rock solid veteran of the present New York scene, Tony Malaby, and a saxophonist in fast ascension to international fame, Michaël Attias. As with many other jazz musicians of his generation, Sean began to play rock as a young teenager, but through the discovery of the music of Charles Mingus (of course), Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Scott Lafaro and The Revolutionary Ensemble, he quickly turned his attention to jazz in it's many different forms. A student of Rufus Reid, he soon established himself as a sideman with big names like Freddie Hubbard, Andrew Hill, James Moody, Stefon Harris, Regina Carter, Nicholas Payton and Ray Barretto, but also as an equal voice among the younger innovators, from Anthony Coleman to Russ Lossing. In a recent interview Sean said ''I have always enjoyed the challenge of playing a wide variety of music as there is a lot you can learn from others, but at heart my favorite thing is to compose and play my own music'', and this new Clean Feed recording is just that: music based in the idea of action and reaction, with the scores functioning as aural plots to be elucidated on by the players, music written ''to let people play the way they play''. It is important to say that Re:Action's first gig ever was voted one of the best concerts of the year by All About Jazz magazine and that the music of the CD is all first or second takes without overdubs - facts that only serve to give you an idea of the in the moment freshness you will find on this fantastic Clean Feed release.

Harris Eisenstadt / Nate Wooley / Mark Taylor / Josh Sinton

Audio Video; 2008-12:
''. . .Trudno wymienić tych z którymi koncertował i nagrywał młody nowojorski perkusista Harris Eisenstadt - tutaj także zaprosił kilka znakomitości niezależnej sceny amerykańskiej: trębacza Nate'a Wooley'a, kornecistę i trębacza Taylora Ho Bynuma czy Marka Taylora. Muzyka jest zróżnicowana - obok odwołujących się mocniej do afrykańskich korzeni jazzu utworów znajdziemy i kompozycje zdradzające silny wpływ dokonań Anthony Braxtona i jego Ghost Trance Music, oraz takie gdzie górę biorą sonorystyczne poszukiwania. Mimo tych różnic jedno płynnie wynika tu z drugiego ukazując pełnię muzycznych fascynacji Eisenstadta. Rewelacja. . .''

Editor's info:
No, the pan-African days aren't gone. Something remained of the Sun Ra Arkestra and the Art Ensemble of Chicago fascinations for the Mother Continent and its rhythms. We can find it in this new project by Harris Eisenstadt, a Canadian ex-pat New York-based jazz drummer who had the opportunity to study in Gambia and Senegal with griot musicians. In Senegal he learned Sabar traditional drumming, used in parties and life-cycle events, and the sense of community Eisenstadt experienced in Dakar was transposed to the collective playing of this quintet with four horns, going deeply into the roots of jazz without being close-minded. Attracted to this music in his teenage years because of the ''kind of transcendence going on'' in John Coltrane and Miles Davis records with, respectively, Elvin Jones and Tony Williams holding the sticks, his references start in rock - Led Zeppelin, for instance - and include contemporary music composers like Charles Ives, Toru Takemitsu and Gyorgy Ligeti. Now he's involved in creative music, and one of his life achievements was playing in a trio with a historic figure of this tendency, Sam Rivers. An enthusiast of the Do It Yourself aesthetics, Harris Eisenstadt has in Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, flugelhorn), Nate Wooley (trumpet), Mark Taylor (french horn) and Josh Sinton (baritone saxophone) equal believers in the principle ''do what you do and believe in it no matter what'', as he said in an interview. His two first partners are frontline figures now, Ho Bynum a Braxton disciple with many new ideas to give, and Wooley an explorer of extended techniques. Imagine what they can do together with Africa as a source of inspiration and after that listen to ''Guewel''. Yes, they go even further . . .

Fredrik Nördstrom Quintet

Editor's info:
Inspired in the American jazz of the Sixties, but with a North European perspective of inquestionable modernity, Fredrik Nordström imposed himself already as one of the most powerful and intriguing saxophonists in the tenor variant coming from the Old Continent. His prestige as a performer is extensive to the compositional work he's developing, such is the richness of ideas in terms of harmony and rhythm presented by his quintet. With trombonist Mats Äleklint replacing Magnus Broo and his trumpet and Torbjörn Zetterberg ocupying the position of the double bass instead of Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, but keeping Mattias Stahl (vibraphone) and Fredrik Rundqvist (drums) at their posts, this live CD recorded in Coimbra, Portugal, presents a renewed band with the same objectives defined since the beginning: elasticity of style and afirmative drive. Adding a new voice to the lineage of tenors with robust sound, it's nevertheless in the Ornette Coleman heritage that we can place Nordström. And that even if ''Live in Coimbra'' has more connections with the Blue Note catalogue and the Bobby Hutcherson groups in the golden period of this master vibraphonist than with the harmolodic concepts. The album includes two pieces never recorded before, ''Yakiniku'' and ''Mister Barista'', and a version of a song by none other than the pop singer Björk, ''Cocoon'', and it's a blast, showing this project in the ideal of contexts when the music in question is jazz: a concert. Bravo.

All compositions by Fredrik Nordström except ''Cocoon'' by Björk Gudmundsdottir/Thomas Knak

Fight the Big Bull [Matt White, Pinson Chanselle, Cameron Ralston, Brian Jones, Bob Miller, Reggie Pace, Bryan Hooten, J.C. Kuhl, Adrian Sandi]

Editor's info:
Matthew White's Fight the Big Bull nonet treats the past as a point of departure. Each composition plays with those references to jazz history. The titleof the CD refers to the Blind Willie Johnson blues song ''Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed.'' Other tracks have other associations: ''Black Saint and the SinnerLady'' by Charles Mingus, ''Escalator Over the Hill'' by Carla Bley with the Jazz Composers Orchestra, ''New Orleans Suite'' by Duke Ellington, and reminiscences of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Lounge Lizards, Archie Shepp (who, by the way, also used trumpet, tenor saxophone, clarinet and two trombones - plus tuba - on ''Mama Too Tight''), and Mike Mantler. In his liner notes, trumpeter Steven Bernstein discusses these allusions as if he's disassembling an engine. But although this work could be a challenge for encyclopedically minded jazz listener, the music stands alone. And although it is the vision of one man, who composed and arranged all the pieces, the collective focus is astonishing. There's no fixed hierarchy here.
Special thanks to Steven Bernstein

Joe Morris / Barre Phillips

Editor's info:
Guitarist (and sometimes bassist) Joe Morris has in ''Elm City Duets'' a new chapter of his ongoing objective to play with his lifetime heroes: after the meeting with the renowned multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton, resulting in a box with 4 CDs released by the label Clean Feed, here is another duo with a veteran of improvisation: Barre Phillips. And what a wonderful encounter this turned to be! The most magnificent music was created spontaneously by these two improvisers of the finest order, one a much respected protagonist of the current avant jazz scene, the other a cult and historical figure who performed with the greatest, like Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Giuffre and Archie Shepp, among many others, released the first solo double bass album ever in 1968, ''Journal Violone'', and, with Dave Holland, also recorded the first bass duo LP, in 1971, ''Music From Two Basses''. Morris admiration for Barre Phillips is very clear in the liner notes he wrote for this CD, but his playing isn't reverential and passive. What we have here is a vivacious dialogue between two equals, with precious and incisive arguments by both parts. Your record colection will be incomplete without this!

Charlie Christian / The Benny Goodman Sextet

Editor's info:
Some of the best live recordings by the celebrated Benny Goodman Sextet featuring Charlie Christian.
Taken from rare radio broadcasts, they present the magic of Christian's guitar during his short-lived threeyear music career, before he succumbed to tuberculosis in early 1942.

As a bonus, the complete 1939 jam session by the Jerry Jerome Quartet, showcasing extended solos by Christian.
Includes 12-page booklet Until amplification was invented, the guitar wasn't a suitable instrument for jazz records. Its sound was overshadowed by all the other instruments, so practically the only thing a guitarist could do to be heard was to play rhythm chords. In the early days of acoustic recording, the banjo seemed a far better choice. Although they were obviously not the only jazz guitarists of their day, the early history of the instrument in jazz is often reduced to four names. The first two are Eddie Lang, who died very young after making some outstanding recordings with violinist Joe Venuti, and the French gypsy genius Django Reinhardt. The other two are Eddie Durham, who was the first to introduce the electric guitar in jazz, and another jazz great who also left us far too early, Charlie Christian (born in Bonham, Texas, on July 29, 1916), whose brilliant playing popularized the instrument. In fact, Christian's career began in 1939 and ended in 1941, shortly before he died at age 26. Most of the tracks included on this disc come from live recordings made by Christian with Benny Goodman's small units and were selected based on the guitarist's participation. A very competitive man, Goodman truly admired Christian and he featured him generously. We must be grateful to Benny, considering that by 1942 the guitarist was already dead, and more than half of the recorded testimonies of his work come from his studio and radio recordings with Goodman.
As a bonus, this edition presents four tracks taken from a jam session at Minneapolis' Harlem Breakfast Club, presenting the Jerry Jerome Quartet with Charlie Christian on electric guitar, Frankie Hines on piano and the great Oscar Pettiford on bass (no drums!).

Lester Young

Editor's info:
This release presents the great Lester Young's complete sessions for the small Aladdin label, which were made right after the saxophonist's release from prison and dishonourable discharge from the U.S. Army. Although legend has it he was never the same after his experiences in the military, Young's playing throughout these recordings exceeds even his own high standards.
FEATURING: Willie Smith (as), Howard McGhee (tp), Vic Dickenson (tb), Nat King Cole, Joe Albany, Dodo Marmarosa (p), Chuck Wayne, Dave Barbour (g), Red Callender (b), Chico Hamilton, Roy Haynes, Tiny Kahn (d), among others.
While Lester's Army experiences undoubtedly left their mark on the saxophonist, it would be incorrect to state that all of his troubles began at that time. Being subjected to strict treatment (in which racism played an important role) was certainly hard on Lester. However, it is also true that he was a complex person with strong self-destructive impulses. However, his playing here is superb in most cases, and his interaction with other great musicians like Nat King Cole, Dodo Marmarosa, Joe Albany, Argonne Thornton (who later changed his name to Sadik Hakim), Willie Smith, Howard McGhee and his Basie companion Vic Dickenson proves to be very effective. As a bonus to the Aladdin sessions, we have included the other studio session by Lester with Nat King Cole, recorded for Norman Granz for his label Norgran in 1946.

Modern Jazz Quartet

Editor's info:
This CD compiles two of The Modern Jazz Quartet's most highly acclaimed albums in their entirety: Fontessa and No Sun in Venice (originally released under the title One Never Knows).

''The MJQ installed in modern jazz a plausible middle path between expressionism and impressionism.''
Jorge García on Fontessa, from the 1993 book The 100 Best Jazz Albums

''This film score ingeniously manages to be both effective in context and strong enough to stand on its own.''
Martin Williams, 1957 review of No Sun in Venice, Down Beat *****
Includes 20-page comprehensive booklet!

Ornette Coleman

Editor's info:
ON CD FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!
The complete and long unavailable concert at Fairfield Hall, in Croydon, which includes a long chamber work written by Ornette Coleman as well as seven inimitable performances by Coleman and his classic trio with David Izenzon and Charles Moffett!
''My music doesn't have any real time, no metric time. It has time, but not in the sense that you can time it. It's more like breathing - a natural, freer time. People have forgotten how beautiful it is to be natural. I like spread rhythm - rhythm that has a lot of freedom in it - rather than the more conventional netted rhythm. With spread rhythm, you might tap your feet a while, then stop, then later start tapping again. Otherwise, you tap your feet so much, you forget what you hear. You just hear the rhythm.''
Ornette Coleman (interviewed by Nat Hentoff)

This CD presents the long unavailable concert at Fairfield Hall, in Croydon, England, on August 29, 1965. It immediately follows the Chappaqua Suite sessions in Ornette's discography, and has the particularity of presenting both a set by Coleman's spectacular trio and a performance of ''Forms and Sound for Wind Quintet'' - a ten-movement chamber suite composed by the saxophonist, but performed by the Virtuoso Ensemble, of which this seems to be the only existing recording. This was not to be Coleman's only experience in the form, which tries to combine the jazz sound with the world and instrumentations of classical music. He played a concert at New York's Town Hall in 1962 combining his group with a string quartet, and in 1972 he would compose Skies of America, a 21-movement suite for symphony orchestra. According to critics, however, the highlights of the concert are Ornette's own performances with his trio, which constitute two-thirds of this interesting and rarely heard concert.

Thelonious Monk Trio & Quartet

Editor's info:
''Where jazz is going? I don't know where it's going. Maybe it's going to hell. You can't make anything go anywhere. It just happens.'' - Thelonious Monk

ALL TRACKS PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED!!!

For the first time ever, Thelonious Monk's complete trio performance at Newport 1958 (only an edited version of ''Blue Monk'' with overdubbed announcements had been previously released on the film Jazz on a Summer's Day).
This CD also contains Monk's splendid and also unissued quartet concert at the same festival the following year.

As a bonus, the only two existing tracks featuring Monk with the Duke Ellington band, recorded at Newport '62 and also appearing here for the first time!!

The current CD includes three performances of considerable interest for jazz fans. All of them were recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival (during the 1958, 1959 and 1962 editions) and present Monk in different and - in the case of the first and third shows - unusual contexts. It must be noted that a double LP (and later double CD) edition confusingly titled Miles and Monk at Newport included Miles' Newport '58 performance with his sextet, plus Monk's Newport '63 performance with his quartet. However, not a single track presented Miles and Monk playing together, and not a single note of Monk's 1958 trio set was included. With the exception of ''Blue Monk'', from the 1958 concert, none of this music had appeared before on any format (and the version of ''Blue Monk'' - which was included in the celebrated Newport documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day - appeared there heavily edited and with the voice of an announcer speaking about the weather over most of Monk's solo!! We have included it here in its complete and untouched form).

The Newport performance of the following year, also previously unissued, presents Monk in quartet with Charlie Rouse. However, when this concert was recorded, in 1959, Monk and Rouse hadn't been playing together for more than six months, so they hadn't yet settled into a routine and the playing by both the saxophonist and pianist is both explorative and enthusiastic. The final offering of our set, also appearing here for the first time ever, are the only two existing titles presenting Thelonious Monk backed by the Duke Ellington orchestra. The event took place during the 1962 Newport Jazz Festival, in which both the Duke Ellington orchestra and the Thelonious Monk quartet with Charlie Rouse appeared. Ellington's partner Billy Strayhorn had prepared an arrangement of ''Monk's Dream'' and its composer agreed to go on stage with the Ellington band to play it.

Thelonious Monk / Dizzy Gillespie / The Giants of Jazz

Editor's info:
THREE RARE FASCINATING CONCERTS BY A SEXTET REUNITING ALL TRACKS ON CD 1 ARE PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED!
ALL TRACKS ON CD 2 APPEAR HERE ON CD FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!
INCLUDES 12-PAGE BOOKLET
GIANTS OF JAZZ? Yes indeed! It is truly an enormous pleasure to hear the greatest jazz figures together on one stage! This double set contains three of the nearly fifty concerts played (only a few were recorded) by the so called ''Giants of Jazz'', a true allstar group organized by jazz producer George Wein that toured Europe in 1971 and 1972.
Our set presents three different concert performances by the Giants of Jazz, which were all recorded in 1971. The Warsaw and Böblingen sets are previously unissued (privately recorded from radio stations), while the Milan concert (also taken from a broadcast) only appeared complete on an obscure LP.SOME OF THE BEST JAZZ PLAYERS EVER !!

Miles Davis Septet

multikulti.com:
Rok 1983 dla jazzowej publiczności Środkowej Europy upłynął pod znakiem oczekiwania na koncert tego jedynego muzyka, o którym powszechnie mówi się, jako o najważniejszym z muzyków jazowych wszech czasów - Milesa Davisa.
Miało to miejsce podczas jubileuszowego 25 festiwalu Jazz Jamboree.

Tak rozpoczyna swoją relację Tomasz Szachowski-dziennikarz Jazz Forum, jedynego wówczas jazzowego pisma w tej części Europy:
[. . .] Po upływie trzech kwadransów, jakie potrzebowali akustycy ekipy Milesa Davisa na ostatnie przygotowania, publiczność ponownie wchodzi na salę. W przeciągu kilku minut zapełniają się wszystkie wolne miejsca, siedzące, stojące, wiszące, jest nas ponad 4 tysiące.
Wchodzą, Miles lekko kulejący w ciemnych okularach, w czarnym kapeluszu, czerwonej skórzanej kurtce z frędzlami, czarnych spodniach i czerwonych butach na wysokich obcasach. Owacja. . . Zajmują miejsca. Od lewej Robert Irwing, Bill Evans, w głębi Darryl Jones, Al Foster, na środku, tuż przed perkusją - Miles Davis, nieco z prawej John Scofield i wreszcie zupełnie na skraju Mino Cinelu.
[. . .]
Tylko pierwsze kilkanaście minut pokazuje w miarę wyraźnie początki i zakończenia utworów, potem muzyka przeradza się w ciąg myśli, improwizacji, kulminacji, uspokojeń nowy motyw tematyczny zwiastuje nowy utwór.
[. . .]
Po nieprawdopodobnej owacji następuje bis - 'Open' Davisa.
Owacja jeszcze większa, muzycy wychodzą ponownie - tym razem jeszcze raz 'That's Wright' Scofielda. Oklaski nie milkną, przez kilka minut standing ovation i wreszcie kilka tysięcy gardeł skanduje 'We want Miles! We want Miles! We want Miles! We want Miles!'.
Wychodzą po raz trzeci, spajając klasyczną klamrą cały występ - tematem 'Speak'.
Miles wyraźnie zadowolony, podnosi kilka razy trąbkę do góry i nie do wiary, w geście wdzięczności podnosi na sekundę kapelusz! Znikają. . .
[. . .]
Był to wielki, niezapomniany koncert, bodaj największe wydarzenie jazzowe, jakie miało kiedykolwiek miejsce na polskiej estradzie. Było to wydarzenie również na skalę światową, jak sądzić z opinii dziennikarzy zagranicznych. Choć dla jednych miarą była sama muzyka, dla innych bezprecedensowe trzy bisy i zdjęcie kapelusza przez Milesa! [. . .]
Jazz Forum 85 (1983/62), autor: Tomasz Szachowski.

Dzięki młodemu a już wielce zasłużonemu dla jazzu wydawcy Disconforme, możemy zapoznać się z tym wydarzeniem na dwupłytowym albumie, jak też na DVD Video. Tego koncertu, który atmosferą przypominał religijny obrządek nie można pominąć. Tym bardziej, że zremasterowany dźwięk zadowoli najbardziej audiofilskiego słuchacza.
Prawdopodobnie najważniejsza premiera płytowa tego roku dla jazzowej publiczności w Polsce!

Gazeta Wyborcza; 2008-12-04
''. . .Po 25 latach ukazała się nareszcie oficjalna rejestracja historycznego występu Davisa na Jazz Jamboree. Można posłuchać i zobaczyć króla jazzu w szczytowej formie.
Festiwal w 1983 r. był wyjątkowy co najmniej z paru powodów. Rok wcześniej impreza została odwołana z powodu stanu wojennego, dlatego na jubileuszową edycję organizatorzy chcieli mieć sensację - koncert pierwszej jazzowej trąbki na świecie. Do Warszawy zjechali fani jazzu nie tylko z całej Polski, ale też sąsiednich krajów, bo była to pierwsza okazja, by posłuchać Davisa w Europie Środkowej. Sala Kongresowa pękała w szwach. Upchnęło się w niej ponad cztery tysiące osób, choć oficjalnie liczy tylko 2880 miejsc. Ludzie zajmowali wszelkie możliwe miejsca: siedzące, stojące, a nawet wiszące (co widać na wykorzystującym rejestrację TVP nagraniu dvd, które doskonale oddaje entuzjazm i napięcie na sali). (. . .) Wiele z tej magii pozostało do dziś na koncertowym albumie. Davis jawi się tu jako wciąż nieokiełznana osobowość, choć przecież z przyczyn zdrowotnych w latach 1975-80 w ogóle przestał grać. To on dyktował warunki, kierował muzyczną dramaturgią, a towarzyszyli mu nietuzinkowi muzycy. Scofield, Foster, Bona - wtedy jeszcze nie tak popularni, dziś należą do światowej czołówki.
Nagrania pamiętnego występu Davisa w Warszawie znane były dotąd jedynie z nieoficjalnych, bootlegowych wersji, których jakość pozostawiała wiele do życzenia. To pierwsza oficjalna wersja tego koncertu. Zremasterowana i dopieszczona. Pozycja obowiązkowa. . .''
[Tomasz Handzlik]


Editor's info:
A very rare complete Warsaw concert by Miles'superb 1983 septet with saxophonist Bill Evans and guitarist John Scofield. As a bonus, three live tracks by the 1981 Davis' sextet, including a long an amazing version of Gershwin's ''My Man's Gone Now''. Includes 12-page booklet This fabulous and rarely heard complete concert was taped shortly after Miles Davis presented his celebrated LP Star People. The performance features many of the tunes from the album, including the title track ''Star People'', as well as ''Speak'', ''Star on Cicely'' (arranged by Gil Evans, with whom Miles had recorded so many classic works; Cicely Tyson was Miles' wife) and ''It Gets Better''. ''What It Is'', ''Code M.D.'' and ''That's Right'' (another arrangement by Gil Evans) had been first recorded less than two months before this concert took place and would be included on Miles' following album, Decoy. The LP obviously hadn't yet been released when they performed in Poland. The band on the original albums is very similar to that on the European tour to which this concert belongs. Darryl Jones replaces Marcus Miller and Tom Barney - who alternated on electric bass on Star People. John Scofield is featured as the sole electric guitarist (he joined forces with Mike Stern on Star People). Bill Evans (the sax player) had been replaced by Branford Marsalis on the original studio versions of ''That's Right'' and ''Code M.D.''. Therefore, this performance presents interesting alternate versions with Bill Evans switching between soprano sax, tenor sax and flute.

Jimmy Giuffre / Jim Hall Trio

Editor's info:
DE LUXE 4-CD BOX SET!!
THE COMPLETE STUDIO TRIO RECORDINGS OF JIMMY GIUFFRE AND JIM HALL, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ON A SINGLE SET!!
INCLUDES 24-PAGE BOOKLET WITH ORIGINAL LINER NOTES AND DETAILED INFORMATION

As a bonus, we have included two unaccompanied Giuffre tracks from the same sessions and a batch of rare live trio recordings, including ''Song of the Wind'', which appears here on CD for the first time ever.
''There were two very good friends of mine on that-Jimmy Giuffre and Jim Hall, who are also marvelous musicians. So it was a labour of love. That's much less possible now than it was then. Now it's more a labour of trying to sell more albums.''
Bob Brookmeyer

This outstanding 4-CD box set contains the complete studio trio recordings of Jimmy Giuffre and Jim Hall. The first track of the current edition, (''Gotta Dance'', recorded on December 3, 1956), is in fact their first collaboration ever. The two musicians would later join forces on numerous different projects, often including larger combos and big bands. Their trio work, however, stands by itself as a unique collection of intimate chamber music. The third voice of the trio was usually a bass (many bassists alternated on their trio projects, including Ray Brown, Ralph Pena, Jim Atlas, Red Mitchell and Wilfred Middlebrooks) or a trombone (mostly Bob Brookmeyer, who sometimes switched from the valve trombone to the piano). ''Everytime he puts his horn up to his lips'', wrote Giuffre about Brookmeyer on his liner notes to the trio album Trav'lin' Light, ''a phrase with the quality of a standard tune flows out. When I hear him solo, I get the feeling I ought to run and write down what he's playing.''

Stan Getz Quartet

multikulti.com; 2008-11
''. . .Po raz pierwszy na płycie kompaktowej, przez bardzo długi czas nagranie to pozostawało niedostępne.
Zapis słynnego koncertu Stana Getza z polskimi muzykami - Andrzej Trzaskowskim, Romanem Dylągiem i Andrzejem Dąbrowskim. Dla polskich muzyków była to niewątpliwa nobilitacja - Stan Getz, wtedy już wielka gwiazda saksofonu, na całą trasę nie przywiózł bowiem własnych muzyków, ale zdecydował się na grę z triem Andrzeja Trzaskowskiego. I był wtedy pod dużym wrażeniem współpracy z polskimi muzykami. Nagranie zostało dokonane w Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie, ale stworzono tam ku temu iście studyjne warunki - spontaniczne wybuchy zachwyconej publiczności nie zakłucają koncertu, każdy z instrumentów jest bardzo dobrze i czysto nagrany.
Ponieważ podczas tego historycznego Jazz Jamboree'1960 zarejestrowano tylko pięć utworów, płyta została wzbogacona o utwory Quartetu i Quintetu Stana Getza pochodzące z innych sesji.
Niezwykle piękne nagranie!. . .''

Gazeta Wyborcza 2008-12-18:
W 1960 roku saksofonista Stan Getz wyruszył w europejską trasę koncertową. Do Polski przyjechał, niestety, sam, bez słynnego kwartetu. Niestety, a może na szczęście, bo dzięki temu gwiazdę amerykańskiego jazzu zasilił zespół naszego pianisty i kompozytora Andrzeja Trzaskowskiego (Roman Dyląg - kontrabas, Andrzej Dąbrowski - perkusja). Album ''In Poland 1960'' to rejestracja ich występu podczas festiwalu Jazz Jamboree odbywającego się wtedy w Filharmonii Narodowej. Zespołowi Getza stworzono tam studyjne warunki, a saksofonista nie krył wielkiego wrażenia ze współpracy z polskimi muzykami. Efekty słychać zresztą na historycznym nagraniu. Kwartet brzmi jak grający ze sobą od lat zespół świetnie rozumiejących się przyjaciół. Z występu na Jazz Jamboree zarejestrowano tu tylko pięć utworów. Pozostałe pochodzą z innych sesji kwartetu i kwintetu Stana Getza, m.in. z Garym Burtonem i Steve'em Swallowem. Kolejne ważne i piękne nagranie z kolekcji Gambitu.

Dziennik; 2008-12, ocena: * * * * *
'. . .Oto legendarne nagranie Stana Getza z naszymi muzykami z roku 1960 - dla fana polskiego jazzu nabytek pierwszej konieczności. Spotkanie jest kompletne. Muzycy brzmią jak cały zespół Getza, znakomicie wypadają lider, czujnie akompaniujący Dyląg oraz żywiołowy Dąbrowski na perkusji. Szkoda tylko, że z sesji zachowało się zaledwie pięć utworów. . . I jeszcze bardziej szkoda, że Andrzej Dąbrowski nie dośpiewał reszty. Płytę uzupełniają nagrania Getza z jazzmanami ze Skandynawii. . ..'


Editor's info:
A LONG UNAVAILABLE 1960 PERFORMANCE RECORDED IN STUDIO CONDITIONS IN WARSAW AS A BONUS, FIVE RARE LIVE RECORDINGS BY GETZ IN THAILAND, JAPAN AND SWEDEN! INCLUDES 8-PAGE BOOKLET
In his 1960 visit to Poland, Stan Getz didn't bring his own group, choosing instead to perform with local musicians. The trio of pianist Andrzej Trzaskowski accompanied him at the Jazz Jamboree. Trzaskowski declared then: ''Getz has a quality that characterizes all great musical virtuosi: an absolute control of the instrument. His saxophone offers no resistance, perfectly surrendering to invention. Each, even the smallest note jumps out of his horn completely finished, polished, caressed and colored.'' The recordings contained on this CD were made during that tour, which took place just a couple of years before Getz participated in the first series of Bossa Nova recordings that would earn him great acclaim. Besides playing concerts, Getz was taken to the concert hall of the Polish National Philharmonic in Warsaw, where the five selections issued here were taped in studio conditions, without an audience. Therefore, no applause is heard and the sound of every instrument is clear and well recorded. Only the five tunes issued here were recorded on that occasion, and no tracks were recorded during the rest of Getz' stay in Poland.

Ella Fitzegrald / Joe Pass

Editor's info:
A PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED PERFORMANCE BY ELLA AND JOE WITH EXCELLENT SOUND QUALITY!!!
INCLUDES THE ONLY KNOWN DUET VERSIONS OF ''FEELINGS'', ''THEM THERE EYES'', ''PERDIDO'' AND ''LITTLE GIRL BLUE''.
The wonderful Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) and guitar magician Joe Pass (1929-1994) first crossed paths while recording the duo album Take Love Easy in 1973. There was something magical about her collaborations with Pass since the very first moment of their association. In the guitarist's own words: ''The first album I did with Ella, we went into a studio and Norman Granz brought a bunch of tunes in, lead sheets, songs. I had never met her before, and I had no idea whether she'd want to rehearse or what keys she sang in. But she just picked a tune like ''Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You''. I said, 'What key?' She said 'Well. . .' and just sort of hummed a little bit. I found the key, and we just did a whole album like that! Without any rehearsing, just sifting through tunes. 'Oh, I like this one', she'd say. We'd try and record it right away! On all the duet things we did together, four albums in all, there were no rehearsals. Just pick tunes out! I could change keys with her, anything I wanted to do. She's there, she hears it, no problem! It's like another musician. I play with her, and she's sort of like a horn player.'' The experience went so well that both Ella and Joe would continue to work together (embarking on many tours and recording three more LPs) until the mid-80s, when Ella's poor health forced her retirement (paradoxically, Joe would pass away two years before Ella. He died from liver cancer at the age of 65). The show presented on this CD comes from a previously unreleased live performance recorded for a radio show. Some of the tunes performed on the show are reprises from their second album together, Fitzgerald & Pass . . .Again. Four of the tracks featured here mark the only known versions of those songs from Ella and Joe's collective discography. This is the case with ''Them There Eyes'', ''Feelings'' (performed here twice), ''Perdido'', and ''Little Girl Blue''. Ella and Joe's interaction at the Hamburg concert is, as usual, delightful, and both play with incredible beauty on this previously unknown concert we are very happy to present.

Paul Bley Trio

Editor's info:
The complete Savoy sessions by the Paul Bley Trio with Steve Swallow and Pete LaRoca.
Includes 12-page booklet with detailed information
This release contains the complete trio recordings made by Paul Bley for the Savoy label, which were recorded in two sessions on August 17, 1962 and September 12, 1963. By the time these recordings were made, the Canadian pianist (born in Montreal on November 10, 1932) had already performed with Charles Mingus, Jimmy Giuffre and Sonny Rollins. However, these trio recordings would mark the direction he would follow in the future. Bley relocated to Los Angeles in 1957, where his bookings included a lengthy engagement at the Hillcrest Club. It was there that in October 1958, the pianist led a quintet that included Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone), Don Cherry (trumpet), Billy Higgins (drums), and Charlie Haden (double bass). Like many jazz artists of that decade, Bley had played mostly in the predominant bop idiom, and it was during his engagements in Los Angeles (including the quintet with Coleman and Cherry, and free duets with the Canadian trumpeter Herb Spanier) that he began to play what later became known as free jazz. Bley married his first wife, the composer Karen Borg (later known as Carla Bley), in 1957. Carla Bley's compositions (she was Paul's wife at that time) set the spirit of the sessions and gave ample material for the group to freely improvise. Those were the initial days of the free jazz movement, in which musicians like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sonny Rollins, Andrew Hill and Bley himself tried to ''free'' themselves from the limitations of improvising over the usual harmonic structures of standard songs and display their creativity without chords, while remaining true to the integrity of the compositions they were playing.

Dexter Gordon

Editor's info:
PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED!!!
Brilliantly recorded in STEREO!!!
This was the first live performance by the NDR band, formerly known as the NDR Studio Band, conducted here by Bosnian trumpeter Dusko Goykovich, who also acted as MC and arranger. Featuring Herb Geller, Slide Hampton, Horace Parlan, Tony Inzalaco and Goykovich himself. One of the very first bebop tenor saxophonists, Dexter Gordon (1923-1990) began playing clarinet at the tender age of seven. By the time he was fifteen the precocious tenorist had already played in bands with Chico Hamilton and Buddy Collette! He formed part of the Lionel Hampton and Louis Armstrong orchestras in the early forties, and joined the Billy Eckstine band and recorded with Charlie Parker in 1945. Gordon possessed a very distinctive and profound sound. Some of the bestremembered moments of his superlative career were his tenor battles with fellow tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray from 1947 to 1952 and his leading role as an actor in the film 'Round Midnight in 1986, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. The Hamburg performance, presents a well-rehearsed formation playing under the conception and direction of Goykovich. The range of styles displayed is ample, going from somewhat funky tunes like Horace Silver's ''Psychedelic Sally'' or Goykovich's own ''What Kind of Blues'' to classic jazz compositions by Duke Ellington and Luis Russell, which maintain the sound of the swing orchestra. All of the soloists have stellar moments in this concert. Herb Geller (born in 1928) displays his talents on alto sax, soprano sax and flute. The cousin of Lionel Hampton, trombonist Slide Hampton (born in Pennsylvania in 1932) exhibits the whole range of the jazz trombone in this concert. Created after the end of the Second World War, the NDR big band belongs to the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) [North German Broadcasting], a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. It was known as the ''NDR Studio band'' from 1955 to 1971, when it was re-baptized as the ''NDR big band''.

Stan Getz Quartet [Stan Getz, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams]

Editor's info:
The complete performance of the Stan Getz Quartet with Chick Corea at the 1972 Montreux Jazz Festival. Issued in its entirety for the first time ever on a single release!

As a bonus, two rare tracks by another formation of the Stan Getz Quartet taped in Poland in 1974.
In 1972 Stan Getz and Chick Corea recorded their celebrated album Captain Marvel. Taped on March 3, 1972, it featured a quintet with Getz, Corea, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams and Airto Moriera. It was issued under Getz's name despite featuring five new Corea compositions: ''La Fiesta'', ''500 Miles High'', ''Captain Marvel'', ''Time's Lie'' (sometimes referred to as ''Times Lie'') and ''Day Waves'', plus Billy Strayhorn's classic composition ''Lush Life''. With the exception of Moriera, the same musicians would perform at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival on July 23, 1972. The concert celebrated the release of the Captain Marvel LP and featured most of the same material (only ''500 Miles High'' wasn't performed, and ''Windows'' and Benny Golson's ''I Remember Clifford'' were added). Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea had been working together since the beginning of that year, and on February 2 & 3, 1972 both had recorded the classic Return to Forever. Corea and Tony Williams had been together in Miles Davis' 1968 band since the recording of Filles de Kilimandjaro during June of that year. They would also work together on many occasions until 1982. Stan Getz and Tony Williams' recorded collaborations are limited to the Montreux concert, the album Captain Marvel and a 1979 all star concert in Cuba issued under the title of Havana Jam, in which both shared the spotlight with Woody Shaw, Dexter Gordon, Jimmy Heath, Cedar Walton and Bobby Hutcherson, among others. Getz and Stanley Clarke's recorded output also consists of three works: the Montreux concert, Captain Marvel, and three tunes from the 1979 album Children of the World. Stan Getz and Chick Corea would never be recorded together again after the live performance presented on our CD.
As a bonus, we offer two rare tracks recorded during a concert by a different formation of the Stan Getz Quartet more than two years after the Montreux performance. No more tunes from this concert in Warsaw have surfaced until now, and these tunes are all that is mentioned in discographies.

Count Basie

Editor's info:
Count Basie recorded two albums dedicated to the music of The Beatles. This edition presents the second and more difficult to find LP in its entirety. All arrangements were brilliantly written by the recently deceased Bob Florence. As a bonus, the complete original album The Atomic Mr. Basie, one of the best selling recordings from the Count's late career, with splendid arrangements and compositions by Neal Hefti.

''On October 1, 1969, I asked Count Basie if he would be able to do an arrangement of 'Night and Day' for me to sing on an album I'm doing. Five days later a complete score arrived, so thanks Count and it gives me a great pleasure writing a few words on the back of your nice album. John, George and Paul thank you for what you've done with their songs and we're all delighted to see the barriers down between music makers. With a little help from our friends we can all get high on the music. That's about it: I'm a man of a few words - but it's a lovely album and I know it'll bring pleasure to millions. Good luck and love from Ringo Starr''.

With these words, The Beatles' drummer presented Basie's second album featuring the music by the legendary Liverpool quartet. The Count's first LP of their songs was titled Basie's Beatle Bag. It was recorded on May 3-5, 1966 and arranged by Chico O'Farril. While this earlier LP was produced by a major company, the second was made by a small label which disappeared soon after, making the album very hard to find. This edition presents the complete album Basie on the Beatles, plus the complete The Atomic Mr. Basie LP, which was one of the Count Basie band's most successful hit albums, featuring splendid arrangements and compositions by Neal Hefti.

Matt Elliott

multikulti.com
Matt Elliott nie przez przypadek bywa porównywany do Toma Waitsa, Nicka Cave'a czy Davida Sylviana. Po ośmiu albumach publikowanych głównie pod nazwą Third Eye Foundation (wydawanych przez brytyjski label Domino) Matt Eliott przeprowadził się do Francji i rozpoczął współpracę z nową wytwórnią Ici d`ailleurs. Radykalnie zmienił brzmienie swoich nagrań. I tak jak to było z Third Eye Foundation ponownie odniósł sukces.
Dla tej wytwórni powstały dwie płyty, o których pisano z zachwytem po obu stronach Oceanu. Elliott został okrzyknięty mistrzem depresyjnej, z lekka psychodelicznej ballady rockowej. Obie płyty 'Drinking songs' i 'Failing songs' trafiły na szczyty list-podsumowań odpowiednio 2005 i 2006 roku wielu opiniotwórczych mediów muzycznych na całym świecie.
Na najnowszej płycie, która zamyka trylogię 'Drinking songs-Failing songs-Howling Songs' znajdziemy dziewięć wyjątkowych utworów, które hipnotyzują gęstą od melancholii aurą.
Każda kompozycja jest odmienna, łączy je nastrój, łączą pobrzmiewające gdzieś w tle echa rockowej psychodelii w najlepszym wydaniu, wszystko oczywiście ujęte w quasi-folkowe ramy.
Jednym słowem doskonała płyta!
autor: Krzysztof Szamot


oto niektóre cytaty z recenzji dwóch pierwszych płyt trylogii:

Aktivist; ocena A! A! A! A! - autor: Łukasz Iwasiński
[. . .] rzewne, przeżarte żałobną melancholią melodie, ale niekiedy tematy nabierają skoczności, jakby wypływały spod palców bandy podchmielonych, ulicznych grajków. Mamrocząco-zawodzące wokale i bogate aranże kreują oniryczną, chwilami iście wisielczą aurę. Brak tu pazura, neurotyczności i futurystycznego szlifu Third Eye Foundation, jednak jako balladzista Elliott zdecydowanie się broni - ten zbiór przeżartych zwątpieniem, rezygnacją, ale unikających jednoznaczności, niekiedy skłaniających się ku upiornemu surrealizmowi, pokrytych jedyną w swoim rodzaju patyną, pieśni brzmi doprawdy przejmująco. [. . .]

www.screenagers.pl; ocena: 9/10 - autor: Kamil J. Bałuk
[. . .] Mocne. Jeśli Elliott produkowałby alkohole, to bałbym się je pić, a jeśli kolejna płyta wpasuje się w tendencję depresji, to będę bał się słuchać. Nie na każdą porę dnia, nie na każde ucho. Świetne, ale wymagające i zupełnie na przekór terminowi 'muzyka rozrywkowa'. Mocne, oj mocne. [. . .]

www.nowamuzyka.pl; ocena: * * * * * - Autor: Krzysiek Stęplowski
[. . .] Matt Elliott stworzył folk jakiegoś nowego, własnego typu. Mimo fascynacji słowiańską muzyką zdaje się wciąż być wysłannikiem Europy Zachodniej. Próby tłumaczenia i rozumienia wschodniego ducha dały w ten sposób jakość zupełnie nową, intrygującą zarówno dla odbiorców, jak i zapewne dla samego twórcy. Ciekawe, w którą stronę Elliott pójdzie na swym kolejnym albumie. ''Drinking Songd'', tymczasem, śmiało zaliczyć możemy do wąskiego grona najciekawszych albumów tego roku. [. . .]

www.polskieradio.pl - autor: Sebastian Cichoń
[. . .] Zadziwiający album, który wyznacza nowy obszar zainteresowań Anglika jest też - dla uważnych słuchaczy - naturalną konsekwencją jego artystycznych poszukiwań. Nie można mówić o zarzuceniu komputerowych fascynacji na korzyść wschodnioeuropejskiej tradycji, bo już w misterną tkankę Little Lost Soul były wplecione wyraźne cerkiewne elementy. W żyłach Elliotta płynie na tyle wschodniej krwi (jego babcia była Estonką), by poruszyła młodego Matta przy dźwiękach cerkiewnych śpiewów. Stąd rzadka dzisiaj melodyka utworów z Drinking Songs. Elektronika dochodzi do głosu tylko raz - ponaddwudziestominutową kodą, na którą składają się komputerowo wygenerowane rytmy. Po zestawie rzewnych melodii taki paroksyzm zerojedynkowych bitów robi spore wrażenie. [. . .]



Editor's Info:
Matt Elliott has rather an atypical course. . . He used to work under the pseudo The Third Eye Foundation - emblematic figure of the English electronic scene recognized for his atypical electro tinted by drum' N bass. Since his first album under his own name ''The mess we made'' (domino records), Matt Elliott turns to compositions much more folk, forsaking the laptop and the machines - which go until disappearing, to return to more traditional instruments (guitar, piano, violin. . .).

''Drinking song'' puts an emphasis on distant voices and ethereal ambiences. Guitars and keyboards are getting softer, almost affectionate, sometimes overwhelmed by drum n' bass beats that carry the song upward. Choirs and echoes give an almost mystical dimension to the album. All the songs hold the audience spellbound.

To succeed to ''Drinking songs'', because it's really about songs, ''Failing songs'' turns Matt Elliott into a true songwriter. He assumes completely his voice and sings very personal and dark texts (that we can find for the first time inside the booklet.) Songs whose subtle melodies contrast with the hardness of the words because ''Failing songs'' is a hard failure report. Between despair and cold anger, the texts talk about the liberal military evolution of the world that the author rejects. The Titles are as sublime as melancholic, bitter and sad, impressed by Slavic music, Greek, and besides, sometimes punctuated of Spanish guitars (the guitar which is from now the instrument of predilection, omnipresent although often combined with the violoncello's languor).

''Howling songs'' is the magnificent third and last part to the ''songs trilogy''. We are back to this slavonic tune, without any definite frontier, whose only and constant heritage finds its roots in European music. This is a very haunted and personal piece of music which is the testimony of a unique talent where moving melodies follow other moving melodies balancing between ballad songs and folk music, madness and reason, revolt and despair. ''Howling songs'' sympathises with the surrounding world, it is a definitive observation in which one can feel, throughout the songs, an outraged sensitivity which is the signature of the artist. It is all the more sensitive that Matt's voice is sometimes present without any chorus in the background, bringing to the whole both confidence and unquestionable heat.

''Howling songs'' is, without a doubt, the most introspective album by Matt Elliott and the one which carries best his musical personality.

And by the way, a new album by The Third Eye Foundation is to be released in 2009 !

Matt Elliott

multikulti.com
Matt Elliott nie przez przypadek bywa porównywany do Toma Waitsa, Nicka Cave'a czy Davida Sylviana. Po ośmiu albumach publikowanych głównie pod nazwą Third Eye Foundation (wydawanych przez brytyjski label Domino) Matt Eliott przeprowadził się do Francji i rozpoczął współpracę z nową wytwórnią Ici d`ailleurs. Radykalnie zmienił brzmienie swoich nagrań. I tak jak to było z Third Eye Foundation ponownie odniósł sukces.
Dla tej wytwórni powstały dwie płyty, o których pisano z zachwytem po obu stronach Oceanu. Elliott został okrzyknięty mistrzem depresyjnej, z lekka psychodelicznej ballady rockowej. Obie płyty 'Drinking songs' i 'Failing songs' trafiły na szczyty list-podsumowań odpowiednio 2005 i 2006 roku wielu opiniotwórczych mediów muzycznych na całym świecie.
Na najnowszej płycie, która zamyka trylogię 'Drinking songs-Failing songs-Howling Songs' znajdziemy dziewięć wyjątkowych utworów, które hipnotyzują gęstą od melancholii aurą.
Każda kompozycja jest odmienna, łączy je nastrój, łączą pobrzmiewające gdzieś w tle echa rockowej psychodelii w najlepszym wydaniu, wszystko oczywiście ujęte w quasi-folkowe ramy.
Jednym słowem doskonała płyta!
autor: Krzysztof Szamot


oto niektóre cytaty z recenzji dwóch pierwszych płyt trylogii:

Aktivist; ocena A! A! A! A! - autor: Łukasz Iwasiński
[. . .] rzewne, przeżarte żałobną melancholią melodie, ale niekiedy tematy nabierają skoczności, jakby wypływały spod palców bandy podchmielonych, ulicznych grajków. Mamrocząco-zawodzące wokale i bogate aranże kreują oniryczną, chwilami iście wisielczą aurę. Brak tu pazura, neurotyczności i futurystycznego szlifu Third Eye Foundation, jednak jako balladzista Elliott zdecydowanie się broni - ten zbiór przeżartych zwątpieniem, rezygnacją, ale unikających jednoznaczności, niekiedy skłaniających się ku upiornemu surrealizmowi, pokrytych jedyną w swoim rodzaju patyną, pieśni brzmi doprawdy przejmująco. [. . .]

www.screenagers.pl; ocena: 9/10 - autor: Kamil J. Bałuk
[. . .] Mocne. Jeśli Elliott produkowałby alkohole, to bałbym się je pić, a jeśli kolejna płyta wpasuje się w tendencję depresji, to będę bał się słuchać. Nie na każdą porę dnia, nie na każde ucho. Świetne, ale wymagające i zupełnie na przekór terminowi 'muzyka rozrywkowa'. Mocne, oj mocne. [. . .]

www.nowamuzyka.pl; ocena: * * * * * - Autor: Krzysiek Stęplowski
[. . .] Matt Elliott stworzył folk jakiegoś nowego, własnego typu. Mimo fascynacji słowiańską muzyką zdaje się wciąż być wysłannikiem Europy Zachodniej. Próby tłumaczenia i rozumienia wschodniego ducha dały w ten sposób jakość zupełnie nową, intrygującą zarówno dla odbiorców, jak i zapewne dla samego twórcy. Ciekawe, w którą stronę Elliott pójdzie na swym kolejnym albumie. ''Drinking Songd'', tymczasem, śmiało zaliczyć możemy do wąskiego grona najciekawszych albumów tego roku. [. . .]

www.polskieradio.pl - autor: Sebastian Cichoń
[. . .] Zadziwiający album, który wyznacza nowy obszar zainteresowań Anglika jest też - dla uważnych słuchaczy - naturalną konsekwencją jego artystycznych poszukiwań. Nie można mówić o zarzuceniu komputerowych fascynacji na korzyść wschodnioeuropejskiej tradycji, bo już w misterną tkankę Little Lost Soul były wplecione wyraźne cerkiewne elementy. W żyłach Elliotta płynie na tyle wschodniej krwi (jego babcia była Estonką), by poruszyła młodego Matta przy dźwiękach cerkiewnych śpiewów. Stąd rzadka dzisiaj melodyka utworów z Drinking Songs. Elektronika dochodzi do głosu tylko raz - ponaddwudziestominutową kodą, na którą składają się komputerowo wygenerowane rytmy. Po zestawie rzewnych melodii taki paroksyzm zerojedynkowych bitów robi spore wrażenie. [. . .]



Editor's Info:
Matt Elliott has rather an atypical course. . . He used to work under the pseudo The Third Eye Foundation - emblematic figure of the English electronic scene recognized for his atypical electro tinted by drum' N bass. Since his first album under his own name ''The mess we made'' (domino records), Matt Elliott turns to compositions much more folk, forsaking the laptop and the machines - which go until disappearing, to return to more traditional instruments (guitar, piano, violin. . .).

''Drinking song'' puts an emphasis on distant voices and ethereal ambiences. Guitars and keyboards are getting softer, almost affectionate, sometimes overwhelmed by drum n' bass beats that carry the song upward. Choirs and echoes give an almost mystical dimension to the album. All the songs hold the audience spellbound.

To succeed to ''Drinking songs'', because it's really about songs, ''Failing songs'' turns Matt Elliott into a true songwriter. He assumes completely his voice and sings very personal and dark texts (that we can find for the first time inside the booklet.) Songs whose subtle melodies contrast with the hardness of the words because ''Failing songs'' is a hard failure report. Between despair and cold anger, the texts talk about the liberal military evolution of the world that the author rejects. The Titles are as sublime as melancholic, bitter and sad, impressed by Slavic music, Greek, and besides, sometimes punctuated of Spanish guitars (the guitar which is from now the instrument of predilection, omnipresent although often combined with the violoncello's languor).

''Howling songs'' is the magnificent third and last part to the ''songs trilogy''. We are back to this slavonic tune, without any definite frontier, whose only and constant heritage finds its roots in European music. This is a very haunted and personal piece of music which is the testimony of a unique talent where moving melodies follow other moving melodies balancing between ballad songs and folk music, madness and reason, revolt and despair. ''Howling songs'' sympathises with the surrounding world, it is a definitive observation in which one can feel, throughout the songs, an outraged sensitivity which is the signature of the artist. It is all the more sensitive that Matt's voice is sometimes present without any chorus in the background, bringing to the whole both confidence and unquestionable heat.

''Howling songs'' is, without a doubt, the most introspective album by Matt Elliott and the one which carries best his musical personality.

And by the way, a new album by The Third Eye Foundation is to be released in 2009 !

Matt Elliott

multikulti.com
W związku z premierą najnowszego albumu 'Howling Songs', który zamyka trylogię 'Drinking songs-Failing songs-Howling Songs' francuska wytwórnia Ici d`ailleurs zdecydowała się udostepnić fanom Matta Elliotta, znanego z formacji Third Eye Foundation, specjalnej, dwupłytowej edycji dwóch pierwszych płyt z tego cyklu, czyli 'Drinking songs' i 'Failing songs'.
Matt Elliott nie przez przypadek bywa porównywany do Toma Waitsa, Nicka Cave'a czy Davida Sylviana. Po ośmiu albumach publikowanych głównie pod nazwą Third Eye Foundation (wydawanych przez brytyjski label Domino) Matt Eliott przeprowadził się do Francji i rozpoczął współpracę z nową wytwórnią Ici d`ailleurs. Radykalnie zmienił brzmienie swoich nagrań. I tak jak to było z Third Eye Foundation ponownie odniósł sukces.
Dla tej wytwórni powstały dwie płyty, o których pisano z zachwytem po obu stronach Oceanu. Elliott został okrzyknięty mistrzem depresyjnej, z lekka psychodelicznej ballady rockowej. Obie płyty 'Drinking songs' i 'Failing songs' trafiły na szczyty list-podsumowań odpowiednio 2005 i 2006 roku wielu opiniotwórczych mediów muzycznych na całym świecie.
autor: Krzysztof Szamot

Aktivist; ocena: ocena A! A! A! A!
recenzja płyty 'Failing songs'
W latach 90. Matt Elliott jako Third Eye Foundation nadał mrocznemu, gęstemu drill'n'bassowi metafizycznej głębi i wzniosłości godnej mistrzów współczesnej, sakralnej kameralistyki. Na płytach sygnowanych własnym nazwiskiem serwuje knajpiano-ludyczne, melodramatyczne songi, które mają w sobie zarówno coś ze współczesnej freak folkowej fali, jak i z nostalgicznych wycieczek w przeszłość formacji pokroju A Hawk And A Hacksaw czy Beirut. W magiczny sposób miesza zaklęty folk, także (czy może przede wszystkim) w jego wschodnioeuropejskim wydaniu - zahaczając o klezmerskie i bałkańskie skale, tradycję artystycznej, kawiarnianej ballady noir (przejawiającą się zwłaszcza w subtelnych, z lekka wodewilowych smaczkach) oraz psychodelię. Dominują rzewne, przeżarte żałobną melancholią melodie, ale niekiedy tematy nabierają skoczności, jakby wypływały spod palców bandy podchmielonych, ulicznych grajków. Mamrocząco-zawodzące wokale i bogate aranże kreują oniryczną, chwilami iście wisielczą aurę. Brak tu pazura, neurotyczności i futurystycznego szlifu Third Eye Foundation, jednak jako balladzista Elliott zdecydowanie się broni - ten zbiór przeżartych zwątpieniem, rezygnacją, ale unikających jednoznaczności, niekiedy skłaniających się ku upiornemu surrealizmowi, pokrytych jedyną w swoim rodzaju patyną, pieśni brzmi doprawdy przejmująco.
autor: Łukasz Iwasiński


www.nowamuzyka.pl; ocena: * * * * *
recenzja płyty 'Drinking songs'
Matt Elliott w ciągu ostatnich kilkunastu lat dał się poznać jako gitarzysta doskonałej post-rockowej formacji Flying Saucer Attack, przede wszystkim jednak jako twórca projektu Third Eye Foundation, w ramach którego odważnie sięgał po eksperymentalną elektronikę, trip-hop czy IDM. Jeszcze kilka lat temu wydawało się, że pełnię swych możliwości Elliott pokazał na wydanych w latach 1998 - 2000 albumach ''You Guys Kill Me'' i ''Little Lost Souls'', dziś należących do klasyki nowego grania. Tymczasem, w roku 2003 artysta zdecydował się na dość zaskakującą muzyczną akrobację - rozpoczął działalność sygnowaną własnym nazwiskiem, radykalnie zmienił również brzmienie swoich nagrań. I znów odniósł sukces.

Poszukiwacze połamanych dźwięków rodem z płyt Third Eye Foundation będą nieco zaskoczeni - ''Drinking Songs'' to album o bardzo akustycznym nastroju. Technologia, komputery, sample oczywiście są tu obecne, grają jednak rolę drugoplanową, Elliott kładzie tym razem nacisk przede wszystkim na naturalne brzmienia gitary, pianina, skrzypiec, akordeonu, zawodząc swoje porozciągane, smutne songi. ''To muzyka do śpiewania po godzinach, która z założenia miała być radosna. Gdy zacząłem prace nad tym albumem okazało się jednak, że wszystko zaczyna zwalniać''. Efektem jest płyta przypominająca alkoholowe nagrania Toma Waitsa, pełna papierosowego upalenia, melancholijnego upojenia o intrygującej, quasi-folkowej prowieniencji. Odpychający opis? Wręcz przeciwnie - Matt Elliott stworzył melodie niezwykle piękne i delikatne, będące wypadkową jego estońskich korzeni i fascynacji tradycyjną muzyką wschodniej Europy. ''Drinking Songs'' to dla Elliotta kolejny etap wyzbywania się zachodnio-kulturowego zaczepienia, to podróż w niepoznane, muzyczne rejony, które swą nostalgią, tęsknotą czy dramatyzmem pozwalają odkryć zupełnie nowe pokłady własnych, nie tylko muzycznych wrażliwości. Posłuchajcie przejmującej, klaustrofobicznej ballady ''Kursk'', której struktura przybiera coraz bardziej surrealistyczną formę, przy ciągłym zawodzeniu ''It's cold I'm afraid / It's been like this for a day / The water is rising and slowly we're dying / We won't see light again / We won't see our wives again''. To bez wątpienia najmocniejszy fragment całego albumu, choć przecież również po nim czeka nas kilka kompozycyjnych perełek. Nawet kończący całość, hipnotyczny ''The Maid We Messed'', mimo szaleńczego, drum'n'bassowego pulsu, nie jest pozbawiony akustyczno-folkowych fundamentów - co więcej, w jakiś dziwny sposób zdaje się doskonale korespondować z pozostałym materiałem, umiejętnie kierując go w rozgorączkowane, pełne zawrotów głowy rejony. Być może właśnie dzięki takiej strukturze ''Drinking Songs'' zyskuje swą wyjątkową, porywającą dramaturgię.

Matt Elliott stworzył folk jakiegoś nowego, własnego typu. Mimo fascynacji słowiańską muzyką zdaje się wciąż być wysłannikiem Europy Zachodniej. Próby tłumaczenia i rozumienia wschodniego ducha dały w ten sposób jakość zupełnie nową, intrygującą zarówno dla odbiorców, jak i zapewne dla samego twórcy. Ciekawe, w którą stronę Elliott pójdzie na swym kolejnym albumie. ''Drinking Songd'', tymczasem, śmiało zaliczyć możemy do wąskiego grona najciekawszych albumów tego roku.
Autor: Krzysiek Stęplowski


www.screenagers.pl; ocena: 9/10
recenzja płyty 'Drinking songs'
Pieśni pijackie (ang. drinking-songs) - pieśni bakchiczne, biesiadne, toastowe, wchodzące tak w obręb lit. wykształconej, jak i ludowej literatury (pieśni ludowe), śpiewane podczas zebrań towarzyskich. W lit. greckiej p.p. był skolion; wiele p.p. zbliżyło się do formy anakreontyku. P.p. są często utworami parodystycznymi (parodia). Klasycznym przykładem polskiej p.p. jest Kurdesz F. Bohomolca.

Mocne. Mocne jak Ricard, francuska anyżówka, którą Matt Elliott upił się, kiedy tworzył 'The Kursk', jedną z piosenek na 'Drinking Songs'. Ten przymiotnik najlepiej oddaje zawartość tegorocznej płyty. Słuchania najnowszego wydawnictwa Elliotta nie pozwoliłbym, o ironio, pod żadnym pozorem łączyć z alkoholem. Taka kombinacja mogłaby zaowocować rychłą śmiercią. Bo przecież umrzeć można zarówno z przepicia, jak i ze smutku.

Z gościem stało się coś podejrzanego, odkąd spod szyldu The Third Eye Foundation uciekł we właściwe nazwisko - Matt Elliott. Nagrywając jeszcze pod pseudonimem, znany był jako artysta trzymający stylową sztamę z Mogwai albo Tortoise. Należy w tym miejscu wspomnieć choćby 'You Guys Kill Me', czy 'Little Lost Soul', które łączyły w sobie wspomniany post-rock z mroczną, niekiedy szaleńczą elektroniką. Nastrój kawałków bywał różny, ale nigdy nie zahaczał o klimaty, co tu dużo gadać, samobójcze. A taki właśnie typ muzyki zaczął uprawiać Matt na 'The Mess We Made'. Krążek był tak przesycony muzycznym pesymizmem, że gdybym go recenzował, zastanawiałbym się, czy można biedakowi wytknąć choćby jedną wpadkę - a nuż Elliott byłby gotów skoczyć z mostu?

A tu niespodzianka - nowa płyta jest jeszcze bardziej depresyjna. Smutek ma jednak nieco inne współrzędne geograficzne. Dosłownie i w przenośni - Matt Elliott przeniósł się do Francji, by tam, w hołdzie zerwania z amerykańską kulturą, rozpocząć romans ze starosłowiańskimi instrumentami i cerkiewnymi melodiami. Konwencja broni się bardzo dobrze i dołuje kilkakrotnie silniej niż wszystkie poprzednie wydawnictwa. Choćby wtedy, kiedy w otwierającej album piosence głośne chóry korespondują z pianinem albo kiedy Elliott wciela się w utworze 'Whats Wrong' w pijanego akordeonistę, który opowiada tragiczną historię, dobijając słuchaczy tubalnym głosem. Słychać wyraźnie, że Matt pali nie mniej niż Tom Waits za dobrych czasów. Jest jeszcze pogrzebowy 'The Guilt Party', krótki instrumentalny 'Trying To Explain', ale przede wszystkim wspomniany już 'The Kursk'. Piosenka rozpoczyna się od pluskania fal, potem wchodzi obowiązkowa rzewna gitara, a z oddali słychać już trumienno-pijackie pohukiwania, które w końcu przeistaczają się w zapraszającą do wspólnego zalania się w trupa kanonadę prosto do ucha.

Elliott nie zerwał jednak całkowicie z elektroniką. Świadczy o tym zamykające płytę 'The Maid We Mess', które, wbrew nazwie, nie jest wcale pokłonem w stronę poprzedniego krążka. Stanowi za to niemal zupełnie oddzielną część płyty. Podczas dwudziestu minut trwania słuchacz obcuje z hipnotyzującym motywem gitarowym, który powoli przechodzi w melanż elektronicznych barw, na końcu wkracza migotliwy rytm. Wszystko zespaja się w intrygujący energetyczny kolaż.

Mocne. Jeśli Elliott produkowałby alkohole, to bałbym się je pić, a jeśli kolejna płyta wpasuje się w tendencję depresji, to będę bał się słuchać. Nie na każdą porę dnia, nie na każde ucho. Świetne, ale wymagające i zupełnie na przekór terminowi 'muzyka rozrywkowa'. Mocne, oj mocne.
autor: Kamil J. Bałuk


www.polskieradio.pl
recenzja płyty 'Drinking songs'
Dużo dobrego powiedzieć można o nowej płycie Matta Elliotta, Drinking Songs. Zwraca uwagę już okładka albumu, zaprojektowana przez Wanię Żurawliowa ukrywającego się pod pseudonimem artystycznym Uncle Vania. Jego rysunki, grafiki, zdjęcia i obrazy żyją w symbiozie z muzyką od czasów, kiedy Elliott mieszkał w Anglii i wydawał płyty sygnowane nazwą The Third Eye Foundation. Trudno wyobrazić sobie lepszą ilustrację muzyki niż ta z albumu sprzed pięciu lat - Little Lost Soul: śmietnik, który przez unikalną jakość składających się nań elementów otacza aura mistycyzmu i skupionego milczenia. Nieco inaczej jest z Pieśniami pijackimi. Rysunek dekadenckiego młodzieńca przywodzi na myśl atmosferę sławnego obrazu Degasa Pijąca absynt. Skojarzenie tym silniejsze, że obecnie kraj rodzinny Matta Elliotta to Francja, dokąd przeniósł się z coraz bardziej nielubianej Anglii, by być bliżej osoby drogiej jego sercu. Weźmy pod lupę okładkę albumu. Warto spojrzeć w zdecydowane oczy czarnego kota-strażnika. Przykuwa uwagę i odciąga wzrok od miejsca, gdzie najpewniej znajduje się klucz do odczytania całości - od butelki. Czymże raczy się młodzieniec? Na etykiecie butli widnieje oprócz podpisu Vani - słowo Fantaisies.

Fantaisies, czyli fantazje. Nazwa w sam raz do podlejszego gatunku wina funkcjonuje w języku francuskim na oznaczenie imitacji, gorszej jakości, czy w końcu - podróbki markowego produktu. Na przykład Kirsch fantaisie to poślednia wiśniówka, a nie przypominający brandy destylat wiśniowego soku, jaki wyrabia się na pograniczu Francji, Niemiec i Szwajcarii. Sportretowany na okładce młody człowiek najprawdopodobniej upojony jest zatem czymś, co w zamyśle jest wtórne i nieoryginalne. I jeśli trafnie odczytuję intencje rysownika, jest to ciekawy i zdecydowany głos w dyskusji, której. . . nie ma, a która powinna dotyczyć istoty tej części współczesnej muzyki, która wykorzystuje zapętlenia, sample, loopy. Jedyne granice obszaru dopuszczalnych wykorzystań nagranych wcześniej utworów są wyznaczane w czasie procesów sądowych, wytaczanych przez zaniepokojone rozwojem wypadków megakoncerny płytowe. Muzyka The Third Eye Foundation daje dobry asumpt do dyskusji na ten temat, chociaż wiele wskazuje na to, że przygoda pod tą nazwą nieodwołalnie się kończy, o czym za chwilę. Matt Elliott po przenosinach do Francji zmienia swoją muzykę, elektronikę odstawiając w kąt, a dokładnie - używając jej tylko do podrasowania akustycznych brzmień, jakie przede wszystkim składają się na Drinking Songs.

Zmiana miejsca zamieszkania i zmiana wytwórni płytowej nastąpiła w dobrym czasie. Francuska oficyna Ici, d`ailleurs dwa lata temu rozpoczęła współpracę z grupą rysowników, którzy postanowili przenieść wytyczne OuLiPo na grunt komiksu. OuLiPo, czyli - przypomnijmy - Warsztat Literatury Potencjalnej to ugrupowanie literackie, które tworzyli tacy pisarze, jak Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, Italo Calvino czy Harry Matthews. Badali możliwości literatury poddawanej rozmaitym rygorom. Czy będzie to brak litery 'e' w całej książce (G. Perec, Zniknięcie), czy przemieszczanie się narratora zgodne z ruchami konika szachowego (G. Perec, Życie - instrukcja obsługi) - kolejne przeszkody wymyśla sobie sam autor. Podobnie jest na polu komiksu i w końcu - muzyki, gdzie obostrzenia stanowią niemałe wyzwania dla potencjalnego twórcy. Na pierwszy ogień poszedł Matt Elliott, który wskrzesił na tę okazję - ponoć ostatni raz w ogóle - projekt The Third Eye Foundation.

Paradoksem jest, że człowiek znany z absolutnej wolności w łączeniu dźwiękowych światów kończy swoje istnienie w okowach planu OuMuPo, czyli Warsztatu Muzyki Potencjalnej. Oto zadania do wykonania: całość nie może przekroczyć 42 minut, mają się na nią składać własne wersje (mówiąc wprost - remiksy) utworów z płyt z katalogu Ici, d`ailleurs, koniec płyty ma być taki sam jak jej początek, ma znaleźć się miejsce dla dwu jednakowych trzydziestosekundowych fragmentów. Ponadto wszystkie utwory do wykorzystania wybiera nie sam muzyk, ale wytwórnia płytowa. Ot, bardziej zabawa niż groźne rygory i taki jest też album, którym żegna się ze słuchaczami The Third Eye Foundation - niezobowiązujący, miły i relaksujący. Czasem daje się odczuć klimat muzyki z zamierzchłej przeszłości, czego przykładem może być niemal dokładny cytat z ostatniego okresu działalności grupy Talk Talk, jaki wyłonił się z nałożenia na siebie części składowych trzech utworów - The Gap Bed, Sublime Parade Headphone i 7 Erica Aldéa. Całość wydana jako OuMuPo 1 jest jedynym w swoim rodzaju przywitaniem twórcy z nową wytwórnią płytową, a jednocześnie jest dobrym prognostykiem serii płyt sygnowanych skrótem OuMuPo.

Muzyka powinna jednak robić wrażenie - i to bezsprzeczny walor Drinking Songs. Zadziwiający album, który wyznacza nowy obszar zainteresowań Anglika jest też - dla uważnych słuchaczy - naturalną konsekwencją jego artystycznych poszukiwań. Nie można mówić o zarzuceniu komputerowych fascynacji na korzyść wschodnioeuropejskiej tradycji, bo już w misterną tkankę Little Lost Soul były wplecione wyraźne cerkiewne elementy. W żyłach Elliotta płynie na tyle wschodniej krwi (jego babcia była Estonką), by poruszyła młodego Matta przy dźwiękach cerkiewnych śpiewów. Stąd rzadka dzisiaj melodyka utworów z Drinking Songs. Elektronika dochodzi do głosu tylko raz - ponaddwudziestominutową kodą, na którą składają się komputerowo wygenerowane rytmy. Po zestawie rzewnych melodii taki paroksyzm zerojedynkowych bitów robi spore wrażenie.
autor: Sebastian Cichoń

Horace Silver Quintet

Editor's info:
For the first time ever on DVD, this long release presents one of the very few opportunities to see Horace Silver on film, and the rare possibility of seeing him play an extended version of his most acclaimed composition, 'Song for my Father'. Another Silver tune, 'Nutville', was also performed at this concert. One of the most influential pianists of hard bop, Silver is well known for his poignant funky playing style. Born in 1928, the 79-year old pianist is still alive at this writing. He is backed here by equally celebrated musicians like Bill Hardman, Bennie Maupin and Billy Cobham. Two long unavailable performances recorded for TV shows in Los Angeles in 1962 have been added here to complete the program. One of them features Shelly Manne (1920-1984) with an outstanding quintet including Conte Candoli, Richie Kamuca and Russ Freeman. Manne is well known both for his skills on the drums and as the owner of his own jazz club. The other presents Teddy Edwards (1924-2003), a slightly underrated tenor saxophonist who, nevertheless, worked with such important and varied stars as the Max Roach-Clifford Brown Quintet, Earl Bostic, Jimmy Whitherspoon, Gerald Wilson, Mel Tormé and Benny Goodman. Edwards is showcased here leading his own group with a repertoire consisting solely of his own compositions.

Dexter Gordon Quartet

Editor's info:
Considered one of the very first bebop tenor saxophonists, Dexter Gordon (1923-1990) began playing clarinet at the tender age of seven. By the time he was fifteen the precocious tenorist had already played in bands with Chico Hamilton and Buddy Collette! He formed part of the Lionel Hampton and Louis Armstrong orchestras in the early forties, and joined the Billy Eckstine band and recorded with Charlie Parker in 1945. Gordon possessed a very distinctive and profound sound. Some of the best-remembered moments of his superlative career were his tenor battles with fellow tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray from 1947 to 1952 and his leading role as an actor in the film 'Round Midnight in 1986, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. The performance included on this DVD showcases Gordon's many talents in an intimate quartet setting with George Cables, Eddie Gladen and Rufus Reid (another set by Dexter Gordon with this group can be found on IJ 529). Dexter is heard on four extended tunes, the standards ''It's You or No One'' and ''Alone Together'' (on which he plays soprano sax!!), and two originals by Gordon: ''Backstairs'' and ''The Panther''.

Charles Mingus Sextet

Editor's info:
This DVD presents one of the only two known examples of Ellington's star trumpeter Cat Anderson collaborating with a Charles Mingus formation. The first such example consisted of two tunes taped live on July 4, 1972 at the Newport Jazz Festival (which changed its location from Rhode Island to New York during that year). The second example is the Berlin concert offered here. On the first two songs, the trumpeter is Joe Gardner - who recorded with Frank Morgan and Clifford Jordan - while Cat Anderson is added as the guest star on a lively version of ''Perdido'' - Juan Tizol's classic tune from the Ellington songbook. Charles Mingus (1922-1979) was more than just one of the best acoustic bassists in jazz. He was also a highly important composer and bandleader who had a completely personal style and musical concept. He was equally well known for his strong personality and his activism against racial prejudice. He performed with most of the important musicians of his time, participating on such memorable sessions as the Massey Hall concert with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Max Roach, and Duke Ellington's album Money Jungle. While it appears that the aforementioned three tracks were the only ones filmed at the Berlin performance, discographies mention two other song from the concert that were recorded for radio purposes, ''Blues for a Saw'' and ''Fables of Faubus''. However, neither of these has ever been issued and there is no information indicating whether they have even been preserved. As a bonus to this DVD, we have added the complete 1968 Thomas Reichman film Mingus in Greenwich Village. A major part of the film was shot during one night in November 1966, while Mingus was waiting in his Greenwich Village loft in New York for the arrival of the police with an eviction order. Intended to be aired on TV, it was part of the campaign organized by Mingus with regard to what he considered to be a racially motivated action. Inserted in this Mingus monologue are fragments of his band playing in a club and during rehearsals.

Ella Fitzgerald / Joe Pass

Editor's info:
Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) and Joe Pass (1929-1994) first crossed paths when recording the duo album Take Love Easy in 1973. This would mark Ella's first duet album with a guitarist, and the experience went so well that both would embark on many tours working together and record three more LPs until the mid eighties, when Ella's bad health forced her retirement (paradoxically, however, Joe would die two years before Ella as the consequence of liver cancer, at the age of 65). The TV show presented here, which opens with Pass playing alone on six wonderful tunes, was made during a European tour that took place some months before the recording of their second album as a duet, titled precisely Fitzgerald & Pass. . . Again, taped on February 8, 1976. Thus, it presents some tunes that would be part of that LP, making this program (and probably the whole tour) a kind of rehearsal for the songs to be included on the studio album. That's the case of ''One Note Samba'', ''Nature Boy'', ''The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)''. However, we have also here the only known versions by Ella and Joe as a duet of no less than six songs. That's the case with ''You Turned the Tables on Me'', ''Cry Me a River'', ''You Are the Sunshine of My Life'', ''Avalon'', ''Stormy Weather'' and the classic ''How High the Moon'', with which Ella closes the show inserting quotations of, among others, ''Mack the Knife'', ''Desafinado'' and ''Summertime''.

Ahmad Jamal

Editor's info:
ON CD FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!
2 ALBUMS ON 1 CD, DE-LUXE DIGIPACK EDITION
Includes 12-page booklet
Two complete original LPs by the Ahmad Jamal Trio: NAKED CITY THEME, recorded live at the Jazz Workshop, in
San Francisco, in 1964, and EXTENSIONS, a studio album made in New York the following year. Both albums appear on CD here for the first time ever.
Bassist Israel Crosby died of a heart attack on August 11, 1962, marking the end of the celebrated Ahmad Jamal-Israel Crosby - Vernell Fournier Trio. The next formation of Jamal's trio, including Jamil Sulieman Nasser on bass and Chuck Lampkin on drums, can be heard on the first album included on this release, recorded live at the Jazz Workshop, in San Francisco, in June 1964. It was originally issued under the title of Naked City Theme and has never previously appeared on CD. According to the original liner notes from that album, the selections were chosen from numerous inspired performances given the nights of June 26, 27 & 28, 1964. However, the Tom Lord discography states that ''Naked City Theme'', ''Haitian Market Place'', ''One for Miles'' and an unissued version of ''Whisper Not'' were taped on December 10, 1963. The same discography claims that the rest of the material - including several unissued tunes - was recorded on the given June 1964 dates. It is not clear which of the two sources is correct, but we have chosen to use the data given on the original LP back cover. Vernell Fournier had returned to the trio in 1965 when Jamal recorded the second album included here, Extensions. Made in a New York studio, it consists of four extended performances, the last of which is ''Whisper Not'', a re-recording of a tune that had been left off of the previous album.

Teddy Charles Nonet & Tentet

Editor's info:
''I started on the vibes at Juilliard. They had a xylophone and vibraphone standing outside the drummers' practice rooms, which always had lines of students waiting for space. So while I waited, I fooled around on the vibes. Vibes was a natural fit for me since I was playing drums and piano. I had the percussion technique down as well as the keyboard stuff.'' - Teddy Charles

The Teddy Charles Tentet

Editor's info:
HIGH-DEFINITION PREMIUM VIRIGIN VINYL PRESSING FOR SUPER FIDELITY - THE WAY THIS MUSIC WAS MEANT TO BE HEARD -
180 gram VINYL - AUDIOPHILE PRESSING
This release contains vibraphonist Teddy Charles' complete TENTET album, featuring an all star 10-piece band and the compositions and arrangements of Gil Evans, Jimmy Giuffre, Mal Waldron & George Russell!
''I started on the vibes at Juilliard. They had a xylophone and vibraphone standing outside the drummers' practice rooms, which always had lines of students waiting for space. So while I waited, I fooled around on the vibes. Vibes was a natural fit for me since I was playing drums and piano. I had the percussion technique down as well as the keyboard stuff.''
Teddy Charles

Ramsey Lewis Trio

Editor's info:
Includes the complete album The Ramsey Lewis Trio in Chicago featuring the pianist's classic trio. This was the last LP ever recorded at Chicago's historic Blue Note club.
Also contains bonus LP, Stretching Out, featuring the same personnel.

''It's been rewarding and I have the awards and have the physical things that come from certain successes but I'm still impressed more with music. When someone hands me an award, I'm appreciated and I show much gratitude and am impressed. But I bring it home I put it on the shelf and I go back to the piano. Because I know that life is not about awards. Life is about growth, evolution and getting to know yourself as honestly as possible and getting to understand what God means and what the Universe means as well as your responsibility to your fellow man. These are the things that are more important to me.'' - Ramsey Lewis

Jimmy Rainey Trio

Editor's info:
This release contains all of Jimmy Raney's 1976 Tokyo recordings, including his two trio sets and two bonus tracks in a quintet setting.

''Jimmy Raney was sort of perfect and stayed that way. He could find his way through the most outrageous chord changes with a beautiful line. He was a combination of intellect and musicality that I think is very rare. Of course, he loved Charlie Parker, but he also loved Bela Bartok. Jimmy's playing reminded me of somewhere between Charlie Parker and Bela Bartok.'' - Jim Hall

Bill Evans / Warne Marsh / Lee Konitz / Jimmy Garrison / Paul Motian

Editor's info:
Contains the complete all-star quintet recordings at New York's Half Note club on February 24 & March 3, 1959.
Includes the rare bonus album London Concert, featuring both Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz in a quartet setting.
Contains comprehensive 12-page booklet!
''It still amazes me in retrospect how well we fit together, because we weren't that close as personal friends. We were just professional associates and fellow students of Tristano. Of course, I had the highest respect for Warne's musicianship, although I consider myself a more intuitive player.''- Lee Konitz, 1994

Keith Jarrett Trio

multikulti.com; 2008-11
''. . .Ta płyta jest jedynym nagraniem gwiazdorskiego tria Keith Jarrett / Charlie Haden / Paul Motian. Zawiera jedyne znane nagrania koncertowych wersji wielu utworów - m.in. jedyną Jarrettowską interpretację słynnej kompozycji Charlie Hadena ''Song For Che'', a także jego solowe improwizacje na fortepianie. Jako bonus na drugiej płycie znajdują się cztery utwory nagrane dla telewizji przez kwintet: Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, Keith Jarrett, Charlie Haden i Beaver Harris. To nagranie daje znakomitą okazję by zapoznać się z wczesnym okresem twórczości Keitha Jarretta - tuż po współpracy z Milesem Davisem a przed działalnością nagraniową dla niemieckiej wytwórni ECM. Keith Jarrett jak zwykle jest w świetnej formie, jednak jego wczesna pianistyka zwraca uwagę większą otwartością na awangardowe brzmienia. Znakomicie sekundują mu w tym partnerzy - zwłaszcza Charlie Haden zaprawiony w szkole Ornette'a Colemana i Dona Cherry'ego. . .''


PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED!!!

Editor's info:

A complete previously unissued performance by the great Jarrett-Haden-Motian trio.
Presents the only known live versions of many tunes, and the only existing example of Jarrett playing Haden's famous composition ''Song for Ché''.
As a bonus, two rare Jarrett solos and the only broadcast pairing Jarrett with both Chet Baker and Lee Konitz.
Includes 8-page booklet
Keith Jarrett's first recording with either Paul Motian or Charlie Haden took place in New York on May 4, 1967, and would result in the album Life Between the Exit Signs, issued under Jarrett's name. The trio (sometimes with musicians added, such as Dewey Redman on tenor sax or diverse percussionists) would play and record prolifically until 1977, when they participated in their last collaborative album, Bop-be, which was also Jarrett's last known recorded collaboration with Haden. Jarrett and Motian reunited in 1992 to do the live trio album At the Deer Head Inn (with Gary Peacock on bass). After disbanding this celebrated trio, Jarrett would work for a while with European musicians Jan Garbarek, Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. He would then embark on a series of solo concerts and recordings until the formation of his new trio with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette in 1983. The complete Hamburg performance presented on this double set has the Jarrett-Haden-Motian unit at its best. By this point they had already worked together for many years and the fluidity of their musical dialogue is evident throughout.

Chet Baker / Duke Jordan Trio & Quartet

Editor's info:
Includes 12-page comprehensive booklet!
This 2-CD set reunites the complete recordings from Chet Baker & Duke Jordan's 1983 trio and quartet performances at Paris' New Morning club. In addition, these CDs contain three bonus tracks, including the only existing song from Baker's Belgium concert recorded with the same trio on the day after the New Morning shows, as well as two recordings of Duke Jordan's trio performing the most emblematic tunes from Baker's repertoire. This edition and its companion volume compile all of Baker & Jordan's live recordings together.
''Since 1974 I've played much better than in the '50s. The records after 1974 have greater value, much more depth. I play much better because I have all these years of experience behind me. In 1952-53, I was another novice. I only played since 1947 - jazz, that is. Now I've played jazz for forty years.'' - Chet Baker, 1987

Sarah Vaughan

Editor's info:
Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990) was, along with Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, one of the greatest jazz vocalists of all time. This concert in Japan gives ample proof of her talents, and has become one of her most acclaimed performances ever. As was customary for her concerts from those years, she combines short up-tempo versions of some tunes with some longer and more elaborated tunes, some of which stretch out for more than five minutes. Carl Schroeder shines on these songs, as well as drummer Jimmy Cobb, who is featured here many years after leaving the celebrated Miles Davis Quintet with John Coltrane. Schroeder would remain Vaughan's pianist from 1972 to 1979, while Cobb would stay with her through almost all of that decade and Gianelli would spend some three years with her.

Chet Baker / Duke Jordan Trio

Editor's info:
This release contains Chet Baker & Duke Jordan's complete November 28, 1983 trio performance with bassist Jesper Lundgaard in Holland. In addition, we have included five rare bonus tracks: a 1975 Duke Jordan trio recording plus all four of the songs from Jordan's November 5, 1977 solo piano session. This edition and its 2-CD companion volume compile all of Baker & Jordan's live recordings together. Includes 12-page comprehensive booklet!
''The first time I met Chet Baker in 1982 was at the Montmartre in Copenhagen. . . I had been told that Chet could be very difficult to work with but, that evening, everything fell into place from the very first note that we played, and I enjoyed it immensely.''
''. . .He always managed to get a lot of atmosphere and feeling into his music, no matter the circumstances, and for me it was a great learning experience. . . I am proud to have been one of his sidemen.'' - Jesper Lundgaard

Ahmad Jamal Trio

Editor's info:
''For me this is the crowning achievement of Ahmad's recording career. Ahmad plays with a gusto he usually hides. Crosby is miraculous and Fournier on drums, nothing short of perfection.'' JOHN HAMMOND
All known 1961 performances by the celebrated Ahmad Jamal Trio with Israel Crosby and Vernell Fournier at Ahmad's own club, the Alhambra in Chicago, and the Blackhawk in San Francisco compiled for the first time on a single set!! These would be the last recorded gigs by this formation, as Israel Crosby died in mid-1962. Three tunes appear here on CD here for the first time ever!
INCLUDES 12-PAGE BOOKLET

The 1958 Pershing and Spotlite performances marked the turning point in Ahmad Jamal's career. Thus, it is not surprising to find the same trio recorded live in professional conditions over the following years. In 1961, Jamal, Crosby and Fournier were recorded at The Alhambra in Chicago (a club owned by Jamal himself!) and at the Blackhawk in San Francisco. Those were to be the trio's final recordings, for Israel Crosby died of a heart attack on August 11, 1962 (he was born in Chicago on January 19, 1919). The Alhambra performances were originally issued on two LPs, one titled Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra, and the other All of You. Most of the Blackhawk performances were originally issued on an LP titled Ahmad Jamal at the Blackhawk. Two selections from that album (''We Live in Two Different Worlds'' and ''Night Mist Blues'') appear here on CD for the first time ever, as well as ''Green Dolphin Street'', which only previously appeared on an old compilation LP.

Oscar Peterson Trio

Editor's info:
This CD offers a long unavailable and splendid concert by the classic Oscar Peterson trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen performing in Tokyo. This particular formation of the trio wouldn't last for long, as drummer Ed Thigpen - who had been with the band for many years - would quit the group in mid-1965. Their final recorded concert took place on May 29, 1965 at Tivoli Gardens, in Copenhagen, Denmark (a concert added here in its entirety on CD2 as a bonus). Cole Porter's ''At Long Last Love'' is a rare entry in the Peterson discography, as only three recorded versions seem to have survived. This is the last existing version of the tune. The Tokyo reading is the fourth out of six versions of ''I Remember Clifford'' listed in the Peterson discography. All of Peterson's recordings of the song were from concerts. He apparently never made a studio recording of this beautiful tune composed by Benny Golson after Clifford Brown's tragic death in a car accident. Only three versions of ''Bags' Groove'' are listed in Peterson's discography The Tokyo version is the only one listed in discographies of French composer Léo Delibes' (1836-1891) ''Maidens of Cadiz'' apart from the studio version included on the trio album The Jazz Soul of Oscar Peterson, recorded in August 1959.

Dexter Gordon

Editor's info:
This edition contains Dexter Gordon's complete October 22, 1976 studio session. These are the very first recordings made by the tenor saxophonist upon returning to the U.S. after a 14-year exile in Europe! This is the first time that any of this material appears on CD!

''Coming up as a kid interested in new sounds, we all would listen to Billy Eckstine because it was an all-star band. I was playing like Ben Webster, but then I heard Dexter. He was an innovator. Lester Young was his god, but out of Lester he fashioned something that everybody copied. He had his own sound, which all great musicians have. Dexter had a way of articulating that was his own. There were few musicians who had such a big sound.'' - Johnny Griffin

Thelonious Monk Quartet

Editor's info:
The great High Priest of Bebop at his best in a concert performance appearing complete for the first time ever on DVD!
''I say play your own way. Don't play what the public wants - you play what you want and let the public pick up what you are doing, even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years.'' With these words, Thelonious Monk encouraged other musicians to do the same thing he did throughout his whole career: to be themselves, despite what the public said. By the mid sixties, when the two sets presented here were filmed, both critics and audiences were beginning to understand and enjoy Monk's music. His shy smile during the applause gives proof of his inner satisfaction, for at last, after twenty years of playing, he was finally attaining the success and recognition he knew he deserved.
Monk appeared at the Marquee Club in London with his regular quartet. It consisted of Charlie Rouse (who spent more than a decade with Thelonious and later formed the group Sphere in his honor - ''Sphere'' was Monk's middle name), Ben Riley (who played with Monk from 1964 to 1968 and later became the drummer of Sphere) and Larry Gales (who was also a member of the quartet from 1964 to 1968). Although all of these performances were played the same evening, they were originally intended to be aired on two different TV shows, hence the repetition of Monk's theme ''Epistrophy'' as the opening intro and closer. The last version, however, is a nearly complete performance with solos by both Rouse and Monk.

Jimmy Smith

Editor's info:
ORGAN GENIUS JIMMY SMITH IN TWO COMPLETE PERFORMANCES FROM TWO DIFFERENT PERIODS OF HIS EXTENDED CAREER!!
Although he began as a pianist, the great Jimmy Smith (1925-2005) switched to organ after hearing Wild Bill Davis in 1953. Smith's unparalleled skills with the Hammond helped to popularize the electric organ as a jazz and blues instrument, and he recorded prolifically during his long career. Since the release of his first album as a leader in 1956, A New Sound. . .A New Star. . .Jimmy Smith at the Organ, Vol. 1, few organists received as much attention. A perennial poll winner since the late '50s, Smith redefined the instrument. As Leonard Feather wrote in his Encyclopaedia of Jazz: ''The first attempt to bring the organ into the orbit of contemporary jazz was undertaken by Jimmy Smith, an extraordinary musician who makes fuller use than other jazz organists of the variety of stops at his disposal. Smith plays fast tempo jazz improvisations in a style that would have blended perfectly with Charlie Parker's combo, had Smith risen to prominence during Parker's lifetime.'' Smith's new sound utilized the first three draw bars and the percussion feature of the Hammond B-3. He also cut the tremolo off and began playing fluid horn-like lines with his right hand, inspired by players like Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas and Arnett Cobb. He once explained: ''I copped my solos from horn players. I don't listen to keyboard players. I can't get what I want from keyboard players''. At the same time, he also admitted that Bud Powell, Art Tatum and Erroll Garner were important influences. This amazing DVD presents the talents of Jimmy Smith in two different periods and contexts. The first item consists of footage from a Los Angeles TV Show in 1962, which captured Smith in a trio format at the height of his powers. The second item showcases Smith at an outstanding 1999 concert with a bigger band including noted Puerto Rican flutist Néstor Torres. It was filmed after Smith had already become a jazz legend.

Miles Davis Septet

multikulti.com:
Rok 1983 dla jazzowej publiczności Środkowej Europy upłynął pod znakiem oczekiwania na koncert tego jedynego muzyka, o którym powszechnie mówi się, jako o najważniejszym z muzyków jazowych wszech czasów - Milesa Davisa.
Miało to miejsce podczas jubileuszowego 25 festiwalu Jazz Jamboree.

Tak rozpoczyna swoją relację Tomasz Szachowski-dziennikarz Jazz Forum, jedynego wówczas jazzowego pisma w tej części Europy:
[. . .] Po upływie trzech kwadransów, jakie potrzebowali akustycy ekipy Milesa Davisa na ostatnie przygotowania, publiczność ponownie wchodzi na salę. W przeciągu kilku minut zapełniają się wszystkie wolne miejsca, siedzące, stojące, wiszące, jest nas ponad 4 tysiące.
Wchodzą, Miles lekko kulejący w ciemnych okularach, w czarnym kapeluszu, czerwonej skórzanej kurtce z frędzlami, czarnych spodniach i czerwonych butach na wysokich obcasach. Owacja. . . Zajmują miejsca. Od lewej Robert Irwing, Bill Evans, w głębi Darryl Jones, Al Foster, na środku, tuż przed perkusją - Miles Davis, nieco z prawej John Scofield i wreszcie zupełnie na skraju Mino Cinelu.
[. . .]
Tylko pierwsze kilkanaście minut pokazuje w miarę wyraźnie początki i zakończenia utworów, potem muzyka przeradza się w ciąg myśli, improwizacji, kulminacji, uspokojeń nowy motyw tematyczny zwiastuje nowy utwór.
[. . .]
Po nieprawdopodobnej owacji następuje bis - 'Open' Davisa.
Owacja jeszcze większa, muzycy wychodzą ponownie - tym razem jeszcze raz 'That's Wright' Scofielda. Oklaski nie milkną, przez kilka minut standing ovation i wreszcie kilka tysięcy gardeł skanduje 'We want Miles! We want Miles! We want Miles! We want Miles!'.
Wychodzą po raz trzeci, spajając klasyczną klamrą cały występ - tematem 'Speak'.
Miles wyraźnie zadowolony, podnosi kilka razy trąbkę do góry i nie do wiary, w geście wdzięczności podnosi na sekundę kapelusz! Znikają. . .
[. . .]
Był to wielki, niezapomniany koncert, bodaj największe wydarzenie jazzowe, jakie miało kiedykolwiek miejsce na polskiej estradzie. Było to wydarzenie również na skalę światową, jak sądzić z opinii dziennikarzy zagranicznych. Choć dla jednych miarą była sama muzyka, dla innych bezprecedensowe trzy bisy i zdjęcie kapelusza przez Milesa! [. . .]
Jazz Forum 85 (1983/62), autor: Tomasz Szachowski.

Dzięki młodemu a już wielce zasłużonemu dla jazzu wydawcy Disconforme, możemy zapoznać się z tym wydarzeniem na dwupłytowym albumie, jak też na DVD Video. Tego koncertu, który atmosferą przypominał religijny obrządek nie można pominąć. Tym bardziej, że zremasterowany dźwięk zadowoli najbardziej audiofilskiego słuchacza.
Prawdopodobnie najważniejsza premiera płytowa tego roku dla jazzowej publiczności w Polsce!

Editor's info:
A RARELY SEEN FILMED PERFORMANCE BY THE SPLENDID MILES' 1983 SEPTET!!!
COLOR & STEREO
This fabulous and rarely seen complete concert was filmed shortly after Miles Davis presented his celebrated LP Star People. The performance features many of the tunes from the album, including the title track ''Star People'', as well as ''Speak'', ''Star on Cicely'' (arranged by Gil Evans, with whom Miles had recorded so many classic works; Cicely Tyson was Miles' wife) and ''It Gets Better''. ''What It Is'', ''Code M.D.'' and ''That's Right'' (another arrangement by Gil Evans) had been first recorded less than two months before this concert took place and would be included on Miles' following album, Decoy. The LP obviously hadn't yet been released when they performed in Poland. The band on the original albums is very similar to that on the European tour to which this concert belongs. Darryl Jones replaces Marcus Miller and Tom Barney - who alternated on electric bass on Star People - and John Scofield is featured as the sole electric guitarist (he joined forces with Mike Stern on Star People). Bill Evans (the sax player) had been replaced by Branford Marsalis on the original studio versions of ''That's Right'' and ''Code M.D.''. Therefore, this performance presents interesting alternate versions with Bill Evans switching between soprano sax, tenor sax and flute.

Stan Getz Quartet

Editor's info:
According to discographies, the extraordinary quartet formed by the inimitable Stan Getz with Kenny Barron on piano, Rufus Reid on bass and Victor Lewis on drums would record together on one sole occasion: two sets performed at Copenhagen's Café Montmartre on the night of July 6, 1987. Both sets were recorded and subsequently issued on two of Getz's most acclaimed albums of his later career: Anniversary and Serenity. Fortunately, the first set was also filmed (it contains songs from both albums, as the material from the LPs was mixed throughout the two sets) and is presented here for the first time ever on DVD. Getz was finally drug and alcohol free by 1987 (at the age of 60), but he was very sick and would die in 1991. Getz once referred to Barron as ''my musical other half''. The two musicians first recorded together on March 9, 1986, for the album Voyage (which also featured Victor Lewis, George Mraz and Michael ''Babatunde'' Olatunji). Getz and Barron would continue to work and record together until the saxophonist's death. Their last recorded collaboration (and Getz's last recording ever) was a duo performance at Café Montmartre, in Copenhagen, on March 3-6, 1991, just three months before the saxophonist's death. Our 1987 Montmartre set finds Getz returning to a strictly jazz repertoire of standards and ballads (setting aside his experiments with jazz-fusion and bossanova), which he plays with deep emotion and sensitivity.

Julian Cannonball Adderley Sextet

Editor's info:
INCLUDES THE LONG UNAVAILABLE 1962 ''JAZZ SCENE USA'' SHOW AND TWO LIVE PERFORMANCES WHICH APPEAR HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ON DVD!!
THREE OUTSTANDING SETS BY THE CANNONBALL ADDERLEY SEXTET!!!
The Julian ''Cannonball'' Adderley Quintet was transformed into a sextet at the beginning of 1962 with the addition of flutist, oboist and tenor sax player Yusef Lateef. The quintet - featuring Julian's brother Nat on cornet, Austrian pianist Joe Zawinul, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes - had been in existence since August 1961 (after Zawinul replaced pianist Wynton Kelly). The debut recordings of the superlative sextet took place live at the Village Vanguard in New York in mid-January of 1962, and the group would make its first European tour in August. It returned to the States and in November was filmed at a TV show, which is the first performance included here. The sextet made a second European tour in March 1963. After returning home, the band traveled to Japan in July, where they performed many concerts and were filmed by Japanese television without an audience. This set marks the second item of our program. The last two selections come from a concert in Lugano during that second European tour. The whole concert (consisting of nine tunes) was recorded and subsequently issued on CD. However, only two songs appear to have been filmed by Italian television: Quincy Jones' ''Jessica's Birthday'' (also known as ''Jessica's Day''), which Cannonball usually employed as an opener in his concerts, and ''Angel Eyes'', which was a feature number for Yusef Lateef on flute (Lateef would leave the group after the Japanese tour), with a nice piano solo by Zawinul. These two songs fill out our collection of superb and rarely seen performances by Cannonball, of which tracks 7 to 18 appear here on DVD for the first time ever!!

Nina Simone

Editro's info:
Rare performances by two of the most admired jazz singers of all time, filmed during approximately the same period.
In addition to her brilliant vocals, the great Nina Simone (1933-2003) was also an accomplished pianist. She always resisted the idea of being categorized, and her repertoire included a wide variety of songs, from the usual jazz standards like ''For All We Know'' or ''I Loves You, Porgy'', to spirituals, soul music and an eclectic mix of folk songs. She was also a fervent activist in the defense of the Civil Rights of African Americans. Her magnetism is well captured on these two shows, which present her in the earlier phase of her career. One of the best swing singers of all time, Anita O'Day (1919-2006) always claimed that the accidental excision of her uvula during a childhood tonsillectomy left her incapable of vibrato, as well as unable to maintain long phrases. According to her, that botched operation forced her to develop a more percussive style based on short notes and rhythmic drive. However, when she was in good form she demonstrated surprising skill at stretching long notes with strong crescendos and a telescoping vibrato. Her singing on this notable performance in Japan is a perfect example of her enormous talents and charm.

Art Pepper / Conte Candoli

Editor's info:
This release contains Art Pepper and Conte Candoli' s complete octet album Mucho Calor. The LP marks their first collaboration together as co-leaders. They had never previously fronted a band with less than four horns until this outstanding studio session.

HIGH-DEFINITION PREMIUM VIRIGIN VINYL PRESSING FOR SUPER FIDELITY - THE WAY THIS MUSIC WAS MEANT TO BE HEARD -
180 gram VINYL - AUDIOPHILE PRESSING

Miles Davis / Keith Jarrett

Editor's info:
Born in 1945, pianist and composer Keith Jarrett is one of the most expressive and unique performers of his instrument. He first gained fame in the groups of saxophone and flute player Charles Lloyd, drummer Art Blakey and, above all, trumpeter Miles Davis, before forming his own groups. His most important works were recorded in solo piano format (he is famed for his long improvisations/compositions) and in trio settings. (His most celebrated trio featured Gary Peacock on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums.) He also shines playing classical music and is a gifted performer of Bach's works. This DVD showcases Jarrett performing two amazing piano solos at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy, in 1974, and playing electric piano in 1971 as a member of the Miles Davis formation. This performance marks one of the last times Miles and Jarrett played together (according to discographies, their final recorded concert took place just ten days later, on November 26, 1971, at the Philharmonic Hall in New York).

Jaco Pastorius

multikulti.com; 2008-11
''. . .Jedna z nielicznych realizacji DVD legendarnego wirtuoza basowej gitary! Nazywany ''Jimmi Hendrixem jazzu'' ze względu na krótki, ale niezwykle intensywny okres scenicznej działalności oraz tragiczną śmierć (zostaw zabity przez bramkarza w klubie) - odegrał podobną, co on rolę na scenie jazzowej. Nie ma praktycznie jazzowego muzyka grającego na basowej gitarze, który nie powoływałby się na Jaco jako na wzorzec, niedościgniony wzór i inspirację. Zebrane na jednym DVD dwa koncerty dwóch odmiennych składów Jaco Pastoriusa dają wierny obraz jego muzycznych fascynacji, technik interpretacyjnych a także możliwości brzmieniowych instrumentu na którym grał z wirtuozowską precyzją i absolutnie unikalną motoryką. Niezła realizacja (kolor, stereo) jak na archiwalny materiał. Polecamy!!!. . .''
Editor's info:
AN IMPRESSIVE DOUBLE FEATURE PRESENTING JACO BOTH WITH BIG AND SMALL GROUPS!!!
Featuring Randy Brecker, John Faddis, Toots Thielemans, Peter Erskine & Don Alias [COLOR/STEREO]
The tragedy hadn't yet struck at the time these concerts were filmed in 1982 and Jaco's musicianship was still at its peak. Both the big band work in Japan and the small group performances in Canada give ample proof of his continued brilliance. However, his downward spiral was near at hand. He would be diagnosed with a bipolar disorder shortly after these concerts. The pills he was given didn't let him play or compose, so he replaced them with hard drugs and alcohol and his behaviour became more and more erratic, which set the stage for the final tragedy. We are highly fortunate that these examples of his art have been preserved.

Pat Metheny / Herbie Hancock / Dave Holland / Jack DeJohnette

multikulti.com:
Kwartet marzeń, takie określenia padały w mediach światowych podczas trasy koncertowej w 1990 roku. I faktycznie czterech muzyków tworzących ten kwartet to prawdziwe tuzy jazzu: gitarzysta Pat Metheny, pianista Herbie Hancock, kontrabasista Dave Holland i Jack DeJohnette na perkusji od lat należą do pierwszej ligi jazzowych muzyków.
Jeśli jeszcze dodamy, że zagrali wówczas m.in. 'Cantaloupe Island' Herbie Hancocka, który za sprawą acid jazzowego zespołu US3 stał się ogólnoświatowym przebojem czy też transowy 'The Bat' Pata Metheny stanie się jasne, że to wydawnictwo zasługuje co najmniej na uwagę.
Półtoragodzinny, znakomity koncert z Mellon Jazz Festival w Filadelfii w 1990 roku został już wydany na DVD Video w 2004 roku, jednak tegoroczna edycja przynosi poprawiony dźwięk, który był słabą stroną dotychczasowego wydania, zarówno w wersji 2CD jak i DVD Video.
Dodatkowo na płycie znalazły się dwa zupełnie wyjątkowe bonusy, jeden pochodzący z Woodstock Jazz Festiwal w 1981 roku - kompozycja Ornette'a Colemana 'Broadway Blues' nagrana w kwartecie Pat Metheny, Dewey Redman, Miroslav Vitous i Jack DeJohnette, blisko dziesięć minut jazzowej uczty.
Drugi to solowy utwór Pata Metheny'ego, blisko dziesięciominutowy 'Guitar Clouds' nagrany w 1991 roku podczas jego nowojorskiego koncertu.


Editor's info:
AN INIMITABLE CONCERT PERFORMANCE BY THE PARALLEL REALITIES QUARTET FEATURING FOUR OF THE MORE ADVENTUROUS MODERN JAZZ PLAYERS INCLUDES TWO BONUS TRACKS [COLOR/STEREO]
This impressive concert was part of a gig in which Pat Metheny promoted both the original album Parallel Realities (released under Jack DeJohnette's name even if Metheny was the composer of half of the tunes) and Metheny's own album Question and Answer (with Dave Holland and Roy Haynes). While Parallel Realities was mostly a duo featuring DeJohnette and Metheny - with both playing keyboards here and there and Herbie Hancock adding some colour on acoustic piano - the concert band was a quartet, adding Dave Holland on bass. The program played in Philadelphia included only two songs from the original album Parallel Realities, ''Indigo Dreamscapes'' and ''Nine Over Reggae''. It also included a version of Miles Davis' ''Solar'', which was he opening song from the album Question and Answer. DeJohnette had first recorded his song ''Blue'' in 1977 for the LP Gateway 2, and he made a new studio version in 1988 for the album Triplicate (Dave Holland was on bass for both trio projects). Metheny's first version of his number ''The Bat'' was recorded in 1980 and issued on the album 80/81. While no Hancock composition had been recorded on the studio LP, two of his tunes were played at the concert: ''Hurricane'' and the popular ''Cantaloupe Island'', which closed the show. As a bonus, we have included a quartet selection featuring Metheny and DeJohnette with Dewey Redman and Miroslav Vitous, and a Metheny solo clip.

Warne Marsh

Editor's Info:
This CD contains two consecutive trio / quartet albums by tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh in their entirety: Warne Marsh and Music for Prancing. Includes 12-page comprehensive booklet!

''Warne Marsh is the greatest vertical improviser.'' - Anthony Braxton

Oscar Peterson Trio

Editor's info:
A rare concert performance by Oscar Peterson in his native city of Montreal. On CD for the first time ever!!!

This amazing concert presents the great Oscar Peterson performing in his native city of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada (where he was born on August 15, 1925), ten days after his 40th birthday. The show took place at an important turning point in Peterson's trio, as drummer Ed Thigpen - who had been with the band for many years - had just quit the group. Their final recorded concert took place on May 29, 1965 at Tivoli Gardens, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Peterson called Louis Hayes for the August trip to Canada. Hayes was an experienced drummer (born in 1937 and still alive at this writing) who had recorded with such stars as John Coltrane, Horace Silver, Phil Woods, Hank Mobley, Yusef Lateef, Donald Byrd, Freddie Redd, Curtis Fuller and Art Farmer, prior to joining Peterson. He had also been a force behind the various Cannonball Adderley groups since 1959. Recruited by Peterson to cover for Thigpen on this Canadian concert (these are Hayes' first recordings ever with the pianist), the drummer would continue to record with Peterson's trio on numerous other occasions (mostly with Sam Jones on bass). The trio of Peterson, Hayes and Ray Brown would only produce this concert, a single track (''Robbin's Nest'') added here as a bonus, and two more albums: Blues Etude, a trio LP taped in Chicago on December 3, 1965, and Reunion Blues, a quartet LP adding Milt Jackson on vibes (the latter album's title track was composed by Jackson and was included in the repertoire in Montreal). Peterson and Hayes final recordings together were in 1974.

Bud Powell

Editor's info:
''Of all the musicians I ever loved - Bird and Stan Getz and Miles and lots of others that no one even knows I listened to - it was Bud who influenced me the most. He was so expressive, such emotion flowed out of him!''
BILL EVANS

This release brings together two complete LPs by piano genius Bud Powell.
Both are in trio format and showcase jazz standards as well as bebop classics.
This release contains two of the last LPs Bud Powell would record before departing for Europe. Although it was originally scheduled to be a short tour, Powell would remain for an extended period in the Old Continent, interrupted briefly in 1964, when he returned to the States for his final trip. The pianist was suffering from numerous problems at the time these albums were made. He was commited to a mental hospital from late 1951 to early 1953, following an arrest for possession of marijuana. He would be released into the guardianship of Oscar Goodstein, the owner of the Birdland nightclub. A 1953 trio session (with George Duvivier and Art Taylor) included Powell's composition ''Glass Enclosure'', inspired by his near-imprisonment in Goodstein's apartment. Following his release from the hospital, Powell's playing began to be seriously affected by Largactil, a drug prescribed for the treatment of schizophrenia, and by the late fifties his talent was clearly in eclipse. To add to his misfortunes, his brother Richie - the pianist in the celebrated Max Roach-Clifford Brown quintet - was killed in a 1956 car crash that also took the life of Brown. The accident took place on June 26, less than three months before the recording that produced the second album included here. Musically speaking, Powell's problems were reflected in his playing, which became slower and more imperfect than his amazing work of the preceding years. However, even if the ''deterioration'' of his technical skills led to negative reviews at the time, it is clear that Bud Powell's music remained extremely interesting and that the pianist's genius was still present.

Eric Dolphy & John Lewis

diapazon.pl; 2008-12, ocena: * * * * *
''. . .Pomysł na ten album zalągł się w głowie dziennikarza i muzyka Mike'a Zwerina. Piosenki Weila są wdzięcznym tematem do interpretacji - jego muzyka brzmi salonowo, konformistycznie, ale pod grzeczną oprawą czyha pułapka. W sekstecie Orchestry USA spotkały się same gwiazdy ówczesnej jazzowej sceny alternatywnej. Oczekiwane sysonanse generuje genialny Eric Dolphy, a jego sola na alcie i klarnecie basowym są niczym ciosy żyletką zadawane w potrójny podbród jazzowej konserwy. . .''
[Tymon Tymański]



Editor's info:
The complete Mike Zwerin album presenting modern jazz musicians playing the music of Kurt Weill. Eric Dolphy and John Lewis were the stars of half of this album (Dolphy died before the second session was scheduled in 1965). As a bonus, all of the other small group studio recordings by Dolphy and Lewis playing together.
Includes 8-page booklet
Originally issued in different conceptual albums which included music from several sessions and with many variations in personnel, the small group collaborations between Eric Dolphy and John Lewis had never been previously compiled on a single set. The current CD, however, contains all of them. Apart from this material, the two musicians only collaborated on the following projects: the big band Orchestra U.S.A. album (already reissued on LHJ 10117 under the name of John Lewis and presenting the complete Stereo and Mono versions); an 11-piece band session including oboe and bassoon (including Dolphy on just two tracks, in none of which does he play any solo), and a somewhat controversial live recording - a private performance taped with amateur equipment during a December 2, 1961 jam session in Munich. It is controversial because, although Dolphy's presence is indisputable, the identity of the pianist has been frequently questioned. Different names have been proposed, including those of Lalo Schifrin (who himself denied having participated on that session) and McCoy Tyner. The latest research, however, states that John Lewis is the mysterious and badly recorded pianist. While the jam (if the pianist is indeed Lewis) presents head arrangements of well known standards, the material featured on the Dolphy-Lewis studio collaborations consists mainly of compositions by Gary McFarland and John Lewis, a single track by music producer Arif Mardin (1932-2006, he was an American of Turkish origin), and further arrangements of three theatrical tunes by the tandem of Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht. These three songs were originally included on the album Mack the Knife and other Berlin Theatre Songs of Kurt Weill, along with similar songs recorded at a different session on June 1, 1965. The current CD presents this album in its entirety, along with all known alternate takes (unfortunately there are no alternates for the tunes with Lewis and Dolphy), even though at the second session there's no piano player, and Eric Dolphy was already dead by this time (he died of a diabetic coma in Berlin on June 29, 1964).

Oscar Pettiford / Tom Talbert

Editor's info:
''Bix, Duke, Fats is a stunning piece of work by all concerned. Talbert's writing is fresh and moody, and the performances - particularly the solo work - are first rate.'' - Dom Cerulli, Down Beat Magazine *****
Includes 16-page comprehensive booklet!

Coleman Hawkins / Roy Eldridge Quintet

Editor's info:
THE INTEGRAL PERFORMANCES OF ROY AND HAWK AT THE BAYOU CLUB, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ON A SINGLE SET!!!
THREE TRACKS, INCLUDING A NEW VERSION OF HAWKINS' CELEBRATED VARIATIN ON ''BODY AND SOUL'', NEVER BEFORE APPEARED ON CD!!
INCLUDES 12-PAGE BOOKLET
Two authentic geniuses of their respective instruments, Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge complemented each other perfectly and loved to play together. Hawkins (1904-1969) began playing various saxes in the Fletcher Henderson orchestra - which also featured a young Louis Armstrong on cornet - in the early twenties. He is considered the father of the tenor saxophone in jazz. Eldridge (1911-1989) - who was also a singer and a drummer - was obviously inspired by Armstrong's trumpet but took the instrument to new places that would set the groundwork for Dizzy Gillespie and other modern jazz trumpeters. While both Hawkins and Eldridge were clearly rooted in swing, they were both so original and had such a beautiful and personal sound on their horns that they never ceased to be modern.
The Bayou performances were privately taped in 1958 during a one-night engagement in Washington. As was usual with these one-nighters, only the main stars were called, and the rhythm section was completed with local musicians. The repertoire is a combination of jazz standards and compositions by Hawkins, and judging from Eldridge's commentaries before starting some of the tunes (''What's that?''), it was mostly decided on the spot. After two decades of playing together, the Hawk and Roy could handle that without any problems, and their performances here are both lyrical and spirited, complementing each other on some tunes, and taking a rest to let the other horn go alone on some of the ballad numbers. As a bonus we have added all of the extant music from two more dates: their performances at the 1958 Antibes Jazz Festival (taped shortly before the Bayou gig) and at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival (taped shortly after the Bayou gig).

Paul Quinichette

Editor's info:
For the first time ever on CD the complete Paul Quinichette LP MOODS (including a rare alternate take of ''Plush Life'' only issued before on an out of print compilation set).

Devoted almost exclusively to the compositions and arrangements of Quincy Jones.
Featuring Herbie Mann, Sir Charles Thompson & Paul Chambers

As a bonus, we have added a 1952 session presenting Quinichette in his most Lesterian mood backed by Count Basie and Buck Clayton. This edition contains Paul Quinichette's complete Moods album, which is presented here for the first time ever on CD. The LP showcases the tenor saxophonist in collaboration with Quincy Jones, who arranged all of the numbers and composed all but two. A musician heavily influenced by Pres (and thus nicknamed ''Vice-Pres''), Quinichette plays with a more personal sound here that breaks away from his ''a la Young'' style (he was fully capable of capturing the spirit of his idol, as proven by the 1952 session included here as a bonus, which presents him with Count Basie and many other members of his orchestra). Quinichette was also capable of a more ''modern'' style of playing, as shown by the albums he recorded with John Coltrane and Curtis Fuller in May 1957.

Curtis Fuller

Editor's info:
The complete recordings Curtis Fuller made for the Savoy label under his own name, comprising five complete quintet/sextet albums and all the known alternate takes.
Contains the complete LPs JAZZ. . . IT'S MAGIC, BLUES-ETTE (4 Stars on Down Beat), ARABIA, IMAGINATION & IMAGES OF CURTIS FULLER. Featuring Thad Jones, Lee Morgan (tp), Benny Golson, Yusef Lateef (ts), Sonny Redd (as), Tommy Flanagan, Wynton Kelly, McCoy Tyner (p), Jimmy Garrison, Paul Chambers, Milt Hinton (b), Louis Hayes, Dave Bailey & Charlie Persip (d).
INCLUDES 24-PAGE BOOKLET
Although Curtis Fuller remains a bit underrated, he is nevertheless considered among the best jazz trombonists ever. He was born in Detroit on December 15, 1934 and is still alive at the time of this writing. Fuller became friends with Paul Chambers and Donald Byrd in the Detroit public school system, and also knew Tommy Flanagan, Thad Jones and Milt Jackson. After serving in the Army between 1953 and 1955 (where he played in a band with Chambers and brothers Cannonball and Nat Adderley), Fuller joined the quintet of Yusef Lateef, another Detroit musician. The quintet moved to New York in 1957.
This release compiles the complete recordings Curtis Fuller made under his own name for the Savoy label. By the time he recorded his first album for the company, Jazz. . . It's Magic!, he had already collaborated for them on other projects for other musicians. The next Savoy entry in the Curtis Fuller discography is the superlative and widely celebrated Blues-ette, followed by Arabia. This would be followed by Curtis' own album Imagination, recorded one week later. Images would be Fuller's next and last album for Savoy.

Paul Gonsalves / Clark Terry Quintet

Editor's info:
All of the recordings ever made by Paul Gonsalves and Clark Terry in a quintet format, backed by two other Ellington collaborators: Jimmy Woode and Sam Woodyard, plus pianists Willie Jones, Carlos Diernhammer & Raymond Fol.

INCLUDES THE COMPLETE LPs:
COOKIN' (1957), DIMINUENDO, CRESCENDO AND BLUES (1958) & CLARK TERRY featuring PAUL GONSALVES (1959). As a bonus, a sextet session that is also fronted by Gonsalves and Terry.

Paul Gonsalves and Clark Terry would record together for the first time in 1948, as members of the celebrated Count Basie orchestra. They can be heard on the many live Basie recordings from this period as well as the band's 1949 studio recordings. The trumpeter and tenor saxophonist would be reunited two years later as members of the legendary Duke Ellington orchestra. Terry - born on December 14, 1920 and still musically active at the time of this writing - would leave and return to Duke's band many times during the mid fifties (he would continue to work with Ellington for concerts and studio recordings through the mid sixties. Their final collaboration was for the 1967 Billy Strayhorn memorial album And His Mother Called Him Bill). Although Gonsalves made a few isolated individual recordings (mainly with other Ellington sidemen) he would remain with Duke's orchestra for the remainder of his life. Our collection includes three isolated quintet albums made by Gonsalves and Terry with the aid of Jimmy Woode and San Woodyard, both longtime Duke associates. The first album dates back to 1957, shortly after Gonsalves' gained fame for his long improvisation on ''Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue'' at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Hints of this performance are heard twice on this set, both on a new version of the aforementioned title recorded in Germany in 1958, and on ''Festival'', from the 1957 LP. The second and the third quintet albums were recorded abroad while the Ellington orchestra was touring Europe. One album was made in Germany and the other in France. As a bonus to the three quintet albums, we have added a complete sextet session that also features Terry and Gonsalves. It was originally issued on an LP titled The Jazz School.

Pee Wee Russell

Editor's info:
For the first time ever on CD, the complete 1959 album Pee Wee Russell Plays, the clarinettist's first LP presenting only his own compositions!

As a bonus, the complete LP Portrait of Pee Wee, selected as one of 100 best jazz albums of all time, and also featuring Vic Dickenson and Bud Freeman, plus the great Ruby Braff.

A unique and distinctive voice in jazz clarinet, Charles Ellsworth Russell (March 27, 1906-February 15, 1969) was much better known by his nickname Pee Wee. His recording career began in 1924 and continued until the year of his death. Our collection compiles two of the best albums made by Pee Wee Russell in the late fifties. Pee Wee Russell Plays, which appears here on CD for the first time ever, has the additional value of presenting only Russell's own compositions. These were Pee Wee's first studio recordings with trumpet star Buck Clayton, although both had played together before. As a bonus, we offer another complete album, Portrait of Pee Wee, featuring the great Ruby Braff and, once again, Bud Freeman and Vic Dickenson. In fact, this album was the immediate predecessor to Pee Wee Russell Plays in the clarinettist's discography. It was made almost exactly a year earlier. Its repertoire consists primarily of standard tunes, as well as two of the compositions by Pee Wee that would be recorded again for Pee Wee Russell Plays, ''Pee Wee's Blues'' and ''Oh No!'' (It's delightful to compare the two different versions of Russell's delicate blues). Maybe this album with its two lonely Russell melodies served as an inspiration for the later project.

John LaPorta

Editor's info:
This is the first time the master takes ever appear on CD. Not only that, ''Saxidental'' and twelve alternate takes included here have never been previously released on any format.

Tracks 1-12 on CD 1 appear here on CD for the first time ever.
Tracks 13-20 on CD 1 and 1-5 on CD 2 are previously unreleased.
INCLUDES 20-PAGE BOOKLET WITH INSIGHFUL LINER NOTES
As a bonus, the two complete sessions following in John LaPorta's discography as a leader.

John Daniel LaPorta was not born in Philadelphia on April 1, 1920 - as all jazz encyclopedias officially claim - but on April 22 of that year. He reported this in person, jokingly alluding to the fact that he therefore was not perpetually doomed to be branded an 'April Fool's child' for the rest of his life. Whether he was or not is of course irrelevant, as it has no bearing whatsoever on his considerable musical abilities and achievements. He was one of those rare musicians who felt completely at ease performing both composed (i.e. classical) and improvised music (jazz) at a time when these two forms of art were still completely 'segregated'. As a result, in the first stages of his professional career he played with artists of considerable fame and merit who were dedicated to widely divergent forms of music, such as Woody Herman, Igor Stravinsky, Lennie Tristano, Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Parker, Leopold Stokowski, Charles Mingus, Gunther Schuller, and Zita Carno (in the midfifties, he recorded the 'Sonata in F Minor for Clarinet and Piano', composed by Johannes Brahms, with Carno on one side of an LP and on the other four pieces for jazz trio - a quite unusual recording venture for those times). His very first jazz composition, the swinging opus 'Non-Alcoholic' (which had nothing to do with the budding 'Alcoholics Anonymous' movement at the time) was written for Woody Herman's most famous 'First Herd' and recorded on December 10, 1946 in Chicago.

Earl Hines

Editor's info:
''Now, Earl Hines is a good one, He may say he can't play the blues, but he will for me. He used to pleay for Chippie Hill at the Golden Lili and The Sunset in Chicago. Earl is a great pianist. Nat Cole is another one for playing the blues. He was a great admirer of Earl Hines, and you have to remember that. I used to sit down at night and listen to Earl for hours in after-hours sports. He was a pacesetter in Chicago for years, and everybody tried to play like him'' - Jimmy Rushing

Chucho Valdes & Irakere

Editor' info:
This CD compiles all of the live 1978 recirdings of one of the finest formations in the history of Chucho Valdés' celebrated band Irakere. The lineup included such superlative musicians as Arturo Sandoval, Paquito D'Rivera, Carlos Averhoff, Carlos Emilio Morales, Carlos del Puerto and Enrique Plá to name a few. The band can be heard in a concert at Havana's Teatro 23 y 12, as wel as performances at the Newport and Montreuz jazz festivals. Includes 12-page comprehensive booklet with liner notes in English and Spanish! ''Irakere is one of my greast achievements. I never imagined that the band would reach such heights. I formed the group and was the arranger and composer of over 90 percents of this repertory. Irakere's style has become universally recognized as one of the greatest musical contributions of the 20th Century.'' - Chucho Valdés

Early Music Ensemble Scandicus

Info wydawcy:
Wiek XIII w Europie to czas, gdy żarliwa religijność zaczęła rozsadzać funkcjonujące dotąd formy uczestnictwa świeckich w życiu Kościoła. Skutkowało to aktywnością, której przejawem stały się zakony żebracze, biczownicy, rozmaite bractwa religijne. Niewątpliwie postaciami, których działalność wywarła największy wpływ na Kościół w kolejnych dekadach, byli święty Dominik i święty Franciszek z Asyżu. Ich misja zaowocowała większą świadomością religijną ludzi świeckich i potrzebą jej wyrażania. Pieśń słoneczna św. Franciszka - pierwowzór włoskiej laudy - dał impuls do tworzenia się w miastach bractw śpiewaczych - laudesi, które gromadziły się w kościołach, by wspólnie modlić się i śpiewać na specjalnych nabożeństwach.
Z czasem bardziej zamożne bractwa zaczęły zatrudniać profesjonalnych muzyków, którzy umieli wykonywać coraz trudniejsze technicznie utwory. Zaczęto również stosować formy dramatyczne, co stało się zalążkiem nowej formy muzycznej - oratorium.
Bractwo Confraternita di Santa Maria delle Laude działało w Cortonie, przy kościele św. Franciszka; w latach 1260 - 1297 jego działalność zaowocowała powstaniem kodeksu znanego pod nazwą Laudario di Cortona (Biblioteca del Comune e dell'Accademia Etrusca di Cortona, MS 91), zawierającego 46 laud wraz z zapisem muzycznym. Jest to jeden z najstarszych manuskryptów zawierających pieśni religijne w języku włoskim, z czasów, gdy zaczęła rozkwitać poezja religijna w językach narodowych, reprezentowana przez twórczość Jacopone da Todi, franciszkańskiego poety i mistyka.
Niniejsza płyta zawiera wybór pieśni pochodzących z tego rękopisu. Odnajdziemy na niej utwory maryjne, bożonarodzeniowe, wielkopostne i wielkanocne oraz poświęcone świętym. Dwie pieśni (w tym Troppo per del tempo ze słowami Jacopone da Todi) to rozważania o miłości Chrystusa, będące przykładami egzaltowanej poezji religijnej tego okresu.
Piotr Flis

Zespół Muzyki Dawnej ''Scandicus'' został założony w 1999 roku; zajmuje się muzyką średniowieczną, przede wszystkim wokalną. W jego repertuarze znajdują się pieśni religijne i świeckie, pochodzące z wielu źródeł, takich jak: Laudario di Cortona, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Llibre Vermell. W skład instrumentarium wchodzą: fidel, flety proste, harfa, lutnia oraz instrumenty perkusyjne: riq, darabuka, bendir. Scandicus współpracuje z polskimi i zagranicznymi muzykami, specjalizującymi się
w wykonywaniu muzyki dawnej.
Zespół koncertuje w całej Polsce; brał udział m. in. Międzynarodowych Spotkaniach z Muzyką Dawną w Świeradowie Zdroju, w Międzynarodowym Festiwalu Muzyki Sakralnej ''Salve Regina'' w Wigrach, w IV Międzynarodowym Festiwalu im. Agricoli w Świebodzinie. Scandicus chętnie występuje również w muzeach i podczas obchodów uroczystości związanych z upamiętnieniem wydarzeń historycznych.


Editor's info:
13th century in Europe was a time when fervent religiousness began to burst previous forms of laity participation in the Church's life. It resulted in a kind of activity, signs of which became mendicant orders, flagellants, various religious fraternities. Undoubtedly, people of the most significant influence on the Church during consecutive decades, were Saint Dominic and Saint Francis of Assisi. Their mission had the effect of growing religious consciousness of laity and the need for its expression. Saint Francis's Canticle of the Sun- precursor of Italian lauda - gave an impulse to create in towns singing fraternities - laudesi, which gathered in churches to sing and pray during special services. With time, more wealthy fraternities began to hire professional musicians, able to perform more and more technically complicated works. Dramatic forms were also introduced, what turned out to be a germ of a new musical form, shaped later - oratorio.
Fraternity Confraternita di Santa Maria delle Laude acted in Cortona, attached to Saint Francis church, and between 1260 - 1297, thanks to their activity, a codex was created, known under the name of Laudario di Cortona (Biblioteca del Comune e dell'Accademia Etrusca di Cortona, MS 91) containing 46 laude accompanied with musical notation. It is one of the oldest manuscripts comprising sacred songs in Italian, dating from times, when sacred poetry in national languages, represented by works of Jacopone da Todi (Franciscan poet and mystic), started to flourish.
This record contains a choice of songs taken out from this manuscript. Among them Marian, Christmas, Lent and Easter songs and also works dedicated to saints can be found. Two works, examples of gushing religious poetry of that time (one of them Troppo per del tempo with lyrics by Jacopone da Todi), are deliberations on Christ's love.
Piotr Flis

The Early Music Ensemble Scandicus was established in 1999 and performs medieval music, particularly vocal. Its repertoire includes sacred and secular songs of various sources, such as: Laudario di Cortona, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Llibre Vermell. The instruments used by the ensemble are: fiddle, recorders, harp, lute and percussion instruments: riq, darabuka, bendir. Scandicus cooperates with Polish and foreign musicians specialising in performing early music.
The ensemble give concerts throughout Poland; among others it took part in International Meetings with Early Music in Świeradów Zdrój, International Sacred Music Festival ''Salve Regina'' in Wigry, Fourth International Agricola Festival in Świebodzin. Scandicus also enjoys performing in museums and during celebrations of historical events.

3D (Chris Dahlgren, Christopher Dell, Maurice De Martin)

Dizzy Gillespie / Sonny Stitt Quartet

Editor's info:
Two rare and long out of print performances by the 1974 quintet fronted by bebop luminaries Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stitt.
As a bonus, most of the material from a third concert by the same group in Belgrade.
Includes 8-page booklet Dizzy Gillespie's association with Sonny Stitt dates back to the inception of bebop. Their first recorded encounter took place in 1946. In the mid fifties, both Sonny and Diz were part of the Norman Granz Jazz at the Philharmonic wagon, and as such were captured in concert in 1955 with other jazz greats like Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster and Lester Young. They taped two celebrated albums for Granz the following year: Dizzy Meets Sonny (a sextet effort in which they were the only horn players, recorded on January 12, 1956) and For Musicians Only (also a sextet, but with Stan Getz added on tenor sax). This same front line would be captured on tape on October 20, 1957 during a JATP concert. Both the Dizzy Gillespie Duets and Sonny Side Up LPs were also issued in 1957. The two formidable albums featured Diz and Stitt plus Sonny Rollins. From then on, and with the sole exception of their work on the soundtrack for the French film Les Tricheurs in 1958 (in which both participated, but played on different tracks), no other collaboration between them seems to exist until 1971, when jazz producer George Wein formed the touring and recording sextet ''The Giants of Jazz''. The band featured Diz and Stitt plus Kai Winding, Thelonious Monk, Al McKibbon and Art Blakey. When they were disbanded, most of their components never recorded together again. However, in 1974, Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stitt formed a new touring quintet, which also featured Al Gafa on electric guitar, Earl May on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. Gillespie had long favored Roker, with whom he had recorded three studio albums. The group's European concerts usually consisted of half a set by Gillespie with the rhythm section (in a quartet format, and playing more ''modern'' songs with the help of Gafa's electric guitar) and a second set adding Stitt, in which Gafa was mostly limited to a rhythm section role and the tunes were often jazz standards and bebop classics. Parts of three different concerts by this group exist, all of which were recorded privately or from the radio. After the tour, Gillespie and Stitt's paths would only cross on one other occasion (at least in the presence of recording devices) for the making of the album The Bop Session, recorded in May 1975.

Gerry Mulligan / Art Farmer Quartet & Chico Hamilton / Eric Dolphy Quintet

Editor's info:
All known recordings by Gerry Mulligan and the Chico Hamilton Quintet with Eric Dolphy at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.
Compiled here for the first time ever on a single CD!!!

This set presents all of the known recordings by Gerry Mulligan (featured both in his celebrated piano-less quartet with Art Farmer and with the Marian McPartland trio) and the Chico Hamilton Quintet with Eric Dolphy at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. The event was also unique in that portions of the concerts were filmed and edited into Bert Stern's movie feature Jazz on a Summer's Day. As usual, many formations appeared at the festival, and some of the music was also professionally recorded and subsequently issued (as is the case with the performances by the Miles Davis Sextet and the Dave Brubeck Quartet). Some other performances were captured by radio devices and appeared many years later on obscure LPs and CDs now out of print. Sound quality, as can be imagined, differs from source to source. Together with the Mulligan-Farmer music, the five tunes known to be recorded by the Chico Hamilton Quintet with Eric Dolphy at Newport that year are also reunited here for the first time ever on a single set. They had previously appeared on three different long out of print issues. These tracks are valuable, as they mark the first existing performances ever by Hamilton and Dolphy playing together.

Ella Fitzgerald

Editor's info:
Featuring Joe Pass, Harry ''Sweets'' Edison, Clark Terry, J.J. Johnson, Zoot Sims, Eddie ''Lockjaw'' Davis, Oscar Peterson, Paul Smith, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen & Louie Bellson, among others.

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ON DVD!!!

AN AMAZING CONCERT FEATURING THE INIMITABLE ELLA FITZGERALD WITH THE PAUL SMITH TRIO, AND WITH AN ALL STAR FORMATION INCLUDING JOE PASS AND OSCAR PETERSON. BEAUTIFULLY FILMED IN COLOR AND WITH EXCELLENT SOUND QUALITY


This wonderful DVD presents the second half of a 1987 Tokyo concert. (The first half of the concert - presenting the Oscar Peterson Big Four with Joe Pass, NHOP and Martin Drew) - appears on our companion DVD Oh44643). The performance features Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), one of the great divas of jazz singing. The concert begins with a set by Ella backed by her regular trio with Paul Smith on piano. The accompaniment is then augmented to a quartet with the addition of the great guitarist Joe Pass. The singer and vocalist had made a few unique albums together, and their magical chemistry can be seen here on an Ellington medley and a version of the Carmichael evergreen ''Georgia on My Mind''. For a big finale, a number of jazz stars join them on the classic ''Flying Home'', ending the concert in the spirit of the great jazz jam sessions.

Jack Teargarden Octet / Frank Rosolino Quartet

Editor's info:
TWO OF THE GREATEST EXPONENTS OF JAZZ TROMBONE IN RARE FILMED PERFORMANCES!!
The trombone was present in jazz since its inception, and the first Afro-American group to make a record was that of trombonist Kid Ory in June 1922. However, in the genre's rich history, only a few outstanding soloists have come to light - certainly fewer than on other horns like the trumpet and the various kinds of saxophones. Perhaps this is due to the intricacies of the trombone, which make it hard to create a natural and fluid voice. Among the best trombone stars ever were the two musicians showcased on this DVD. Frank Rosolino (1926-1978) was one of the best known names in the West Coast due both to his exceptional technique and his warm personality. He played with the bands of Tony Pastor, Herbie Fields, Stan Kenton and Georgie Auld, and recorded many albums under his own name. This 1962 TV show features him in a quartet format spotlighting all his talents. Jack Teagarden (1905-1964) was a widely loved figure - both as a trombonist and as a singer - from his recording debut in 1927 until his death. Unlike the rough sound generally attributed to the trombone, Teagarden created a unique and melancholic voice on his instrument that would forever change the sound of the jazz trombone. He is presented here in 1952, right after leaving the Louis Armstrong All Stars (where he also shared the stage with Barney Bigard, Earl Hines and Sidney Catlett) performing some of his favorite songs in the company of his brother Charlie. A very interesting trumpet player, Charlie Teagarden (1913-1984) - who was clearly influenced by Bix Beiderbecke - is a true pleasure to listen to. As a bonus we have included a complete 1939 short film presenting pianist/composer/singer Hoagy Carmichael playing his tunes with Jack Teagarden and his orchestra. In order to enjoy the music, we must ignore the evident emphasis the film's director put on racial stereotypes when presenting Afro-Americans. Unfortunately, this was commonplace in the thirties. Drummer Clois Teagarden is another of Jack's brothers (Norma, not seen or heard here, was a pianist).

Benny Golson / Tubby Hayes & British Orchhestra 1966 / Stan Kenton & His Orchestra 1962

Editor's info:
The pairing of Stan Kenton (1912-1979) and Benny Golson (born in 1929) on this DVD might seem strange. However, all of the music heard on this DVD has a certain unity of conception, for all tracks are performed by big bands in which the arrangements seem if not more, at least in equal importance to the improvised solos. That's of course one of the characteristics of the Stan Kenton sound, which put emphasis on jazz composition and featured such noted composers and arrangers as Pete Rugolo, Bill Russo, Gerry Mulligan and Shorty Rogers. On the program offered here, Bill Holman is the arranger of two tunes, Johnny Richards of one, drummer Dee Barton arranged his own ''Waltz of the Prophets'' and Kenton himself presents his conception of the perennial ''All the Things You Are''. Benny Golson, on the other hand, is not featured as performer on the set included here, but as composer, arranger and conductor, leading a group labeled as the British Orchestra, which included the well known English saxophonist Tubby Hayes (1935-1973). Golson had recorded some of these tunes and arrangements in 1964 with the so-called Benny Golson International Jazz Orchestra in Stockholm (the album was titled Stockholm Sojourn, taking its title from the composition that also opens the program here). ''The Call'' and Golson's arrangement of Bill Evans' ''Waltz for Debby'' were also part of that album. In London, however, Golson included three other numbers not on the LP: ''Happy Face'', ''British Blues'', and a beautiful big band arrangement of one of his best known tunes, ''I Remember Clifford'', composed after Clifford Brown's tragic death. Tubby Hayes later conducts his own arrangements with the British Orchestra on three tunes. As a bonus, we have added three more tunes by Stan Kenton taken from a 1971 TV show.

Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators

Brand Magazyn; 12/2008
Jeśli brzmienie Motown jest wam bliskie to Nicole Willis nie można pominąć. Z pełnym przekonaniem można stwierdzić, że Nicole Willis obok Michaela McDonalda, Alice Russell i Sharon Jones to pierwsi pretendenci do miana spadkobierców muzyków kojarzonych z Motown, by wspomnieć tylko Diana Ross and The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye i Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.

W dwie minuty i czterdzieści pięć sekund Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators podają perfekcyjną definicję tego czym jest ''Motown Sound'', legendarne brzmienie Motown.

To co cechuje muzykę Nicole to elektryzująca ekspresja wokalna, duża dbałość o samą melodię, dynamikę i rytm.
Warto zastanowić się jaka jest przyczyna tego, że Nicole udało się tchnąć, w lekko zakurzoną już przez czas formę, nowe-muzyczne życie. Odbywa się to oczywiście bez rewolucyjnych zmian, jednak muzyczne ''dzisiaj'' odciska tu swoje piętno, mamy w końcu do czynienia ze współpracowniczką Leftfield przy płycie 'Rhythm and Stealth' czy Jimi'ego Tenora przy płycie 'Out Of Nowhere'.

W Los Angeles corocznie wręczane są Złote Gramofony, czyli nagrody Grammy. W tym roku przeglądając listę zwycięzców w oczy rzuca się jedno: króluje czarna muzyka. I nie chodzi tylko o tytuł płyty Amy Winehouse (''Back to Black''), która jest największą triumfatorką imprezy (pięć nagród: nowa twarz roku, najlepsza płyta pop, najlepsza wokalistka pop, najlepsze nagranie roku i najlepsza piosenka roku). Rzecz w tym, że wszystkie główne nagrody zdobyli artyści sięgający do nagrań soulowych z lat 60. Motown, funk, jazz - te słowa klucze stanowiły o sukcesie.

Czarnoskóre wokalistki w typie Nicole Willis, Sharon Jones czy Alice Russell to dzisiaj fundamenty nowego soulu, przywołującego wszystko to co najlepsze w ''Motown Sound'', nie odżegnujące sie jednak od współczesnych trendów.



Rolling Stone, Nov 06
rating: * * * *
Les Inrocks, Oct 06

Muziq, Oct 06

Le Monde, 2 Oct 06

MOJO, APR 2006
''Veering between breakbeat-strewn JB strut and a glorious Motown-outtake sound, the Investigators aren't faking their funk.''


RECORD COLLECTOR, FEB 2006
''In ten huge productions they round up every stray vibe a Soul LP should boast.''


SOUL UP NORTH, JAN 2006
''Should be on your must buy list.

www.xlr8r.com
Keep Reachin' Up is an apt name for Brooklyn-based vocalist Nicole Willis' new record. Along with the Finnish-bred The Soul Investigators, Willis has been getting her just desserts over the last year, with Giles Peterson proclaiming the album's opener, 'Feeling Free,' track of the year, and 'If This Ain't Love' taking a slot on BBC's Top Ten Tracks of the Year list. Normally giving a Northern spin to the classic soul formula in their music, Willis and The Soul Investigators add an extra element to this latest release, namely, a collaboration with legendary dance music producer Maurice Fulton.

Soft and warm, Keep Reachin' Up is being released by Light in the Attic records, following on the heels of two Betty Davis reissues. A tough act to follow, but Willis and the Investigators are no pushovers, pulling in contributions from Jukka Sarapää, Jimi Tenor, Pekka Kuusisto, and others, and keeping the Motown in modern soul.

by Cameron Octigan

Stina Nordenstam

Stina Nordenstam to jeden z najbardziej oryginalnych kobiecych głosów we współczesnej muzyce pop. Na początku lat 90. zabiegał o podpisanie z nią kontraktu Ivo Watts-Russell, szef wytwórni 4AD, który chętnie Stinę by widział u siebie, obok Cocteau Twins i Dead Can Dance i jako filar projektu This Mortal Coil. Do współpracy nie doszło, co nie przeszkodziło Stinie wspaniale kontynuować karierę - jako jednej z najwyżej cenionych przez recenzentów i elitarną publiczność wokalistek. Pod koniec lat 90. jej płyty stawały się coraz bardziej mroczne i niepokojące. Ten okres, znaczony takimi tytułami, jak 'Dynamite' (autorskim) i 'People Are Strange' (z coverami m.in. . . . . Tima Hardina, Leonarda Cohena czy Prince'a) Stina ma już za sobą. Choć raczej pozostaje po tej ciemniejszej stronie muzycznego spektrum, 'This Is Stina Nordenstam' z 2001 roku (z duetami z Brettem Andersonem z Suede) czy współpraca z tak wybitnymi muzykami jak Vangelis i Bill Laswell ugruntowały jej wysoką pozycję. Opatrzony optymistycznym tytułem 'The World Is Saved', wydany po trzyletniej przerwie jest kolejnym przykładem wielkiego i niewyczerpanego talentu tej znakomitej wokalistki.


info dystrybutora
Breathy Swedish chanteuse Stina Nordenstam draws on jazz, electronica, post rock, smooth, sultry lounge, and the confessional singer/songwriter tradition to create unique, beautiful pop music. THE WORLD IS SAVED, the follow-up to Nordenstam's critically lauded THIS IS STINA NORDENSTAM, brings together many of the elements that seemed to be at odds on the artist's previous efforts. Winding, immediately disarming melodies are cloaked in breezy orchestral pop, shuffling, downtempo trip-hop, warm soul-jazz grooves, and intimate chamber pieces here.
While this may sound on paper like a stylistic mash-up, THE WORLD IS SAVED is remarkably cohesive. Shot through with a plaintive melancholy that almost demands the album be listened to alone, on a rainy night, while gazing out the window. It has the shiny accessibility that made THIS IS so enjoyable, but is moodier, more sophisticated, and ultimately, more deeply affecting . At the center of this impact, of course, are Nordenstam's poetic lyrics and her voice, which is frail, ethereal, and capable of breaking an unsuspecting listener's heart.


Magnet
[T]he reclusive Swedish singer/songwriter revels in moments when life threatens to collapse, leaving a pile of emotional rubble. . ..[The] musical accompaniments temper the heartbreak and pain at the center of THE WORLD.