Laurindo Almeida - Virtuoso Guitar (1977)

This extraordinary Brazilian guitarist, composer, and arranger was introduced to music by his mother, a concert pianist who gave him his first lessons. Like his sister, however, he would eventually choose the guitar as his primary instrument. As a teenager, Almeida witnessed, and participated in, a great deal of civil unrest; the experience galvanized him and fueled a lifelong passion for the politics of his native country. At age 19, he became a performer aboard the Brazilian ocean liner Cuyaba, which enabled him to travel to Europe, hear the legendary Django Reinhardt in Paris, and experience a great deal of foreign culture.

In Brazil, he formed a guitar duo named Cordas Quentes with Garoto, who he met at Radio Mayrink Veiga in Rio de Janeiro. In 1947, he went on tour with singer and actress Carmen Miranda's band. This led him to Hollywood, where he performed on film soundtracks and appeared in concerts with violinist Elizabeth Waldo; he also composed the first of his more than 800 scores for movies and television series. He was to win Oscars for his soundtracks to The Old Man and the Sea (1958) and The Magic Pear Tree (1970). He soon joined the innovative Stan Kenton Orchestra and became a featured soloist. After three years, he established permanent residence in Los Angeles and began an astonishingly prolific recording career that was to earn him ten Grammy awards.

Almeida's palette of stylistic and emotional expression was wide-ranging. His early '50s Brazilliance albums with Bud Shank helped establish the bossa nova style in the States several years before the craze hit. He also recorded and toured with the Modern Jazz Quartet and was equally at home with classical and modern concert music, such as Gnattali's Concerto de Copacabana and the Guitar Concerto of Villa-Lobos. ~ "Blue Gene" Tyranny, All Music Guide




About the Recording

Virtuoso Guitar is a very rare 1977 US 4-track limited edition 'Supercut' direct to disc 45RPM audiophile LP recorded live directly to the master lacquer & pressed on high quality vinyl, silvered embossed pasted picture sleeve. Fabulous sound quality and "there"-ness. Laurindo Almeida interprets classics such as Yesterday and also delves into more comptempory music blending in and creating a soundscape so effortless whatever the tune. And oh, the sound quality is simply astonishing, makes you really just sit and listen.

Track Listing:
1. Yesterday
2. Jazz-Tuno At The Mission
3. Late Last Night
4, 5, 6. Sonata For Guitar & Cello In Three Movements by Radames Gnattali

Year: 1977
Label: Crystal Clear Records CCS 8001
Style: Acoustic Jazz, Guitar
Audio: 24bit-96kHz Vinyl rip, FLAC
Size: 498 MB

Joe Sample, Ray Brown, Shelly Manne - The Three (1975)

One of the most successful Japanese piano trio recordings of the 70s -- a super-session performed by a a trio of Americans that includes Joe Sample on acoustic piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums! Given that Sample's best known during the era for his electric keys with the Crusaders (and on countless studio sessions), it's a real treat to hear him tickle the ivories in an acoustic way -- and a genuine surprise to hear how strong his work is in such a format.

Joe manages to swing the tunes with plenty of creative improvisation, but also keeps a strong focus on the groove too -- making for an album that's got some of the rhythmic flourishes of the best work of the Oscar Peterson trio in later years, but with some of the added freedoms of the Japanese scene and a tight swinging sound that's very much in the soul jazz tradition of the LA scene that spawned all three players.



Personnel:
Joe Sample - Piano
Ray Brown - Bass
Shelly Manne - Drums

Track listing:
1 Yearnin'
2 On Green Dolphin Street
3 Satin Doll
4 Mañha de Carnaval
5 'Round About Midnight
6 Funky Blues

Vinyl rip in 24-bit/96kHz | FLAC | East Wind 10001 Nippon Phonogram Tokyo Direct-to-disc recording

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella in Hollywood (1961)

Ella in Hollywood is a live 1961 album by Ella Fitzgerald, with a jazz trio led by Lou Levy, recorded in Hollywood, Los Angeles. This album features Ella at the height of her vocal powers, one month before the recording of her most critically acclaimed studio album, Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!. Ella in Hollywood features several songs that serve as starting points for Ella's seemingly effortless scat solos ("Take the 'A' Train" is considered one of her best scat performances on record), and a selection of beautiful ballads balance out the album. For many years, the album was only available on CD as a Japanese import, but in April 2009 Verve finally gave it a worldwide CD release.

There’s nothing rare about a joyous Ella Fitzgerald recording; the woman exuded joy in nearly every note she sang. Yet the level on these sessions soared higher and plumbed deeper. Gary Giddins, the veteran critic and author of “Jazz,” agrees. “This ranks on the top shelf of her live recordings,” he said. “It’s about as good as it gets.” The 1961 Crescendo gig, which took place from May 11 to 21 (with one night off), was booked as an afterthought to begin with, a time filler between a European tour that Fitzgerald and her quartet had begun in February and a monthlong stay at the Basin Street East in New York that June. Norman Granz took the unusual step of taping every set. But in the next year alone he and Fitzgerald recorded six studio albums, most of them with large orchestras, including two of her eight heavily promoted songbook albums, each devoted to standards by a prominent American composer. In this context it’s not so surprising that the Crescendo tapes received short shrift. “My guess,” Mr. Seidel said in a phone interview, “would be that Norman Granz was just recording Ella so much at the time, and was probably focused much more on her big studio projects.” Granz did pull 12 tracks from the roughly 14 hours of material recorded at the Crescendo and released them that year as an LP called “Ella in Hollywood.” But the album didn’t do well, perhaps because it sounded so strange. In between the songs, for reasons now unknown, someone spliced in loud applause that had been recorded in a large concert hall, making the whole album seem artificial. (The Crescendo was a nightclub of 200 seats). Whatever the reasons for the flat reviews and scant sales, the executives of Verve — which Granz had sold to MGM in 1960 — put the Crescendo tapes in the vault, where they were forgotten for the next 27 years (this refers to the 4-CD boxset also released by Verve in 2009).

Track listing:
1. "This Could Be the Start of Something Big" (Steve Allen) – 2:33
2. "I've Got the World on a String" (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler) – 3:44
3. "You're Driving Me Crazy" (Walter Donaldson) – 3:23
4. "Just in Time" (Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne) – 1:56
5. "It Might as Well Be Spring" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) – 3:07
6. "Take the "A" Train" (Billy Strayhorn) – 9:04
7. "Stairway to the Stars" (Matty Malneck, Mitchell Parish, Frank Signorelli) – 3:56
8. "(If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)" (Sam Coslow) – 4:05
9. "Satin Doll" (Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Strayhorn) – 2:53
10. "Blue Moon" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 3:17
11. "Baby, Won't You Please Come Home?" (Charles Warfield, Clarence Williams) – 3:41
12. "Air Mail Special" (Charlie Christian, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Mundy) – 5:26

Personnel:
* Ella Fitzgerald - Vocals
* Wilfred Middlebrooks - Bass
* Lou Levy - Piano
* Gus Johnson - Drums
* Herb Ellis - Guitar

Recorded live, May 11- May 21, 1961, Hollywood, Los Angeles

Bill Frisell - Music for the Film of Buster Keaton - The High Sign ; One Week {Elektra Nonesuch 1995}

“The most inventive and compelling guitarist to emerge in more than a decade” (Oakland Tribune), composer/guitarist/bandleader Bill Frisell trains his unique compositional lens on the silent film works of 1920s comedic phenom Buster Keaton, forging Music for the Films of Buster Keaton: Go West and The High Sign / One Week, two remarkable recordings representing the sixth and seventh additions to Frisell's Nonesuch catalog.

Music for the Films of Buster Keaton provides a deeper look at Frisell’s longstanding fascination with Americana (also explored in his earlier Nonesuch releases This Land and Have a Little Faith). In a musical storytelling of the rises, falls and comedic/tragic mishaps of Buster Keaton’s most memorable screen personae, the voice of Frisell’s signature guitar presides conversing, pondering, scheming over vignettes of fluctuating rhythms, tempos and moods, weaving the particular atmosphere of placid tumult so intrinsic to Keaton’s work and life. After a New York City performance accompanying the films, the New York Times said, “Mr. Frisell’s scores perfectly balance the need to be abstract and the need to be literal ... [He has] recurring motifs that suggest the new American possibility of the time, motifs redolent of the sort of optimism heard in some country music, blues and jazz.”

Both Go West and The High Sign / One Week feature the Bill Frisell band, a tightly knit trio in which longtime collaborators Kermit Driscoll (bass) and Joey Baron (drums) flank Frisell’s inimitable fretwork, exhibiting a level of communication for which Frisell’s ensembles are renowned. Formed in 1986, the band often conspired with such notable talents as clarinetist Don Byron, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, and accordionist Guy Klucevsek, among others. ”


Track Listing:
1 Introduction 0:37
2 The High Sign Theme / Help Wanted 0:42
3 Target Practice 1:16
4 The Blinking Buzzards 1:06
5 Good Shot / Swearing In / Shooting Gallery 2:30
6 Chase / Cop 5:45
7 The High Sign Theme / At the Home of August Nickel 1:10
8 Chase / Caught 3:21
9 The High Sign Theme 1:56
10 One Week Theme / The Wedding 0:27
11 Reckless Driving 1:39
12 Construction 0:49
13 Oh, Well / The Piano 3:12
14 Fight 2:05
15 Oh, Well / Bath Scene 1:42
16 Housewarming Party and Storm 2:32
17 One Week Theme / Aftermath 2:19
18 Here Comes the Train 0:44
19 Oh, Well 0:49

Personnel:
Bill Frisell, acoustic and electric guitars
Kermit Driscoll, acoustic and electric basses
Joey Baron, drums and percussion

Nikos Skalkottas (1904-49) Music For Violin And Piano

Nikos Skalkottas produced his abundant compositional legacy in virtual obscurity. Even some of his close colleagues and family members had no idea he was a composer. A half century after Skalkottas' early death, the Greek composer is finally getting his due. Gunther Schuller's Margun Music has published a significant handful of scores, while BIS continues what hopes to be an ongoing survey of his music. In certain respects, it's a miracle that the music has survived at all. Much of Skalkottas' prolific output only exists in manuscript; tracking it all down amounts to a detective job from hell. For instance, only the second movement survives from Skallkotas' first of four Violin Sonatinas recorded here. It's a three-minute curio that aptly can be described as "Schoenberg meets Samba".

Much of Skalkottas' music, in fact, evokes the lilting, cosmopolitan sound world of the composers who made up "Les Six", yet the grammar is thoroughly rooted in Schoenberg's gritty, uncompromising 12-tone lexicon. Hints of catchy melodies flicker in and out of thorny chordal bushes and spiky rhythmic cells. Skalkottas is fond of abrupt endings. Each of Sonata for Solo Violin's four movements, for example, concludes in midthought, as if the composer simply decided to stop in his tracks and give his feverish pen a rest.

While it makes programming and marketing sense to build a CD release around all the Skalkottas violin music, it's best to absorb these dense, quirky works in small doses. Start with the oddly engaging Little Chorale and Fugue, then proceed to the larger-scaled Fourth Sonatina. Then choose an encore from any of the five concluding miniatures at the end of the disc. Georgios Demertzis and Maria Asteriadou dive head first into this strange, insidiously original music, playing with ferocity and musicianly abandon. Powerful stuff. ~Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Track listing:

Sonata for Solo Violin (1925)
1. I. Allegro furioso, quasi Presto 2'33
2. II. Adagietto 2'42
3. III. Allegro ritmato 1'41
4. IV. Adagio - Allegro molto Moderato 5'40

Sonatina No.1 for Violin and Piano (1929)
5. II. Andantino 2'50

Sonatina No.2 for Violin and Piano (1929)
6. I. Allegro 2'13
7. II. Andante 2'20
8. III. Allegro vivace 2'01

Sonatina No.3 for Violin and Piano (1935)
9. I. Allegro giusto 2'55
10. II. Andante 5'06
11. III. Maestoso - Vivace 3'17

Sonatina No.4 for Violin and Piano (1935)
12. I. Moderato 3'26
13. II. Adagio 6'49
14. III. Allegro moderato 2'51

Little Chorale and Fugue (c.1936/37?)
15. Adagio 1'16
16. Moderato 1'40

17. March of the Little Soldiers (c. 1936/37?) 0'50

18. Nocturne (c. 1936/37?) 4'53

19. Rondo (c. 1936/37?) 1'18

20. Gavotte (1939) 1'36

21. Scherzo (c. 1940?) 2'22

22. Menuetto Cantato (c. 1940?) 2'14

personnel:

Georgios Demertzis, violin
Maria Asteriadou, piano

BIS CD-1024, 1999

ClassicsToday.com 10/10

Stan Getz & Gerry Mulligan - Getz Meets Mulligan in Hi-Fi (1957){DCC GZS-1074 1995}

"This is the least satisfying of Gerry Mulligan's celebrated sax duet albums for Verve, but that's mainly because Getz and Mulligan switch instruments on the second half (a lame idea considering that Stan's sound on the tenor was as rare and unique as Mulligan's fluidity on the baritone). Thankfully, the CD reissue adds bonus cuts of them playing their respective horns..." sez a Mr. Nick Dedina reviewing this CD for Rhapsody.com.

Of course, we know better (or do we?) and will cherish this wonderful album for two reasons, the first one being playing the guess-who's-playing-the-bari-on-this-number and a more obvious one, i.e. the cracking enjoyment of listening to two of the greatest horn men in jazz at the peak of their artistic powers, happy holidays all...

Track Listing:
1. Let's Fall in Love
2. Anything Goes
3. Too Close for Comfort
4. That Old Feeling
5. This Can't Be Love
6. A Ballad
7. Scrapple from the Apple (bonus track)
8. I Didn't Know What Time It Was (bonus track)

Personnel:
Gerry Mulligan (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Stan Getz (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); Lou Levy (piano); Ron Carter (bass); Stan Levy (drums)

Recorded Oct. 12, 1957 for Verve Records (monaural)

Johnny Hodges & Wild Bill Davis

This is a selection of some of the most memorable tracks from the many fast-selling LPs that Johnny Hodges and the organist Wild Bill Davis made together back in the good 'ole 1960's. Most of the material was written down by Hodges himself, sometimes in collaboration with one or another of his long-time associates in Duke Ellington's band and in two cases, "Hodge Podge" and "Harmony in Harlem", with the master himself. Several classics of easy-listening music such as Hash Brown and Wings and Things are included.

The latter, the longest track here, typifies the sort of performance that made the original releases so popular. Just as simple and direct is the more relaxed A&R Blues and in all cases the rapport between these masters is obvious. Davis sometimes uses his instrument with restraint, but he more often cuts loose, as in those many pieces where Hodges lays familiar blues phrases end to end with Davis blasting away behind him. Neither of them is afraid to repeat the same idea over and again, and on all tracks barring the ballads the rhythm sections keep up a heavy, absolutely unvarying beat, really driving things to the ground.

As should be expected there are no signs of hesitancy or inhibition in these performances, and that tells us a great deal about Hodges in the sense that he sounds completely different here from in the many sophisticated vehicles the Duke provided him with. The same goes for distinguished trombonist Lawrence Brown who plays along on several tracks. But it really is all down to Hodges and Davis who manage to make these pieces their own. Having heard these two play them, nobody would want to hear them played by anyone else.

Track listing:

1. Blue Hodge
2. Hodge Podge
3. Knuckles
4. Jones
5. I Cried for You
6. A&R Blues
7. Wings and Things
8. Peg o' my Heart
9. Spotted Dog
10.Blues for Madeleine
11.Rabbit Out of the Hat
12.Hash Brown
13.Harmony in Harlem
14.Blues o' Mighty

Various personnel, recorded between 1961-66, Verve 1988

Kenny Drew Trio - If You Could See Me Now (1974)

Born in New York City in 1928, Drew first recorded with Howard McGhee in 1949, and over the next two years recorded with Buddy DeFranco, Coleman Hawkins, Milt Jackson, Charlie Parker, Buddy Rich, and Dinah Washington. He then led many recording sessions throughout the 1950s, and appeared on John Coltrane's album Blue Train.

Along with several other American jazz musicians who went to Europe, in 1961 he moved to Copenhagen, Denmark. While he sacrificed much of the interest of the American jazz audience, he gained a wide following across Europe. Kenny Drew was a well known figure on the Copenhagen jazz scene, recording many sessions with the Danish bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.

Kenny Drew and Dexter Gordon appeared onscreen in Ole Ege's theatrically released hardcore pornographic film Pornografi (1971), for which they composed and performed the score.

On his passing in 1993, Kenny Drew was interred in the Assistens Cemetery in Nørrebro, Copenhagen.

His son Kenny Drew, Jr. is also a jazz pianist.

If You Could See Me Now is the sequel album to Kenny Drew's most successful recording Dark Beauty (both for the Danish SteepleChase label). In fact, they were part of the same session as they were recorded a day apart (May 21 & 22 1974 respectively) and finds the trio in top form. Drew is expertly accompanied by Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass and Albert "Tootie" Heath on drums.


Track Listing:

In Your Own Sweet Way
If You Could See Me Now
All Souls Here
I'm Old Fashioned
Prelude To A Kiss
This Is The Moment
Oleo

Roy Ayers Ubiquity - Red Black & Green (1973)

The words versatile and multi-talented seem to damn vibraphonist/bandleader Roy Ayers with faint praise, but summing up a musician of this quality without going over the moon is a tough task. Known to the hip-hop generation as Icon Man of acid jazz, Roy Ayers roots extend deep into bop. He started playing with West Coast jazz ensembles back in the early Sixties when he was 22 or so, working with the likes of Chico Hamilton, Gerald Wilson and Hampton Hawes, among others. In 1966, he hooked up with jazz flutist Herbie Mann, and performed and recorded him for four years, most notably on Mann's Concerto Grosso In D Blues and Memphis Underground albums. By 1970, he was ready to move on, which he did with Mann's blessing and assistance. He formed the Roy Ayers Ubiquity, with an ever-changing cast that included saxman Sonny Fortune (who appears on this disc) and percussionists Billy Cobham and Alphonse Mouzon (who don't). Red Black & Green came along in 1973, at about midpoint in Ayers' Polydor career. He manages to straddle the line between jazz and soul quite comfortably, but that was an era (think Grover Washington Jr. and George Benson's CTI-era recordings) when the borders were fluid. The disc went Top 5 on the Billboard jazz chart, though it contains versions of such soul classics as Papa Was A Rolling Stone and Ain't No Sunshine.

Tracklisting:
1 Ain't No Sunshine 6:20
Written-By - Bill Withers
2 Henceforth 3:53
Written-By - Roy Ayers
Written-By, Co-producer - Myrnaleah Williams
3 Day Dreaming 5:32
Written-By - Aretha Franklin
4 Red Black & Green 4:43
Written-By - Edwin Birdsong , Roselle Weaver , Roy Ayers
5 Cocoa Butter 4:50
Written-By - Roy Ayers
6 Rhythms Of Your Mind 3:08
Co-producer - Myrnaleah Williams
Written-By - Dennis Davis
7 Papa Was A Rolling Stone 5:32
Written-By - Barrett Strong , Norman Whitfield

Credits:
Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Strings] - William S. Fischer
Backing Vocals - Carol Smiley , Claudia Moore , Laverne Seabrook , Tamara Richardson , Victoria Haspedale , Wayne Garfield
Bass - Clint Houston , Emir Ksasan
Congas, Percussion - Billy King , Daniel Benzebulon
Drums, Vocals, Arranged By - Dennis Davis
Electric Piano, Piano - Harry Whitaker
Engineer - Buzz Richmond
Engineer [Remix] - Eddie Kramer
Guitar - Billy Nichols , Bob Fusco , David Barron
Producer - Jerry Schoenbaum
Saxophone [Soprano] - Sonny Fortune
Strings - Alfred Brown , Charles McCracken , Emanuel Brown , Gene Orloff , Kermit Moore , Selwart Clarke
Trombone - Garnett Brown
Trumpet - Charles Tolliver
Vibraphone, Vocals, Piano, Organ, Arranged By - Roy Ayers

Recorded at Electric Lady Studio N.Y.C.

Bill Frisell - Music for the films of Buster Keaton - Go West

Amazon.com essential recording
Guitarist Bill Frisell's exploration of 20th-century Americana has led him to many places, but the films of silent-screen comedian Buster Keaton have been a special inspiration. What makes this "background" music so compelling is Frisell's ability to reimagine the particular landscape of Keaton's Wild West, its wide-open spaces and doomed humor. His compositional materials are almost minimalist. A few short melodies recur throughout, and the bass motif that appears with the brief "Box Car" appears again and again, in "Train," "Bullfight," "New Day," and "Cattle Drive," until it assumes the inexorable momentum of narrative. In his handling of these materials, Frisell is able to suggest a host of other musics (like the blues of "Card Game" and the dissonant near-flamenco of "Ambush") and a range of complex emotions. His then-regular partners make essential contributions: Kermit Driscoll provides rock-steady bass lines, while Joey Baron's creative use of percussion extends to using woodblocks for both humor and foreboding. Like Keaton, Frisell has the ability to take the expected, even the cliché, and make it resonate with subtle and sometimes disturbing dimensions. In the process, he has created a score that not only enriches the film but is able to stand on its own. For another Frisell take on Keaton, check out the shorter High Sign/One Week. --Stuart Broomer

For maximum enjoyment of this masterwork, one of course has to listen to the music while watching the film, he's in for an unforgettable trip, this 'soundtrack' works wonders on old Buster's antics carrying them to the late 20th century with aplomb -- kudos to these three master musicians then, and especially to Baron who propels the whole band.-- d3lta

Track listing

1. "Down on Luck" - 4:11
2. "Box Car" - 0:57
3. "Busy Street Scene" - 0:44
4. "Go West" - 1:00
5. "Train" - 3:06
6. "Brown Eyes" - 4:21
7. "Saddle Up!" - 2:41
8. "First Aid" - 0:51
9. "Bullfight" - 2:25
10. "Wolves" - 3:14
11. "New Day" - 5:27
12. "Branded" - 1:20
13. "Eats" - 1:13
14. "Splinter Scene" - 2:33
15. "Cattle Drive" - 4:36
16. "Card Game" - 5:03
17. "Ambush" - 4:02
18. "Passing Through Pasadena" - 1:52
19. "To The Streets" - 3:11
20. "Tap Dancer and Confusion" - 6:42
21. "Devil Suit" - 2:08
22. "Cops and Fireman" - 3:58
23. "That a Boy" - 1:31
24. "I Want Her" - 2:13

All compositions by Bill Frisell

* Recorded at Möbius Music, San Francisco 1995
Personnel

* Bill Frisell: acoustic and electric guitars
* Kermit Driscoll: acoustic and electric basses
* Joey Baron: drums and percussion

Label: Nonesuch