Leo Wright - Soul Talk (1963) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-27230}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 204 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 80 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 25 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remaster
© 1963, 2013 Vortex / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27230
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Saxophone

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Playing in the traditional idiom of the lounge setting (Wright on alto sax and flute, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Gloria Coleman on organ, and Frankie Dunlap on drums) could be fairly boring and pat, not to mention little more than background for some prime rib and a bottle of Blue Nun. Wright steers his group away from that with balance, control and unmatched intuition from all his players.

The original title of the album in the US was "Bach Humbug! Jazz Goes Baroque" on the Philips label which was released in 1964. It features George Gruntz on harpsichord, Klaus Doldinger on clarinet and sax, Emil Mangelsdorff on flute, Peter Trunk on bass and Klaus Weiss on drums. The performances are improvisations on classical Baroque themes by various composers including Telemann, Handel, Corelli, Couperin and others in a quartet/quintet format. But that's not all. This CD includes a second album, "Jazz Goes Baroque 2 - The Music of Italy". The second album is just as much fun with a different group of musicians backing Gruntz again on the harpsichord. The new digital stereo remastering by Universal Music is very good reflecting the recording technology of the time. If you enjoy the Classical/Jazz improvisations of Jacques Loussier, Pierre Gossez or The Swingle Singers, you will love this one!

Les Paul - The Legend And The Legacy (1948-1960) {4CD Box Set, Capitol Records C2-97654 rel 1991}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 917 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 686 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 59 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1948-60, 1991 Capitol Records / EMI | C2-97654 | Capitol Masters
Jazz / Swing Jazz / Traditional Pop / Guitar / Vocal Pop

This is classic material. 4 CD's loaded with one song after another of magic guitar playing. The sound is terrific and Mary Ford adds great vocals to many of the cuts although there are also many instrumentals. The years covered here are from 1948 - 1957 and includes some portions of the Les Paul Radio Show with songs and dialogue between Les and Mary. In addition to being a guitar genius, Les Paul was also an inventor who developed a variety of techniques still used today (such as multi-tracking) and they are on display in this set of music. Wonderful music, great sound, terrific vocals. This is music made in a different era before rock took over the airwaves. There is nothing in your face about it and there is a 40's feel to the pop tunes but great music stands the test of time and this certainly qualifies. Highly recommended.

With its endless, droning minor-key riff and mumbled vocals, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is arguably the most notorious song of the acid rock era. According to legend, the group was so stoned when they recorded the track that they could neither pronounce the title "In the Garden of Eden" or end the track, so it rambles on for a full 17 minutes, which to some listeners sounds like eternity…

Brother Jack McDuff - Live! (1963) {Prestige PRCD-24147-2 rel 1994}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 520 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 181 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1963, 1994 Prestige / Fantasy | PRCD-24147-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Organ

A retitled compilation of two of Jack McDuff's live albums from the '60s, Brother Jack McDuff Live! is an outstanding album, one of the purest examples ever of quite possibly the finest Hammond B3 organ player in the world. These recordings were made with McDuff's classic lineup: Red Holloway on tenor sax and flute, Joe Dukes on drums, and a young George Benson (long before he became a star making formulaic soul-pop albums in the '70s) on guitar.

Lipstick On Your Collar presents 100 Rock n’ Roll & Classic Love Songs from The Fifties & Sixties. The biggest songs from Buddy Holly, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Connie Francis, Eddie Cochran and many more.

Paulinho da Viola - Paulinho da Viola (1968) {Odeon–EMI 8525032 rel 1996}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 191 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 77 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 37 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968, 1996 Odeon / EMI Music Brasil | 852503 2
Jazz / Brazilian Jazz / Samba / Brazilian Pop / MPB

Classic samba by the master of classic samba, Paulinho da Viola. Having recorded and album called 'Samba de Madrugada' with his friend and partner Elden Medeiros a few years previous, this is actually Paulinho's first disc released under his own name. The liner notes contain a big chunk of autobiographical writing from Paulinho, talking about the first Carnaval blocos he formed in his neighborhood of Botafogo and his trajectory through which he eventually came into contact with the Portela samba school and began working around people like Candeia, Casquinha, Monarco and others, and eventually hanging around the bar 'Zicartola' with the likes of Cartola, Elton Medeiros, Nelson Sargento, Nelson Cavaquino, Elizete Cardoso….

B.B. King is not only a timeless singer and guitarist, he's also a natural-born entertainer, and on Live at the Regal the listener is treated to an exhibition of all three of his talents. Over percolating horn hits and rolling shuffles, King treats an enthusiastic audience (at some points, they shriek after he delivers each line) to a collection of some of his greatest hits. The backing band is razor-sharp, picking up the leader's cues with almost telepathic accuracy. King's voice is rarely in this fine of form, shifting effortlessly between his falsetto and his regular range, hitting the microphone hard for gritty emphasis and backing off in moments of almost intimate tenderness. Nowhere is this more evident than at the climax of "How Blue Can You Get," where the Chicago venue threatens to explode at King's prompting. Of course, the master's guitar is all over this record, and his playing here is among the best in his long career. Displaying a jazz sensibility, King's lines are sophisticated without losing their grit. More than anything else, Live at the Regal is a textbook example of how to set up a live performance.

Esquivel and His Orchestra - Complete 1954-1962 Recordings (2018) {New Continent Records, Digital Bonus Version}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Digital Download -> 2.35 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.01 Gb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 1954-62, 2018 New Continent Records
Jazz / Easy Listening / Big Band / Lounge / Space-Age Pop / Exotica

This outstanding 5-CD collection compiles, for the first time ever on a single set, the 10 complete albums Juan García Esquivel recorded with his own orchestra from 1954 to 1962. A rare version of “I Only Have Eyes for You” and several tracks from the movie soundtrack LP Cabaret Trágico have been added as a bonus.

This milestone anniversary box set commemorates of a pivotal year for Stax Records and for American history: 1968. This period immediately follows the untimely passing of Otis Redding; it’s the year that Stax parted ways with Atlantic Records, and it’s also when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. This five-disc CD box set compiles every single (A- and B-sides) released on Stax and its subsidiary labels in ’68–over 120 iconic songs from era-de ning artists, including Otis Redding, The Staple Singers, William Bell, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, Carla Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, Isaac Hayes, Linda Lyndell, Rufus Thomas and many more.

Lou Donaldson - Good Gracious! (1963) {Blue Note Rare Groove Series, CDP 54325 rel 1997}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 278 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 100 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1963, 1997 Blue Note / Capitol Records | 7243 8 54325 2 1
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Saxophone / Guitar / Organ

Good Gracious may be Lou Donaldson's record, but guitarist Grant Green and organist John Patton steal the show. Working with a tight, soulful groove laid down by drummer Ben Dixon, the guitarist and organist trade hot lines that often steal the thunder from Donaldson, who nevertheless turns in a robust, tuneful performance. Donaldson's tone is richer and fuller than it is on many of his early-'60s records, and he really connects with the laid-back R&B grooves and soul-jazz vamps on Good Gracious, turning in melodic, memorable solos.

John Coltrane - The Complete Graz Concert (1962) {2CD Set, Charly Records CPCD 8262-2 rel 1996}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 336 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 286 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 24 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1962, 1996 Charly Records | CPCD 8262-2
Jazz / Modal Music / Post Bop / Saxophone

John Coltrane was frequently recorded without authorization as he toured Europe during the 1960s; this two-CD set seems to come from a fairly decent audience tape of a 1962 concert in Graz, Austria; all songs are complete, unlike many earlier LP and CD issues, although the volume of the bass causes some distortion, and the piano is not as well recorded as one would like. Coltrane is, of course, accompanied by his classic quartet consisting of McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones.

John Coltrane - Afro Blue Impressions (1963) {2CD Pablo 40 Years rel 2013}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 668 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 295 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 87 Mb | 5% repair rar | 40th Pablo | 24bit remaster
© 1963, 2013 Pablo / Concord Music | 00 8880 723 460-5 5
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

Two-CD set commemorates both the 40th anniversary of Pablo Records and the 50th anniversary of the recordings. LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Concord Music Group will reissue a remastered and expanded edition of John Coltrane’s Afro Blue Impressions album on August 20, 2013 (international release dates vary). Enhanced by 24-bit remastering by Joe Tarantino, three bonus tracks, and new liner notes, the new reissue celebrates the 40th anniversary of Pablo Records, the jazz label founded by Norman Granz in 1973.