Michael Jones - After the Rain [Narada, 1988]
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE, LOG | 228 MB | Covers, Booklet | TIFF (LWZ) 300ppi | 15 MB
New Age | 1988 | Label: Narada | Catalog Number: ND-61020 | RAR 10% Rec. | RS.com

This is an exceptionally relaxing suite of six instrumental selections. Michael Jones is featured on piano; Nancy Rumbelplays both English horn and oboe; David Darling lends mellow cello whileMike Lucasand WarrenWiergratzofferpercussion and flute effects, respectively. The collection is part of the Narada Suite first recorded about 1985.

Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time (some would say the best), Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up copying Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis's emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated. Somehow Gillespie could make any "wrong" note fit and harmonically he was ahead of everyone in the 1940s, including Charlie Parker. Unlike Bird, Dizzy was an enthusiastic teacher who wrote down his musical innovations and was eager to explain them to the next generation, thereby insuring that bebop would eventually become the foundation of jazz.
Dizzy Gillespie was also one of the key founders of Afro-Cuban (or Latin) jazz, adding Chano Pozo's conga to his orchestra in 1947 and utilizing complex polyrhythms early on. The leader of two of the finest big bands in jazz history, Gillespie differed from many in the bop generation by being a masterful showman who could make his music seem both accessible and fun to the audience. With his puffed-out cheeks, bent trumpet (which occurred by accident in the early '50s when a dancer tripped over his horn) and quick wit, Dizzy was a colorful figure to watch. A natural comedian, Gillespie was also a superb scat singer and occasionally played Latin percussion for the fun of it, but it was his trumpet playing and leadership abilities that made him into a jazz giant.

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Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, Jean-Luc Ponty - The Rite Of Strings (1995)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 287 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 126 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 6 Mb
© 1995 I.R.S Records / Gai Saber | 7243 8 34167 2 1
Jazz / Post Bop / Fusion / Contemporary Jazz

Any time the likes of Stanley Clarke, Al DiMeola and Jean-Luc Ponty are assembled, there is a good chance the results are going to be impressive. Clarke and DiMeola had played together in the legendary Return to Forever, producing some of the most intense playing in all of fusion; Jean-Luc Ponty had also made several excellent, very diverse recordings. The chops of these three musicians are pretty much unsurpassed in the industry, which in itself makes Rite of Strings worthy of a listen. The real treat, however, is in the song selections. Three of DiMeola's more recent compositions are here, including the uplifting "Chilean Pipe Song." On this song, Clarke and Ponty's dual-bow sound provides a nice backdrop to DiMeola's introduction before DiMeola and Ponty state the melody together. Ponty has always been one of the more interesting violinists, mostly because he experiments with the instrument's tonal possibilities. His plucking introduction to "Renassaince" and the strumming on "Change of Life" are evidence of this. Clarke's finest moment comes on his own beautiful "Topanga," on which his bow playing is enough to evoke tears. This is a classic recording that should not be missed; the integrity, musicianship, compositions, and improvisations are all first-rate.