Brian Melvin feat. Jaco Pastorius - Night Food (1985) {2015 Japan Timeless Jazz Master Collection Complete Series CDSOL-6360}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 293 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 117 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 258 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1985, 2015 Timeless Records / Solid Records Japan / Ultra-Vibe | CDSOL-6360
Jazz / Post Bop / Fusion / Neo Bop / Drums / Bass

Reissue with the latest remastering. Features original cover artwork. Comes with a descripton in Japanese. An obscure 80s appearance from bassist Jaco Pastorius – a musician whose style is right at home on this electric set from drummer Brian Melvin! Melvin himself plays acoustic drums and percussion – but there's also a fair bit of keyboard work on the record too – 80-styled elements that really draw a lot from the stepping, melodic bass work of Jaco – who really gets to shine on most numbers, and really gets the album going from a rhythmic perspective. There's a bit of added tabla and bongos from Aushim Chaudhuri, who brings some nice acoustic textures – and the overall feel is kind of in the same territory of some of Jaco's early 80s Warner material. Titles include "Don't Forget The Bass", "Night Food", "Zen Turtles", "For Max", and "Poly Wanna Rhythm".

Hampton Hawes - The Green Leaves Of Summer (1964) {Contemporary OJCCD-476-2 rel 1990}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 223 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 95 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1964, 1990 Contemporary / OJC / Fantasy | OJCCD-476-2 (S-7614)
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Piano

Pianist Hampton Hawes' first recording after serving five years in prison finds Hawes evolving a bit from a Bud Powell-influenced bop pianist to one familiar with more modern trends in jazz. Reissued on CD, this trio date finds Hawes interacting closely with bassist Monk Montgomery and drummer Steve Ellington (making his recording debut). Hawes had lost nothing of his swinging style while in prison, as can be heard on such numbers as "Vierd Blues," "St. Thomas" and "Secret Love," and he was just starting to hint at moving beyond bop. Recommended.

Christof Lauer is a German jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist, born in Melsungen, Germany, perhaps most well known in Europe where he has done projects with various musicians, such as Palle Danielsson, Carla Bley, Michel Godard, Volker Kriegel, Michel Portal, Maria Joao, Anthony Cox, Gary Husband, Alphonse Mouzon, and Peter Erskine.

Moacir Santos - Maestro (1972) {2012 Japanese BNLA Series 24-bit Remaster TOCJ-50522}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 190 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 84 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit/192kHz remaster
© 1972, 2012 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50522
Jazz / Latin Jazz / World Fusion / Saxophone

Reissue with the latest 24bit/192kHz remastering. Features original cover artwork. Comes with a descripton in Japanese. Amazing 70s work from Moacir Santos – the first album the Brazilian arranger recorded for Blue Note, and a set that sparkles with warmth and soul from the very first note! The approach is a brilliant updating of the famous sound that Santos crafted in Brazil the decade before – recast here with some warmer elements that includes great organ from Clare Fischer, electric piano from Bill Henderson, trombone from Frank Rosolino, and flute and tenor from Don Menza!

The Inward Song is hardly the quiet, introverted recital of music that might be expected, given the album's title. While alto saxophonist Christian Weidner does throw in a few pieces that fit nicely under this banner, the music on this CD also demonstrates a great deal of range. A case in point is the way the album begins. "St. Paul" starts off with Weidner and pianist Colin Vallon delivering angular unison lines on a blank canvas. Bassist Henning Sieverts and drummer Samuel Rohrer enter with a seemingly un-metered, wavy undercurrent of sound. The intensity just builds from there and reaches fever pitch, with Weidner exuding a John Coltrane-style spiritualism and intensity in his delivery.

Picking our list of the Top 100 '70s Rock Albums was no easy task, if only because that period boasted such sheer diversity. The decade saw rock branch into a series of intriguing new subgenres, beginning, at the dawn of the '70s, with heavy metal. Singer-songwriters came into their own; country-rock flourished. The era ended with the revitalizing energy of punk and New Wave. No list would be complete without climbing onto every one of those limbs. Here are the Top 100 '70s Rock Albums, presented chronologically from the start of the decade.

The six-voice a cappella vocal ensemble, Nordic Voices, was formed a little over ten years ago to specialize in both Renaissance and Contemporary music. In this, their fifth album, they present a moving programme of renaissance Lamentations. These are settings of Old Testament verses written by the prophet Jeremiah as he witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah in 586 B.C. and, as Nordic Voices highlight in their booklet, are still of relevance today as they chart the horrors that humans are capable of inflicting on one another.

Donald Byrd was at his peak as a straight-ahead hard bop band leader in the early '60s, turning a series of remarkably solid, enjoyable sessions for Blue Note. Royal Flush is no exception to the rule. Recorded in the fall of 1961, Royal Flush finds Byrd once again working with baritionist Pepper Adams, but adding bassist Butch Warren, drummer Billy Higgins, and, most importantly, a young pianist named Herbie Hancock. For the most part, the quintet plays a set of vital hard bop, swinging hard on the bluesy groove "Hush" and laying back on the pop standard "I'm a Fool to Want You." But what's really interesting is when they begin pushing the boundaries of bop. All three of Byrd's original pieces "Jorgie's," "Shangri-La," "6M's" are harmonically complex and have subtly shifting rhythms; all three are successful, but "Shangri-La" is particularly noteworthy.

The Latvian composer Peteris Vasks’ beautiful and intense music has in recent years touched the same listening public that have responded so positively to the music of Arvo Part and Henryck Gorecki. On this CD award-winning young ensemble the Navarra String Quartet have worked alongside the composer to produce a recording of the first three of Vasks’ five string quartets.