Freddie Hubbard - Sky Dive (1972) {CTI–CBS Records ZK44171 rel 1988}
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© 1972, 1988 CTI / CBS Records | ZK 44171
Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Groove / Trumpet

This Creed Taylor gem from the early 70's sounds even better now than it did then. Freddie Hubbard is, or at least was, a remarkable trumpet player - a genuine virtuoso with terrific tone, meldodic sense and emotional range. The songs are unusual, beautiful and in the groove. Ditto for everyone else on the album, which - I hadn't noticed this 30 years ago - includes Keith Jarrett. Ron Carter's bass is mesmerizing. Listening to his riff on the first song helped me appreciate the power of nuance and a subtle riff well placed.

Jordi Savall - Marin Marais - Suitte D'un Gout Etranger, Pieces De Viole Du IV Livre, 1717 (2006) {2CD Set, Alia Vox AVSA 9851}
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© 2006 Alia Vox | AVSA 9851 A+B | DSD mastering
Classical / Chamber Music / Baroque

French composer Marin Marais (1656-1728) was remarkably prolific, writing nearly 600 compositions for viola da gamba, as well as many operas. One of his major collections of music for the gamba is Suitte d'un Gôut Etranger, a collection of 33 short works written, according to the composer, "to stretch the skill of those who do not like easy pieces." Jordi Savall, the most acclaimed gamba player of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries, who is responsible for bringing many of Marais' works to light, plays with extraordinary virtuosity and expressiveness.

The Super Premium Band - Sounds Of New York (2011) {Happinet Corp. Japan DSD HMCJ-1008}
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© 2011 Happinet Corporation Japan | HMCJ-1008
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Post Bebop / Piano Trio

In 2010, The Super Premium Band was born from the mind of Yasohachi "88" Itoh, the Japanese producer who created numerous albums with the late Hank Jones and his Great Jazz Trio. Featuring Kenny Barron on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Lenny White on drums, the band released its first album, Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise to great critical acclaim and popularity. For the super-group's second album, the legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette replaces Lenny White, bringing a different set of rhythmic textures and sensibilities.

Lennie Niehaus - Vol. 2: Zounds! (1956) {Contemporary OJCCD-1892-2 rel 1997}
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© 1954-56, 1997 Contemporary Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-1892-2
Jazz / Cool / Bop / West Coast Jazz / Saxophone

This formerly rare Contemporary set was reissued on a 1997 OJC CD. Lennie Niehaus, best known for his scores for Clint Eastwood films in the 1980s and '90s, was an excellent cool-toned bop altoist back in the '50s who spent time working with Stan Kenton. For this album, he is heard on two different occasions providing arrangements and alto solos for octets. With such fine players as either Jack Montrose or Bill Perkins on tenor, Bob Gordon or Pepper Adams on baritone, and other top West Coast jazz musicians, Niehaus primarily performs cool jazz. The inventive charts (which on the later date utilize a French horn and a tuba) and the superior, concise solos make this a set well worth acquiring by fans of the West Coast jazz sound of the '50s.

Ten Light Claps and a Scream is the third and final LP by South African rock band Otis Waygood. It was released in 1971 by EMI-Parlophone, at the height of the Big Heavies' popularity – a sudden wave of white anti-Apartheid South African hard rock groups (the tag would be made official with the release of a 1972 compilation LP). Incidentally, Ten Light Claps and a Scream was produced by Julian Laxton, leader of Freedom's Children, another Big Heavy. By this third opus, Otis Waygood had developed an impressive group sound that built on the energy of bands like Free and Bloodwin Pig, adding to the wailing guitars and growling organ a bit of raspy, gnarly saxophone. The resulting sound is startlingly similar to H to He Who Am the Only One-era Van der Graaf Generator (although nothing could suggest that they were an influence on Otis Waygood)…

Part of his five sessions that featured duets with different trumpeters, pianist Oscar Peterson's matchup with trumpeter Roy Eldridge has its strong moments. Eldridge did not quite have the range of his earlier years, but his competitive streak had not mellowed with age. Peterson pushes Eldridge to his limit and the music is generally quite exciting. Highlights include "Little Jazz," "Sunday," and "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea."

Perhaps the busiest man in progressive music, multi-instrumentalist/composer Robin Taylor is here with another release from his outfit Taylor's Universe, this one titled Evidence. Joined by longtime bandmate Karsten Vogel (sax, clarinet), the group also features Klaus Thrane (drums), Claus Bøhling ( guitars), and Thomas Thor Viderø Ulstrup (synthesizer), with Taylor contributing guitars, keyboards, bass, flute, and percussion, and guest vocalist Louise Nipper on one track. Though there are only four songs here on Evidence , you get over 40-minutes of material, so that's a lot of bang for your buck. The music is squarely in the instrumental prog-rock/jazz-fusion mold, the songs lengthy and expansive, allowing for plenty of atmosphere as well as dazzling solos…

Humus is the second effort from Italian ambient composer Emanuele Errante. Humus unfolds slowly through a symphony of organic minimalism, evolving and growing over a course of 11 tracks. Classical flourishes adorn warm and inviting textural sketches, and subtle electronic manipulation pervades a humid ambient environment. Reich inspired microcosmic rhythms unfold and undulate beneath wide pastel landscapes. Building from the same aesthetic starting point as Marsen Jules, Deaf Center, and the Miasmah label, Emanuele Errante makes a personal and inviting musical statement which fits right at home in the Somnia catalog, floating between worlds and creating a rich journey for headphone listening.

This album comprised the first full-length work by Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings as a duo, though they had previously worked together as part of the Highwaymen, the existence of whose three LPs may account for the relative neglect that Heroes has received. And it is one of the most obscure records in either artist's output, a fact that's astonishing, given the quality of the music, the singing, and the overall production. Co-produced by Chips Moman, and with Cash and Jennings at the top of their game (and so good at what they do that they make it sound easy), there's not a weak point anywhere here. There's almost no original material on this album, which doesn't make it any less personal than something that Cash or Jennings might have composed themselves: they throw themselves into the music and make it their own, with Moman and the other players smoothing out the whole creation.

UK-only five CD set containing a quintet of albums from the Rock great packaged in miniature LP sleeves and housed in an attractive slipcase. Features the albums Rock N Roll Animal (1974); Rock N Roll Heart (1976); Street Hassle (1978); Bells (1979) and Growing Up In Public (1980).

This budget LP, which Accord put out in 1981, reminds us just how frustrating inadequate liner notes can be. The liner notes briefly discuss the rise of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Hendrix's tremendous influence on rock, but they don't tell you anything at all about the material on the LP…

After years of playing a dispiriting game of musical chairs with various lead singers during the early '80s, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi finally stumbled upon a dependable frontman when he admitted relative unknown Tony Martin into the fold, thereby initiating the original heavy metal band's long awaited return to respectability – if not chart-topping success…

Japan exclusive live album set release from Deep Purple. Disc 1 contains 13 live tracks, including "Smoke on the Water" and "Black Night" performed at Hellfest (2017, France). Disc 2 contains 14 tracks, including "Highway Star" and "Strange Kind of Woman" as well as rehearsal track(s) and radio edit version(s).

Japanese guitarist with Joe Henderson (ts) in straightahead context. Akio is quite a sensitive player, and this disc features mostly originals.