Carlos Garnett - Cosmos Nucleus (1976) {Muse-Soul Brother CDSBCS70 rel 2014}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 321 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 107 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 24 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1976, 2014 Muse / Soul Brother Records / Passion Music | CD SBCS 70
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Spiritual Jazz / Soul Jazz / Saxophone

Carlos Garnett really finds his own sound here – and steps into a wonderful blend of funky riffs, spiritual styles, and more – all in one of the most ambitious albums he cut during the 70s! There's a really expansive blend of acoustic and electric instrumentation going on here – played by a large ensemble, but one that's got a nicely focused feel – a groove that really pushes the sound of Garnett's other records with its wide instrumentation, yet which still has all the punch and power of before!

Zes Vrouwelijke Componisten - Six Women Composers from the Netherlands (1991) {NM Classics 92018}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 241 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 160 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 126 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1991 NM Classics | 92018
Classical / Viennese School / Romantic / Early 20th Century / Contemporary Classical

This album collects instrumental, vocal, and chamber music by "six women composers from The Netherlands", to quote its subtitle directly. These works cover a span of about 160 years, and are presented in the chronological order of the composers' birth years. This CD is yet another example of how the now-sadly-defunct NM Classics label served the music of its country so well. This album comes recommended to those interested in Dutch music, and music by female composers.

Jimmy McGriff - Black Pearl (1971) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD TYCJ-81098 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 259 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 91 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 306 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit 192kHz remaster
© 1971, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | TYCJ-81098
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Hard Bop / Organ

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. One of the most hard-hitting Jimmy McGriff albums of the 70s – a raw live date recorded in Newark – and a set that's a perfect bridge between the sharp soul of his Sue Records sessions and his later funk to come! The whole thing's got a gritty vibe the really recalls the sound of a Hammond combo in a small club back in the day – a sense of recording that's different than the usual Blue Note record, and we mean that in a good way! Future Groove Merchants Fats Theus and O'Donel Levy are both on the record – the former on tenor, the latter on guitar – and Jimmy gets plenty of room to really open up and soar on the Hammond. The group also features the lesser-known Ronald White on trumpet and Joseph Morris on alto – and titles include "In A Mellow Tone", "Groove Alley" and "Man From Bad" – and a nice cover of "Ode to Billie Joe"!

Shoes - Boomerang (1982) {Elektra-Black Vinyl Expanded BV18190-2 rel 1990}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 432 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 141 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 38 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1982, 1990 Elektra Records / Black Vinyl Records | BV18190-2 | Expanded
Rock / Power Pop

The third album on Elektra by the Shoes was an effort at self production, and sounds as good as any of their previous efforts. Seems "Boomerang" was Shoes as the Shoes understood themselves; melodic power-pop with buzzing guitars and rich harmonies. It's not the flawless masterstroke "Present Tense" or the fuzzed out speed ball of "Tongue Twister," it's still a darn good album. In fact, with the exception of "The Tube" and "Shake It Away," all the songs here are mini-masterpieces. "Summer Rain" rates as one of my fave Shoes songs, and "Mayday" and "What Love Means" are among the Shoes tunes that make me wonder why these guys never brokered a hit single. I'm also partial to the brooding "Tested Charms," a low key song about a flirt who is finding out her moment has passed.

Ivo Papasov and His Orchestra - Balkanology (1991) {Hannibal HNCD1363}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 354 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 130 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1991 Rykodisc / Hannibal Records | HNCD 1363
Jazz / Ethno Jazz / World Music / Clarinet / Bulgaria

One of the most revered musicians in Bulgaria, clarinetist Ivo Papasov is a master of Bulgarian wedding music. The superb and largely instrumental Balkanology draws not only on Bulgarian elements, but also the music of Greece, Turkey and Romania. Listening to this heartfelt music (much of it quite fast), one can hear the parallels between Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and East European forms.

London Symphony Orchestra - Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 - Gianandrea Noseda (2018) {B&W Society of Sound LSO99 16-44.1}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (bowers-wilkins.co.uk) -> 174 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 113 Mb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) -> 16 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2018 LSO / B&W Society of Sound | LSO99
Classical / Early 20th Century

Following the denunciation by the state of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony was viewed as his most socialist symphony, pandering to the demands of the Stalinist regime. However, in Gianandrea Noseda's hands, Shostakovich's cynical intent comes to the fore, highlighting the brutality rather than the glory of the Soviet state.

Jimmy Ponder - Ain't Misbehavin' (2000) {HighNote HCD7041 rec 1998}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 276 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 130 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 9 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1998, 2000 HighNote Records | HCD 7041
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Blues / Guitar

Ponder’s guitar work on this album is warm and tinged with references to Wes Montgomery. On the opening “On Broadway,” pianist John Hicks, bassist Dwayne Dolphin and drummer Cecil Brooks III step in behind the guitarist with a clipped, Wynton Kelly-Paul Chambers-Jimmy Cobb strut. “Sunny” is bluesy and slow, and Ponder’s phrasing and tremolo recall B.B. King. “My One and Only Love” swings easy, with the guitar chords and low-register lines very reminiscent of Montgomery. Elsewhere, Ponder employs call-and-response phrases and octave-voiced lines that also recall the late guitarist.

Sadao Watanabe - Live At The Junk (1969) {2015 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICJ 63}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 436 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 146 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 340 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1969, 2015 Columbia / Sony Music Japan / CBS | SICJ 63
Jazz / Post Bop / Neo Bop / Saxopohone

Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. One of the more obscure albums by this great reedman – recorded live, and with a loose feel that really points towards his changes to come in the 70s! The album's got a lively vibe that's quite a change from some of Watanabe's albums from a few years before – longer tracks, lots of new ideas, and a style that's really stretching out – yet never too far outside too.

Carmen McRae - Live At Century Plaza (1968) {Atlantic Japan, WPCR-25041, 24-bit rel 2005)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 510 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 182 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 27 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968, 2005 Atlantic / Warner Music Japan | WPCR-25041 | 24bit remastering
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Bop / Ballads / Standards

24bit digitally remastered release of Carmen Mcrae's performance at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The inimitable jazz vocalist Carmen McRae toplined this live set at the Los Angeles Century Plaza Hotel's Hong Kong Bar in late December 1968. The concert took place not long after McRae recorded two excellent, underrated LPs for Atlantic Records – Portrait of Carmen (1967) and Sound of Silence (1968). Atlantic set up and contractually licensed the rights to the Century Plaza show, but inexplicably waited years to do anything with the material, until label executive Nesuhi Ertegun finally produced a truncated version in 1975.

John Coltrane - Selflessness featuring My Favorite Things (1969) {Impulse! Japan, 32XD-585, Early Press}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 271 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 97 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 145 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1963, 1965, 1987 Impulse! / MCA Records / Warner-Pioneer Japan | 32XD-585
Jazz / Free Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Saxophone

In the context of the decades since his passing and the legacy that's continued to grow, John Coltrane's Selflessness album bears an odd similarity to Bob Dylan's autobiographical book Chronicles. In Chronicles, Dylan tells the tale of his beginnings, jumping abruptly and confoundingly from his early years to life and work after his 1966 motorcycle accident, omitting any mention of his most popular and curious electric era. The contrast between these two eras becomes more vivid with the deletion of the years and events that bridged them. Released in 1965, Selflessness presents long-form pieces, likewise from two very distinct and separate eras of Coltrane's development.

London Symphony Orchestra - Sibelius Symphonies Nos 3 & 7 - Sir Colin Davis (2018) {B&W Society of Sound LSO96 16-44.1}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (bowers-wilkins.co.uk) -> 245 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 154 Mb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) ->10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2018 LSO / B&W Society of Sound | LSO96
Classical / Early 20th Century

With his Third Symphony, Sibelius began a process of innovation that was to culminate in his Seventh and final symphony. He discarded the conventional structure of a symphony, and into each work condensed a unique aura that evokes beauty, mystery, colour and light together with his love of his Finnish homeland.

Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Relaxes (1961) {2006 Prestige RVG Remasters Series}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 227 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 87 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 174 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1961, 2006 Concord / Prestige / Moodsville | 0025218810623 | Prestige RVG Remasters Series | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Saxophone

“I was the engineer on the recording sessions and I also made the masters for the original LP issues of these albums. Since the advent of the CD, other people have been making the masters. Mastering is the final step in the process of creating the sound of the finished product. Now, thanks to the folks at the Concord Music Group who have given me the opportunity to remaster these albums, I can present my versions of the music on CD using modern technology. I remember the sessions well, I remember how the musicians wanted to sound, and I remember their reactions to the playbacks. Today, I feel strongly that I am their messenger.” —Rudy Van Gelder

Moondog & The London Saxophonic - Sax Pax for a Sax (1994) {Kopf kd 943333}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 298 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 127 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 23 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1994 Roof Music / Kopf Records | kd 94 33 33
Classical / Jazz / Avant-Garde / Modern Classical / Modern Composition / Saxophone

The composer calls his saxophone project Sax Pax, underlining that in this case the saxophones are not to be linked with military bands for which the instruments originally had been intended, but are used exclusively for peaceful purposes. Pax like peace or packs, meaning different sized groups within the ensemble, the first "pack" involves 4 saxes, as in Single Foot, the second one using 5 saxes, as in Sandalwood, then seven saxes, as in New Amsterdam, nine saxes in Novette No.1, and so on.

Sadao Watanabe - Pamoja (1975) {2015 DSD Japan East Wind Masters Collection 1000 UCCJ-9152}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 297 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 113 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 167 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD Mastering
© 1975, 2015 East Wind Music / Universal Japan | UCCJ-9152
Jazz / Post Bop / Neo Bop / World Jazz / Fusion / Saxopohone

Later than Sadao Watanabe's classic period, but a great album with some really wonderful moments! The set was recorded live in Tokyo in 1975, and it features Watanabe working with a group that includes Isao Suzuki on bass, Yshiaki Masuo on guitar, and Takehiro Honda on piano. The four tracks are all long, with some of the searching Coltrane-ish playing that Watanabe brought to his earlier Sony albums, but they've also got a fair bit of the warmth he was reaching for during the 70s – combining elements of world jazz styles into a mode that really pushed his work on alto and flute. Titles include "Pamoja", "Vichakani", and "Musitoni".

Albert Ayler Quartet - Copenhagen Live 1964 (2017) {hatOLOGY 665}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 276 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 105 Mb
Full Artwork (jpg+pdf) | 5% repair rar
© 1964, 2017 HAT HUT Records | hatOLOGY 665
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

The legendary free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler was at the height of his powers in 1964, the year of his landmark recording Spiritual Unity, so anything from this period is a big deal and this live album captures him in action with the people who accompanied him on that that classic LP, Gary Peacock on bass and Sunny Murray on drums. Even more interesting is the addition of Don Cherry on cornet, just after he finished serving in Ornette Coleman's pioneering quartet, going from strength to strength and shoring up the front line of this extraordinary band.