Tuesday, January 26, 2010

2

Grass Roots - Andrew Hill


















Rating:
5/10 
Sound Quality: 320 kb/s
Format: Mp3
Record Label: Blue Note
Year Released: 1968
Album Covers: Included
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Links: rapidshare

About Andrew Hill
Andrew Hill (June 30, 1931 – April 20, 2007) was an American jazz pianist and composer.
Hill is recognized as one of the most important progenitors of Free jazz piano, though he is considered more mainstream jazz than Cecil Taylor, two years his senior. His most-lauded work was recorded for Blue Note Records, spanning nearly a decade and a dozen albums.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Hill took up the piano at the age of thirteen, and was encouraged by Earl Hines. He was referred by jazz composer Bill Russo to Paul Hindemith, with whom he studied informally until 1952. While a teenager he performed in rhythm and blues bands and with touring jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.
Hill first recorded as a sideman in 1954, but his reputation was made by his Blue Note recordings as leader from 1963 to 1970, which featured several other important post-bop musicians including Joe Chambers, Richard Davis, Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Woody Shaw, and Tony Williams, as well as John Gilmore. Hill also played on albums by Henderson, Hutcherson, and Hank Mobley. His distinctive compositions accounted for four of the six pieces on Bobby Hutcherson's classic Dialogue album.
Hill rarely worked as a sideman after the 1960s, preferring to play his own compositions. This may have limited his public exposure. He obtained a doctorate in music from Colgate University of Hamilton and served as the university's composer in residence from 1970 to 1972. He later taught in California and was an associate professor on a tenure track at Portland State University. During his time at PSU, he established a Summer Jazz Intensive program in addition to performing, conducting workshops and attending residencies at other universities such as Wesleyan University, University of Michigan, University of Toronto, Harvard University and Bennington College. Hill returned to New York City in 1990. His final public performance was on March 29, 2007 at Trinity Church in New York City. Andrew Hill suffered from lung cancer during the last years of his life. He died at his home in Jersey City. In May 2007, he became the first person to receive a posthumous honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music.

Hill created a unique idiom that utilized chromatic, modal, and occasionally "free" improvisation. Although usually categorized as "avant-garde", Hill's music bears little resemblance to the free atonality and extended improvisations of Cecil Taylor and others. Like his contemporaries Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, and Eric Dolphy, Hill was considered to be a cusp figure: too "out" to be "in," but too "in" to be "out." His earlier work, particularly the album Point of Departure, featuring fellow innovator Eric Dolphy, exhibits Hill's desire to advance while remaining grounded in the traditions of his predecessors. Throughout, his skill as both composer and leader can be sensed as the band ventures into unknown territory while still remaining precise and controlled. Hill's compositions sometimes have a contemplative mood. He was known for the rhythmic and harmonic complexity of his performances and compositions.
As a pianist, Hill's style was marked by extreme chromaticism, complex, dense chords, flowing, legato phrasing, and frequent rubato. He would often play against the rhythmic pulse, or move into different time signatures. His album Dusk was selected as the best album of 2001 by both Down Beat and JazzTimes; and in 2003, Hill received the Jazzpar Prize. Hill's earlier work also received renewed attention as a result of the belated release of several unissued sessions made in the 1960s for Blue Note, notably the ambitious large-group date Passing Ships.As a consequence of his renewed prominence, a new Blue Note album titled Time Lines was released on February 21, 2006.

Monday, January 18, 2010

0

Roll Call - Hank Mobley


















Rating: 5/10 
Sound Quality: 320 kb/s
Format: Mp3
Record Label: Blue Note
Year Released: 1960
Album Covers: Included
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About Hank Mobley
Henry (Hank) Mobley (July 7, 1930 – May 30, 1986) was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz. This description suggested to some that Mobley was mediocre; and, as his style was laid-back, subtle and melodic, especially in contrast with players like Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, it took connoisseurs until after his demise to fully appreciate his talent.

Mobley was born in Eastman, Georgia, but was raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, near Newark. Early in his career, he worked with Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach. He took part in one of the landmark hard bop sessions, alongside Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Doug Watkins and trumpeter Kenny Dorham. The results of these sessions were released as Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers. They contrasted with the classical pretensions of cool jazz, with Mobley's rich lyricism being bluesier, alongside the funky approach of Horace Silver. When The Jazz Messengers split in 1956, Mobley continued on with pianist Horace Silver for a short time, although he did work again with Blakey some years later, when the drummer appeared on Mobley's albums in the early 60s.

During the 1960s, he worked chiefly as a leader, recording 25 albums for Blue Note Records, including Soul Station and Roll Call, between 1955 and 1970. He performed with many of the most important hard bop players, such as Grant Green, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Clark, Wynton Kelly and Philly Joe Jones, and formed a particularly productive partnership with trumpeter Lee Morgan. Mobley is widely recognized as one of the great composers of originals in the hard-bop era, with interesting chord changes and room for soloists to spread out.

His 1961 album, Another Workout, while considered an instant classic, was inexplicably not released until 1985.

Mobley also spent a brief time in 1961 with Miles Davis, during the trumpeter's search for a replacement for John Coltrane. He is heard on the album Someday My Prince Will Come (alongside Coltrane, who returned for the recording of some tracks), and some live recordings (In Person: Live at the Blackhawk and At Carnegie Hall). Though considered by some as not having the improvisational fire of Coltrane, Mobley was still a major voice on tenor saxophone, known for his melodic playing.

Mobley was forced to retire in the mid-1970s due to lung problems. He worked briefly with Duke Jordan before his death from pneumonia in 1986.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

3

Billie Jean - Kenny Burrell (Video)



Note From Dada!
Εξαιρετική διασκευή του διάσημου λαϊκού άσματος "Κοίτα Μιχάλη μου το χάλι σου" (ή αλλιώς το κατά κόσμο γνωστό "Billie Jean" του Michael Jackson), που μακάρι να υπήρχε και σε μια καλύτερη ηχογράφηση από αυτήν εδώ...(δυστυχώς πρόκειται για ηχογράφηση και βιντεοσκόπηση από κινητό τηλέφωνο). Anyway...όπως και να χει το λέει η καρδούλα του Burrell, καθώς έχει ήδη συμπληρωμένο το 78ο έτος της ηλικίας του! Εδώ σε live από το περασμένο καλοκαίρι (Ιούνιος '09).

Σύνθεση:
Kenny Burrel: Κιθάρα
Mike Melvoin: Πιάνο
Tony Dumas: Μπάσο
Ralp Penland: Τύμπανα
Tivon Penicott: Τενόρο Σαξόφωνο
0

Midnight Blue - Kenny Burrell


















Rating: 6.5/10 
Sound Quality: 320 kb/s
Format: Mp3
Record Label: Blue Note
Year Released: 1963
Album Covers: Included
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Note From Dada!
Ένας στάνταρ-classic δίσκος της jazz και ο πιο ολοκληρωμένος κατά τη γνώμη μου (και κάποιων χιλιάδων άλλων ακόμα...) του Kenny Burrell. Προϊόν μιας ιστορικής μουσικής συνεύρεσης (R.Barretto, M.Holley, S.Turrentine, B.English) με σημείο συνάντησης τις εξαιρετικές εμπνεύσεις του Burrell. Δίσκος σε συνθέσεις του ίδιου εκτός από τα: "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You" (D.Redman, A.Razaf) και  "Mule" (M.Holley, K.Burrell). Σε αυτή την ψηφιακή επανέκδοση περιέχονται και δύο ακόμα μουσικά θέματα που δεν υπήρχαν στην αρχική έκδοση του δίσκου, το "Kenny's Sound" και το "K Twist". Εδώ υπάρχει φυσικά το ομώνυμο "στάνταράκι" "Midnight Blue", το πανέμορφο "Soul Lament" και το "Chitlins Con Carne".

Σύνθεση:
Kenny Burrell: Κιθάρα
Stanley Turrentine: Τενόρο Σαξόφωνο
Major Holle: Μπάσο
Bill English: Τύμπανα
Ray Barretto: Κόνγκας

About the Album
Midnight Blue is a 1963 sessions album by Jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell. Featuring Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone, Major Holley on double bass, Bill English on drums and Ray Barretto on conga, is one of Burrell's best-known works for Blue Note. Jazz Improv Magazine lists the album among its top five recommended recordings for Burrell, indicating that "[i]f you need to know 'the Blue Note sound', here it is". In 2005, NPR included the album in its "Basic Jazz Library", describing it as "one of the great jazzy blues records". The album has been multiply re-issued by Blue Note and the French label Classics.

About Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.
Burrell was born in Detroit, Michigan to a musical family and began playing guitar at the age of 12. His influences as a guitar player include Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and Wes Montgomery. While a student at Wayne State University, he made his debut recording as a member of Dizzy Gillespie's sextet in 1951. He toured with Oscar Peterson after graduating in 1955 and then moved to New York City in 1956. A consummate sideman, Burrell recorded with a wide range of prominent musicians, including: John Coltrane, Paul Chambers, Bill Evans, Gil Evans, Stan Getz, Benny Goodman, Wes Montgomery, Billie Holiday, Milt Jackson, Thad Jones, Quincy Jones, Melba Liston, Oscar Peterson, Jimmy Raney, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Smith, Art Taylor, Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Witherspoon and Cedar Walton. He also led his own groups since 1951 and recorded many well received albums, most notably Midnight Blue with Stanley Turrentine for Blue Note Records, which is considered a classic of 60s jazz now.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

0

The Boss - Jimmy Smith


















Rating:
5/10 
Sound Quality: 320 kb/s
Format: Mp3
Record Label: Blue Note
Year Released: 1968
Album Covers: Included
Pass: radiodada
Links: rapidshare

Νote From Dada!
Δίσκος από live ηχογράφηση στο "Paschal's La Carousel" (Atlanta,Georgia)  το 1968 για λογαριασμό της Verve. Πέντε μουσικά θέματα σε συνθέσεις κυρίως του Jimmy Smith (Some Of My Best Friends Are Blues, The Boss, Fingers) "ιδωμένα" μέσα από τον ιδιαίτερο ήχο του τρίο που εκτός από τον Jimmy Smith στο όργανο (φυσικά), απαρτίζουν ο  George Benson (κιθάρα) και ο Donald Bailey (τύμπανα).

About Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith (December 8, 1925 [birth year is disputed and is often given as 1928] – February 8, 2005) was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument. In 2005, Jimmy Smith was awarded the NEA Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians.Originally a pianist, Smith switched to organ in 1953 after hearing Wild Bill Davis. He purchased his first Hammond B-3 organ, rented a warehouse to practice in and emerged after little more than a year with an exciting new sound which was to completely revolutionize the way in which the instrument could be played. On hearing him playing in a Philadelphia club, Blue Note's Alfred Lion immediately signed him to the label and with his second album, also known as The Champ, quickly established Smith as a new star on the jazz scene. He was a prolific recording artist and as a leader, recorded around 40 sessions for Blue Note in just 8 years beginning in 1956. His most notable albums from this period include The Sermon!, House Party, Home Cookin' , Midnight Special, Back at the Chicken Shack and Prayer Meetin' .

Smith then signed to Verve Records label in 1962. His first album Bashin', sold well and for the first time, set Smith with a big band led by Oliver Nelson. Further Big band collaborations followed, most successfully with Lalo Schifrin for The Cat and guitarist Wes Montgomery, with whom he recorded two albums: The Dynamic Duo and Further Adventures Of Jimmy and Wes. Other notable albums from this period include Blue Bash and Organ Grinder's Swing with Kenny Burrell, The Boss with George Benson, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Got My Mojo Workin, and the funky Root Down.During the 50s and 60s, Smith recorded with some of the great jazz musicians of the day such as Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Grant Green, Stanley Turrentine, Lee Morgan, Lou Donaldson, Tina Brooks, Jackie McLean, Grady Tate and Donald Bailey. In the 1970s, Smith opened his own supperclub in L.A. and played there regularly.

Smith had a career revival in the 1980s and 90s, again recording for Blue Note and Verve, and for Milestone and Elektra. Smith also recorded with other artists including Quincy Jones/Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Joey DeFrancesco. His last major album Dot Com Blues (Blue Thumb, 2000), featured many special guests such as Dr. John, B.B.King and Etta James.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

2

The Gigolo - Lee Morgan


















Rating:
5/10 
Sound Quality: 320 kb/s
Format: Mp3
Record Label: Blue Note
Year Released: 1965
Album Covers: Included
Pass: radiodada
Links: rapidshare

Νote From Dada!
O δέκατος έβδομος προσωπικός δίσκος του Morgan και ο δωδέκατος για λογαριασμό της Blue Note.
Ξεχωρίζουν το ομώνυμο "The Gigolo" και το "Yes I Can, No You Can't".

Σύνθεση:
Lee Morgan: Τρομπέτα
Wayne Shorter: Τενόρο Σαξόφωνο
Harold Mabern Jr.: Πιάνο

Bob Cranshaw: Μπάσο
Billy Higgins: Τύμπανα

About Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan, a leading (hard bop & modal jazz) trumpeter and composer, recorded prolifically from 1956 until a day before his death in February 1972. Originally interested in the vibraphone, he soon showed a growing enthusiasm for the trumpet; and on his 13th birthday his sister Ernestine gave him his first trumpet. His primary stylistic influence was Clifford Brown, who gave the teenager a few lessons before his untimely death in a 1956 car accident. Morgan joined the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band at 18, and remained a member for a year and a half, until economics forced Dizzy to disband the unit in 1958. He began recording for Blue Note Records in 1956, eventually recording 25 albums as a leader for the company, with more than 250 musicians. He also recorded on the Vee-Jay label.

He was a featured sideman on several early Hank Mobley records, as well as on John Coltrane's Blue Train (1957) on which, he played a trumpet with an angled bell (given to him by Gillespie) and delivered one of his most celebrated solos on the title track.

Joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1958 further developed his talent as a soloist and composer. He toured with Blakey for a few years, and was featured on numerous albums by the Messengers, including Moanin', which is one of the band's best-known recordings. When Benny Golson left the Jazz Messengers, Morgan persuaded Blakey to hire Wayne Shorter, a young tenor saxophonist, to fill the chair. This version of the Jazz Messengers, including pianist Bobby Timmons and bassist Jymie Merritt, would record the classic The Freedom Rider album. The drug problems of Morgan and Timmons forced them to leave the band in 1961, and the trumpeter returned to Philadelphia, his hometown. According to Tom Perchard, a Morgan biographer, it was Blakey who introduced the trumpeter to heroin, an addictive drug that impeded his career trajectory.

On returning to New York in 1963, he recorded The Sidewinder (December 1963), which became his greatest commercial success. The title track cracked the pop charts in 1964, and served as the background theme for Chrysler television commercials during the World Series. The tune was used without Morgan's or Blue Note's consent, and intercession by the label's lawyers led to the commercial being withdrawn. Due to the crossover success of "The Sidewinder" in a rapidly changing pop music market, Blue Note owners encouraged other of its artists to emulate the tune's "boogaloo" beat. Morgan himself repeated the formula several times with compositions such as "Cornbread" (from the eponymous album Cornbread) and "Yes I Can, No You Can't" on The Gigolo. According to drummer Billy Hart, Morgan said he had recorded "The Sidewinder" as filler for the album, and was bemused that it had turned into his biggest hit. He felt that his playing was much more advanced on Grachan Moncur III's essentially avant-garde Evolution album, recorded a month earlier, on November 21,1963.

After this commercial success, Morgan continued to record prolifically, producing such works as Search for the New Land (1964), which reached the top 20 of the R&B charts. He also briefly rejoined the Jazz Messengers after his successor, Freddie Hubbard, joined another group.

As the 60's progressed, he recorded some twenty additional albums as a leader, and continued to record as a sideman on the albums of other artists, including Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer; Stanley Turrentine's Mr. Natural; Freddie Hubbard's The Night of the Cookers; Hank Mobley's Dippin', A Caddy for Daddy, A Slice of the Top, Straight No Filter; Jackie McLean's Jackknife and Consequence; Joe Henderson's Mode for Joe; McCoy Tyner's Tender Moments; Lonnie Smith's Think and Turning Point; Elvin Jones' The Prime Element; Jack Wilson's Easterly Winds; Reuben Wilson's Love Bug; Larry Young's Mother Ship; Lee Morgan and Clifford Jordan Live in Baltimore 1968; Andrew Hill's Grass Roots; as well as on several albums with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

He became more politically involved in the last two years of his life, becoming one of the leaders of the Jazz and People's Movement; the group demonstrated during the taping of talk and variety shows during 1970-71 to protest the lack of jazz artists as guest performers and members of the programs' bands.

His working band during those last years featured reedmen Billy Harper or Bennie Maupin; pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Jymie Merritt and drummers Mickey Roker or Freddie Waits. Maupin, Mabern, Merritt and Roker are featured on the well-regarded 3-disc, Live at the Lighthouse, recorded during a two-week engagement at the Hermosa Beach club, California, in July 1970.

That Lee Morgan would be murdered in the early hours of February 19, 1972, at Slugs', a jazz club in New York City's East Village where his band was performing, was as improbable as it was tragic. Following an altercation between sets, Morgan's live-in girlfriend (Helen More), shot him in the heart, killing him instantly.He was 33 years old.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

9

Nigeria Rock Special: Psychedelic Afro-Rock & Fuzz Funk In 1970's Nigeria

















Rating: 6/10
Sound Quality: Lossless/320kb/s
Format: Flac/Mp3
Record Label: Soundway
Year Released: 2008
Album Covers: Included
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(Part 1)-(Part 2)-(Part 3) 
Deposit Files  (Part 1)-(Part 2)-(Part 3) 
Mp3: Rapidshare (Disc), Rapidshare (Album Covers)

Note From Dada!
Μια εξαιρετική συλλογή με ψυχεδελικές και afro-groove μουσικές από την Νιγηρία της δεκαετίας του '70. Από την ίδια σειρά της Sound Way, έχω ποστάρει παλιότερα και μια ακόμα συλλογή, (για όσους βρουν ενδιαφέρον αυτό το δισκάκι), με Disco-Funk "ευρήματα" της Νιγηρίας από την περίοδο 1974-1979.
Κάντε κλικ εδώ
Πολύ καλά τα "More Bread To The People" (Action 13), το "In The Jungle" (Hygrades), το "Finger Toe" (Tabukah 'X') και το Acid Rock (Funkees).

Ασχέτως αυτής της πολύ καλής έκδοσης και του αρκετά ενδιαφέροντος ένθετου ...αναρωτιέμαι...σταμάτησαν ποτέ "τα ορυχεία" των δυτικών να "εκμεταλλεύονται" των πλούτο των "ανασκαφών" τους από την μαύρη ήπειρο?

Σας φιλώ στο μόντεμ!
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