Everette Harp: First Love (2009)

On First Love, contemporary jazz saxophonist and composer Everette Harp moves deeper into the space he addressed on 2007's excellent My Inspiration. Whereas on that album, he was still digging deeply into his own brand of funky jazz, he was also looking for something. His soloing on the album was sharper, brighter, and more complex, but his arrangements and production style were slick enough to get his jams on the radio. On First Love, it sounds like Harp found what he was seeking. In the liners, he mentions some of his heroes like John Coltrane and Dave Brubeck, and how his first hearing records like Soultrane and Time Out made him fall in love with the music. Produced by George Duke, this set is one of the most remarkable and thought-provoking recordings to come out of the contemporary jazz genre in ages. The meld of acoustic and electric instruments here is perfectly balanced. Melodic and harmonic structures are much more complex and don't always fit the C-jazz cookie-cutter mold. Check his original "The Council of Nicea," one of the most satisfying things here. Harp's tenor is accompanied by James Genus' acoustic bass, and some spot-on breaks by Terri Lyne Carrington, a beautiful bluesy, hard bop trumpet solo by Michael "Patches" Stewart, and Lenny Castro's hand percussion. Directing the band is Duke on Fender Rhodes with help from the exquisite if understated electric guitar work from Dwight Sills. The ballad "Before You Leave" follows suit with Carrington providing elegant brushwork. These are pretty basic straight-ahead numbers. This is not to suggest that there isn't some funky work here, too. Check Duke's "Soul Fries" with Genus on electric bass. The funkiness of the Rhodes is smokin' and the blues factor in Harp's playing with Stewart gets a solid groove going behind a tight, sophisticated arrangement. Duke contributes one more cut to the set, the killer Latin-ized fusion funk of "Departure." It's a midtempo ballad, but its knotty bridges and Genus' electric bass work turn it all inside out. The biggest surprise here, however, is in the beautifully restrained but intensely soulful reading of Coltrane's "Central Park West." Here is the place where Harp's mastery of the tenor horn is on full display with an abundance of warmth and depth. It is an absolutely gorgeous reading of the tune. Given the half-acoustic/half-electric division of the tracks here, the originals are easily the most sophisticated, confident, and masterfully played of Harp's career thus far, and the covers fit in seamlessly, making this his finest recording to date.
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First Love (RS) / First Love (MU)

Fairy Tale Trio: Jazz Across the Borders (1998)

Traditional Bulgarian folk music commands an exceptionally rich heritage. Approximately 260,000 folk-songs are archivized in Sophia, 137,000 of which have been musically notated and over 5,000 folk-melodies are documented on tape recordings. One could logically assume that a trio so strongly rooted in the great Bulgarian music tradition would reproduce at least one of these melodies in their repertoire. Astonishingly, the Fairy Tale Trio does not. All of. the themes and pieces improvised upon by the three musicians are original compositions.

Actually the Fairy Tale Trio incorporates in its music many elements common to Bulgarian folklore : the irregular, asymmetrical meters, produced by the combination of different meters; the melodic and rhythmic allusions to the khoro-dance, and the use ofdiminished thirds and sevenths, so reminicent of the blue notes injazz. And yet Bulgarian folklore does not appear here verbatim, but is transformed through the dialogues of this trio into something exciting and new: a modern and contemporary Bulgarian music.

Folklore is not the objective here. It is not manipulated to conform to the needs of jazz. Quite intentionally the Fairy Tale Trio does not revert to known themes of traditional Bulgarian music. They are not allegated to a source of material to improvise upon. Even so, the roots of Bulgarian folk music are omnipresent - as spirit, as allusion, as a point of departure in a stylistic tour horizon, in which many strains and styles stand side by side in equality.

The centrifugal force of the trio lives and breathes from the idea of musical dialogue. Equality as the basis of musical partnership is the fundament of their improvisations. Within this consensus everything is allowed: clashes and frictions as well as convergences; musical excursions above and beyond the limitations of style and hybridization.

The Fairy Tale Trio creates a new, modern Bulgarian music which defies the usual definitions of jazz and folklore. Even the term "imaginary folklore", which nearly describes their style of music, is still insufficient. Most remarkably, the music of the Fairy Tale Trio is infused with the ongoing dialogue between three musicians of extremely varied life experiences.

THE FAIRY TALE TRIO

Theodosii Spassov - Kaval, Vocal
Anatoly Vapirov - Saxophon
Stoyan Yankoulov - Tupan, Percussion

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Part 1 - Part 2 (RS) / Part 1 - Part 2 (HF) flac

Harvey Mason: Marching in the Street (1975)

Harvey Mason is considered one of the finest drummer on the soul and jazz scene today. In 1975, after his work with Herbie Hancock's band, the Headhunters, he sign to Arista Records as a solo artist and record this instrumental fusion to vocal orientated dance music LP. Personnel: Maxine Willard Waters (vocals), Randy Crawford (vocals), Wah Wah Watson (guitar), Dave Grusin (keyboards), Paul Jackson (bass), Hubert Laws (flute), Bobby Bryant (trumpet), Herbie Hancock (keyboards), Ernie Watts (saxophone), Jim Gilstrap (vocals), Bennie Maupin (saxophone), Lee Ritenour (guitar) and many others.

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Marching in the Street (RS) / Marching in the Street (MU) @ 320K

Bill Evans/Randy Brecker: Soul Bop Band Live [2 cd]

During the summers of 2004 and 2005, saxophonist Bill Evans and trumpeter Randy Brecker co-led the Soul Bop Band on tours. The music that they created was funky, heartfelt, and full of strong jazz solos. With a top-notch and versatile rhythm section comprised of guitarist Hiram Bullock, keyboardist David Kikoski, bassist Victor Bailey, and drummer Steve Smith, the sextet performed consistently stirring music. This two-CD set has plenty of heated instrumentals along with occasional ballads, all of it original music coming from either Evans, Brecker, or Bullock. Unfortunately a few of the selections have vocals from Brecker that are primitive at best and an acquired taste although the words to Bullock's "Greed" are worthy. If it were not for the singing, this two-fer would be rated higher, but it does contain some of the best playing of the era from Bill Evans and Randy Brecker, who consistently bring out the best in each other.

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Live - Part 1 - Part 2 (RS) / Part 1 - Part 2 (HF) @ 320K

Michal Urbaniak: Urbaniak (1977)

Michal Urbaniak (born June 22, 1943) is a Polish jazz musician and composer born in Warsaw, playing mainly the violin, lyricon (one of the first electronic wind instruments constructed) and saxophone during concerts and recordings. He played a central role in the development of jazz fusion in the 1970s and 1980s by introducing elements of folk, R&B, hip hop, and symphonic music to jazz. Enjoy this rare Inner City re-release, featuring seven originals by Urbaniak and sideman Zbigniew Namyslowski.

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Urbaniak (RS) / Urbaniak (MU)

[By-request] Masayoshi Takanaka: Saudade (1982)

This is 1982 release of one of the most talanted and acclaimed guitarists in Japan, Masayoshi Takanaka. He is well known as member of the Japanese hard rock - glam rock band Sadistic Mika Band which was formed in 1972. Saudade contains 9 tracks sounding in the best traditions of Japanese smouth jazz.

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Saudade (RS) / Saudade (MU)

[By-request] James Carter & John Medeski: Heaven on Earth (2009)

Saxophonist James Carter and organist John Medeski (of the pioneering jam-band, Medeski, Martin & Wood) lead a supergroup featuring Christian McBride (bass), Adam Rogers (guitar) and Joey Baron (drums). Together they carve out a groove that captures the buzz and vitality of jam-jazz at its most exhilerating. Recorded live at the Blue Note in New York, the group throws down the funk on Django Reinhardt's "Diminishing," Larry Young's "Heaven On Earth," Leo Parker's "Blue Leo," and the songbook standard, "Street Of Dreams."

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Heaven on Earth - Part 1 - Part 2 (RS) / Part 1 - Part 2 (HF) lossless