Sunday, April 27, 2008

Jamiroquai - Live at Montreux (2007)

Jamiroquai - Live at Montreux (2007)

Jazz and jazzyProduct Description
Jamiroquai are one of the most successful British acts to come out of the nineties. In America, they have sold 2.5 million albums, bolstered on the strength of their breakout album "Traveling Without Moving". The band deliver a blistering two-hour plus set crammed with hit singles and much loved album tracks led from the front by Jay Kay's charisma, movement and compulsory headgear.

Tracklisting
1) Use The Force
2) Canned Heat
3) Cosmic Girl
4) Little L
5) Blow Your Mind
6) High Times
7) Traveling Without Moving
8) Butterfly
9) Shoot The Moon
10) Soul Education
11) Just Another Story
12) Mr Moon
13) Alright
14) Love Foolosophy
15) Deeper Underground

Bonus Track from 1995: 1) Space Cowboy

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Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond : Time Out [ENHANCED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Time Out [ENHANCED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Jazz and jazzy
Boasting the first jazz instrumental to sell a million copies, the Paul Desmond-penned "Take Five," Time Out captures the celebrated jazz quartet at the height of both its popularity and its powers. Recorded in 1959, the album combines superb performances by pianist Brubeck, alto saxophonist Desmond, drummer Joe Morrello and bassist Gene Wright. Along with "Take Five," the album features another one of the group's signature compositions, "Blue Rondo a la Turk." Though influenced by the West Coast-cool school, Brubeck's greatest interest and contribution to jazz was the use of irregular meters in composition, which he did with great flair. Much of the band's appeal is due to Desmond, whose airy tone and fluid attack often carried the band's already strong performances to another level. Together, he and Brubeck proved one of the most potent pairings of the era. --Fred Goodman

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1. Blue Rondo A La Turk
2. Strange Meadow Lark
3. Take Five
4. Three To Get Ready
5. Kathy's Waltz
6. Everybody's Jumpin'
7. Pick Up Sticks

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Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz Jazz Samba [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz Jazz Samba [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Jazz and jazzy

Guitarist Charlie Byrd was invited to travel and play in Brazil during a cultural goodwill tour sponsored by the Kennedy administration in 1961. He was completely enamoured by the music, and when he returned, he headed straight for the recording studio to make the now classic Jazz Samba. Collaborating with Stan Getz on tenor sax and backed by a band that included Gene Byrd (bass, guitar), Keter Betts (bass), and Buddy Deppenschmidt and Bill Reichenbach (drums), Byrd forged a new and brilliant sound. American record companies were to churn out hundreds of watered bossa-pop albums that have since given the style its lounge-addled image, but this album stands as a tribute to the vitality and adaptability of jazz. --Louis Gibson

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This is the album that kicked off the bossa nova craze in the US over 40 years ago. In the hands of lesser musicians this style could degenerate into lightweight cocktail music, but not here. Stan Getz's feathery, soft saxophone playing weaves beautiful melodies over the swaying, dancing Brazilian rhythms. Charlie Byrd's is terrific on the acoustic guitar and the tunes will get stuck in your head after 3 spins or less. The only possible complaint is the short playing time -- a mere 35 minutes.

The Very Best of Diana Krall takes many of the old "standards" and gives them a new presentation with her jazzy vocals, superb keyboard work, and high quality back-up arrangements by either a small combo or a full orchestra. Krall says that Peggy Lee has been a strong influence on her performance style and you can hear it on "Peel Me A Grape." But there's also a Sarah Vaughan quality to "Frim Fram Sauce," that is really delightful. Highly recommended for decompressing from a tough day or as background for a sensuous seduction plan or the successrful morning after.

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Playboy Jazz After Dark

Playboy Jazz After Dark
Jazz and jazzy

Disc: 1 Amazon Music Sampler Windows Media
1. In The Wee Small Hours Of the Morning - Gene Harris
2. Prelude To A Kiss - Duke Ellington
3. Everything Happens To Me - Gene Harris
4. My Funny Valentine - Miles Davis
5. Why Was I Born - Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane
6. The Peacocks - Howard Alden
7. Spring Is Here - Stan Getz
8. Blue In Green - Bill Evan
9. Angel Eyes - Scott Hamilton L
10. Corcovado (Quiet Nights) - Charlie Byrd & Ken Peplowski


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Product Description
The ultimate 2-CD collection of late-nite, mood-setting jazz, featuring classic performances by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday! Playboy Jazz label. 2003.

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Dianne Reeves : The Best of Dianne Reeves

Dianne Reeves : The Best of Dianne Reeves


Jazz and jazzy

This collection summarizes vocalist Dianne Reeves's greatest hits from 1987 to 2001. A stunning contralto, Reeves was one of the best jazz-based singers to emerge from the late 20th century. This disc captures her wide musical palette. Of course, her biggest hit, "Better Days" (a.k.a. "The Grandma Song"), is included here. Reeves's love of Latin music shines through on her version of Mongo Santamaria's "Afro-Blue," and her ballad artistry illuminates Reeve's soul-wrenching composition "Endangered Species" shows off her spiritual side, and "Testify" showcases her uplifting aura. Also included are Reeves's passionate reading of Joni Mitchell's "River" and a heartfelt version of "You Taught My Heart to Sing.""Misty." Both are released here for the first time in the U.S. Add keyboardists Billy Childs, Mulgrew Miller, and George Duke, and you have a complete aural portrait of Dianne Reeves. --Eugene Holley Jr.


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Product Description
During the same decade that saw the passing of so many great female jazz vocalists- Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter and others- a handful of new singers arrived in the '90s to carry the torch into the future. One of the most significant singers to come into her own in the last ten years is Dianne Reeves. Blue Note focuses attention on Reeves' brilliant career with The Best of Dianne Reeves.

Two of the tunes on The Best of Dianne Reeves have never been released in the U.S. before: Dianne's stunning take on Joni Mitchell's "River," an out-take from her Grammy-winning CD, In The Moment-Live In Concert from 2000, and a sublime rendition of the Johnny Burke/Erroll Garner classic, "Misty," available only on the Japanese release of The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan from 2001.

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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Angels of Shanghai : Bob James

Angels of Shanghai : Bob James

Jazz and jazzy
Product Description
Legendary jazz artist Bob James presents his newest project, featuring Nathan East, Harvey Mason, Jack Lee and Lewis Pragasam. A unique East meets West musical exploration - contemporary jazz artists interacting with young musicians from Shanghai performing on traditional Chinese instruments. Ancient sounds blend with modern technology and creativity to produce an experience with no boundaries. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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This project pairs smooth jazz keyboardist/composer Bob James and his Fourplay bandmates bassist Nathan East (who sings on the ballad "Endless Time") and drummer Harvey Mason, with guitarist Jack Lee and the Angels of Shanghai, who are masters of the er-hu, a two-string violin, the lute-like pipa, a harp-zither called a guzheng, and the dizi bamboo flute. James' sympathetic pianisms best blend with the Sinocentric sonorities and syncopations on the hip-notic "Gulangyu Island" the Asian and French-inflected "Melodia: A Quiet Place for Two" and "Angela with Purple Bamboo," a Silk Road update of James' beloved theme from the TV show Taxi. "By combining the spirit of American jazz with the beauty of traditional Chinese instruments by absorbing and learning from this rich Eastern cultural heritage,"" James writes in the liner notes, "I have sought to explore ways that we would communicate openly and freely; improvising and sharing our discoveries."

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Michael Franks : Rendezvous in Rio

Michael Franks : Rendezvous in Rio

Jazz and jazzy
As one of the prime movers in that select sub-group of white folk-pop singers who have found a home in Brazilian style (Kenny Rankin is a "similar urban AOR rival," to quote a customer review), contemporary jazz artist Michael Franks has aged pretty well--if not all that gracefully. As a guy who resorts to couplets like "The clothes on my back/Are too Pasternak," he probably shouldn't be waxing philosophical about how "feeble" and "pedantic" critics are ("The Critics Are Never Kind," a musical-derived number on which Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Degas commiserate).

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Franks also makes music his subject too often for his own good, celebrating "The Cool School" in self-congratulatory fashion and the first time he heard "Take Five"--he says Dave Brubeck's beloved version, though his use of bleating smooth jazz saxist Eric Marienthal to evoke the great Paul Desmond makes you wonder. But his vocals are breezy and intimate, and the instrumental settings provided by a cast including guitarist Chuck Loeb and keyboardist David Sancious are attractive without being too slick. Fans whose "inner harmony always turns blue in the end" won't be able to resist the wistful pull of the songs.

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The Very Best of Diana Krall

The Very Best of Diana Krall

Jazz and jazzy

Product Description
The first collection of her greatest recordings plus 3 tracks previously unavailable on any Diana Krall CD!

Featuring tracks such as: I've Got You Under My Skin, Peel Me a Grape, The Heart of Saturday Night, The Look of Love and more!
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The Very Best of Diana Krall takes many of the old "standards" and gives them a new presentation with her jazzy vocals, superb keyboard work, and high quality back-up arrangements by either a small combo or a full orchestra. Krall says that Peggy Lee has been a strong influence on her performance style and you can hear it on "Peel Me A Grape." But there's also a Sarah Vaughan quality to "Frim Fram Sauce," that is really delightful. Highly recommended for decompressing from a tough day or as background for a sensuous seduction plan or the successrful morning after.

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