ICE-10: December 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

TRACK OF THE DAY - The Doors

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Tete Montoliu (1995) -Brasil Clásicos

Artist: Tete Montoliu
Albums: Tete Montoliu Interpreta A Tom Jobim - Brasil Clásicos
Released: 1995 (recorded and originally released in 1974 as “Temas Brasileños”)
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Size: 299 MB

An outstanding veteran pianist from Spain, Tete Montoliu was born blind. He learned to read music in Braille when he was seven and developed impressive technique on piano. He recorded with Lionel Hampton in 1956, had his first session as a leader in 1958, and played with the touring Roland Kirk in 1963. Through the years, he also worked with such visiting Americans as Kenny Dorham, Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Lucky Thompson, and even Anthony Braxton. Tete Montoliu's visits to the U.S. were very infrequent, but his SteepleChase albums (starting in 1971) are generally available; he also cut one date for Contemporary (1979) and recorded for Enja and Soul Note. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Astor Piazzolla (1996) -57 Minutos Con La Realidad

Artist: Astor Piazzolla
Albums: 57 Minutos con la Realidad
Released: 1996
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 118 MB

A final release from Astor Piazzolla, recorded shortly before his death and edited for release following notes that he left behind. The work stems largely from a session in the BBC studios, and also from a recording session in Germany. The playing is wonderful here -- all of the pieces fit well together. The piano is especially brash, courtesy of Gerardo Gandini. One other notable item here: the inclusion of a second bandoneon to work with Piazzolla's own in the sextet. For fans of Piazzolla, this is a wonderful album. For those that aren't full fledged devotees, it may also serve as a decently good introduction to the deep world of nuevo tango headed by Piazzolla. ~ Adam Greenberg, allmusic.com

Susie Arioli (2010) -Christmas Dreaming

Artist: Susie Arioli
Albums: Christmas Dreaming
Released: 2010
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 92 MB

Susie Arioli is back with Christmas Dreaming, a brand new album to be released on November 2. True to her inimitable style, and still accompanied by Jordan Officer on guitar, Susie invents a very personal way of celebrating the Holidays with a Christmas album of bewitching charm. With over 200 000 copies sold worldwide between her five previous albums, Susie Arioli demonstrates once again her exceptional flair for selecting songs. The singer offers a choice of some great classics and some superb lesser known titles that she unveils with obvious pleasure. These infinitely alluring performances give off an irresistible warmth, heightened by the jazz and bluesy colours so characteristic of the Arioli sound. With its flowing rhythms, its hushed atmospheres and its carefully crafted arrangements, Christmas Dreaming evokes the holiday spirit with a formidable authenticity. READ MORE

Various Artists (2009) -Destroy That Boy! More Girls With Guitars

Artist: various
Albums: Destroy That Boy! More Girls with Guitars
Released: 2009
Quality: mp3 CBR 160
Size: 71 MB

So you thought the Shangri-Las were a piece of work?! 'Destroy That Boy!' - a riot of bodacious all-girl bands, femme frat-rock, axe-backed babes and other similar females of the species from the 1963-1970 timescale - is the eagerly awaited follow-up to Ace's big-selling 'Girls With Guitars' set of 2004. Like its predecessor, the focus is on female bands that played their own instruments: say hello to the Debutantes, What Four, Pivots, Feminine Complex, She Trinity from Canada and Merseyside's very own female Beatles, the Liverbirds. The punky Toni McCann from Australia, Coventry's Beverley Jones and leather-lunged Sharon Tandy from South Africa add to the international flavour. Also included are nuggets produced by Lee Hazlewood (who else would have dared reinvent Hollywood glamourpuss Ann-Margret as a metal mama?), Jack Nitzsche (Karen Verros - imagine Lesley Gore highjacked by the Yardbirds), Steve Cropper (mysterious Stax duo Cheryll & Pam, one of whom was his squeeze at the time) and Sly Stone (the Girls, some passing ingénues backed by the Beau Brummels, no less). Compilation and notes by Mick Patrick.

Nina Simone (1964) -Broadway Blues Ballads

Artist: Nina Simone
Albums: Broadway Blues Ballads
Released: 1964
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 82 MB

There's a lot more Broadway and a lot more ballads than blues on this, which ranks as one of her weaker mid-'60s albums. Almost half the record features Broadway tunes on the order of Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hammerstein; most of the rest was composed by Bennie Benjamin, author of her first-rate "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," which the Animals covered for a hit shortly afterwards (and which leads off this record). The other Benjamin tunes are modified uptown soul with string arrangements and backup vocals in the vein of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," but aren't in the same league, although "How Can I?" is an engaging cha cha. Besides "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," the album is most notable for the great "SeeLine Woman," a percolating call-and-response number that ranks as one of her best tracks. The CD reissue includes the strange bonus cut "The Monster," an odd attempt at a soul novelty tune. ~ Richie Unterberger

R. L. Burnside (1997) -Acoustic Stories

Artist: R. L. Burnside
Albums: Acoustic Stories
Released: 1997 (originally released in 1988)
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 81 MB

R. L. Burnside is notorious for his gritty, greasy Delta blues, as each of his records since his 1991 discovery have been blistering electric recordings. That's what makes Acoustic Stories so refreshing. Recorded at New York City in 1988 with harp player John Neremberg, the album balances originals with a handful of well-selected covers, including three John Lee Hooker tunes: "When My First Wife Left Me," "Hobo Blues" and "Meet Me in the Bottom." Burnside is more exciting when he's electric, but these are unexpectedly haunting recordings that prove he's not just about rocking the joint. ~ Thom Owens, allmusic

BASta! (2009) -Cycles

Artist: BASta!
Albums: Cycles
Released: 2009
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 101 MB

April 2009 was a busy month for Antwerp double bassist Joris Vanvinckenroye. Not only did he spearhead the recording of Songs from Mirage, the third full-length CD by his principal creative outlet, the neoclassical chamber rock outfit Aranis, but he also kept his fingers busy under his solo moniker BASta! (exclamation point included and fully warranted), recording this occasionally astounding 45-minute album of multi-tracked bass. Cycles is 100 percent Vanvinckenroye and his double bass — there are no other instruments present (or at least that is the claim, as hard as that might be to believe at times) — although this is not the sound of unaccompanied bass solos. Rather, Vanvinckenroye plays what would appear to be a handful of bass parts at the very least, and oftentimes what sounds like a bass-filled ensemble of nearly orchestral proportions, in multi-layered compositions that surely encompass both the highest and lowest notes the instrument is capable of producing. …Vanvinckenroye takes things a step further here — with their woody textures and grain, his basses are engaged in a deeply organic dance as they lay down a strong foundation of repeated, loop-like phrases while also answering one another in counterpoint, chugging through the middle ground with relentless drive, and singing wildly in the high registers. ~ Read more

Artist: Charlie Haden & Hank Jones
Albums: Steal Away
Released: 1995
Quality: lossless (FLAC tracks)
Size: 238 MB

Charlie Haden has always had a penchant for roots music, including folk songs from varied traditions in the repertoire of his Liberation Music Orchestra. It's more than affectation; the bassist's musical roots are in Oklahoma, and his career began in early childhood with his family's country-music group. Those sources loom large in this inspired meeting with pianist Hank Jones over a program devoted largely to spirituals, with a few secular folk songs added in. The feelings communicated here arise from no simple reading of traditional material. It's Jones's unmatched harmonic sensitivity that often works the transformation, his close-voiced chords adding new resonance to summon the depths at which this material communicates. Haden, for his part, is as effective a soloist as he is an accompanist, spare and exacting and making full use of his huge, dark sound and powerful lower register. This is music by two masters, immersing themselves in a profound stream of American music. ~ Stuart Broomer

Bettye LaVette (2010) -Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook

Artist: Bettye LaVette
Albums: Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
Released: 2010
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 184 MB

At first glance, Bettye LaVette’s new album Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook, would appear to be just another collection of song covers. But “interpretations” is the key word here, because LaVette, a Detroit soul veteran and a contemporary of more famous peers like Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson, is no run-of-the-mill singer, and she takes these classic British Invasion tracks and gives them new dimension, making them in every sense and nuance her own. That’s not an easy task, since every one of these tracks is a well-known song, seemingly immutable in the original version, but amazingly, LaVette steals each and every one of them. John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s “The Word,” which leads things off, for instance, becomes the gospel stomper the Beatles always intended it to be, while Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy” becomes a swampy, haunting, and profoundly wise blues song in LaVette’s capable hands. And she’s not afraid to make changes to these classics, either, updating the Rolling Stones’ “Salt of the Earth” to include references to the HIV epidemic. She rearranges things in song after song here, moving choruses, swapping out verses, all in the name of claiming the song and placing it in new emotional territory. The idea for this album came after she performed the Who’s “Love Reign O’Er Me” in 2008 at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony for the band, and her version that night (it is included here as an extended bonus track) is nothing less than stunning, pulling a depth of emotion from the song that the Who could only dream of, as fine as the band’s original version was. Now in her mid-sixties, LaVette is singing better than ever, and if she isn’t a household name, she ought to be. This is a remarkable album because this lady is a remarkable singer -- that’s the bottom line. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide.

Various Artists (2007) -Erik Satie Et Autres Messieurs - Airs De Jeux [3 CD]

Artist: various
Albums: Erik Satie Et Autres Messieurs - Airs De Jeux [3 CD]
Released: 2007
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 108 + 137 + 156 MB

A wonderful compilation of 3 CDs, including interpretations of great Satie's works.
CD 1 consistso of works of different artists, CD 2 is Ulrich Gumbert's way of playing Satie while CD 3 is Tony Hymas exploring mysterious friendship of Erik Satie and Claude Debussy.

Knut Rössler, Johannes Vogt, Miroslav Vitous (2007) -Between The Times

Artist: Knut Rössler, Johannes Vogt, Miroslav Vitous
Albums: Between The Times
Released: 2007
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 131 MB

Fortune's ways are often unpredictable. Two musicians with seemingly completely different focus. One of them a German jazz saxophonist, blue note saturated by countless gigs in subterranean joints since the 1960’s.The other a lute player from a completely different scene, specialist for ancient music from the middle ages on. Brought together by the visual arts – both of them often performed at gallery openings for a number of Heidelberg artists. One day they were asked to play together, as the relevant exhibition connected the old and the new. An unexpected and consequential prod: It resulted in a lasting collaboration. Now saxophonist Knut Rössler and lutenist Johannes Vogt are releasing their ACT-debut: Between the Times is the name of the CD and the ensemble itself, which is manoeuvred through time and style by the two masterminds and their collaborators percussionist Mani Neumeier and stellar bass player Miroslav Vitous.

Between the Times is an effervescent name that resonates on a number of levels. Here it also means
between two musical epochs, meaning not quite renaissance anymore but not baroque yet. The compositions that have inspired this recording stem from the period around 1650. Johannes Vogt finds the music from such transitional periods especially fascinating, the pieces from this time display an unusual pleasure in experimentation, their vocabulary is not yet standardised, like that of later compositions: a daring, un-clichéd and often surprising language. Rössler and Vogt venture into almost uncharted territory (outside of esoteric circles, that is!), with music by composers like Ennemond Gaultier, Pierre Dubut or Jacques Gallot. This allows for discoveries on a number of different levels. ~ ©

Various Artists (2009) -Pomegranates: Persian Pop, Funk, Folk, And Psych Of The 60s & 70s

Artist: various
Albums: Pomegranates: Persian Pop, Funk, Folk, And Psych Of The 60s & 70s
Released: 2009
Quality: mp3 CBR 192
Size: 95 MB

Finders Keepers are simply unstoppable! Delving deep into the crates once more, the relentless folks at Finders Keepers have uncovered these mindblowing funky idiosyncratic musical gems from 60's & 70's Persia!
Collected together on this ace 16 track album are some of the finest Persian Pop songs ever recorded. Many are acknowledged classics within "Iran and throughout the Iranian diaspora. Some are super obscure. They date back to a period of intense modernization and tumult in Iran. The songs are by and large, concerned with love and longing, rich in metaphor and emotion, often melacholy, wistful and ecstatic. - ©

Various Artists (1996) -Banzai Freakbeat: Raw 60’s Group Sound From Japan

Artist: various
Albums: Banzai Freakbeat: Raw 60’s Group Sound From Japan
Released: 1996
Quality: mp3 CBR 256
Size: 103 MB

The Al Cohn – Zoot Sims Quintet (1960) -You’n’Me

Artist: Al Cohn & Zoot Sims Quintet
Album: You'n'Me
Released: 2002
Recorded: 1960
Quality: lossless (FLAC)
Size: 289 MB

Artist: Hank Mobley, Al Cohn, John Coltrane, Zoot Sims

Albums: Tenor Conclave
Recorded: 1956
Released: 1990
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 109 MB

These four sides should not be hard to locate, as the primary participants in this November 30, 1956, session have all issued them within their individual catalogs. However Tenor Conclave was first released as credited to the "leaderless" Prestige All-Stars -- consisting of tenor saxophonists John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims. Providing support are pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Taylor. The Mobley-penned title track commences the effort with the quartet of tenors showing off their stuff in high-flying style. It takes a couple of passes and somewhat of a trained ear to be able to link the players with their contributions, but as is often the case, the whole tends to be greater than the sum of the parts. After a brief introduction with all four rapidly reeling off short riffs, Mobley charges ahead into truly inspired territory. The midtempo take of "Just You, Just Me" keeps things lively with a light swinging pace that is custom-made for bringing the combo's jocular side to the surface, particularly toward the end as they "trade fours," with each tenor blowing four bars before passing the melody on. The other Mobley composition is "Bob's Boys," and by all accounts it is the most compelling piece on the outing. The blues-based tune rollicks as Coltrane, Mobley, Cohn, and Sims find themselves configured in a seeming myriad of sonic face-offs. Wrapping up Tenor Conclave is an ultra-cool and sophisticated "How Deep Is the Ocean?" Cohn commences the long and luscious reading with a subtle strength, suggesting the powerful undercurrent flowing throughout the number. Also, listeners are treated to what is possibly Garland's finest interaction, leading right into Sims, Chambers, and finally a sublime Coltrane caboose. ~ Lindsay Planer, All Music Guide.

The Machine (2010) -Drie

Artist: The Machine
Albums: Drie
Released: 2010
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 185 MB

The Ronettes (1997) -The Ultimate Collection

Artist: The Ronettes
Albums: The Ultimate Collection
Released: 1997
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 185 MB

The Ronettes weren't the most commercially successful girl group, but their music was some of the most groundbreaking in the field, thanks to their association with the legendary Wall of Sound producer Phil Spector. Their biggest hit, "Be My Baby," is widely regarded as one of the crowning achievements of Spector's oeuvre, and of girl-group pop in general. In fact, many critics have deemed it one of the most supremely romantic records of the rock & roll era; Spector's production frames the song's yearning lyrics and Ronnie Bennett's sweetly sultry vocals in a sweeping, near-symphonic level of emotion. Even though the Ronettes never managed another hit as big as "Be My Baby," many of their subsequent singles boasted the same kind of creative synergy between Spector and Bennett. MORE INFO