After spending a year with the avant-garde quartet Circle, Chick Corea's desire to communicate to a wider audience led to him deciding to break up the unit. His first post-Circle recordings were two LPs of piano solos. Vol. 1 features six of his originals including the eight sketches of "Where Are You Now?," and the debut of the future standard "Sometime Ago." These performances are sometimes a bit precious, but they succeed in being acccessible and serve as a transition between Circle and Return to Forever.

The original LP only had five selections, but the CD contains 13, with the added eight (from the same sessions) having first been released on the double-LP Circling In. Age 26 at the time, and on the brink of gaining major recognition in the jazz world, pianist Chick Corea is featured with a very strong trio that also includes bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Roy Haynes. The music includes 11 of Corea's originals, including "Matrix," "Windows," and "Samba Yantra," Thelonious Monk's "Pannonica" and the standard "My One and Only Love" and is essentially advanced hard bop with an open-minded attitude toward free jazz. Listen to how part of "Steps-What Was" has hints of Corea's future composition "Spain."

This 1976 release features Chick Corea in what was then, and remains, a unique musical setting. While it is truly an electric jazz fusion record, it is also the only solo recording of Corea's on which he attempted to truly explore the Latin side of his musical heritage. My Spanish Heart marks a full-scale, yet thoroughly modern, exploration in the musical lineage Corea sprang from. Making full use of synthesizer technology, a string section, and synth-linked choruses – of two voices, his own and that of Gayle Moran – as well as percussionist Don Alias, drummer Steve Gadd, a full brass section, and the sparse use of Jean Luc Ponty ("Armando's Rumba") and bassist Stanley Clark, Corea largely succeeded in creating a Spanish/Latin tapestry of sounds, textures, impressions, and even two suites – "Spanish Fantasy" and "El Bozo."

An album of music inspired by, featuring, and in tribute to, the late Anubis Spire multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/songwriter, Marlon Kempmann. A mix of songs and performances from the band and a host of special guests including Mary Everhart, Mel Clemans, Marc McKechnie, Jerry Willard, Dace Yates, and Kathy Stewart. Songs that journey from the joy of love and friendship to sadness and pain for the loss of a great friend and fellow musician. But we must remember that when one door closes another opens, always. There is no end to the doorways.

Elu’s "Sensuality 2002" album was nominated for "Best Album of the Year 2004" for electronica by the Just Plain Folks Awards.
From its Enigma-like beginning simply called "Sensuality (Intro)" a listener will quickly become aware that they are in for something special with Elu's second CD entitled "Sensuality 2002". Written, arranged, performed, engineered, and produced by Jeff Mettling-also known as Elu, "Sensuality 2002" is a not to be missed CD. Jeff's music and technical expertise have won him four awards and over fifteen nominations for "Best Musical Production" by the New Mexico Music Industry Coalition…

This important live recording from 1981 features the great pianist with a stunning group: Joe Henderson on tenor sax, Gary Peacock on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. Haynes worked with Corea on many prior occasions, and Henderson was about to collaborate with him on the Griffith Park Collection albums of the early '80s, but this is the first time the three appear together. Peacock's presence is an additional delight. The probing bassist contributes the multi-layered, magnificent "Up, Up and…." Thelonius Monk's "Trinkle, Tinkle" and Cole Porter's "So in Love" are also featured. The latter culminates in a four-minute Haynes drum solo. Overall, the record is essential for fans of any and all of the four musicians involved.

A fishy little record from saxophonist Akira Miyazawa - but a great one too, and an indication that he was probably one of the greatest modernists on the Japanese scene of the time! The set's built around four long tracks - all played with a main focus on the tenor, handled here in a boldly confident, spiritually searching way that reminds us a fair bit of early Archie Shepp at his best. Akira's prone to angular tones, but never too much so - and although he's often concerned with carving lines out of sound and space, there's always a strong sense of soul and swing here - one that really keeps the record flowing! Other instrumentation includes piano, bass, drums, and a bit of percussion.

Ken McIntyre - Stone Blues (1960) {Prestige New Jazz OJCCD-1818-2 rel 1993}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 297 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 107 Mb
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© 1960, 1993 Prestige New Jazz | OJCCD-1818-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone / Flute

This early effort by Ken McIntyre (who doubles here on alto and flute) grows in interest with each listen. On a couple of his six originals (including a song called "Cornballs"), McIntyre slide humorously between notes but other selections are much more serious. McIntyre's sidemen are now somewhat obscure (trombonist John Mancebo Lewis, pianist Dizzy Sal, bassist Paul Morrison and drummer Bobby Ward) but they fit well into his conception which at this early stage was essentially advanced bop slightly influenced by the "new thing" music of Ornette Coleman. This interesting set has been reissued on CD.

Vladimir Horowitz – The Complete Original Jacket Collection is a 70 CD boxed set featuring most of the recordings of the pianist Vladimir Horowitz. The collection contains recordings from 1928 to his final recording session just four days before his death in 1989. Horowitz's recordings for RCA Red Seal and Columbia Masterworks/Sony Classical are included in the set. Recordings that Horowitz made for RCA's European affiliate, HMV, are not included. Nor are the recordings he made with Deutsche Grammophon from 1985-1989. It is one of the largest issues in the Original Jacket Collection series, and supersedes two smaller Original Jacket issues of Horowitz material.