Jimmy Ponder

One of the most consistent and most soulful of all jazz altoists, Hank Crawford sounds at his best when he has strong melodies to wrap his tone around, and when he can dig into the blues. Both aspects are true during this quartet outing which he co-leads with organist Jimmy McGriff. Crawford sounds particularly strong on "Jumpin' With Symphony Sid" and "Hank's Groove" and even if "Any Day Now" is a bit of a misfire, the interplay between the altoist and the organist (helped out by guitarist Jimmy Ponder's occasional solos and strong support from drummer Vince James) makes this an excellent soul jazz effort overall.

Jimmy Giuffre - Jimmy Giuffre 3, 1961 {2CD ECM 1438/39 rel 1992}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 379 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 215 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 37 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1961, 1992 ECM Records | ECM 1438/39
Jazz / West Coast Jazz / Modal Music / Third Stream / Clarinet

This reissue of Fusion and Thesis, the two albums the new Jimmy Giuffre 3 made in 1961, prior to their breakthrough and breakup in 1962, is nothing short of a revelation musically. Originally produced by Creed Taylor, who was still respectable back then, the two LPs have been complete remixed and remastered by ECM proprietor and chief producer Manfred Eicher and Jean Philippe Allard and contain complete material from both sessions resulting in one new track on Fusion and three more on Thesis.

Andrew Hill - Grass Roots (1968) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD TYCJ-81063 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 451 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 162 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 314 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1968, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | TYCJ-81063
Jazz / Post Bop / Piano

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. A real stroke of genius from pianist Andrew Hill – and a surprising one too! After an initial legacy of groundbreaking experimental sides for Blue Note, Hill returns to his "grass roots" on this excellent session of straight ahead, fairly funky, soul jazz piano tunes! In the notes, Hill claims a desire to get back to the people – and in a really unusual turn, he shakes off his previous modernist trappings and goes for territory that's much more in the mode of Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, or Hank Mobley on Blue Note!

John Patton - That Certain Feeling (1968) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD TYCJ-81058 rel 2014} (24-192 remaster)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 249 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 98 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 225 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1968, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | TYCJ-81058
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Hard Bop / Jazz Funk / Organ Hammond B-3

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. A brilliantly bubbling session from Hammond genius John Patton – and a set that serves as a real link between the gutbucket soul of his early years, and some of the fresher phrasing he was beginning to explore at Blue Note! Patton's lines on the keys are a wonderful thing to behold (and behear!) – as they're both rhythmic, but extremely fluid and exploratory – more conceived around some of the new ideas on tenor at the time, and pushing forward roughly into the same territory as Larry Young – but with more of Patton's rootsy soul still intact.

Don’t jump to the wrong conclusions: Jimmy Cornett & The Deadmen definitely don’t play rockabilly music! Frank Jäger’s highly visible double bass, which he likes to take a bath in the crowd with, playing it on his back, may imply as much, but this band from Hamburg doesn’t go in for clichés. Their career is as colourful as their songs, their lyrics as diverse as life itself. So perhaps we should first of all address the question of what kind of music they actually play.