The fifth L'Ensemble Rayé CD features music written for the Movers dance production Vis-à-Vis, which premiered in Zurich during March 2001. The group's signature sound – light folk-jazz-flavored instrumentals with appealing melodicism, crisp and inventive arrangements, and just enough intriguing sonic embellishments to provide an avant-garde edge – remains intact from previous releases. Two newcomers have joined the band: Yann Altermath on alto sax and alto horn and Julien Baillod on guitar and bass. Baillod had a guest spot on the second L'Ensemble Rayé release, but is now a full-fledged member of the band and second only to clarinetist Pierre Kaufmann in composing credits for Vis-à-Vis Movers Dance Company's tunes.

One of the most revered virtuosos in jazz would be 100 in 2009. Celebrate his innovations in dexterity and harmony as you hear his dazzling piano versions of Moonglow; Yesterday; This Can't Be Love; Tea for Two; In a Sentimental Mood; How High the Moon; Where or When and more!

Jackie McLean - Fat Jazz (1957) {Jubilee–Fresh Sound FSR-CD18 rel 1989}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 242 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 92 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1957, 1989 Jubilee / Fresh Sound Records | FSR-CD 18
Jazz / Hard Bop / Saxophone

Early pre-Blue Note hardbop by Jackie McLean – and one of the few recordings to feature his sextet with Ray Draper! Draper was a real legend in late 50s jazz – a tuba player, believe it or not, with a sound that was dark, brooding, and very modern – very unlike you'd expect from the instrument. This album has the same rich quality as the session Draper recorded with Coltrane in the same period – and it also features 2 of his amazing compositions, "Filide" and "Two Sons". As for the rest of the group, Webster Young plays coronet, Gil Coggins plays piano, and George Tucker's on drums – and other titles include "Millie's Pad", "Tune Up", and "What Good Am I Without You".

Hunker down with music to make you feel good about the future. Namely, 15 new tracks by Laura Marling, James Elkington, Frazey Ford, Rose City Band and Brigid Mae Power and more.

Larry Carlton - Four Hands & A Heart Volume One (2012) {335 Records 335-1209}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 339 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 150 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2012 335 Records, Inc. | 335-1209
Jazz / Blues / Guitar

This record is something special to Larry’s heart. He reviewed these previously recorded solo albums, “Larry Carlton”, “Strikes Twice”, and Sleepwalk” and picked tracks from them that really meant a great deal to him and recorded new electric/acoustic guitar versions of these classic Larry Carlton Tunes. I discovered Larry Carlton in 1978, when I bought his "Larry Carlton" lp. I was blown away by his virtuosity and his electric guitar tone. But there was something else, quite difficult to pin down. I finally read somewhere that Joni Mitchell described his playing as "like fly fishing." And that's it. It just makes you feel well; listening to his playing took me to a higher plane. This album does that in spades. The format here just gives you his naked guitar playing, and it's just beautiful. Less is more, indeed.

The Swedish doom peddlers Sorcerer will be releasing their third studio album (via Metal Blade Records) called 'Lamenting Of The Innocent' on May 29. The popular metal group successfully blends Candlemass-style epic doom with shades of Iron Maiden to serve up a unique treat for lovers of doom metal. They originally formed in 1989, disbanded in 1992 and then reformed in 2010.

Agricola - Missa Malheur me bat, Missa In minen sin - A:N:S Chorus & János Bali (2001) {Hungaroton Classic HCD32011}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 348 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 185 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 39 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2001 Hungaroton Classic | HCD 32011
Classical / Renaissance / Sacred / Early Music

First recording. .. or the more colloquial "s__t happens" is as good a translation of the phrase "malheur me bat" as any. It's the title of a chanson of the late 15th Century. The rest of the text hasn't survived. We can assume that the chanson was a love lament, but not with any certainty; it might have been a general statement of the woes of mortality. Written in the Phrygian mode (E to e with no flats of sharps), it does have a melodically woeful cast. Polyphony in the Phrygian mode was not unusual, but it always involved the compositional difficulty of avoiding the "tritone" (the interval from F-natural to B-natural), so that raising the F or lowering the B (a practice we call ficta) often disguises the modal quality of the music.

Behemoth have announced their upcoming EP A Forest, is set to be released May 29th. With the announcement of the album, they have also released a death metal cover version of “A Forest” with vocals from Shining’s Niklas Kvarforth. The song is originally performed by The Cure. The EP will include 4 tracks, with two of them being covers of “A Forest.” One is a studio version and the other being a live performance from a show in Poland in 2018. It also features two brand new tracks called ‘Shadows Ov Ea Cast Upon Golgotha’ and ‘Evoe, which serve as a continuation from the bands critically acclaimed 2018 album I Loved You At Your Darkest.

While a lot of guitar heroes sling their axes for the sole purpose of proving that they are the fastest shredder in the showroom, picking their Mixolydian scales to the nth degree, on the ridiculously named Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock Satriani shines in his ability to hold back and write tasteful verse/chorus songs with memorable hooks…

Cassandra Wilson has steadfastly refused to be pigeonholed or confined to any stylistic formula. Her highly anticipated Blue Note debut may stir renewed controversy, as she is once again all over the place. She begins the set with her intriguing version of "You Don't Know What Love Is." Then she moves from two Robert Johnson covers ("Come on in My Kitchen" and "Hellhound on My Trail") through rock compositions from Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell, her own title track, blues cut "Redbone," and a piercing version of "I Can't Stand the Rain" that can hold up to comparisons with Ann Peebles' classic. She doesn't have Johnson's menacing quality (who does?), but does invoke an equally compelling air. Wilson has great timing, pacing, and delivery, and certainly has blues sensibility in her sound.