Philadelphia was full of first-rate hard boppers and post-boppers in the 1990s – everyone from tenor saxman Larry McKenna and trumpeter John Swana to guitarist Jimmy Bruno – but fusion and pop-jazz were hard to find in that city. One of the best fusion bands playing Philly and southern New Jersey in the late 1990s was Common Ground, which is in good to excellent form on its second album, Not Enough Space. With core members Chris Farr (tenor and soprano sax) and Erik Sayles (guitar) joined by drummer extraordinaire Dennis Chambers, as well as keyboardist Dan Zank and electric bassist James Genus, the sparks fly.

Unlike most genre superstars, David Benoit never seems content to stick strictly with any pop formula for very long. While his hummable ivory spirit always shines through, his many attempts to shake and stir the typical expectations make him perhaps the most artistic pop jazz artist around. Shaken Not Stirred is thus an appropriate moniker for this wildly eclectic collection, which makes overwhelmingly effective use of orchestral grandeur (the enrapturing "Carmel"), and comes across more as a smashing musician's playground than a lightweight, radio friendly stab. he treads just enough familiar territory to keep old fans pleased but enjoys experimenting with percussive explosions, wild jamming, and traditional smoky club blues.

After years of cutting their teeth in studio sessions and as background singers, the Jones Girls finally had their chance in the Philadelphia International spotlight, and this two-album-on-one-disc compilation captures two of their finest efforts: 1979's eponymous debut and its follow-up, At Peace with Woman. All of Philadelphia International's usual big-name suspects make contributions here; names like Gamble & Huff, Dexter Wansel, and Bunny Sigler all produce or write one solid song after another for the first half of this disc, including one of their biggest hits, "You're Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else." At Peace with Woman, the follow-up from 1980, didn't have as much staying power on the charts as their debut, but songs like "I Just Love the Man" and "Dance Turned into Romance" proved that the Jones Girls were not just a B-team version of the Three Degrees, but solid artists in their own right.

One wonders how Repin manages to find so much freshness and spontaneity in a work as well known as the Tchaikovsky Concerto…one is tempted to put Repin, with Milstein, Heifetz and Stern, at the very summit of a plethora of recordings.

It may not contain everything written by French modernist composer Francis Poulenc – the solo works, the chamber works, the stage works, and the songs with piano accompaniment are naturally not included – but Charles Dutoit's five-disc set of the orchestral works, the concerted works, the sacred choral works, and the vocal works with orchestral accompaniment by Poulenc has everything else that matters and lots, lots more. It has the charming Piano Concerto and the delightful Two Piano Concerto, the impressive Organ Concerto and the beguiling harpsichord concerto called Concert champêtre, the four-movement Sinfonietta and the seven-movement Suite française, the ballet Les biches and the Concerto chorégraphique called Aubade, plus 11 other shorter orchestral works.

It's hard to fathom today, but Roland Kirk was considered a gimmick for much of his early career. For sure, the man was a cagey character, which certainly didn't help his reputation. People were bemused by the way he played multiple horns simultaneously, including some horns that he invented himself. His style wasn't easy to pin down, either, so fluent was he in every jazz idiom.

Alicia Bridges is the eponymous debut album from disco singer-songwriter Alicia Bridges, released in 1978 on Polydor Records. The album featured the smash hit single, "I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round)", which, when released as a 12" single (as remixed by producer Jim Burgess), reached a peak of number 5 on the Billboard, Cash Box & Record World charts in 1978 (quickly becoming an RIAA-certified gold record for sales of over one million copies; it would now be seen as a platinum record). Alicia Bridges peaked a number 52 on the Australian chart.

THE BOLSHOI 5 CD Box-Set of the complete recordings of Beggars Banquet's The Bolshoi. The package include a plethora of additional unreleased demos, rare B-Sides, and live recordings interwoven across: the debut EP Giants, THREE full-length albums: Friends, Lindy's Party, and the no-longer-lost, Country Life, and the 5th disc of various musical wonders, entitled, Voyage Of Peculiarities.

Paul Gonsalves - Ellingtonia Moods & Blues (1960) {RCA Victor ‎09026 63562-2 rel 1999}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 217 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 87 Mb
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© 1960, 1999 RCA Victor / BMG | ‎09026 63562-2
Jazz / Bop / Saxophone

Paul Gonsalves was considered some kind of new genius of the tenor saxophone after he blew an astounding 27 choruses with Duke Ellington's Orchestra on the Duke's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. As part of RCA's reissue series to celebrate Ellington's 100th birthday, Ellingtonia Moods & Blues brings back a 1960 date featuring Gonsalves and other Ellington soloists. Although nominally credited to Gonsalves, this, in fact, is a co-chaired date with Johnny Hodges. Hodges shares the composing, arranging and – as always – swinging soloing.

Great jazz-funk album by famous 70s French combo Cortex. Recorded in 1979, but pressed in 2006 by Underdog Records. Unrealised seventies stuff propulsed by Alain Mion and Alain Gandolfi, lead members of Cortex.

American Beauty: The Angel's Share brings together never-before-heard studio recordings compiled from dozens of recently discovered 16-track reels. It includes multiple outtakes for several album tracks along with demos for every song on the album (except “Box Of Rain”) plus one for “To Lay Me Down,” which was later included on Jerry Garcia’s first solo album, Garcia. All 10 demos are available today for streaming and digital download with the full 56-track AMERICAN BEAUTY: THE ANGEL’S SHARE to be released as a digital exclusive on October 15, shortly before the 50th anniversary of the album’s original release date: November 1, 1970.

The recording mirrors the arc of energy in a passing day with two new commissions by Luke Howard and Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory and Nyman’s virtuosic Where the Bee Dances at its heart.

Art Pepper - Not A Through Street, Live In Yamagata '78 (1990) {2CD Set, Toy's Factory Records Japan TFCL-88901~2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 468 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 203 Mb
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© 1978, 1990 Toy's Factory Records Japan TFCL-88901~2
Jazz / Cool / Bop / West Coast Jazz / Saxophone

Art Pepper is widely considered to be one of the greatest alto saxophonists of all time. Born in California in 1925, Art Pepper came to prominence during the 1950s as one of the major soloists of the West Coast and cool jazz movements. But his playing changed dramatically later in his career, as he took on the influence of new stylistic developments in the jazz world.

The priest Giuseppe Cavallo was Maestro di Canto of the Conservatorio de Santa Maria de Loreto from 1672 until his death in 1684. Otherwise, virtually nothing is known about the composer, and it is only due to the musical archive of the Oratorio di Napoli, a treasure trove of rare scores, that a handful of Cavallo's works survive, including Il Giudizio Universale. This sacred oratorio presents Christ and Saint Michael, a pair of angels, two mortals, and four souls–two damned, two blessed–and begins with Christ commanding the angels to bring on the Last Judgment. What follows is a finely crafted musical drama, except for the confusion caused when the otherwise immaculately presented album fails to reveal which of the seven singers (two sopranos, three tenors, and one bass) is singing which parts.

Legions of the North is the seventh studio album by the Viking metal band Månegarm. It was released in 2013.