“Heaven” the new album by Belgian Rock Legends Irish Coffee! Irish Coffee started in Aalst 50 years ago and was immediately heard with the hit single “Masterpiece / The Show”. Shortly thereafter the - now legendary – debut album was released, now of the most sought after collector items in the world of vinyl. The band called it a day after a few very successful years. Songwriter and singer William Souffreau, 74 meanwhile, is without doubt the éminence grise of Belgian rock, with an extensive discography, and still very active as well as solo (in 2017 Starman Records released the excellent solo album “Tobacco Fields”) as with Irish Coffee. Irish Coffee was re-launched in 2005 with a studio album and a live album recorded during the group's passage in the legendary German music program Rockpalast (WDR).

Limited 29 disc (28 CDs + DVD) box. As a tribute to the one and only Dutch Blues legend Harry Muskee, 2016 will see the release of Alles Uit Grolloo. The box set contains all the original studio albums by Cuby + Blizzards plus the official live albums and all other projects of Muskee. Especially for this release the first albums are mastered in their mono versions. Even releases that have long been deleted, such as Kid Blue, Old Times Good Times, Forgotten Tapes, Afscheidsconcert and Red, White & Blue, are present here. Next to the 27 albums the box set contains a disc with rarities and a DVD with the Classic Albums documentary on the legendary "Groeten Uit Grollo" album.

The difficult second album by Natasha Bedingfield, titled N.B., was released in April 2007. Her brother Daniel had already been there with Second First Impression which was nowhere near as successful as his first album Gotta Get Thru This. Since her debut album Unwritten, a whole series of similar female singers had broken through, including Amy Winehouse, Corinne Bailey Rae and Lily Allen and this was the market Bedingfield was now competing in. The songs on NB focus on relationships from the very start of the ballad "Soulmate," the first single to be lifted from the album, about being on your own and wondering if there is a soulmate for everyone, through to "When You Know You Know" about breaking up, set to a soundtrack reminiscent of early-'70s soul bands like the Delfonics or Bloodstone.

One of the early pioneers of fusion, flutist Jeremy Steig often gets a bit overlooked in jazz history books because he did not record much for major labels. This particular CD reissue, which was originally titled "Fusion," is an excellent showcase for this artist, who is heard on the regular flute, an alto flute, a bass flute, and a piccolo. He is joined by keyboardist Jan Hammer, electric bassist Gene Perla (replaced by Eddie Gomez on two numbers), and drummer/percussionist Don Alias. They perform 12 diverse Steig originals (some of which were co-written with Hammer) and one tune by the keyboardist, music that straddle the boundaries between early fusion, post-bop, blues, and swinging jazz. Steig is heard throughout in prime form on this somewhat scarce budget release of material originally cut for the Groove Merchant label.

Born in Lérida in 1975, Catalan singer/songwriter Roger Mas studied clarinet and saxophone from his early teens, and gradually became interested in ethnic music. A 1996 local radio award kick-started his recording career, which up to 2012 included eight albums, from 1997's Les Flors del Somni to 2012's Ciutat de Barcelona, a collaboration with Catalan folk music ensemble Cobla Sant Jordi. Mas' investigations into traditional, ethnic, and modern musical and linguistic forms have earned him a place as one of the leading Catalan singer/songwriters of his generation.

Heir to a true French pianistic tradition, Michel Dalberto studied with Vlado Perlemuter, who was a favourite pupil of Alfred Cortot and was coached by Maurice Ravel. He reveals that precious legacy here, in the fourth part of this cycle devoted to French music.

Archie Shepp - True Blue (1998) {Venus Records VHCD-2023}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 473 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 173 Mb
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© 1998 Venus Records | VHCD-2023
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Saxophone

This 1998 studio recording by tenor sax legend Archie Shepp is a study in blues and ballads as the title might suggest, but it also marks the return of Shepp as a true bandleader. With pianist John Hicks, drummer Billy Drummond, and bassist George Mraz, Shepp sounds more inspired here than he has in literally decades. There is no crutch-like reliance on hard bop and blues stylings, nor is there any over-the-shoulder tosses at being the king of the avant-garde. Instead Shepp focuses on what he does best: being a fine stylist and one of the great blues phraseologists in the business. Opening with Coltrane's "Lonnie's Lament," Shepp goes one better than just saluting his old boss – he reharmonizes the tune and slows it down, making it a true elegy.

The Magic Gang release their buoyant new album Death Of The Party. The album was recorded in Atlanta with the Grammy-winning producer Ben H. Allen (Deerhunter, Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley), whose work in alternative and pop matches for band’s own blend of genres. The quartet approached the album with two objectives in mind. They aimed to broaden the scope of their harmony-rich, melodically focused pop. And inspired by Lou Reed, Alex Turner and especially Jonathan Richman they wanted to take a more observational lyrical approach. The stories they tell reflect the experiences of many of their early-twentysomething contemporaries. They explore anxieties about money, relationships and the future, but also the fun moments that they use to escape from such issues.

Charles Mingus - Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife (1959) {Columbia CK44050 rel 1988}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 316 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 118 Mb
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© 1959, 1988 CBS / Columbia | CK 44050
Jazz / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz

It's too bad this one is so rare, it's quite good. Slop is probably the best known track, and is Get It In Yer Soul's little cousin. Song With Orange is underrated (the liner notes call it one of Mingus's less memorable tunes) and makes nice use of muted brass. Gunsling Bird, fully called, "If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Lot of Dead Copycats", so you can guess it's a tribute piece. Things Ain't What They Used to Be and Mood Indigo are two lengthy Ellington covers, the former being my favorite Ellington piece. Far Wells, Mill Valley has an awesome title but is an okay song.

Cecil Taylor - Michigan State University, April 15th 1976 (2015) {Hi Hat HHCD005}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 272 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 110 Mb
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© 1976, 2015 Hi Hat | HHCD005
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Piano

Capturing the groundbreaking Cecil Taylor Unit's second set at the Power Center, Michigan State University at Ann Arbor, on Thursday, April 15th 1976, this document was recorded for broadcast on WCBN-FM's Jazz Alive program. Featuring Taylor on piano, backed by his long-term sideman Jimmy Lyons (alto sax), David S. Ware (tenor sax), Raphe Malik (trumpet), and Marc Edwards (drums), it offers a fascinating glimpse into Taylor's uncompromising vision, and is presented here in its entirety, with digitally remastered sound, background notes, and rare images.

The 31 year-old vocalist Natalia Mateo is a wanderer between the worlds - musically and in real life. Born in Poland, raised in Austria and now living in Germany, she has absorbed the most varied of impressions and cultures into her being. She draws from the Slavic ballad tradition, from American jazz and singer-songwriters ranging from Joni Mitchell to Amy Macdonald, and from contemporary pop and rock music, covering Lou Reed, Tom Waits and Lady Gaga. Mateo s music is a highly personal declaration of love to tradition and modernity, to familiarity on the one hand and on the other to the wanderlust throbbing in her heart and head, to the beauty of emotional attachment, of deepest interpersonal relationships and the independence we live while in them.