Limited vinyl LP repressing of this 1968 album from the Jazz great. SPEAK LIKE A CHILD was his sixth album for Blue Note Records. The evocative cover photograph was taken by David By the wood, an acquaintance of Hancock. The woman on the cover is Hancock's then-girlfriend, Gigi Meixner.
Double vinyl LP pressing. 2012 album from the Jazz pianist and his electric Experimental band. Black Radio is a future landmark album that boldly stakes out new musical territory and transcends any notion of genre, drawing from Jazz, Hip Hop, R&B and Rock, but refusing to be pinned down by any one tag. Black Radio also features many of Glasper's famous friends from the spectrum of urban music, seamlessly incorporating appearances from a jaw-dropping roll call of special guests including Erykah Badu, Bilal, Lupe Fiasco, Lalah Hathaway, Shafi q Husayn (Sa-Ra), KING, Ledisi, Chrisette Michele, Musiq Soulchild, Meshell N'Degeocello, Stokley Williams (Mint Condition), and yasiin bey (Mos Def).
Diana Krall's star has risen to a point that transcends jazz and is poised to impact the mainstream. Maintaining her emphasis on songbook standards, Krall's musicianship, beauty, and allure have captivated the attention of all that come in contact with her music.
The mythical Phoenix speaks of reemergence and continual development, flying higher with each rebirth, riding on the winds of creation. So too does the man of this moment. A pianist of vast skill and experience, Dave Kikoski's eminence in serious jazz circles is beyond dispute. He's taken deep dives with everybody from Randy Brecker to Roy Haynes, served as the harmonic host for the Mingus Big Band, contributed to expansive cooperative enterprises like Opus 5, and pushed his own music to the limits and beyond. Kikoski has seemingly done it all during his three-plus decades on the scene, yet his playing somehow remains something of an underrated asset. The Phoenix metaphor, hyperbolic though it may be, proves apt in it's embrace of this monumental talent's steady surge. This exciting endeavor makes that case in inarguable fashion.
Russell Malone's Playground features his working band of Martin Bejerano, piano; Tassili Bond, bass; E.J. Strickland, drums and guests Gary Bartz, saxophone; and Joe Locke, vibes. All arrangements are by Malone, who also produced the CD and wrote six of the ten tracks.
Diana Krall's 12th album Quiet Nights is an intimate recording of ballads and bossa novas from the team that brought you her best-selling GRAMMY Award winning CD the Look of Love. Accompanied by her quartet and orchestra, Diana turns her sensual vocals and consummate piano skills to 'The Boy from Ipanema', ' Walk on By' and other classic tunes This is the LP version pressed on 180 Gram Vinyl.
2023 release. The Layers is a stunning companion piece to guitarist Julian Lage's acclaimed 2022 album View With A Room. The collection features six original pieces featuring the trio of bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King with the addition of guitar icon Bill Frisell. Intimate and gorgeous, The Layers is a welcome additional offering from this meeting of two of modern jazz's most distinctive voices with one of the music's most skilled and inventive rhythm sections.
Vinyl LP pressing. 1965's Maiden Voyage remains one of the pinnacle artistic achievements of the great pianist's career. Hancock is joined by Miles Davis Quintet bandmates Ron Carter on bass & Tony Williams on drums, along with Freddie Hubbard on trumpet & George Coleman on tenor saxophone. The quintet embarks on an oceanic exploration of 5 original Hancock compositions, several of which have since become enduring standards of the jazz lexicon including the title track, "Eye of the Hurricane," and "Dolphin Dance."
LOVE FOR SALE BENNETT & GAGA - Celebrating 10 years since they first recorded together, Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga returned to the studio for another collaboration featuring the very best of the Cole Porter Songbook. Continuing the musical legacy that began with "Lady Is A Tramp, " followed by the GRAMMY winning album, Cheek To Cheek, this new recording captures the evolution of the singular creative and personal relationship of these two world famous artists. Tony, who turns 95 on August 3, 2021, has spent over 7 decades dedicated to performing the Great American Songbook and Lady Gaga who, with Tony by her side, renewed her love of the popular standard and redefined herself in the process. The album features duets as well as solo performances by both artists accompanied by Tony Bennett's quartet, The Brian Newman Quintet, along with big band and orchestral arrangements by Marion Evans and Jorge Callandrelli.
Hiromi's 2021 album, Silver Lining Suite, pairs her virtuosic and emotive piano with a string quartet assembled by violinist Tatsuo Nishie, concertmaster of the New Japan Philharmonic. Devised for a series of live-streamed concerts at the Blue Note Tokyo during the Covid pandemic, the results blur the lines between classical music and jazz, crafting a vibrant hybrid possessed of the fervent, rock-inspired energy and cinematic beauty that Hiromi has always instilled in her music
One challenge of this frustrating time has been finding methods to handle grief. The loss of loved ones, enforced isolation, and abounding uncertainty have only heightened anxiety and it's painful effects. Learning how to cope with grief and work through it is imperative for one's mental health. // Saxophonist and composer Caroline Davis has done much to try to allay her own emotions after the harsh period she dealt with in 2019. Davis lost her father early in the year and was trying to cope with this devastating event when the pandemic descended. She turned to research and creation to work herself out again. Her new recording, Portals, Volume 1: Mourning, is a culmination of a year of suffering, accepting, and channeling her mourning through a unique process to find equilibrium through composition and reflection. // Davis has always found ways to deepen her musical work by allowing her current preoccupations drive the generation of her art. When her father suddenly passed, Davis was stunned and needed to find a way to express her feelings. She read about grief and trauma, studying the work of Bessel van der Kolk, Mary Oliver, Resmaa Menakem, and Margaret Stroebe. Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief did not occur in a similar sequence for Davis, so she looked toward the self-help and mystical teachings her father expressed interest in, even up until his passing. // Looking back on her time with her father, Davis began to realize that she must deal not only with the immediate results of his passing but with the legacy of residual pain that he inflicted, intentionally or not. Living at a distance from one another, and his workaholic lifestyle, made things difficult in their relationship. Davis was still wrestling with this. // A welcome aid to Davis's recovery and work was a residency at the McDowell Artists' Colony in New Hampshire. At McDowell, she was able to begin sculpting what would become the pieces on Portals, Volume 1. A grant from the Jerome Foundation made it possible for her to complete the remainder of the compositions and recording in 2020. // Portals, Volume 1 is a collection of pieces that Davis wrote for her current quintet along with a string quartet, her first time orchestrating for this instrumentation. The quintet has been her regular group since 2019 and features trumpeter Marquis Hill, pianist Julian Shore, bassist Chris Tordini, and drummer Allan Mednard. For the string quartet, Davis knew that she desired string players who placed improvisation at the center of their practice. Having had the good fortune to work previously with a number of multi-talented players, she was able to recruit violinists Mazz Swift and Josh Henderson along with violist Joanna Mattrey and cellist Mariel Roberts. // The recording was made at Oktaven Audio in Mt. Vernon, New York during December 2020. The studio was a perfect environment for the musicians, and each had COVID tests prior to the dates. Engineer Ryan Streber offered advantageous assistance, helping with pacing and following the musical scores, insuring that every nuance was captured. // The experience of trauma is remembering, and reflecting on the past helps to consolidate, as feelings can be complicated and change over time. Examining her bodily reactions and re-drawing physical elements like heart rate, breathing, and eye movements, became a central part of Davis's practice. These strategies recognized the full scope of using her body as a portal in the process of healing.
Elvin Jones - "Mr. Jones" In 1968, after six years with the seminal John Coltrane Quartet, the mighty drummer Elvin Jones signed with Blue Note Records, releasing 10 fantastic albums, including 1972's Mr. Jones. Features saxophonists Dave Liebman, Steve Grossman and Pepper Adams, Thad Jones on flugelhorn and bassist Gene Perla. The music delves into expansive post-bop with Latin influences and includes an impassioned version of Tadd Dameron's ballad, "Soultrane," in dedication to Coltrane. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl.
Vinyl LP pressing. Recorded in 1964, the music of A Boy Named Charlie Brown contains Vince Guaraldi's earliest Peanuts creations, including the first appearance of "Charlie Brown's Theme" and "Linus and Lucy," which became the defining song of all the early TV specials. This LP re-issue features the 1972 artwork depicting a helpless Charlie Brown on a pitcher's mound and comes with 8 newly created baseball cards of favorite Peanuts characters. The album was mastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray.
Vinyl LP pressing. For his third Blue Note album Inventions & Dimensions (1963), pianist Herbie Hancock began moving away from the modernist hard bop sound that defined his first two albums Takin' Off and My Point Of View. Inspired by explorers like Eric Dolphy and Tony Williams, Hancock went in search of greater musical freedom by composing a set of ingenious originals each with their own unique inner logic that did away with what he considered the established jazz "assumptions" of the time.
Bill Evans' creative imagination and deep capacity for lyricism altered the vocabulary of contemporary jazz. In Peace Pieces, flute master Herbie Mann approaches Evans' masterpieces of composition for the piano without a piano player, resulting in a unique tribute that does not suffer in comparison with the original. Bassist Eddie Gomez brought to the table 11 years as a vital element in the Bill Evans Trio, and other musicians featured include Randy Brecker, Louis Nash, Bruce Dunlap and others.
Diana's 1996 Grammy nominated All for You album topped the jazz radio and Billboard Jazz charts, remains in the Top 10 70 weeks after release and sold 200,000+ units worldwide. All that she has accomplished thus far is surpassed by the beauty, sensuality and humor she presents on her new album. In her own special style, Diana interprets love songs from across the musical spectrum with a new and compelling maturity. Multi-format album servicing to jazz (another #1 on Gavin is expected) and adult contemporary radio.
