Ugly Duckling - Journey To Anywhere download album

Ugly Duckling - Journey To Anywhere

Artist: Ugly Duckling

Album: Journey To Anywhere

Release Date: September 26, 2000

Genre: Rap

Format: mp3 / FLAC

It's easy to dismiss Ugly Duckling as just three white kids clowning around. Of course, the same could have been said about the Beastie Boys and they eventually turned into legitimate hip-hop artists. The trio has a scattershot comic approach, lampooning the excesses of modern hip-hop. In Journey to Anywhere, the trio attacks materialism in "A Little Samba," as well as hip-hop's obsession with sex in "Pickup Lines." Their antics could come off as pretentious if they weren't willing to poke fun at themselves, something that MCs Andy Cat and Dizzy Dustin are more than willing to do. While the MCs still have a lot to learn, the real star of the show is DJ Young Einstein, who seems to have a knack for cleverly cutting up old-school grooves. Although it's unlikely that this trio will ever reach the lofty heights of the Beasties, Ugly Duckling may someday prove to be good for more than just a few laughs.

Bob Mintzer / Gil Goldstein - Longing download album

Bob Mintzer / Gil Goldstein - Longing

Artist: Bob Mintzer / Gil Goldstein

Album: Longing

Release Date: 1997

Genre: Jazz

Format: mp3 / FLAC

The pairing of Bob Mintzer and Gil Goldstein as a duo is an inspired affair. With Mintzer playing tenor sax and Goldstein on piano, they each contributed a number of strong originals to the date. Mintzer's moody ballad "Longing" and intricate bop vehicle "Where's the Word" are among his finest compositions on CD. Goldstein's "Three Little Initials" is a subtle variation of the well known "Body and Soul." Mintzer switches to bass clarinet for Goldstein's lush ballad "Angelique & Ellen" (written for the film Radio Inside), a haunting treatment of the late Bill Evans' "Your Story," along with a fascinating rendition of the standard "Everything Happens to Me" that begins with an unaccompanied Eric Dolphy-inspired solo by the reed player. Goldstein's "Two to Tango" is a delightful upbeat duet for bass clarinet and accordion. Highly recommended!

Chet Baker - Chet Baker Sings download album

Chet Baker - Chet Baker Sings

Artist: Chet Baker

Album: Chet Baker Sings

Release Date: 1956

Genre: Jazz

Format: mp3 / FLAC

As Gerald Heard's liner notes point out, it's difficult to decide whether Chet Baker was a trumpet player who sang or a singer who played trumpet. When the 24-year-old California-based trumpeter started his vocal career in 1954, his singing was revolutionary; as delicate and clear as his trumpet playing, with a similarly bright and vibrato-free tone, Baker simply didn't sound like any previous jazz singer. His first vocal session, recorded in February 1954 and covering tracks seven through 14 of this disc, is so innocent-sounding it's like cub reporter Jimmy Olsen had started a new career as a jazz singer. The album's first six tracks, recorded in July 1956, are even more milk and cookies, thanks in no small part to syrupy material like Frank Loesser's "I've Never Been in Love Before" and Donaldson/Kahn's drippy "My Buddy." Choices from the earlier session like "My Funny Valentine" -- arguably the definitive version of this oft-recorded song -- and "There Will Never Be Another You" work much, much better. The spacious musical setting, a simple trumpet and piano-bass-drums rhythm section, is perfect for Baker's low-key style. Despite the few faults of song selection, Chet Baker Sings is a classic of West Coast cool jazz.

Glenn Miller - The Popular Recordings (1938-1942) download album

Glenn Miller - The Popular Recordings (1938-1942)

Artist: Glenn Miller

Album: The Popular Recordings (1938-1942)

Release Date: 1989

Genre: Jazz

Format: mp3 / FLAC

At the time of its initial appearance in 1989, this three-CD set was a significant improvement over any of the compact disc editions of Glenn Miller's music to have made it out before. Not only did its 60 songs offer the proper scope and range to allow one to fully appreciate the depth of Miller's popularity and talent, but this was also part of the CD era's second wave of compilations and remasterings -- in contrast to the boomtown recklessness and corporate ineptitude that had characterized CD reissues in the mid-'80s, producers were now aware that there were gradations in the sound quality of digital masters and room for improvement in the technology. The late Joe Lopes engineered this set to last in the ears of the listener, and producer John Snyder oversaw what was, at the time, one of the finest and most comprehensive CD reissues ever accorded a big-band leader. The brass has bite and the horns and reeds have body, and the entire band is in sharp relief as they hadn't been heard since the early '40s and their last civilian concerts. It has since been supplanted, itself, by other, more recent remastered editions utilizing still better technology, including The Essential Glenn Miller (1995), Platinum Glenn Miller (2003), and The Centennial Collection (2004) -- reducing the noise in the masters even further, among other differences -- but holds up as perhaps the best authorized, large-scale survey of Miller's work other than the 13-disc complete set from BMG. These 60 songs represent a compromise between that set's completeness and the superficiality of 1988's Pure Gold, with its ten songs and minimal annotation.

Dean Martin - Gentle on My Mind download album

Dean Martin - Gentle on My Mind

Artist: Dean Martin

Album: Gentle on My Mind

Release Date: November, 1968

Genre: Vocal

Format: mp3 / FLAC

Dean Martin appears to have tired of maintaining his position as a major record-maker of the 1960s before his public got tired of him. With a weekly TV series to maintain and movies to make, the entertainer who had recorded frequently in the three years after his comeback with "Everybody Loves Somebody" in 1964 made his presence scarce thereafter. Reprise Records maintained a singles release schedule by issuing previously released LP tracks as singles in 1967-1968 ("In the Misty Moonlight," "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart"), while Martin avoided the recording studio for almost a year. When he did return, the resulting singles, "April Again" and "Not Enough Indians," only did well on the easy listening charts. Finally, after issuing two Greatest Hits sets, Reprise released Gentle on My Mind, Martin's first album of new material in 16 months. In the interim, the country-pop sound he had pioneered with producer Jimmy Bowen and arranger Ernie Freeman had taken hold with others, and he found himself covering the country crossover hits "Honey," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," and "Gentle on My Mind." Of course, he did it superbly, but he was now chasing a trend instead of leading it. Bowen and Freeman kept the sound contemporary, and Martin was comfortable with the slightly more pop direction that country-pop had taken. But you couldn't help thinking that record-making had fallen far down his list of priorities. Meanwhile pent-up demand made Gentle on My Mind his highest-charting album in three years and his last LP of new recordings to go gold.

Art Farmer Quintet - Evening in Casablanca download album

Art Farmer Quintet - Evening in Casablanca

Artist: Art Farmer Quintet

Album: Evening in Casablanca

Release Date: October 17, 1955

Genre: Jazz

Format: mp3 / FLAC

This title is one of two excellent recordings trumpeter Art Farmer made with Gigi Gryce in the mid-'50s. Gryce not only contributes some fine alto solos but also provides the majority of the material and arrangements. Standouts like his cool, mid-tempo swinger "Satellite" and the Latin-tinged "Sans Souci" provide excellent solo vehicles for both Farmer and pianist Duke Jordan. In fact, the predominantly cool material seems to fit everybody quite well, as evidenced by the stellar ensemble playing on all the tracks (special mention goes to drummer Philly Joe Jones and bassist Addison Farmer [Art's brother] for their particularly empathetic and consistent rhythmic support). Up-tempo cuts like Jordan's "Forecast" and Gryce's "Nica's Tempo" round out a set that qualifies as one of Farmer's best. A must for every jazz collection.

David Murray / David Murray Cuban Ensemble - Plays Nat King Cole en Español download album

David Murray / David Murray Cuban Ensemble - Plays Nat King Cole en Español

Artist: David Murray / David Murray Cuban Ensemble

Album: Plays Nat King Cole en Español

Release Date: October 11, 2011

Genre: Jazz

Format: mp3 / FLAC

Prolific saxophonist, composer, and arranger David Murray has made a number of tribute recordings during his career to jazz luminaries such as Albert Ayler and Don Pullen, among others. Nat King Cole may seem an unlikely choice initially, and it might never have happened if Murray had not been recording at Cuba's Studio Egrem and saw a photograph of Cole with Armando Romeu from a pre-revolution session. Cole recorded a pair of Latin-inspired records, Cole Español and More Cole Español, in 1958 and 1962 respectively -- one in Spanish and one in Portuguese (the singer spoke neither but learned standards and folk songs phonetically). The audiences these albums were directed at were already Cole fans, and while they weren't very good, they thought them amusing and flattering. Murray draws from these records here. His European-based ten-piece Cuban band and a string section toured these tunes before recording them. The band sessions took place in Buenos Aires with tango sensation Daniel Melingo contributing to four tracks. Murray added strings in Portugal, played by 11 members of Sinfonieta of Sines. Murray wrote gorgeous charts for these sessions. The string arrangements are alternately haunting, lively, and full of beautiful counterpoint and extended harmonies that contrast colorfully with the jazz band. His brass charts offer both stunning lyricism and elegance while the rhythm section pops. Murray's saxophone and bass clarinet become the voice of Cole. He hovers, soars, and gently swoops on these ten tunes -- check "El Bodequero," with its elegant swinging variation on the cha-cha. On "Piel Canela," he leads a swirl of string colors on a more standard version of the cha-cha's melody before stretching out in a hip, understated lyrical tenor solo that gets wonderfully knotty in its interplay with pianist Jose "Pepe" Rivero. On "No Me Platiques," Murray pulls all the variations of lyricism from his horn; old-school big breathy balladry and more angular phrases pour forth in tandem. Melingo's voice on "the single" "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas" and "A Media Luz" is pure tango glory in its grainy, passionate immediacy, reined in just enough by the chart; Murray's deeply emotive bass clarinet is featured prominently as a second voice on the latter track. Plays Nat King Cole en Español is among the most imaginative and well-executed recordings in Murray's large catalog. He found something mercurial, graceful, and dignified in Cole's voice, and used it as inspiration to create a work that is respectful but utterly his own.

Opeth - Morningrise download album

Opeth - Morningrise

Artist: Opeth

Album: Morningrise

Release Date: 1996

Genre: Pop/Rock

Format: mp3 / FLAC

While they have taken a different approach with each album, Opeth has a very distinct and instantly recognizable sound: somber, mysterious, and very serious. Their style falls at a meeting point between melodic Swedish death metal and '70s progressive rock, though without any of the technical busyness that description might imply. Morningrise is, as far as the metal scale goes, possibly their least heavy album; it also contains their longest songs -- just five of them, ranging in length from ten to 20 minutes. The tracks all take their time developing, shifting back and forth from full-on metal sections (marked by distorted dual guitar riffs and growling vocals) to calm, acoustic guitar-based passages with more softly sung vocals. These shifts happen much like scenes changes in a movie, as there is very little repetition within the songs, and there are sometimes distinct pauses separating one section from the next. In fact, given the strongly narrative lyrics (which primarily revolve around the subject of a lost lover), the tracks here could best be described as miniature audio movies. This is a very painstakingly put-together album, and listeners will have to have some patience in order to mentally piece it all together. Some will be turned off by the long songs and the cold, gray atmosphere the album gives off, but for those who are on this band's wavelength and willing to show some patience, this album will repay many, many repeat listens.

Nekromantix - Life Is a Grave & I Dig It! download album

Nekromantix - Life Is a Grave & I Dig It!

Artist: Nekromantix

Album: Life Is a Grave & I Dig It!

Release Date: April 10, 2007

Genre: Pop/Rock

Format: mp3 / FLAC

Nekromantix rise from the crypt once more to grasp rockabilly by the horns and drag it down into the sepulcher. "Life Is a Grave & I Dig It!," the band gleefully sing out on the title track of this long-player, just one of a slew of wildly anthemic numbers within. Of course, with a title like that it's easy for fans and critics alike to fall under the sway of the group's ghoulishly goofy lyrics and themes, a tendency that "Voodoo Shop Hop," "Panic at the Morgue," "Horny in a Hearse," and "Out Comes the Batz" will all reinforce. Suffice it to say that the band remains in fine lyrical form in a set stuffed with fiendishly wicked fun. But don't let the attention-seeking titles fool you, for beyond their demonic pose, Nekromantix unleash some of the best rockabilly-inspired sounds around. Grave captures the group at its most exhilarating, and simultaneously at its musical height. Troy Destroy's guitar work is absolutely devastating across this set. He's particularly flashy on "My Girl" and fiery enough to light a funeral pyre on "Voodoo." Whether he's rocking out in classic fashion as on the intro to "Morgue," sliding into slinky lounge style as he does early on in "Batz," or giving "Fantazma" a country-fried twang, Destroy's guitar is a weapon to be feared, be it at the warp speed of "Rot in Hell" or the snail's pace of the swamp-tinged "Anaheim After Dark." Singer/bassist Kim Nekroman and new drummer Andrew Martinez are both just as versatile, and although they have far fewer opportunities to be as flamboyant as their bandmate, they still both make their presence felt. An extraordinary rhythm section, the pair don't merely underpin the songs, but man the entire stylistic launch pad for Destroy's own work. Their crypt-ic bent may still excite attention, but with this set, Nekromantix's phenomenal musicianship is finally disinterred from the grave to rattle its chains in all its glory.