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Have been checking out artists recording for Edition Records on Bandcamp. Interesting offerings on the label, and purchased digital downloads include high bitrate lossless audio. Listening to these two albums at the moment:

Alexi Tuomarila Trio - Seven Hills

Review on All About Jazz:

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/seven-hills ... kelman.php

ALEXI TUOMARILA piano
MATS EILERTSEN bass
OLAVI LOUHIVUORI drums
ANDRE FERNANDES guitar (Prologue & Ceremony)

Dave Stapleton - Flight

Review on All About Jazz:

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/dave-staple ... is-may.php

DAVE STAPLETON piano
MARIUS NESET tenor saxophone
DAVE KANE double bass
OLAVI LOUHIVUORI drums
BRODOWSKI STRING QUARTET:
- DAVID BRODOWSKI violin 1
- CATRIN MORGAN violin 2
- FELIX TANNER viola
- REINOUD FORD cello

This recording is a gem. I feel so fortunate to have heard Paul McCandless in two settings, first with Oregon in Anchorage, then in a trio in Seattle, where my wife and I met Paul, hanging with him long after Parnell's Jazz Club had closed. What a talented, genuine, gentle man.



AllMusic Review by Jim Newsom

Paul McCandless is best known for his work as a founding member of Oregon, a pioneer in the genre that came to be labeled "new age." In fact, Oregon's music has always been much more than that oft-maligned label implies, for they combine jazz, classical and world musics into a blend that is at once unique and appealing. McCandless has worked the same terrain with his solo outings, and Heresay is one of his best. There is beauty here, there is polyrhythmic propulsion, there is first-class improvisation. The overall feel is one of optimism and light-heartedness, tempered with a compositional depth of emotion that conjures all sorts of visions in the listener's mind. McCandless himself is a master of many instruments, most of which are rarely heard in a jazz or jazz-inflected setting: oboe, English horn, piccolo sax, soprano sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, penny whistle, wind controller and keyboard synthesizers. He is accompanied by a fine rhythm section of Art Lande on piano, Steve Rodby on acoustic bass and Trilok Gurtu on drums and percussion, with additional seasoning from several other musical cohorts. On Heresay, Paul McCandless delivers a wonderful program of instrumental music that knows no boundaries and fits neatly into no single category.

Three very different recordings tonight, after an awful working week.

First:



Don't Try This Anywhere

acc/el: Simone Zanchini
db: John Patitucci
dr: Adam Nussbaum
gtr: Ratko Zjaca
sax: Stefano Bedetti

Second:



Book Of Intuition

db: Kiyoshi Kitagawa
dr: Johnathan Blake
p: Kenny Barron

Third:



The Thompson Fields

acc: Gary Versace
cond: Maria Schneider
db: Jay Anderson
dr: Clarence Penn
gtr: Lage Lund
p: Frank Kimbrough
perc: Boccato Rogerio
sax: Rich Perry
sax/cl: Scott Robinson
sax/cl/fl: Donny McCaslin; Dave Pietro; Steve Wilson
tbn: George Flynn; Marshall Gilkes; Ryan Keberle; Keith O'Quinn
tp/flhn: Greg Gisbert; Augie Haas; Tony Kadleck; Mike Rodriguez

Aside of the wonderful music, this is one of the most beautiful packaging in my whole collection. Cover is not enough, it is a small hardcover book full of all arts. I'm glad, i spend the extra money to buy the CD autographed by Maria Schneider and not the download.

Weather Report: The Legendary Live Tapes 1978-1981

Mind officially blown. I'll just quote my five star review on Amazon:

This is a four-CD set of tapes that were made during the Jaco/Erskine rhythm section era, half with a quartet (Zawinul and Shorter) and the other half with Robert Thomas Jr added on percussion. Seeing WR live is one of the main musical highlights of my life, but aside from a track here or there on their studio albums, and the great album entitled "8:30" there is very little live music in their catalog. This collection changes all that.

This is simply an amazing band, captured here at a satisfyingly extended peak of their powers. The tapes range from board mixes captured on cassette to fan tapes that have been mastered by the great Brian Risner and Rich Breen and some personal cassette recordings that Peter has been schlepping around forever. There are a few where he can't identify the year or the venue, but otherwise Erskine's liner notes are filled with inside info, stories and insights to the music.

Everyone shines throughout--Wayne Shorter has a ton of space to stretch out; there is no better introduction to Jaco than these tapes; Zawinul--who always amazed me as a player as well as a writer--managed to stun me several times with this collection. Erskine is a superhero, miles from the sensitive genius he is today (live, sometimes he plays so softly that you have to lean forward to hear him).

I was lucky enough to hear one of these tracks almost 25 years ago in Erskine's home studio. I remember asking when they would be released and he said no record company was interested in them. In my opinion, this collection deserves a Grammy for the talent and for the historical importance. More importantly, I believe it has become my favorite Weather Report album, bar none. All of my favorite songs, songs I didn't know but now love, performances that would make the finest musicians sit up and take notice.

It's expensive, but if you're a fan or if you really want to have your mind blown--grab it.

I was a litte bit lasy with writing about some new arrivals I'm listening these days:

eb: Steve Swallow
p: Carla Bley
sax: Andy Sheppard

Carla Bley was one of my first positive experiences with jazz, a long time ago. The Ballad of the Fallen is now over 30 years old! Perhaps my opinion about the music of Carla is not very objective, I like this new record too.

dr/p/el perc: Jack DeJohnette
eb/el: Matthew Garrison
sax: Ravi Coltrane

Perhaps sometimes a little bit much electronics. Anyhow: worth listening.

db: Lars Danielsson
dr: Morten Lund
sax: Marius Neset

The third trio in a row. Contemporary, lyrical, a lot of free spirit. (The word grammar check says, this is no good English, I hope, it is not too bad, but I have trouble to find the right English words)

db: Malachi "Maghostut" Favors
dr/synt: Jack DeJohnette
p/synt: Anthony Davis
tp/flhn: Wadada Leo Smith

One more, a Quartet. Ok, this one is not new, it's from 2002. But my attention for Wadada Leo Smith is new. It started with …

p/rhds/el: Vijay Iyer
tp: Wadada Leo Smith

One less, a duo, the last one is a trio again:

db: Chris Jennings
dr: Eric Schäfer
p: Joachim Kühn

It's from Germany, Ludwigsburg, and I can confirm: they can play good jazz too.

Perhaps I should look for some solo recordings now, or some larger ensembles, or …

Today at Mezzrow:

8:00 PM - 10:30 PM
Maucha Adnet w. Vitor Goncalves & Yotam Silberstein

Maucha Adnet (Vocalist) // Vitor Goncalves (Piano) // Yotam Silberstein (Guitar)

These guys [ François Corneloup (soprano & baritone saxes), Claude Tchamitchian (double bass), Eric Echampard (drums) ] haven't played together for the last 15 years.
Really looking forward to attending their reunion concert next week at a fantastic venue in Montreuil, near Paris, and catching up on their sole recording over the years.

There are a couple of female vocalists that I've been listening to of late. The first is a "new" discovery for me. Her name is Liala Biali and her new self titled release is absolutely infectious. She is an amazing pianist, vocalist and you'll find many of the songs on the new album to be rearranged in quite unique ways. She is not a straight ahead female vocalist, but the jazz changes are so tasty!



The other new release is from Beady Belle, a Norwegian Jazz band founded by Beate S. Lech in collaboration with her bassist and future husband Marius Reksjø, after having been encouraged to make a record by Bugge Wesseltoft at Jazzland Recordings (Wikipedia credit). I would characterize her new album "Dedication" as having more of a pop soul contemporary bent. Again, not straight ahead jazz, but man she grooves!

Masterpiece.

Almost forgot how to do this.

Jumping on the bandwagon here...


Syntony
White Fly

Dominique Vantomme feat. Tony Levin, Michel Delville, Maxime Lenssens
Vegir

Bill Evans, seven albums that I haven’t listened to in about 10 years. He’s a monster.

Andrew Hill
Point of Departure

This album was a favorite in the late 60s in houses we lived in - CU, Boulder. Intro to (the late) Tony Williams. Album disappeared. Going to relisten - thanks for posting.

Album shuffle brought me this today:



Enjoying!

Great album!