You'll be forgiven if you don't know Patrick Leonard by name, but you certainly know his work. The US producer and songwriter has helped bring to life key recordings by Madonna, Leonard Cohen, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Jewel, Bryan Ferry, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart and Roger Waters - to name but a few. In the early 90s, he founded the critically acclaimed alt-rock group Toy Matinee.
"Blues For K" was produced by the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio together with sound engineer Yoshihiko Kannari, who revolutionized the jazz sound in the 1970s with the legendary "Three Blind Mic" label. Audionautes treats the title, released in 2023, to an outstanding one-step pressing, limited to 1,000 copies.
Patricia Barber's "Modern Cool" brought her mainstream success, propelled by her classic version of "Light My Fire" by the Doors. On her tour for this album, Barber played selections from it during a four-night performance at the Jazz Standard in New York, which caught the attention of producer Bruce Lundvall of Blue Note Records. A series of popular Barber recordings for Premonition and Blue Note followed, leading to worldwide tours and outspoken critical acclaim.
Abey Fonn from Impex has always had a soft spot for Shoji Yokouchi's "Greensleeves". Standards, original melodies and traditional pieces (such as the title track) are interpreted in an unexpectedly funky and sensitive way. The master guitarist is supported by organist Yuri Tashiro. Her playing is by turns atmospheric and lively, fiery and funky.
Fusion maestro Al Di Meola conquered the mainstream in 1977 with the fiery "Elegant Gypsy". Backed by the passionate performances of an unrivaled group of backing musicians (including Jan Hammer, Steve Gadd, Paco de Lucía and Anthony Jackson), Di Meola's captivating melodies and explosive technique created what Scott Yanow of the All Music Guide calls "a near-classic of fusion".
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Hong Kong label "Evolution Music Group", known for its audiophile audio and video releases, this sampler was released. "The Best of evosound Audiophile" contains some of the strongest releases that evosound has distributed over the years from a wide variety of artists on 180 gram transparent green vinyl, including 'Between the Sheets' by smooth jazz supergroup "Fourplay", "The Way We Were" by "Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio" and the highly acclaimed "Maputo" by Bob James and the late David Sanborn.
"Die Glocke" in the German Hanseatic city of Bremen (where Sieveking Sound is also based) was one of Herbert von Karajan's favorite halls in Europe. It was designed in 1737 on an octagonal floor plan and, despite several fires, has retained one of the best acoustics on the continent.
Bob Dylan's self-titled debut album from 1962 is the most understated a great musician has ever produced. A connoisseur of American roots music, Dylan pays homage to tradition while expanding it, putting his own stamp on classic material that metaphorically serves as a breeding ground for contemporary songs and styles. Free of egotism and delivered with masterful conviction, Bob Dylan ranks with the early efforts of giants like Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones.
The bizarre legacy of Lotus goes far beyond its status as the definitive stage document of Santana's career and one of the most spectacular live albums of all time. Originally released in 1974, the triple LP contains exhilarating recordings from two concerts held at the 2400-seat Osaka Kosei Nenkin Kaikan concert hall in early July 1973.
Carlos Santana refused to sit still or settle on a style during his adventurous career in the 1970s. During this prolific decade, his eponymous band released nine studio albums, a live studio double album and a triple live set. The group's penchant for exploration and mutation - and the translation of these constructs into engaging songs that surprise, delight and inspire - is evident on "Inner Secrets", a gold-winning opus that sees the collective reach heights they won't reach again for another decade.
Few artists were as prolific as Carlos Santana in the 1970s and 1980s. With the release of "Blues for Salvador", the fourth album by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, he had maintained a rhythm of more than one LP per year since the debut of his band in 1969. No wonder this 1987 opus was Santana's last work until 1990; he had earned his break. And with the largely instrumental "Blues for Salvador", he went into the break with a highlight - which earned him his first Grammy.
Mariah Carey didn't become the Queen of Christmas just because of her ardent love of Christmas. Nor is it the result of a brilliant marketing plan. The cult singer earned the title with her hit album "Merry Christmas", released in 1994, which quickly joined the ranks of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas", Frank Sinatra's "A Jolly Christmas" and Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" as Christmas classics. With a balanced mix of inspired originals and well-chosen covers, Carey's fourth studio album has grown in stature as new generations discover its magic.
The perfectionism with which Fleetwood Mac's "Tango in the Night" was produced reached a level achieved by few artists before or since. The meticulous work paid off both commercially and creatively. The album, which went triple platinum within 18 months, spawned four hit singles and put Fleetwood Mac back in the public eye. The demands of the album forced guitarist and singer Lindsey Buckingham to leave the group shortly after its completion. Was it all worth it? A thousand times yes.
"Satchmo Plays King Oliver" is Armstrong's tribute to the man who helped him form his trumpet style in New Orleans and whose invitation to join his "Creole Jazz Band" in Chicago brought him into the spotlight - Joe Oliver.
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Ella Fitzgerald - Take Love Easy
Ella Fitzgerald and guitarist Joe Pass teamed up for a series of duets for this album in 1973. Highlights of this fabulous duet include "Don't Be That Way" and "A Foggy Day". It was the first of four studio albums Ella recorded with Pass, and the last in a long line of duets Ella performed with only one other instrument.
Count Basie & Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Mickey Roker - The Gifted Ones
Count Basie occasionally admonished young sidemen who were about to blow their horns not to play in his bebop band, as it was rooted in the rhythmic and harmonic ground of the swing era. So how could Basie record an album with Dizzy Gillespie, one of the forefathers of bebop?
Art Tatum and Ben Webster - The Tatum Group Masterpieces
A historic encounter between pianist Art Tatum and tenor saxophone giant Ben Webster - recorded in 1956 but not released by Pablo Records until the 70s! In some ways, it's clear that Tatum is the star of the sessions - most of the tracks begin with the introspective and often intricate approach to the keys characteristic of his trio and solo work - but Webster always interjects himself just in time to prevent the record from becoming a standard Tatum outing.
It could be said that no two pianists could be more different than Count Basie, the master of understatement, and Oscar Peterson, the embodiment of speed, power and ornamentation. The contrast in their approach is part of what made their collaboration so captivating. The fact is that Basie, who had plenty of power in reserve, could play it out when he felt like it.
Count Basie & The Kansas City 3 - For The Second Time
Anyone who has ever heard Count Basie lead his band into a blues with several choruses and effortless piano playing has subsequently complained that there was far too little of the soloist Basie to be heard on his recordings. The trio albums that Basie recorded in the seventies with Ray Brown and Louis Bellson partially made up for this shortcoming. This album is the sequel to the "For the First Time" set from the previous year.
"Fragile" was Yes' breakthrough album that turned them from a cult band into an international phenomenon in just a few weeks. Not coincidentally, it also marked the point at which all the musical elements (and more) that were to make up the band's success for more than a decade came to full fruition, writes AllMusic and rates "Fragile" with five stars.
Crosby, Stills & Nash was a folk-rock supergroup consisting of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. Their self-titled album from 1977 is a return to the harmony-soaked idealism that established the trio's popularity; it reached number 2 in the charts behind Fleetwood Mac's mega-hit Rumours.
Buffalo Springfield was a short-lived but influential band featuring superstars such as Neil Young and Stephen Stills. The band, which owes its name to a steamroller, was active for two years and caused a sensation with politically charged songs such as "For What It's Worth".
According to AllMusic, Buffalo Springfield's second album was not as homogeneous as their debut album, partly due to personnel problems that led to Bruce Palmer and Neil Young moving in and out of the band. Nevertheless, the group made great strides in both songwriting and arranging, and this album is considered the group's greatest triumph.
"The Exciting Wilson Pickett", released in 1966, was the third album by R&B and soul singer Wilson Pickett to reach #3 on the U.S. Billboard R&B Albums chart and #21 on the Pop Albums chart, making it the most successful studio album of Pickett's career.
Complete & Unbelievable... The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul
"Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul" was the soul legend's 1966 album (and the last to be released during his lifetime). The album contains mainly cover versions on the first side and original compositions by Redding on the second side.
The title track of the third Bad Company album "Run With The Pack", released in early 1976, is, as one critic described it, "a song that welds men together" and for which frontman Paul Rodgers was inspired by the band's incessant touring.
During John Coltrane's short but successful time at Atlantic Records (1959-61), the highly underrated album "Coltrane's Sound" was recorded in 1960 and released in 1964. "The title couldn't have been more apt, as each of the six tracks bears the unmistakable and indelible stamp of Coltrane's early '60s style.... Despite the lack of attention, these recordings are among Trane's best," writes AllMusic.
The 1981 Genesis album "Abacab", which went platinum in several countries including the US and UK, marked the band's departure from their progressive roots and move towards more accessible, poppier songs.
In the spring of 1983, the members of Genesis gathered at their studio "The Farm" in Chiddingfold, Surrey, to begin work on a new studio album, their first since "Abacab" (1981). "Genesis" was the first album to be written, recorded and mixed entirely in the studio; previously they had had to write in an adjoining room. The fact that the group could work in their own space, without the added pressure of having to book studio time and costs, led to a more relaxed atmosphere.
Recorded in 1972, Yes' album "Close to the Edge" is a snapshot of an adventurous rock band at the height of their powers, daring to grow musically both as individuals and as a unit.
