RUN'S LOSSLESS LIBRARY

Patrice Rushen -Straight To The Heart
SOUL | WAVPACK | CUE | LOG | 300DPI | 468MB | 67:43
Elektra 1982

01. Forget Me Nots
02. I Was Tired Of Being Alone
03. All We Need
04. Number One
05. Where There Is Love
06. Breakout!
07. If Only
08. Remind Me
09. Take You Down To Love
10. Forget Me Nots (12")
11. Breakout! (12")
12. Number One (12")
13. Forget Me Nots (single)
14. Breakout! (single)

An early-'80s jazz-pop-R&B synthesis as durable and pleasing as any other, Straight from the Heart was Patrice Rushen's most successful album, at least from a sales standpoint: it peaked at number 14 on the pop chart, 25 slots higher than 1980's Pizzazz. Still working with a core group of associates -- including Freddie Washington, Charles Mims, Paul M. Jackson, and Marlo Henderson (along with a still young Gerald Albright) -- that went back to her earlier Elektra albums, the material here is as slick as ever, but not at the expense of lighter rhythms or less memorable melodies. Much of the album's popularity can be attributed to the club hit "Forget Me Nots," Rushen's most-known single -- a breezy, buoyant mixture of handclaps, fingersnaps, twisting bass, and Rushen's typically blissful (and not overplayed) electric piano, not to mention the incorporation of a bad bass-and-percussion breakdown. (If you were born after the mid-'70s or so, you'd be more likely to recognize the song as the basis of Will Smith's "Men in Black.") Beyond a forgettable ballad or two, the only disappointment is the Brenda Russell collaboration on "Breakout!," where rock affectations (gnarling electric guitar, grimacing vocal tactics that suit neither Rushen nor Russell) damage what could've been a bigger hit. "Remind Me," despite not being released as a single, is a sweet and low-slung groove that has been sampled and interpolated by no less than a dozen significant rap and R&B songs -- including Faith Evans' "Fallin' in Love," Notorious B.I.G.'s "Unbelievable," MoKenStef's "He's Mine," and Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "I Need You Tonight." But it's not like anything about this album requires that kind of validation. [Rhino's 1996 reissue adds the 12" versions of all three singles, including seven very replayable minutes of "Forget Me Nots," as well as two single edits.] ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

Patrice Rushen - Synthesizer, Clavinet, Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Gerald Albright - Saxophones
Freddie Washington - Bass
Ollie Brown - Drums
James Gadson - Drums
Brenda Russell - Vocals
Paul Jackson - Guitar
Karen Evans - Vocals
Jeanette Hawes - Vocals
Lynn Davis - Vocals
Melvin Webb - Drums
Marlo Henderson - Guitar
Ray Brown - Trumpet
Clay Lawry - Trombone
Ulysses Dupree - Percussion
Paulinho Da Costa - Percussion
Charles Mims - Synthesizer, Electric Piano

Weapon of Choice - Highperspice
BLACK ROCK | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 500MB | 67:09
Loosegroove 1996

01. The "N" Word
02. Just Cuz She Was Nice
03. Dumb Machine
04. Glo In Da Dark
05. Count Mackulyv
06. Spade
07. 5:13
08. Let The Shit Hit The Fan
09. Telekinesis
10. Blind Side
11. I Like Your Body
12. Pair-A-Noids
13. Leprechauns And Silly Things
14. Highperspice
15. Outa Sight

On the debut album by Weapon of Choice, 1994's Nut-Meg Sez "Bozo the Town", it was pretty clear from the get-go who their main influence was -- Parliament. But by the time of their sophomore effort, 1996's Highperspice, Lonnie Marshall and his funk gang were prepared to draw upon a wider variety of influences. While the epic title track is a bit of a throwback to Nut-Meg Sez, elsewhere, it's a slightly different story -- "Just Cuz She Was Nice" is ska based, "Dumb Machine" brings to mind Fishbone, while the Frank Zappa-esque titled "Leprechauns & Silly Things" is a smooth funk workout. Weapon of Choice specialize in an updated form of funk they like to refer to as "nutmeg," and on Highperspice, their sound and approach truly started coming into their own. ~ Greg Plato, All Music Guide

Lonnie Marshall - Bass, Vocals
Audra Cunningham - Vocals
Tom-Bone Ralls - Trombone
Jellybean - Vocals
Finn Hammer - Guitar
Mark Cross - Synthesizer
Derek Pierce - Drums, Percussion
Keefus Ciancia - Keyboards, Vocals

Larry Ciancia - Talking Drum
Lili Hayden - Violin
Vicki Calhoun - Vocals
Phillip Fisher - Drums
Norwood Fisher - Vocals
Bennie Maupin - Clarinet
Angelo Moore - Vocals
Juliet Prater - Tabla

Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear
SOUL | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 554MB | 73:13
Tamla 1978

01. Here, My Little Dear
02. I Met a Little Girl
03. When Did You Stop Loving Me
04. Anger
05. Is That Enough
06. Everybody Needs Love
07. Time to Get It Together
08. Sparrow
09. Anna's Song
10. When Did You Stop Loving Me [instrumental]
11. A Funky Space Reincarnation
12. You Can Leave, But It's Gonna Cost You
13. Falling in Love Again
14. When Did You Stop Loving Me (Reprise)

Pre-dating the voyeuristic tendencies of reality television by 20 years, Here, My Dear is the sound of divorce on record -- exposed in all of its tender-nerve glory for the world to consume. During the amazing success of I Want You and his stellar Live at the London Palladium album, Marvin Gaye was served with divorce papers from his then-wife Anna Gordy Gaye (sister of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy). One of the conditions of the settlement was that Gordy Gaye would receive an extensive percentage of royalties as well as a portion of the advance for his next album. Initially, Gaye was contemplating giving less than his best effort, as he wouldn't stand to receive any money, but then reconsidered at the last moment. The result is a two-disc-long confessional on the deterioration of their marriage; starting from the opening notes of the title track, Gaye viciously cuts with every lyric deeper into an explanation of why the relationship died the way it did. Gaye uses the album, right down to its packaging, to exorcise his personal demons with subtle visual digs and less-than-subtle lyrical attacks. The inner sleeve had a pseudo-board-game-like illustration entitled "Judgment," in which a man's hand passes a record to a woman's. One side of the sleeve has Gaye's music and recording equipment, while the other side of the board included jewelry and other luxurious amenities. Musically the album retains the high standards Gaye set in the early '70s, but you can hear the agonizing strain of recent events in his voice, to the point where even several vocal overdubs can't save his delivery. Stripped to its bare essence, Here, My Dear is no less than brilliantly unsettling and a perfect cauterization to a decade filled with personal turmoil. ~ Rob Theakston, All Music Guide

James Carr - You Got My Mind Messed Up
SOUL | FLAC | CUE | LOG | COVERS | 320MB | 60:44
Goldwax 1967

01. Pouring Water on a Drowning Man
02. Love Attack
03. Coming Back to Me Baby
04. I Don't Want to Be Hurt Anymore
05. That's What I Want to Know
06. These Ain't Raindrops
07. The Dark End of the Street
08. I'm Going for Myself
09. Lovable Girl
10. Forgetting You
11. She's Better Than You
12. You've Got My Mind Messed Up
13. These Arms of Mine

BONUS TRACKS

14. You Don't Want Me
15. There Goes My Used to Be
16. A Lucky Loser
17. Dixie Belle
18. Search Your Heart
19. Sock It to Me,Baby!
20. My Adorable One
21. Love Is a Beautiful Thing
22. Life Turned Her That Way
23. A Losing Game
24. What Can I Call My Own

This CD reissue of Carr's first album, 1967's You Got My Mind Messed Up, doubles the length of that LP with no less than 12 bonus tracks, all of them rare and unreleased. You Got My Mind Messed Up is a fine '60s Memphis soul album, even if, in the manner of many LPs of the time, it's largely built around previously released singles. Indeed, ten of the 12 songs drawn from the original You Got My Mind Messed Up LP also show up on Carr's Ace compilation The Complete Goldwax Singles, though there is a difference in that eight of those ten songs are presented on this CD in new stereo mixes, where The Complete Goldwax Singles used the original mono masters. (If you're keeping a scorecard on such matters, the only songs on the You Got My Mind Messed Up reissue not to benefit from new stereo mixes are "Coming Back to Me Baby," "She's Better Than You," and the LP-only cut "I Don't Want to Be Hurt Anymore.") "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man," "Coming Back to Me Baby," "You Got My Mind Messed Up," and naturally "The Dark End of the Street" are the hits that will be the most familiar items on the disc, though the other songs taken from the original LP are pretty sturdy Southern deep soul as well and varied to include other kinds of material than the tortured ballads for which Carr's most known. Hardcore fans will be most interested, naturally, in the dozen bonus cuts, four of them previously unreleased, the others drawn from obscure reissue LPs and CDs. In the absence of firm dates, the compilers opted to try to guess which of these rarities date from the earlier part of Carr's Goldwax career and split off the earlier half for this compilation, saving the rest for a subsequent CD reissue of Carr's lone other Goldwax LP, A Man Needs a Woman. These additional tracks, unsurprisingly, aren't up to the level of the cuts from the original You Got My Mind Messed Up LP. But they're still respectable outings worth a listen, sometimes a little more explicitly influenced by (or at least similar to) Otis Redding, as on the cover of "These Arms of Mine" and the up-tempo "There Goes My Used to Be," though the incomplete version of "Sock It to Me -- Baby!" is atypical and not suited to Carr's chief strengths. The four previously unreleased cuts include a cover of the Rascals' "Love Is a Beautiful Thing," as well as alternate vocal versions of "Life Turned Her That Way" and "A Losing Game." ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

Andrew Hill - Point of Departure
JAZZ | FLAC | CUE | LOG | COVERS | 356MB | 57:18
Blue Note 1964

1. Refuge
2. New Monastery
3. Spectrum
4. Flight 19
5. Dedication
6. New Monastery (Alt)
7. Flight 19 (Alt)
8. Dedication (Alt)

Pianist and composer Andrew Hill is perhaps known more for this date than any other in his catalogue -- and with good reason. Hill's complex compositions straddled many lines in the early to mid-1960s and crossed over many. Point of Departure, with its all-star lineup (even then), took jazz and wrote a new book on it, excluding nothing. With Eric Dolphy and Joe Henderson on saxophones (Dolphy also played clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute), Richard Davis on bass, Tony Williams on drums, and Kenny Dorham on trumpet, this was a cast created for a jazz fire dance. From the opening moments of "Refuge," with its complex minor mode intro that moves headlong via Hill's large, open chords that flat sevenths, ninths, and even 11ths in their striding to move through the mode, into a wellspring of angular hard bop and minor-key blues. Hill's solo is first and it cooks along in the upper middle register, almost all right hand ministrations, creating with his left a virtual counterpoint for Davis and a skittering wash of notes for Williams. The horn solos in are all from the hard bop book, but Dolphy cuts his close to the bone with an edgy tone. "New Monastery," which some mistake for an avant-garde tune, is actually a rewrite of bop minimalism extended by a diminished minor mode and an intervallic sequence that, while clipped, moves very quickly. Dorham solos to connect the dots of the knotty frontline melody and, in his wake, leaves the space open for Dolphy, who blows edgy, blue, and true into the center, as Hill jumps to create a maelstrom by vamping with augmented and suspended chords. Hill chills it out with gorgeous legato phrasing and a left-hand ostinato that cuts through the murk in the harmony. When Henderson takes his break, he just glides into the chromatically elegant space created by Hill, and it's suddenly a new tune. This disc is full of moments like this. In Hill's compositional world, everything is up for grabs. It just has to be taken a piece at a time, and not by leaving your fingerprints all over everything. In "Dedication," where he takes the piano solo further out melodically than on the rest of the album combined, he does so gradually. You cannot remember his starting point, only that there has been a transformation. This is a stellar date, essential for any representative jazz collection, and a record that, in the 21st century, still points the way to the future for jazz. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Andrew Hill - Piano
Kenny Dorham - Trumpet
Tony Williams - Drums
Richard Davis - Bass
Joe Henderson - Tenor Saxophone
Eric Dolphy - Clarinet, Flute, Alto Sax

Esperanza Spalding - Esperanza
JAZZ | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 476MB | 67:56
Heads Up 2008

01. Ponta De Areia
02. I Know You Know
03. Fall In
04. I Adore You
05. Cuerpo Y Alma
06. She Got To You
07. Precious
08. Mela
09. Love In Time
10. Espera
11. If That's True
12. Samba Em Preludio

Bassist, vocalist, and composer Esperanza Spalding's eponymous release on Heads Up International is touted on the Concord Label Group's website as her debut recording. This is patently untrue. In fact, if it weren't for her actual debut , 2006's Junjo on Spain's Ayva imprint, this set may not have existed at all. Junjo showcased Spalding as a leader, playing in an acoustic trio with pianist Aruan Ortiz and drummer Francisco Mela singing wordlessly over bubbling Latin and Afro-Cuban melodies and rhythms. Though written by Brazilian legend Milton Nasciemento and featuring backing vocalists and additional percussion to the bass, piano, and drum format, Esperanza's opening track, "Ponta De Areia" resembles the sound and M.O. of the earlier album quite a bit. This is on purpose, as Spalding simply nods to one of the many places she comes from musically. The track, with its languid, nursery rhyme-like melody and beautifully understated instrumental accompaniment, gently opens the listener to an aural experience that's quite unlike anything else out there. Spalding sings in three languages here -- English, Spanish, and Portuguese -- she plays bass, does the arranging, and acts as her own producer on this wildly diverse and exceptionally well-executed set. How does a 23-year-old get all that control? Simple: she's a prodigy; she is a seasoned session player (she's worked with Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, and Patti Austin to name just three), and she's a faculty member at the Berklee College of Music.

The ambition on display on Esperanza is not blind; it's deeply intuitive, and her focus brings out the adventure on the album in all the right ways. By a lesser musician, even attempting something like this would have been disastrous. A core band consisting of pianist Leo Genovese, percussionist Jamey Haddad, and drummer Otis Brown backs Spalding. She follows the Nasciemento cut with her own fingerpopping midtempo ballad "I Know You Know," where her crystal clear contralto walks a phrasing tightrope between near scat, classic jazz, and Latin soul singing. The layers of hand percussion and knotty pianism fill the middle as her bassline and drums hold down a constant skittering thrum for the lyrics to balance on. But she can write and sing straight ballads as well. "Fall In," a seemingly simple duet where her voice over Genovese's piano are the only ornaments, is a stellar example and also displays a very sophisticated and slippery sense of wordcraft and a gorgeous melodic sensibility. "I Adore You," featuring Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez in one of his two appearances on drums, offers another example of Spalding's wordless vocalizing; it is a popping Brazilian samba-cum-rhumba with a snappy backing chorus of Brown, Gretchen Parlato, and Theresa Perez. They help her move the smoking piano and the shuffling, time-shifting drums of Hernandez on the choruses. Spalding's bass part here is anything but basic, it's startling in its rhythmic and lyric invention as it adds another harmonic counterpart to the piano and percussive textures. New Orleans saxophonist Donald Harrison performs in one of his two guest spots on the provocative and sassy jazz tune "She Got to You." With a quick, even-burning tempo, there are traces of Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, and even Blossom Dearie in Spalding's phrasing. For all of the hard-driving percussion and the track's boppish tempo, it is wonderfully accessible. "Precious," played with her trio (including some nice Rhodes work by Genovese) is like a mirror image; it's lithe, new-soul melody line flirts with jazz in the arrangement but stays on the pop side of the fence. If radio would get behind this it would be a monster. "Mela" is a wailing, post-bop instrumental with Hernandez on drums and guest Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet. Check Spalding's bass solo here, it, like the tune, is a burner. In sum, Esperanza sounds like the work of a much older, more experienced player, singer, and songwriter. Spalding not only has these gifts in natural abundance but is disciplined in her execution as well. On this recording she seeks to widen her musical adventure at every turn, but she does it with such with taste, refinement, and a playful sense of humor that virtually anyone who encounters this offering will find not only much to delight in, but plenty to be amazed by as well. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Esperanza Spalding - Vocals, Electric Bass, Upright Bass
Leo Genovese - Piano, Fender, Wurlitzer
Jamey Haddad - Bongos
Otis Brown - Drums
Nino Josele - Guitar
Horacio Hernandez - Drums
Ambrose Akinmusire - Trumpet
Donald Harrison - Alto Saxophone

George Benson - Give Me The Night
JAZZ | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 275MB | 42:49
Warner Brothers 1980

01. Love X Love
02. Off Broadway
03. Moody's Mood
04. Give Me the Night
05. What's on Your Mind
06. Dinorah, Dinorah
07. Love Dance
08. Star of a Story (X)
09. Midnight Love Affair
10. Turn Out the Lamplight

This is the peak of George Benson's courtship of the mass market -- a superbly crafted and performed pop album with a large supporting cast -- and wouldn't you know that Quincy Jones, the master catalyst, is the producer. Q's regular team, including the prolific songwriter Rod Temperton and the brilliant engineer Bruce Swedien, is in control, and Benson's voice, caught beautifully in the rich, floating sound, had never before been put to such versatile use. On "Moody's Mood," Benson really exercises his vocalese chops and proves that he is technically as fluid as just about any jazz vocalist, and he become a credible rival to Al Jarreau on the joyous title track. Benson's guitar now plays a subsidiary role -- only two of the ten tracks are instrumentals -- but Q has him play terrific fills behind the vocals and in the gaps, and the engineering gives his tone a variety of striking, new, full-sounding timbres. The instrumentals themselves are marvelous: "Off Broadway" is driving and danceable, and Ivan Lins' "Dinorah, Dinorah" grows increasingly seductive with each play. Benson should have worked with Jones from this point on, but this would be their only album together. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

George Benson - Guitar, Vocals
David Foster - Synthesizer
Richard Tee - Synthesizer
Jerry Hey - Trumpet
Louis Johnson - Bass
John Robinson - Drums
Carlos Vega - Drums
Jocelyn Allen - Vocals
Tom Bahler - Vocals
Jim Gilstrap - Vocals
Diva Gray - Vocals
Lee Ritenour - Guitar
Abraham Laboriel - Bass
Patti Austin - Vocals
David Paich -Synthesizer
George Duke - Keyboards
Paulinho Da Costa - Percussion
Michael Boddicker - Synthesizer
Clare Fischer - Piano, Fender
Larry Williams - Flute, Saxophone
Kim Hutchcroft - Flute, Saxophone
Herbie Hancock - Synthesizer, Fender
Greg Phillinganes - Synthesizer, Fender

CONTRIBUTED BY BLAQ!!

Meters - Rejuvenation
NORLEANS | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 344MB | 50:53
Reprise 1974

01. People Say
02. Love Is for Me
03. Just Kissed My Baby
04. What 'cha Say
05. Jungle Man
06. Hey Pocky A-Way
07. It Ain't No Use
08. Loving You Is on My Mind
09. Africa
10. People Say [Single]
11. Hey Pocky A-Way [Single]

Although it's worth noting that their first hit for Warners, "Hey Pocky A-Way," is as old as the second line, it's also worth nothing that they're getting results from their experiments--namely, the twelve-minute funk fusion "It Ain't No Use." And if most of the time the vocals are neutral at best, what this bunch of amateurs makes of "Just Kissed My Baby" isn't dreamed of in Three Dog Night's philosophy. B+ --Robert Christgau, CONSUMER GUIDE

Art Neville - Piano, Organ, Vocals
George Porter - Bass
Ziggy Modeliste - Drums, Vocals
Leo Nocentelli - Guitar, Vocals

Otis Taylor - Clovis People
BLUES | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 346MB | 49:52
Telarc 2010

01. Rain So Hard
02. Little Willie
03. Lee and Arnez
04. It's Done Happened Again
05. Past Times
06. She's Ice in the Desert
07. Hands on Your Stomach
08. Harry, Turn the Music Up
09. Ain't No Cowgirl
10. Babies Don't Lie
11. Coffee Women
12. Think I Won't

Over a period of ten years, Otis Taylor has come up with compelling, often puzzling album titles; Clovis People, Vol. 3 is no exception. For starters, there aren’t any previous volumes. Also, the Clovis People he refers to don’t exist. Their name was chosen by archaeologists who discovered the tools and pottery of culture that had died out over 13,000 years ago near Taylor’s own home in Pueblo, CO. Taylor’s approach is quite spare and atmospheric, though his ensemble is sometimes exotic: some of his guests include jazz trumpeter Ron Miles, electric guitar slinger Gary Moore, Fara Tolno on djembe, pedal steel guitarist Chuck Campbell, and his regulars, daughter Cassie on bass and theremin, and Larry Thompson on drums, along with assorted guests. Taylor’s trademark vocals and guitar are ever-present. These blues are moody, sometimes menacing: “Little Willie” is a narrative account of a young boy shot dead on a school playground. A biting lead guitar line is answered by Taylor’s stuttering rhythmic one. Campbell’s pedal steel weaves between the two as Cassie’s bass rumbles and the skeletal, pulsing crackle of Thompson’s kit heats up Taylor's moan toward a biting crescendo. On “Rain So Hard,” Miles' trumpet paints Taylor’s National steel with ethereal single notes and short runs, as a theremin, pedal steel, and a cello fill out the bottom. It’s a slow, hypnotic John Lee Hooker-esque shuffle about lost love. “Lee and Arnez” is a folk song textured by Moore’s trademark guitar snarl, a violin, and an organ. Its fragmented narrative is about race and changing times. Taylor’s reclaiming the ghosts of people he knew and staking a claim to what was always true, even if America didn’t know it at the time (and may still not): “There’s no color/there’s no difference.” “Ain’t No Cowgirl” features Moore against Tolno's djemebe. They snake and pulse under a sparse lyric about a truly dangerous woman. “Think I Won’t” returns us to the school yard. Fiddle, pedal steel, bass, guitars, and drums create the backbone for a mother to confront a drug dealer. How it ends Taylor doesn’t say, but the music offers enough pent-up rage and righteous anger that we can guess. Clovis People, Vol. 3 adds significantly to the increasingly ambitious body of work Taylor’s created since 2000. He mines new territory from ancient blues here with grit, humanity, and purpose. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Otis Taylor - Banjo, Guitar, Vocals
Cassie Taylor - Bass, Theremin
Larry Thompson - Drums
Brian Juan - Organ
Dara Tolno - Djembe
Fara Tolno - Djembe
Pete Wernick - Banjo
Ron Miles - Cornet
Gary Moore - Guitar
Jon Paul Johnson - Guitar
Valerie Levy Franzese - Cello

Otis Taylor - Below The Fold
BLUES | APE | CUE | LOG | ART | 262MB | 43:20
Telarc 2005

01. Feel Like Lightning
02. Boy Plays Mandolin
03. Hookers in the Street
04. Mama's Got a Friend
05. Working for the Pullman Company
06. Your Children Sleep Good Tonight
07. Didn't Know Much About Education
08. Went to Hermes
09. Government Lied
10. Right Side of Heaven

Otis Taylor doesn't suffer fools lightly, and his insistent, hard-driving modal songs, full of defiant reclamations of history and tender vignettes of people struggling to survive in hostile cultural territory, are like nothing else on the contemporary blues scene. Imagine John Lee Hooker if he had grown up in the Appalachians and cut his teeth playing with a steam-driven mountain string band, then add in the fierce political commitment of a Peter Tosh, and you begin to get the picture. On Below the Fold, his third release for Telarc Records, Taylor stays well within the seam of his previous work, which is by no means a bad thing, and for the first time he actually adds drums (played by Greg Anton) to a few tracks, which is a bit like shoveling Sterno into the boiler, and cuts like the opening "Feel Like Lightning" literally explode down the track like a string band playing "Reuben's Train" on steroids. He calms things down a bit for the lovely "Boy Plays Mandolin," which features some beautifully spooky trumpet lines from Ron Miles. Arguably the most striking track here, however, is a song co-written with his teenage daughter Cassie Taylor (who plays bass on the album), "Working for the Pullman Company." Cassie came up with the melody and chorus when she was only five years old, and she handles the lead and harmony vocals on the song with impressive and wistful poise. Below the Fold fits easily into Taylor's emerging canon, and it has the same urgent, ragged beauty of his previous albums. He is unlikely to change the way he does things in the future, which is just fine, since his Appalachian griot approach is perfect for his musical and political agenda, and perfect for shaking up the complacency of the contemporary blues scene. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Otis Taylor - Guitar, Banjo, Harmonica, Mandolin, Vocals
Greg Anton - Drums
Rayna Gellert - Fiddle
Brian Juan - Organ
Ron Miles - Trumpet
Cassie Taylor - Bass, Vocals

Stefon Harris & Blackout - Urbanus
JAZZ | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 588MB | 55:23
Concord 2009

01. Gone
02. Christina
03. Tanktified
04. Shake It for Me
05. Minor March
06. They Won't Go
07. The Afterthought
08. For You
09. Blues for Denial
10. Langston's Lullaby

Over two CDs going back to 2004, vibraphonist Stefon Harris and his group Blackout have continued to become more progressive and contemporary at the same time. Employing hip-hop beats on occasion along with straight-ahead jazz or funk, the ensemble seems to enjoy their all-over-the-map concept while adhering to nothing specific. There's nothing wrong with this attitude, but at times one wonders if there will arise a laser beam focus in doing something consistently well. For this version of Blackout, Harris and company have moved from their first home on Blue Note records to the Concord label, and the resulting music bears mixed results. Within the context Harris previously established, the spiky sax and vibe line of "Shake It for Me," with the vibraphonist urged on by the tight and sharpened drumming of Terreon Gully, or the bass clarinet/vibes tandem line of Gully's "Tanktified" sets up ruminant bass and sax, both succeeding in an intriguing way. Hard bop via the Jackie McLean cover "Minor March" or the straight-ahead track "The Afterthought" both hit the nail solidly on the head, the band collectively charging forward. The most impressive teamwork during "Blues for Denial" has Harris leading the way as the band speeds up into a frenzy, again in a bop framework. Combining funk and go-go on an extrapolation of a George Gershwin theme, "Gone" is a cute discourse, adding wah-wah and space tones. There's an adventurous take of the Buster Williams ballad "Christina" which by now is a widely played standard, with the marimba of Harris and multiple add-on lines. Keyboardist Marc Cary is in the band, and positively influences the limited contemporary side of jazz. Then again there's Casey Benjamin's vocoder, which since its early use by the likes of Stevie Wonder has been one of the silliest devices ever conceived to vary the sound of the human voice. Benjamin is one of the best young alto saxophonists in modern jazz -- an instrument he should stick with. The cover of Wonder's "They Won't Go" is darker than the original, and plain weird. Every recording from Stefon Harris has been uneven to a certain extent, with his excellent Evolution less so than all the others. There's a majority of excellent music played on this album, but the feeling conveyed is that Urbanus wants to appeal to exactly what its title suggests, an urban crowd less interested in innovation or expansion as it is the beat. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide

Stefon Harris - Vibes, Mirimba
Tank Gully - Drums
Marc Cary - Fender, Piano
Ben Williams - Upright Bass
Casey Benjamin - Alto Saxophone, Vocoder

KRS-One & Buckshot - Survival Skills
HIPHOP | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 411MB | 57:06
Duck Down 2009

01. Survival Skills
02. Robot
03. The Way I Live
04. Clean Up Crew
05. Oh Really
06. Connection
07. Runnin Away
08. Think of All the Things
09. One Shot
10. Amazin
11. Hear No Evil
12. Murder 1
13. We Made It
14. Past * Present * Future

With old-school legend KRS-One teaming with Boot Camp Clik member Buckshot, you can expect high-caliber rhymes and an anti-sellout attitude, but Survival Skills is a diverse, welcome surprise. The radio-friendly, and more importantly, radio-worthy single "The Way I Live" with Mary J Blige is a slicker package than usual from this revolutionary duo, but the polished production is actually from Black Milk, an underground tastemaker who provides a beat right in line with the ambitious spirit of the album. The guest list is an unexpected mix of Slug, K'naan, Pharoahe Monch, Sean Price, and reggae singer Bounty Killer, while production is ably handled by the likes of Nottz, 9th Wonder, Ill Mind, and Mobb Deep's Havoc. It's Havoc who outshines them all on the key cut "Robot," an anti-Auto-Tune track with a massive hook and KRS shaking the stick at the younger generation with the usual disgust ("Go online, look up Kraftwerk/Everything you doin' is past work/We already wore that hat, those pants, and that shirt"). Buckshot is hardly a household name and KRS-One's post-2000 discography is alienating with too many releases, but casual fans of more literate hip-hop should check Survival Skills since it's easily accessible and rewarding at the same time. Loyal hip-hop heads with a taste for the old-school boom-bap shouldn't think twice and won't be disappointed. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide

KRS-One - Life
HIP HOP | FLAC | CUE | LOG | COVERS | 299MB | 43:41
Antagonist 2006

01. Bling Blung
02. The Way We Live
03. Woke Up
04. Mr. Percy
05. F-cked Up
06. Freedom
07. I'm On The Mic
08. Gimmie Da Gun
09. Life Interlude
10. I Ain't Leavin
11. Organ Break
12. I Am There
13. Still Slippin
14. My Life

KRS-One has always been a socially conscious rapper, tackling different subjects throughout his career, most of which relate to problems that face many urban dwellers, especially black ones. But in Life, race is an issue he chooses not to tackle; in fact, he makes a point to mention that specifically. "I am hip-hop/I don't speak for blacks," he states in "Still Slippin'," understanding that his art has the ability to reach a large demographic (something he also addresses in "I'm on the Mic"). Instead, KRS-One speaks of problems that can and do afflict all people. "Everywhere across the nation more people are joining the homeless population," he states in "Mr. Percy," a song that discusses how easy it is to find yourself without a place to stay, despite your best efforts to work, save money, and improve your situation "with the state of the economy and the way that it is." In the electric guitar-driven "I Ain't Leavin'," KRS declares his "purpose is to inspire the poor" as he tries to explain their situation and sympathize with them. This is all delivered between lines about his own talent and dedication to hip-hop, ideas that, like on any true rap album, certainly aren't forgotten or ignored. But KRS-One has been writing rhymes for so long that this sort of thing doesn't seem trite or boastful. He talks about himself and the genre simultaneously, equating one with the other ("I am to hip-hop what flour is to pancakes"), which isn't actually uncalled for, being that he has been such a major figure in it, and it's a technique that keeps his lyrics pretty interesting. KRS-One has been around for a while, but his style has changed as the genre's progressed, and Life is an indication of this. It's not a perfect record, but the rhymes are pretty thoughtful, the beats are pretty good, the subject matter is pretty unique. Perhaps it can all be summed up best in a line from the closing song, "My Life" (originally stated in BDP's "I'm Still No. 1" : "You know what you need to learn?/Old-school artists don't always burn." If all of them are as talented as KRS-One is, that statement's absolutely true. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide

Otis Taylor - Definition of a Circle
BLUES | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 362MB | 54:02
Telarc 2007

01. Little Betty
02. Black's Mandolin Boogie
03. Looking Over Your Fence
04. They Wore Blue
05. Few Feet Away
06. Something in Your Back Pocket
07. My Name Is General Jackson
08. Love and Hesitation
09. Majaraja Daughter
10. Long Long Life
11. Mexican Cowboy
12. Lifetime of Freedom

In many cases, modern-day blues artists merely ape the blues masters of yesteryear -- following the blueprint to a T. So it is truly a breath of fresh air when Otis Taylor releases a new album, such as 2007's Definition of a Circle. Sure, there are elements of modern-day blues-rock detected (namely, the inclusion of guest guitarist Gary Moore on certain tunes), but Taylor is not stuck to the instruments that are usually associated with blues-rock. Case in point, such tunes as "Black's Mandolin Boogie," "Maharaja Daughter," and "Mexican Cowboy," which utilize such instruments as banjo, mandolin, electric cello, cornet, lap steel, etc. That said, there are several tunes that would certainly fit comfortably in the "modern-day blues-rock" category, including "Love and Hesitation" and "Something in Your Back Pocket" (which showcase Moore's electric guitar talents), as well as tunes such as "Little Betty" and "They Wore Blue," which fit somewhere between the two aforementioned approaches. Otis Taylor is one of the few modern-day bluesmen that manages to avoid stylistic clichés, as heard throughout Definition of a Circle. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide

Otis Taylor - Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Piano, Vocals
Richard Sharples - Mandolin
Cassie Taylor - Bass, Vocals
Zach Miskin - Cello
Junko Ohashi - Vocals
Gary Moore - Guitar
Nick Amodeo - Mandolin
Josh Kelly - Drums
Se Youn Kwon - Vocals
Hiromi Uehara - Piano
Brian Juan - Organ, Piano
Ben Sollee - Electric Cello
Ron Miles - Cornet, Trumpet
Cecelia Alvarez - Spoken Word
Charlie Musselwhite - Harmonica

Robert Glasper - Double Booked
JAZZ | FLAC | CUE | LOG | COVERS | 456MB | 72:24
Blue Note 2009

The Robert Glasper Trio:

1. Intro
2. No Worries
3. Yes I'm Country
4. Downtime
5. 59 South
6. Think of One

The Robert Glasper Experiment:
1. 4eva
2. Butterfly
3. Festival
4. For You
5. All Matter
6. Open Mind

There is a certain hipness in title of Double Booked that reflects the hipness of the music itself. It hints at two voicemail messages by Terrence Blanchard and ?uestlove, respectively, that ask Robert Glasper about apparently being double booked on the same night with two different bands at different clubs. The irony in that paradox is that Glasper performs with his acoustic trio on the first half of the record, and with his Experiment on the second half. Glasper’s trio is a crack unit with Chris Dave on drums and bassist Vincente Archer. They understand where he’s at rhythmically and know how to knot things up and swing simultaneously. The expansive harmonics inherent in the album’s first two tracks -- the skittering flow on “No Worries” that takes its post-bop seriously with some amazing improvisation, and the more open, airy lyricism on “Yes I’m Country (And That’s OK)" -- are kind of opposite ends of the coin, but they're underscored and punctuated by an innovative reading of Thelonious Monk’s “Think of One” to close the trio part of the record. The Experiment's half begins as Mos Def raps over Glasper's Rhodes piano and Dave’s hip-hop drums. It expands from here with Derrick Hodge’s funky electric bass, and saxophonist’s Casey Benjamin's use of a vocoder over Dave's breakbeats. The centerpiece is the ten-minute “Festival,” an ultra-modern, funky jazz tune with some complex improvisational navigation. Glasper plays acoustic piano and Rhodes going head to head with that low-tuned funky bass and Benjamin’s outward-bound sax and spacy vocoder. Bilal joins the band on the last two cuts. He is as comfortable singing jazz and soul as he is hip-hop; he’s a kindred spirit for Glasper. “All Matter” walks on the hip-hop side of jazz, and Hodge's “Open Mind,” which makes use of Jahi Sundance’s turntablism, is a midtempo ballad drenched in experimental jazz and nu-soul as Dave practices frantic breaks inside the shimmering melodic structure. Another notable thing about Double Booked is that it was recorded completely live in the studio. This is modern jazz that extends into popular music -- without compromise. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Robert Glasper - Fender Rhodes, Piano
Chris Dave - Drums
Derrick Hodge - Bass
Mos Def - Vocals
Jahi Sundance - Turntables
Vicente Archer - Upright Bass
Casey Benjamin - Saxophone, Vocoder

Dorothy Dandridge - Smooth Operator
VOCAL | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 369MB | 47:50
Verve 1999

01. It's Easy To Remember
02. What Is There To Say?
03. That Old Feeling
04. The Touch Of Your Lips
05. When Your Lover Has Gone
06. The Nearness Of You
07. I'm Glad There Is You
08. I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face
09. Body And Soul
10. How Long Has This Been Going On?
11. I've Got A Crush On You
12. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
13. Somebody
14. Stay With It
15. It's A Beautiful Evening
16. Smooth Operator

Smooth Operator explores a little-known aspect of the beautiful, troubled African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge: her vocal abilities. Most of this album comes from a 1958 recording session featuring Dandridge's lovely interpretations of "When Your Lover Has Gone," "Body & Soul" and the title track. That her backing band is an augmented version of the Oscar Peterson Trio makes her album even more special, and a must for jazz fans and film buffs. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide

Dorothy Dandridge - Vocals
Ray Brown - Bass
Herb Ellis - Guitar
Alvin Stoller - Bongos, Drums
Oscar Peterson - Piano, Celeste

The Rippingtons - Moonlighting
JAZZ | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 271MB | 41:27
GRP 1986

1. Moonlighting
2. She Likes to Watch
3. Angela
4. Dreams
5. Mirage
6. Calypso Cafe
7. Open All Night
8. Intimate Strangers

Released in 1986, this album not only stands as a genre-defining primer on what has become known as smooth jazz, but it also helped launch the careers of various artists whose music has been crucial to the genre's vitality. In addition to composer/guitarist/producer Russ Freeman and the Ripps, there's David Benoit (playing a gorgeous piano melody on "Mirage"), keyboardist Gregg Karukas, bassist Jimmy Johnson (who scored hits with Flim & the BBs), saxmen Brandon Fields and Dave Koz (whose floating Electronic Wind Instrument melody guides the silky "Dreams"), and some soprano-wielding guy named Kenny G. One of the G-man's least cloying -- and indeed, most engaging -- performances can be heard on the lilting, Calypso-influenced "She Likes to Watch." (One of Freeman's best tunes, it continues to get heavy airplay.) The opening, six-minute title track -- a guitar-driven, light funk tune that weaves percussionist Steve Reid's nature soundscaping and exotic sound effects with a hypnotic synth melody -- epitomizes the kind of smooth texturing for which the Rippingtons became famous. While the band's personnel has evolved, the best tunes on the Ripps' more recent recordings still feature Freeman jamming on guitars and Reid brewing up just the right amount of aggression and subtlety with his toys. The all-star personnel alone makes this a must-hear all these years later. The fact that it still holds up melodically, rhythmically, and production-wise makes it one of smooth jazz's most important and enjoyable recordings. ~ Jonathan Widran, All Music Guide

Russ Freeman - Guitar, Keyboards
Steve Reid - Linn Drum, EMU
Gregg Karukas - Keyboards
David Benoit - Piano
Brandon Fields - Alto Saxo
Kenny G - Soprano Sax
Jimmy Johnson - Bass
Dave Koz - EWI
Bill Lanphier - Bass
Tony Morales - Cymbals, Drums, Percussion

Modern Jazz Quartet - Fontessa
JAZZ | FLAC | CUE | LOG | COVERS | 208MB | 37:00
Atlantic 1956

1. Versailles
2. Angel Eyes
3. Fontessa
4. Over the Rainbow
5. Bluesology
6. Willow Weep for Me
7. Woodyn You

This LP has a particularly strong all-around set by the Modern Jazz Quartet. While John Lewis' "Versailles" and an 11-minute "Fontessa" show the seriousness of the group (and the influence of Western classical music), other pieces (such as "Bluesology," "Woody 'N You" and a pair of ballads) look toward the group's roots in bop and permit the band to swing hard. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Milt Jackson - Vibraphone
John Lewis - Piano
Percy Heath - Bass
Connie Kay - Drums

KRS-ONE/Marley Marl - Hip Hop Lives
HIP HOP | FLAC | CUE | LOG | PNG | 346MB | 46:32
Koch 2007

01. It's Alive (Intro)
02. Hip Hop Lives
03. Nothing New
04. I Was There
05. Musika
06. Rising to the Top
07. Over 30
08. M.A.R.L.E.Y.
09. Kill a Rapper
10. The Teacha's Back
11. Victory
12. This Is What It Is
13. All Skool
14. House of Hits

After a 22-year grudge due to a disagreement over the birthplace of hip-hop, KRS-One and Marley Marl finally make amends on Hip Hop Lives. Unfortunately, the album that could be a great return to the "edutainment" of BDP ultimately falls short because of its bland lyrical content. KRS-One is too preoccupied with two issues: one being that hip-hop will never die, and the other that he was a prominent hip-hop pioneer in his heyday. His bragging rights are certainly deserved, but instead of using his legendary status to propel hip-hop forward, or to tell interesting stories about the genre, KRS-One rants like a retired professor reciting his résumé while trying to prove that he once reigned supreme. When he's not reading a laundry list of all the major urban historical events that he attended, as on "I Was There"(which could have made for an interesting song with some background facts or lyrics that rhymed), he is professing his true love for hip-hop. He praises the genre, and he spits fire at the critics who claim that the art form is dying, but this album unfortunately doesn't do much in the way of revival. As a natural leader and sharp-minded activist, it's disappointing that KRS-One chose to harp on his status in history instead of embedding powerful social commentary within his rhymes, as he did on older songs like "2nd Quarter Free Throws." The sole purpose of this album seems to be to win over fans new to hip-hop, and that prospect is unlikely, even with Marley Marl's solid and current-sounding beats. Hopefully, the duo will team up again with a more engaging record that targets their core community -- fans who already know hip-hop's past and want to hear KRS-One spout thought-provoking rhymes again. [The CD was also released in a clean version with all profanity removed.] ~ Jason Lymangrover, All Music Guide

Dave Brubeck - Time Out
JAZZ | FLAC | CUE | LOG | COVERS | 226MB | 38:35
Columbia 1959

1. Blue Rondo a la Turk
2. Strange Meadow Lark
3. Take Five
4. Three to Get Ready
5. Kathy's Waltz
6. Everybody's Jumpin
7. Pick Up Sticks

Dave Brubeck's defining masterpiece, Time Out is one of the most rhythmically innovative albums in jazz history, the first to consciously explore time signatures outside of the standard 4/4 beat or 3/4 waltz time. It was a risky move -- Brubeck's record company wasn't keen on releasing such an arty project, and many critics initially roasted him for tampering with jazz's rhythmic foundation. But for once, public taste was more advanced than that of the critics. Buoyed by a hit single in altoist Paul Desmond's ubiquitous "Take Five," Time Out became an unexpectedly huge success, and still ranks as one of the most popular jazz albums ever. That's a testament to Brubeck and Desmond's abilities as composers, because Time Out is full of challenges both subtle and overt -- it's just that they're not jarring. Brubeck's classic "Blue Rondo à la Turk" blends jazz with classical form and Turkish folk rhythms, while "Take Five," despite its overexposure, really is a masterpiece; listen to how well Desmond's solo phrasing fits the 5/4 meter, and how much Joe Morello's drum solo bends time without getting lost. The other selections are richly melodic as well, and even when the meters are even, the group sets up shifting polyrhythmic counterpoints that nod to African and Eastern musics. Some have come to disdain Time Out as its become increasingly synonymous with upscale coffeehouse ambience, but as someone once said of Shakespeare, it's really very good in spite of the people who like it. It doesn't just sound sophisticated -- it really is sophisticated music, which lends itself to cerebral appreciation, yet never stops swinging. Countless other musicians built on its pioneering experiments, yet it's amazingly accessible for all its advanced thinking, a rare feat in any art form. This belongs in even the most rudimentary jazz collection. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Dave Brubeck - Piano
Eugene Wright - Bass
Joe Morello - Drums
Paul Desmond - Alto Saxophone

Patrice Rushen - Straight To The Heart (1982)

Weapon of Choice - Highperspice

Marvin Gaye - Here, My Dear (1978)

James Carr - You Got My Mind Messed Up (1967)

Andrew Hill - Point of Departure (1964)

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Dave Brubeck - Time Out (1959)