A German bandleader, pianist, arranger and composer.
Growing up with three brothers in Bad Kissingen, Günter Maier was the eldest son of a postman early in touch with music and studied piano. He was classically trained at the Bavarian State Conservatory in Würzburg and studied piano and composition. His studies he financed as jazz musicians performing in American clubs as a member of the Hep Cats combo . Even after successful graduation he initially joined on as a jazz musician with the Helmut Brandt Combo on. In 1961, it undertook RIAS for his RIAS Dance Orchestra in Berlin as a pianist and deputy conductor…

Drummer Roberto Gatto's quartet pleasingly ensnares a range of contrasting musical quarry without falling into the Traps of pretense and mimicry. Within his strong framework of compositional eloquence and musical economy, Gatto draws on Monk, Latin, Kurt Weill and assorted other influences for a relaxing yet highly expressive program. Gatto is a stalwart in an Italian jazz scene that has matured over the last several decades into a wellspring of creative instrumentalists across a variety of jazz subgenres. Though Gatto is most associated with trumpeter Enrico Rava, with whom the drummer has been recording in different groups since 1999, this release highlights players who are among the finest in the current generation of Italian jazz musicians. Most impressive is pianist Luca Mannutza who displays a mature grasp of the less-is-more ethos that comes across from his first almost toy-like intro to opener "The Hands.

The production and video direction are by British film-maker Ken Russell who puts his own stamp on the production. Russell told an interviewer he felt the plot was "silly" so he turned Marguerite into a young nun, eliminated the Walpurgis Night ballet, had Marguerite use sign-language for Valentin's deaf-mute children, and had Mephistopheles disrespectfully urinating in the stoup in church. However, the overall effect is visually engrossing, the vivid sets and costumes by Karl Toms are effective. And the singing is outstanding.

This CD is musicianship at its best. There is something for everyone here from the dark evocative sounds of Misa Negra, the hard swing of the Ellington tribute, and the infectious beat of the son montunos. And all this with some of the most exciting solo performances you could ever hope to hear.

When the German transverse flute found its place in Italy and was accepted by the Catholic church as a suitable replacement for the proscribed recorder, Antonio Vivaldi took to it with great enthusiasm. His flute concertos mark a point of departure, coming after he had completed his 40 bassoon concertos and virtually all of the string concertos. Although some of these pieces were reworkings of material previously composed for recorder, Vivaldi came to capitalize on new techniques he learned from Ignazio Siber, the flute instructor at the Ospedale della Pietà. Of Vivaldi's 15, the 7 flute concertos presented here were freshly written for the instrument.

20 original albums recorded beetween 1959 and 1975 on the legendary soul label Atlantic, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke‘s masterpieces, the classic Stax/Volt recordings by Booker T. & The M.G.’s, Rufus Thomas, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd and Ben E. King, Percy Sledge, Don Covay and Donny Hathaway’s legendary LPs. Also includes material previously unreleased on CD, such as Sam Dee's classic The Show Must Go On.

A 4 CD box set which chronicles the band's history and recording career from their first recordings up to the present day. Features a total of 78 tracks, including rare and unreleased items, and a lavishly produced booklet with in-depth notes by official Blues Band historian Roy Bainton, plus loads of memorabilia care of Tom McGuinness All tracks digitally remastered!

Eddie Harris - Come on Down! & The Reason Why I'm Talking S–t (2006) {Atlantic–Collectables COL-CD-7672 rec 1970-1975}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 505 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 205 Mb
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© 1970-75, 2006 Atlantic / Collectables Records | COL-CD-7672
Jazz / Jazz-Funk / Soul Jazz / Blue Humor / Comedy / Saxophone

This repackages two of Eddie Harris' 1970s albums: Come on Down! was recorded in Miami in 1970 and The Reason Why I'm Talking S–t is a bizarre live album from 1975. Released as a two-disc collection, this is one of the stranger things Collectables has ever done. The first disc is a solid soul-jazz, rock, and funk date with Ira Sullivan, pianist Dave Crawford, Duck Dunn on bass, and Cornell Dupree on guitar with an all too rare appearance by Tubby Zeigler on drums. Harris wrote all but one track. Produced by Tom Dowd, it's a gritty, greasy burner with the guitars allowed front space with the horns and paired with Harris' electric sax. It's FONKIFIED.

A Greek-only premium compilation, released with the music magazine "Jazz & Tzaz" (Issue 69). Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Clifford Brown, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Bill Evans and others.

Robert Berry will return with a second 3.2 album, "Third Impression" on February 12, 2021. The band/project is a continuation of the band 3, which a band Berry was in with Carl Palmer and the late great Keith Emerson.
In October 2015, conversations about a new "3" album started between Robert Berry and Frontiers President, Serafino Perugino as Robert had been speaking to Keith Emerson about releasing the long delayed "3" follow up album. Along with renewed fan interest in the band and those conversations, Berry had sparked revived enthusiasm from Keith Emerson for pursuing the project. The exchange of musical ideas and song collaborations ultimately paved the groundwork for 3.2’s first album, "The Rules Have Changed"…

Johnny Otis - Rhythm & Blues Caravan: The Complete Savoy Recordings (1999) {3CD Set, Atlantic–Savoy 92859-2 rec 1949-1952}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 937 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 518 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 236 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1949-52, 1999 Atlantic / Savoy Jazz | 92859-2
Jazz / Blues / Early R&B / Jump Blues

A deluxe three-disc set summing up Otis' pre-Hand Jive days as an R&B bandleader of some renown who employed various singers on a number of singles for the Savoy label. The recording debuts of the Robins, Little Esther Phillips, Mel Walker, guitarist Pete Lewis, and Linda Hopkins are all here, and you hear how Otis kept his ear to the ground, changing and moving to keep pace with a big-band scene that was slowly dying out, while making some marvelous DIY records along the way. Incredible notes from Billy Vera make this a box set well worth having in the collection.

The members of Tangerine Dream continued to hone their craft as pioneers of the early days of electronica, and the mid-'70s proved to be a time of prosperity and musical growth for the trio of Chris Franke, early member Peter Baumann, and permanent frontman Edgar Froese. The three of them had been delivering mysterious space records on a regular basis, and their growing confidence with early synthesizers (the best that money could buy at the time) made them virtuosos of the genre, even as they kept things organic and unpredictable with gongs, prepared piano, and electric guitar. Rubycon has aged gracefully for the most part, making it a solid companion (and follow-up) to their 1974 album, Phaedra…