Willie Smith - 100 Classic Recordings 1925-53 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Jimmy Smith was one of the first musicians to use the Hammond organ in jazz and popular music, taking it up in 1951 and establishing a formidable reputation in Philadelphia, before coming to prominence with his 1956 appearances at New York's Café Bohemia., followed by dates and Birdland and the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, cementing his place as the pioneer of the Hammond in jazz and R&B. After occasional recordings early in the '50s, he recorded regularly with his own trio from 1956, and this collection chronicles that first decade of his career as he effectively established a sub-genre within popular music, recording prolifically for Blue Note while touring regularly, becoming a favourite with club audiences, who enjoyed the crossover feel of his music, incorporating contemporary rhythm and blues styles with sophisticated bop influences, as he used the organ to create a group sound in what became a familiar trio line-up with guitar and drums. This great value 4-CD set, includes tracks from most of his significant sessions and albums along with some 'live' recordings, and it provides an excellent overview of both the best-known and perhaps less familiar work from the formative decade of a career that lasted half a century, and is a great introduction to one of the influential and innovative figures in jazz and R&B in the post-war era. Album Tracks 1. Sonotone Bounce (Don Gardner Trio) 2. The High and the Mighty (Jimmy Smith) 3. Joy (Jimmy Smith) 4. Moonlight in Vermont (Jimmy Smith) 5. The Champ (Jimmy Smith) 6. Bayou (Jimmy Smith) 7. My Funny Valentine (Jimmy Smith) 8. Judo Mambo (Jimmy Smith) 9. The Preacher (Jimmy Smith) 10. Falling in Love with Love (Jimmy Smith) 11. Summertime (Jimmy Smith) 12. Yardbird Suite (Jimmy Smith) 1. Plum Nellie (Jimmy Smith) 2. All the Things You Are (Jimmy Smith) 3. I Can't Get Started (Jimmy Smith)

Ramblin' Jack Elliot - 100 Classic Recordings 1954-62 / This great-value 100-track 4-CD collection brings together many of his recordings from the early years of his career Ramblin. Born in Brooklyn in 1931, Jack Elliot was inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and began busking for a living, befriending Woody Guthrie. He travelled to the UK to perform and record in the late '50s, establishing his reputation in international folk circles, and back in the USA became an early influence on Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. He continued performing and recording for the next half century and more, and is still active in 2023 at the age of 91. This great-value 100-track 4-CD collection brings together many of his recordings from the early years of his career, mainly from albums but including a few singles and EPs. It features most of the titles from his albums for the Elektra, Topic, 77, Prestige & Columbia UK labels, InchBad Men And HeroesInch, InchWoody Guthrie's BluesInch, InchJack Elliot SingsInch, InchJack Takes The FloorInch, InchRamblin' Jack Elliot In LondonInch, InchRamblin' Jack Elliott Sings Songs by Woody Guthrie and Jimmie RodgersInch, InchJack Elliott Sings the Songs of Woody GuthrieInch, InchRamblin' Jack ElliotInch, InchJack Elliott at the Second Fret - Recorded LiveInch and InchCountry StyleInch. It's a reasonably comprehensive overview of his influential early work, and a great showcase for his talent as an interpretive folk troubadour, bringing old songs to new audiences in his distinctively idiosyncratic way, and underlining why he became such a significant figure in the genre. Album Tracks 1. Pretty Boy Floyd 2. Jesse James 3. Charles Guiteau 4. Talking Columbia Blues 5. Ludlow Massacre 6. Hard Traveling 7. Talking Dustbowl Blues 8. 1913 Massacre 9. Talking Miner Blues 10. Pretty Boy Floyd 11. Midnight Special 12. Old Blue

100 YEARS or, InchThe Country at One HundredInch is a large suite, a collective work of the Prague Six, the composers concentrated around the Concept Art Orchestra big band. The composition originated as a tribute to the one hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 2018 and consists of six parts in which the authors allude to various periods in the history of the Czechoslovak and later Czech Republic, with originality and energy typical of the big band. Štepánka Balcarová, Jan Jirucha, Luboš Soukup, Martin Brunner, Tomáš Sýkora and Vít Krištan each have authored one of the six movements in which they make full use of all the orchestration possibilities offered by a big band, expanding these with non-traditional instruments such as Ondes Martenot, the chimes or Moog synthetizer. The individual compositions also include sensitive references to period music and samples and citations from political speeches. The fourth movement, dedicated to the period of the so-called normalization in the 1970s and 1980s and based on the motives of a song by The Plastic People of the Universe, features a special guest, the saxophonist Vratislav Brabenec. This, already third recording by Concept Art Orchestra on the Animal Music tag confirms the indisputable place of the band (the holder of the 2015 Andel Award for the best jazz album of the year) on the current big-band scene and testifies to their capacity to create original works rooted in the current musical and historical context as well as perform them to the highest professional standards. Album Tracks 1. Part 1 (1918-1938) 2. Part 2 (1938-1948) 3. Part 3 (1948-1968) 4. Part 4 (1968-1989) 5. Part 5 (1989-2004) 6. Part 6 (2004-2018)