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Esperanza
(more) »rank: 88by: Esperanza Spalding
:Album Description:'Esperanza,' bassist/vocalist/composer Esperanza Spalding's debut on Heads Up International, is set for worldwide release on May 20, 2008. Armed with uncanny instrumental chops, a siren voice that spans three languages, and composing and arranging skills that weave together the best elements of the old-school with the progressive, this 23-year-old has crafted a debut album that takes a completely fresh and refreshing approach to jazz by borrowing from the rich traditions of soul, pop, world music and so much more. Esperanza is joined in the studio by a crew ...
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Buena Vista Social Club
(more) »rank: 868by: Ry Cooder, Ibrahim Ferrar, Ruben Gonzalez, Compay Segundo, Omara Portuondo
: essential recording:Ry Cooder's name has helped bring attention to this session, but it's the veteran Cuban son musicians who make this album really special. Reminiscent of Ellington in its scope and sense of hushed romanticism, Buena Vista Social Club is that rare meld of quietude and intensity; while the players sound laid-back, they're putting forth very alive music, a reminder that aging doesn't mean taking to bed. Barbarito Torres's laoud solo on 'El Cuarto de Tula' is both more blinding and more tasteful than any guitar showcase on ...
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Encanto
(more) »rank: 1304by: Sergio Mendes
:Album Description: Brazilian music legend Sergio Mendes spins his remarkable magic on his newest recording, a bona fide classic! This is a kaleidoscopic album that underscores the maestro's ear for addictive melodies, as well as his ability to cast incredibly talented singers and musicians from all over the world People en Español:Given his 40-year career, it’s difficult to imagine that Sergio Mendes is still able to reinvent himself and create a new sound. But the record-breaking Brazilian musician doesn’t seem to have any limits. Two years ago he came ...
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Getz/Gilberto
(more) »rank: 717by: Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto
: essential recording:Originally released in March 1964, this collaboration between saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist João Gilberto came at seemingly the end of the bossa nova craze Getz himself had sparked in 1962 with Jazz Samba, his release with American guitarist Charlie Byrd. Jazz Samba remains the only jazz album to reach number one in the pop charts. In fact, the story goes that Getz had to push for the release of Getz/Gilberto since the company did not want to compete with its own hit; it was a good ...
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The Best of Paolo Conte
(more) »rank: 1312by: Paolo Conte
: 's Best of 1998:This poet, painter, and former lawyer from Asti, Italy, has been dazzling Italian audiences since the early 1970s but has just blazed into U.S. consciousness like a meteor with his Best Of debut album on Nonsesuch. After listening to his European style of cabaret music, you too will be hooked on the crooner who is widely appreciated for rhyming Napoli with Minneapoli. The selection of 20 songs ranges in style from a mixture of French chansonette to tango. All feature his raspy voice (Americans may be ...
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Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - Greatest Hits
(more) »rank: 1899by: Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
: :A bridge between bossa nova and 1960s pop, Sergio Mendes' music was easy listening, vaguely psychedelic pop, light jazz, and bossa nova all rolled into one. Mendes and Brasil '66 (which featured Mendes on keyboards and a revolving cast of two female vocalists, bass, guitar, drums and percussion) had a number of hits from the mid-'60s to the early-1970s that are included here. Getting his professional start playing and arranging for Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto, Mendes typically filled out his proper albums with updated versions of popular ...
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Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music
(more) »rank: 898by: Various Artists
: :This five-CD box set soundtrack to filmmaker Ken Burns's 10-part, 19-hour documentary Jazz spans nearly a century of jazz styles, from the martial rhythms of James Reese Europe to the soul-jazz of Grover Washington Jr. It includes time-tested classics like Benny Goodman's 1938 classic, 'Sing, Sing, Sing'; John Coltrane's chanting 1965 immortal track, 'A Love Supreme'; Billie Holiday's blue-ember ballad, 'God Bless the Child'; and Ella Fitzgerald peeling off 'A-Tisket A-Tasket.' Bebop is represented by Charlie Parker's orchestral bop version of 'Just Friends'; Thelonious Monk's nocturnal calling card, ''Round ...
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Filtros
(more) »rank: 1978by: Guillermo Klein, Los Guachos
: :This CD is, in my opinion, the best group effort ever achieved by Guachos. That quote by the incredibly talented, Argentina-born, Barcelona-based pianist/composer/bandleader Guillermo Klein about his new Sunnyside release, Filtros, featuring his long-standing large ensemble Los Guachos, is quite a statement, considering their previous groundbreaking releases. Indeed, since their emergence on the New York scene in the mid-nineties, Klein and company have redefined and expanded the harmonic, stylistic, and compositional possibilities of big band jazz. Filtros finds Klein at the helm of a smaller version of Los ...
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Wave
(more) »rank: 1605by: Antonio Carlos Jobim
:Album Description:24-bit remastered Japanese reissue of 1967 album packaged in a miniature LP gatefold sleeve, features ten tracks. A&M. 2004. :It's hardly a stretch to say that Antonio Carlos Jobim--the wonderful Brazilian composer almost single-handedly responsible for all things bossa nova--influenced some of past half century's best and most insipid musics, from bossa nova jazz to elevator Muzak. Wave, a collection of 1967 dates featuring keyboardist Jobim backed by an extensive orchestra, straddles that line: it's full of amazing original compositions, but the arrangements have a certain faux suave, ...
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Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba
(more) »rank: 3848by: Various Artists
:Album Description:This unique compilation project brings together the legendary musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club & some of today's most popular music stars Chris Martin (Coldplay), Dido, Franz Ferdinand, Sting, Bono, Radiohead among others, performing collaborations of some of their classic hits. : Created as a benefit project for Artists' Project Earth, an organization devoted to protecting the environment, reversing climate change, and tendering disaster relief, this compilation pairs Western pop stars (U2, Sting, Artic Monkeys, et al) and their hits with all-new arrangements performed by members of ...
