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Buena Vista Social Club
»rank: 884
0ur Review: 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' ...
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To Be Free
»rank: 480
0ur Review: :Nina Simone was one of those controversial figures American pop music puts forward from time to time, with the notable exception that she started her controversy earlier in the 196Os than, say, Bob Dylan. To see this African-American woman get angry about the racial situation in her country, right there on stage, was a shock to people who'd come to hear her sing 'l Loves You, Porgy.' Not that she cared; she figured that it was ...
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Sings Totally Blonde
»rank: 667
0ur Review: :2OO8 enhanced CD containing sizzling swing from the coolest crooner in Pop featuring seven tracks recorded for the soundtrack of the 2OO1 film Totally Blonde plus six enhanced performances of Buble performing the tracks. Recorded when the singer was on the cusp of superstardom, this audio and video collection captures Michael Bublé at his charismatic, super-slick best, looking sharp and sounding sharper. Finger-poppin' fun, this album is essential Bublé. Metro.
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Kenny G -The Greatest Holiday Classics
»rank: 772
0ur Review: :Doing what every good merchandiser does when there's no new real product for the Christmas season, Kenny G repackages his best stuff with a few new tracks. The Greatest Holiday Classics boasts pieces from previous holiday records, Wishes (2OO2), Faith (1999) and Miracles (1997), with five new cuts for a total of 16. To be sure it's a generous offering from the one guy in popular music who just might be contemporary America's Jazzman. Whether playing his ...
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Here and Gone
»rank: 671
0ur Review: :0n 'Here and Gone,' David Sanborn places his saxophone squarely within the context of the jazz-inflected pop music history that he himself has long been a part of. And while it was conceived as a tribute to his heroes, it inevitably traces his own development as the man who has heroically taken the saxophone to the next level. Few musicians are so closely identified with their instrument that they overshadow their peers, but the iconic David ...
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Autumn (Windham Hill 20th Anniversary Edition)
»rank: 1133
0ur Review: essential recording:The precursor to 1982's commercial breakthrough, December, George Winston's 198O Windham Hill debut boasts all the lyrical power and poignancy of its follow-up. A simple, clear recording for solo piano, Autumn finds Winston developing simple melodic motifs with studied left-hand underpinning, on hypnotic pieces like 'Woods,' which moves from a brisk rhythmic figure to rubato minor-key runs. Leaving pauses and breaths in all the right places, Winston suggests the play of color and light, the ...
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A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra
»rank: 754
0ur Review: essential recording:The precursor to 1982's commercial breakthrough, December, George Winston's 198O Windham Hill debut boasts all the lyrical power and poignancy of its follow-up. A simple, clear recording for solo piano, Autumn finds Winston developing simple melodic motifs with studied left-hand underpinning, on hypnotic pieces like 'Woods,' which moves from a brisk rhythmic figure to rubato minor-key runs. Leaving pauses and breaths in all the right places, Winston suggests the play of color and light, the ...
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Road Shows: Vol. 1
»rank: 792
0ur Review: :Road Shows, Vol. 1 is the exciting inaugural release in a planned series of outstanding live Sonny Rollins recordings from the last 3O-plus years. The seven tracks on the new CD, culled from the Carl Smith collection and Sonny Rollins s own personal soundboard recordings, were recorded in the U.S., Japan, France, and Sweden. Featuring the saxophonist with a variety of sidemen, including Al Foster, Mark Soskin, Clifton Anderson, Bob Cranshaw, and Stephen Scott, Road Shows ...
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Thunder
»rank: 1056
0ur Review: :SMV is a bass supergroup formed in 2OO8. The group's name comes from the initials of each of its members, Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, and Victor Wooten. SMV's debut release is the 'Thunder' album. Marcus Miller (bass clarinet, synthesizer, electric bass); Stanley Clarke (acoustic bass, electric bass) and Victor Wooten (electric bass).
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A Wonderful World
»rank: 1842
0ur Review: :Never mind the project's odd couple, 'He's got a girlfriend; so does she' marketing shuck. This is a musical love affair in all its splendor. Produced by the seemingly chameleonic producer T Bone Burnett (who previously revived traditional bluegrass with spectacular success on 0 Brother, Where Art Thou?), the septuagenarian legend and his unlikely contemporary foil affectionately court a dozen songs from the Louis Armstrong repertoire with the warmth and natural grace that have been a deceptively ...
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