John Sebastian's relationship with Reprise records cooled after the commercial failure of his 1974 album Tarzana Kid, but he still owed one more record on his contract when his theme song for the television series Welcome Back, Kotter became a surprise hit in the spring of 1976…

A celebration of instrumental Baroque splendour! This set present an anthology of Italian Baroque composers, featuring their instrumental output. Obviously the famous composers have their fair share: Vivaldi, Albinoni, Locatelli, Corelli, but also lesser known composers are featured: Barsanti, Bassani, Veracini, Nardini, Stradella, Vitali, Mancini, Platti, Legrenze and many more, over 30 composers! Performances by leading ensembles specialized in the Historically Informed Performance Practice: L'Arte dell'Arco/Federico Guglielmo, Ensemble Cordia/Stefano Veggetti, Violini Capricciosi/Igor Ruhadze, MusicaAmphion/Pieter Jan Belder and many more. A treasure trove of solo concertos, concerti grossi, sinfonias, overtures, trio sonatas and solo sonatas from the Golden Era of the Italian Baroque, era of joy, passion and brilliance!

Left turns don't get much sharper than this one. Bitches features guest vocal appearances from Esperanza Spalding, N'dambi, Saunders Sermons, Cassandra Wilson, and Chinah Blac. Nicholas Payton does the rest – not just the trumpet, but all of the instrumentation, all of the songwriting, and most of the vocals. Those who have followed Payton's career as a jazz musician with no interest in left-field R&B of the previous several years – including but not limited to Sa-Ra, the Foreign Exchange, Dвm-Funk, and Bugz in the Attic – will be thrown.

Gilberto Gil - Soy Loco Por Ti America (1987) {Warner Music Brasil 092746045-2 rel 2002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 419 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 167 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 32 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1987, 2002 Warner Music Brasil | 092746045-2
Jazz / Brazilian Jazz / Música popular brasileira / Brazilian Traditions / Brazilian Pop

This Gilberto Gil reissue of an album recorded in 1987 brings several of his hits under a new dressing, consisting of contemporary rhythms such as funk and reggae, mixed with Caribbean influences and Brazilian music. An electric album with plenty of brass attacks, it is fully danceable yet melodically rich and lyrically expressive. "Aquele Abraço," "Vida," "Soy Loco Por Ti America," "Babá Alapalá," and "Mar de Copacabana" are all classic successes of Gil's, interpreted in the version presented to 150 thousand people during the Rock in Rio festival.

Stéphane Grappelli & Stuff Smith - Stuff And Steff (1965) {Gitanes Jazz Productions 4400165102 rel 2002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 230 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 90 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 15 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1965, 2002 EmArcy / Gitanes Jazz Productions / Universal | 4400165102
Jazz / Standards / Continental Jazz / Jive / Mainstream Jazz / Violin

Violinists Stéphane Grappelli and Stuff Smith performed together on a few occasions, but this 1965 studio session, first issued by Barclay, was one of the more difficult dates to acquire until Universal Music reissued it on CD in 2002, as a part of their extensive Jazz in Paris series. With a solid rhythm section (pianist René Urtreger, bassist Michel Gaudry, and drummer Michel Delaporte) that pretty much sticks to a supporting role, it is clear that Smith's gritty tone rubs off on Grappelli as the session progresses.