Best of 2012

Playlist on Spotify

Katy B!

Roy Haynes: Azteka

Igor Brill - 'Street With No End'

Angel Haze - Werkin' Girls

Josephine: I Think It Was Love

Anatoly Vapirov

I found this great piece of Soviet jazz on this wonderful blog which is a goldmine for rare grooves from behind the iron curtain.

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Holy Water

Best songs of 2012 (Spotify)

 
Playlist

100 Great Jazz Tunes (Spotify)

More than eleven hours of fantastic music.

CTI (Spotify Playlist)

1. Deodato - Also Sprach Zarathustra
2. Milt Jackson - People Make The World Go Round
3. Antonio Carlos Jobim - Tereza My Love
4. George Benson - California Dreamin'
5. Gabor Szabo & Paul Desmond - Take Ten
6. Ron Carter - Light Blue
7. Freddie Hubbard - Sky Dive
8. Kenny Burrell - Be Yourself
9. Stanley Turrentine - Sunshine Alley
10. Milt Jackson - Sunflower
11. Hubert Laws - Let Her Go
12. Idris Muhammad - The Saddest Thing
13. Jim Hall - Concierto De Aranjuez

Playlist

Leon Ware: Inside Is Love

Writer and producer Leon Ware has been responsible for some of R&B and pop's most lush and romantic tracks. Ware produced Marvin Gaye's 1976 classic I Want You. He also co-wrote songs like Michael Jackson's "I Wanna Be Where You Are," Marlena Shaw's "Sweet Beginnings," and the Main Ingredient's "Rollin' Down a Mountainside" to name a few. This album is the follow-up to his 1976 Gordy release Musical Massage and was released shortly after he was behind the controls for nine of the ten tracks of Melissa Manchester's Don't Cry Loud. Inside Is Love has the intelligent and melody rich work fans expect from Leon Ware. Produced by Ware and Ron Roker, this has arrangements from David Blumberg, Gene Page, and Sonny Burke. Although he's not the world's strongest vocalist, his methodical, light tenor gives these songs a personal stamp. The first track, "What's Your Name" has Ware playing his naïve lothario act to the hilt. The magnificent "Love Is a Simple Thing," co-written by Chicago member Robert Lamm, possesses a chorus that is both poignant and uplifting. Throughout Inside Is Love, Ware has some of his best lyrics and a batch of players to pull it off. The fanciful "Club Sashay," co-written by Manchester, has a gentle rhythm that's a perfect match for the phonetically pleasing words. The last track, "Hungry" has Ware mixing his classic style with the disco-fied chorus. Despite a couple of tracks that miss the mark, Inside Is Love is an absolute necessity for fans of emotional and brainy R&B/pop. (AMG)


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Stanley Winston: No More Ghettos In America

Azealia Banks: 212

Mikio Masuda: Moon Stone

Donnie & Joe Emerson: Baby

AbJo: Kalimba Song

Jesse Futerman: Fuse The Witches

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My Favourite Miles (Spotify)

1. So What
2. Autumn Leaves
3. 'Round Midnight (Live at Newport)
4. Bye Bye Blackbird
5. A Night In Tunisia
6. Milestones
7. Concierto de Aranjuez
8. L'Assassinat De Carala
9. Yesterdays (Live at The Plugged Nickel)
10. Orbits
11. E.S.P.
12. Eighty-One
13. Nefertiti
14. The Sorcerer
15. Shhh/Peaceful
16. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
17. On The Corner
18. Right Off
19. Tutu
20. Mystery (Reprise)

Playlist

Anne Walsh: South American Getaway

Jack Arel: Les Tifins

RIP

Hugh Mundell: Africa Must Be Free By 1983

The teenaged Hugh Mundell cut Africa Must Be Free by 1983 under the tutelage of the legendary producer Augustus Pablo in the mid-'70s, and had a Jamaican hit with the title track. Mundell's artlessly fervent singing is attractive far out of proportion to his technical skill. It's the sincerity and devotion in his voice that make successes of songs like "Let's All Unite" and "My Mind" -- that and the rock-solid instrumental backing of Pablo's studio band, which at this time included bassist and trombonist Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace and guitarists Earl "Chinna" Smith and Jeffrey Chung. Like too many of Jamaica's best reggae musicians, Mundell died young -- in an almost creepy irony (given the title of his hit song), he was shot and killed in 1983 at the age of 21. (AMG)


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