CRAIG TABORN - Daylight Ghosts (2017) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Keyboardist Craig Taborn’s Daylight Ghosts is the Minneapolis-bred New Yorker’s third ECM release as a leader, a quartet album following the solo Avenging Angel and trio disc Chants. Both projects earned wide acclaim, with The Guardian saying that Taborn’s “musicality and his attention to detail are hypnotic, as is his remarkable sense of compositional narrative within an improvised performance.” Along with the questing Taborn on piano and electronic keyboards, the quartet of Daylight Ghosts features two other luminaries from the New York scene – reed player Chris Speed and bassist Chris Lightcap – plus drummer Dave King, the leader’s fellow Minnesota native and one-third of alt-jazz trio The Bad Plus. Each player draws from a broad artistic background, as informed by rock, electronica and diverse strains of world music as they are the various permutations of jazz improvisation. Dynamism and spectral ambience, acoustic and electric sounds, groove and lingering melody – all come together to animate Daylight Ghosts. ecm
Tracklist :
1    The Shining One 3'34
(Craig Taborn)
2    Abandoned Reminder 7'46
(Craig Taborn)
3    Daylight Ghosts 7'36
(Craig Taborn)
4    New Glory 3'14
(Craig Taborn)
5    The Great Silence 5'37
(Craig Taborn)
6    Ancient 8'15
(Craig Taborn)
7    Jamaican Farewell 5'39
(Roscoe Mitchell)
8    Subtle Living Equations 4'31
(Craig Taborn)
9    Phantom Ratio 8'29
(Craig Taborn)
Credits :
Craig Taborn   Piano, Electronics
Chris Speed   Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet
Chris Lightcap   Double bass, Bass Guitar
Dave King   Drums, Electronic Percussion  

EMBRYO ft. JIMMY JACKSON - Steig Aus (1972-1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Steig Aus marks a turning point for Embryo. Recorded in 1971-1972, during three separate sessions that also gave birth to Rocksession, the album captures the group actively looking for the ethnic fusion that will soon become its main m.o. for the better part of the decade. It also signals the beginning of the group's distancing from the record industry -- both albums were rejected by their major label, which led to a transaction with the forward-looking small label Brain. Steig Aus features extremely inspired jazz-rock jams, which makes it a lot less friendly than their 1974 hit record, a lot jazzier too, but still a breathtaking journey into Krautrock-meets-American free jazz-meets-North African percussion. The first session yielded the side-long "Call," a loosely structured suite, and "Dreaming Girls," a Miles Davis-like ballad. Both tracks feature drummer Christian Burchard, bassist Jörg Evers, violinist Edgar Hoffmann, U.S. organist Jimmy Jackson, and American jazz keyboardist Mal Waldron. The latter, who had previously played with Eric Dolphy and Max Roach, among other luminaries, was called in as a guest. "Radio Marrakesch/Orient Express," which ended up opening the album, was recorded a while later, when the group reconvened in the studio, minus Hoffmann and Evers (the latter being replaced by Dave King). The track is already opening a window on Middle Eastern influences, with extra ethnic touches (particularly in the percussion department) added a few months later, when the group came back from a trip to North Africa. Steig Aus is a pretty unique cross between German psychedelic rock and American electric jazz. It is probably not the best place to start exploring Embryo's discography, but it deserves special attention nonetheless. François Couture
Tracklist :
1     Radio Marrakesch/Orient Express 9:50
Roman Bunka
2     Dreaming Girls 10:34
Christian Burchard
3     Call: Call, Pt. 1/Organ Walk/Marimba Village/Lost Violin/Call, Pt. 2 17:25
Waldron/Burchard/Bunka/Jackson/Hofmann
Credits :
Bass – Dave King
Drums, Marimba, Vibraphone [Vibes] – Christian Burchard
Electric Bass [E-Bass] – Jörg Evers
Electric Piano [E-Piano] – Mal Waldron
Guitar, Baglama [Saz] – Roman Bunka
Mellotron [Melotron], Organ – Jimmy Jackson
Violin – Edgar Hoffmann