CD-Charts Position 1
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Floating Point

by: John McLaughlin

Release Date June 30, 2008
This album does take some getting used to. And you do have to take some space from it and go back again with fresh ears before you are able to sort out what's new. The Meeting of the Minds - The Making of Floating Point [2008] DVD, which is awesome, helped clinch the album for me. The first thing you have to deal with is the overwhelming drums and percussion throughout. At first you can't help but think that this is some kind of mistake in the mixing, but persist and you can get used to it. It's a deliberate decision that ensures that the whole album operates at a very high energy level. John's albums have always been about joy and ecstasy and seldom on the mellow side of those values. The album is meant to be rhythmically overwhelming, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
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e.s.t. Leucocyte (Esbjorn Svensson Trio)

by: e s t

Release Date September 01, 2008
Just magnificent! A wonderful tribute to the work of a trio who pushed the boundaries of jazz. A wall of sound for the 21st century.

CD-Charts Position 3
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Fleet Foxes

by: Fleet Foxes

Release Date June 16, 2008
HELLO? HI, THIS IS A GOOD ALBUM, THE SONGS ARE GOOD, IT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD, IT MAKES YOU THINK.

CD-Charts Position 4
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Brad Mehldau Trio Live

by: Brad Mehldau Trio, Jeff Ballard, Larry Grenadier

Release Date March 24, 2008
There is no denying that Brad Mehldau is one of the most instantly recognisable jazz performers out there. Just a handful of notes - that sharp touch, the detached articulation in the right, the jabbed clusters in the left, the two-handed play and the moments his left wants to detach from his right - and you just know it is him at the piano.

Mehldau's playing has some real strengths. His ability to take a melody apart and put it back together again is in ample evidence on this live set from the celebrated Village Vanguard. It can be heard on standards such as 'The Very Thought of You' or 'More Than You Know': the themes will be familiar but chances are you will not have heard theme quite like this. And Brad deconstructs his own themes (the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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Rabo de Nube

by: Charles Lloyd

Release Date March 24, 2008
I wholeheartedly endorse the comments of degrant: this is an absolutely fantastic disc and Charles Lloyd's best of recent times. Part of that has to do with the fact that 'Rabo de Nube' is a live recording. There is just something really special about listening to four musicians hitting sparks off one another in a live setting when this works. This disc captures the spontaneity and 'in-the-moment' quality beautifully - what a great night this must have been in Basle! Another reason why this is so good is in the electric mix of the personalities themselves. What gives the disc such impetus to my mind is above all the contrast and interplay between Lloyds ethereal, sometimes meandering, sometimes floating, but always expressive playing on saxophone and flute ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Miles From India - A Celebration of the Music of Miles Davis

by: Miles From India

Release Date June 02, 2008
Some people have been disappointed that this project did not realise its full hybrid potential, and perhaps not unduly so. However, we must remember that the music of Miles' electric period was already inflected with Indian musical structures and musicians, irrespective of the extent of explicitly Indian instrumentation (surely part of its appeal to me). On Miles From India I will concede that some tracks are more successful than others in their achievement of indo-jazz synergy. But for example, Spanish Key is absolutely incredible- a really distinctive interpretation with a pronounced Indian inflection, and reason alone to purchase this. As an obsessive about this era of Miles' music, this rendition really caught my attention, filling me with delight.
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CD-Charts Position 7
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Holon

by: Nik Bartsch

Release Date February 25, 2008
I was so pleased to see Lanky Geordie's review... What he has managed to sum up in his review is an honest appreciation for what is a staggeringly good album. You don't need to be a Jazz intellectual to understand/appreciate/dig (man) what's going on here... you just need to open your ears and your mind. Someone a whole lot smarter than I am once said, "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like." Hmmmm... If there was a bit more of that, there would be a far wider acceptance for this type of music. Some people fear Jazz because of the elitist tag that goes with it. This album, like many other great albums on ECM and similar labels (like ACT), speaks a universal language that doesn't necessarily need translation: just the sharing of the pleasure it brings. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Pacific Ocean Blue/Bambu (The Caribou Sessions): Legacy Edition

by: Dennis Wilson

Release Date June 16, 2008
Fantastic album Pacific Ocean Blue, just get it and listen to it, plus the bonus tracks and the additional lost album 'Bambu', all beautifully packaged, make this a worthy tribute to a flawed genius; Dennis Wilson.

CD-Charts Position 9
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Cantando

by: Bobo Stenson

Release Date August 25, 2008
Must have. It's a great album. Not much else to write that has not been written. Great trio and must have album

CD-Charts Position 10
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The Mande Variations

by: Toumani Diabate

Release Date February 25, 2008
If you do not want the hair on your neck to stand up and goosebumps to appear on your arm then don't buy it, because this CD is truly brilliant. It's different to his others but that is the greatness of this guy. Some of the tunes relate to his experiences in the UK and he even plays with us in Cantelowes when you hear the start of the sound track for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Hey this guy has humour as well as brilliance.
With the world falling about our ears and all the talk of greed and corruption just buy this and take your mind to some calm and peaceful place. This can really contribute to your sanity. I'm off to chill out with this CD. I have all his CDs but this is really set apart, perhaps it stands out becasue it is less traditional, please buy it and you will ... Read More: