This five-disc box collects as many complete concerts by Irish blues-rock guitarist Gary Moore, recorded in 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2001 at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Some might call this too much material, especially given the number of songs that recur (four versions of "All Your Love," three each of "Oh Pretty Woman," "Too Tired," and "You Don't Love Me," and two each of "The Blues Is Alright," "Further on Up the Road," "Need Your Love So Bad," "Parisienne Walkways," "Since I Met You Baby," "Still Got the Blues," "Stop Messing Around," and "Walking by Myself"), but there is in fact substantial variation from disc to disc. The obvious outlier is the 1990 disc, on which Moore is joined for four superlative songs by legendary Texas guitarist Albert Collins. But the 1997 concert finds Moore moving from straight Chicago-style blues to an alternative metal roar, the guitar cranked up ferociously loud and backed by a mix of live instruments, occasionally chintzy synths, and programmed beats. By 1999, he's returned to the blues, albeit a hard-rocking version that's still closer in spirit to Blueshammer than Buddy Guy. The 2001 set is a mixed bag, running the gamut from a restrained take on "Stormy Monday" to an almost punk rock sprint through Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" and the amp-frying closing instrumental "The Prophet." At each concert, he's backed by a sympathetic and skilled band (including horns in 1990 and 1995), which only draws attention to one of this set's biggest flaws -- the total lack of information. Concert dates are provided, but no personnel listings or songwriting credits. It's a shame that the backing musicians are so ill-served, but otherwise, any serious Moore fan would do well to pick this set up and spend an afternoon or two wallowing in six hours of screaming blues-rock guitar.

This is a seven-CD box set that repackages all 11 LPs that Lightnin' Hopkins recorded for Bluesville and Prestige during the first half of the 1960s: Last Night Blues, Lightnin', Blues in My Bottle, Walkin' This Road By Myself, Lightnin' and Co., Smokes Like Lightning, Hootin' the Blues, Goin' Away, Down Home Blues, Soul Blues and My Life in the Blues. The very prolific Hopkins (who was never loyal to any one label) also recorded for Candid, Arhoolie, Fire and Vee Jay during the period! The bulk of My Life in the Blues is actually a lengthy and rather historic interview that Samuel Charters conducted with Hopkins. A special bonus of the set is 13 often exciting tracks from a previously unissued concert at the Swarthmore College Folk Festival. The music throughout the box covers quite a variety of moods and subject matter (with Hopkins being unaccompanied on 34 of the tracks) and definitively sums up the veteran bluesman's later period.

About the performer
This Jazz EZX features samples performed by the legendary Drum Virtuoso/Pioneer Roy Futureman Wooten.

Futureman is a multiple Grammy award winning composer, inventor, and multi-instrumentalist who has been a pioneer in using sampled drums since 1985. He has shared the stage and numerous albums with many Jazz legends.

Roy started playing acoustic drums as a young child with his brothers in Virginia. From that he has come a long way and is now renowned for playing what is called a SynthAxe-Drumitar to trigger drum samples.

As an instrumentalist Roy Wooten strives to employ the power and science of Mother Nature and his percussive technique takes playing drums way beyond just simple time keeping. His approach is a much more all-encompassing and universal one. Futureman views himself as a storyteller playing music to reach beyond the limits of common musical understanding.

He invented and built the Drumitar to be able to voice his own revolutionary approach to Jazz with the groundbreaking group Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. As a result Futureman has performed using Toontrack Music samples to an audience of millions, live at some of the most popular and critically revered performance halls, clubs, TV shows and festivals on the planet. Through Roy Wooten our sounds have made it through to the airwaves of places like Carnegie Hall and premier Greenwich Village Jazz club Blue Note.

About the sessions
Throughout our history of creating sample libraries and instruments, we have strived to both innovate and preserve in all areas of performance, engineering, and genre.
In creating this library we went to new and unheard of levels of dynamic. The recordings feature layered sampling with numerous mic stems fronted by recording chains we had previously only dreamt of.

In the fall of 07, we began the Jazz with Futureman at the impeccable Blackbird Studios. His passion and knowledge of Jazz history met with a relentlessly energetic and musical approach to single note striking that left the Toontrack crew in utter disbelief.

Roy hears every single hit and swirl recorded as part of a larger whole, as part of a musical sequence rather than as solitary, monotonous hit. The results are samples that strike with intensity and force lending unique scope and musicality to these recordings.

The recordings for the Jazz EZX set a benchmark for how sampling percussive instruments, and musical instruments in general, will be done in the future.

Toontrack Music has had the privilege to capture the magic of Futureman. His touch, his heart, his philosophy and his unique approach to his craft in this Jazz EZX. The story of jazz drums has a new chapter.

Artist: VA
Title: Koktebel Jazz Festival 2010
Date of Realise: 2011
Genre: Jazz/Fusion/Vocal Jazz
Total Tracks: 10
Format: FLAC
Quality: lossless
Total Time: 01:05:23 min
Size: 452 MB