Hopefully I'm not being redundant here. While we covered "favorites and dissapointments" of the past year, are there any cd's you picked up that blew you away and made you wonder "how did I miss this one"? Maybe something mainstream, obscure, straight-ahead, new age, rock, pop, country, a bargain close out, you liked the way the cd cover looked, it had a good beat, you could dance to it??? Here's two from me.

"Orange and Blue" Al Dimeola (1994): A "must have" cd for any PMG fans out there (Joel??). Scat vocals, fast changing tempos, top-notch playing by all, emotional, deep...it's got it all but still sounds original.

"Perceptual" Brian Blade Fellowship(2000): Something about a cd you hate the first several spins through and then something clicks and it suddenly seems to fit together like a puzzle. A little on the straight-ahead side but very listenable if you give it time.

hey Steve-
Yeah, that's the way I felt about AA's AArt CD- how could I not have bought any of their stuff before?? Which of course this year sent me on the hunt...bought Beautiful Game, also top notch, then found Back on the Case in the used store, yet another pleasant surprise- I knew a lot of the tunes off of it, but never sought them out at that time (too into the Ripps and Spyro Gyra I guess............)
Another pleasant surprise this year was finding Steve Oliver's First View in the 3.99 bin. Wow, what a bargain! Not my favorite CD, but an excellent one nonetheless.
Of course, Russ's new DRive is good too, and a surprise of a different kind- it really grows on me the more I play it, as opposed to Live across America which I enjoy, but it gets far fewer spins these days.
Sorry to ramble there, but it's been a good year for music discoveries. Maybe I'm just late to the party, as usual.......
Take it easy....
TonyY

My vote goes to Casino Lights 99.
At the start of the year, I wanted to explore other areas of jazz because I'd gotten pretty stagnant - buying the same artists I've been listening to for years and occasionally getting an oldie or taking a chance on someone I'm not that familiar with. So, among other things, I decided to use my introductory offer at Columbia House to get some things I wouldn't have touched otherwise. On that disc, I finally got to hear Rick Braun, about whom I'd read many good things on this board, but had never heard him play. Now, I'm fan and hoping I heard that Memphis radio station right yesterday when they mentioned a BWB concert coming this fall.
Also got wind of Kenny Garrett, a contemporary artists playing straight ahead jazz. And the Casino Lights reacquainted me with George Duke (I just got Face the Music ) and introduced me to Gabriela Anders.
I loved the 2-disc set so much I've backtracked and gotten the original recordings to half of the songs, and added Kenny, Gabriela, George and Kirk Whalum to my list of artists I want to keep up with and, when possible, go back and get some stuff I've missed. (I was already a fan of Larry Carlton, Bob James and Fourplay, and had a couple of Boney James CDs, too.) And I bought the Casino Lights DVD so I could see them play. By the way, if they were giving awards for best visual effects, they'd go to:
Gabriela Anders - terrific voice, musical passion and looks great in a skimpy black dress
Billy Kilson - wildman on drums, I enjoyed watching him as much as I did listening to the songs he's on.
Anyway, I credit Maynard Ferguson and Chuck Mangione's hits of 1977 that were played on pop stations for getting me into jazz. Casino Lights deserves just as much credit for opening my eyes (and ears) to other artists breaking me out of my rut.
I've written 6 jazz reviews already this year, the most for any one year, and got 5 more on the agenda. Two of those 5 are Kenny Garrett's Happy People and George Duke's Face the Music, which I wouldn't have bought if not for Casino Lights. Likewise, I may get the BWB disc before the year is out. If not for CL 99, I wouldn't touch BWB with a 10-foot-disc changer.

I felt that way with the first 2 'Metro' cd's!!

Steve, I be checking that Al Di..tonight!

I'm only a recent Metheny collector (nearly 2 years) so there, what happen before that, i dunno

Parallel Realities-DeJohnette, Metheny,Hanc0ck
courtesy of Phil's post...and here's one for you Phil, theres a DVD of that concert out there, get it!

Stanley Clarke & Friends Live at the Greek
Another late purchase. A nice balance of jazz and fusion with an awesome cast, listening to the audience noise and hearing them enjoying the music so much made me wish I was there

Thats all I can think of for now...

It happened to me with Euge Groove. I was a huge fan of Steve Grove's when he was with TOP, and after he left, I actually went to see other bands that he was in, (like Tina Turner, the Neville Brothers, Richard Marx & Bonnie Raitt). He had an outrageous stage presence,and a modernized approach to TOP's music. The chair was filled by none other than Brandon Fields after Steve left the band.

Anyhow, I missed the 1st CD in 2000. But I didn't miss out on this year's Play Date - which is gonna make some folks groan because Paul Brown produced this one and mixed 2000's "Euge Groove"

Excerpt from AMG about how Steve Grove got his record deal:

I thought you might want to see who's on this CD, some of the names will be familiar:

Freddie Ravel - Fender Rhodes
Peter White - Guitar
Alex Al - Bass, Bass (Electric)
Stacy Campbell - Vocals
Luis Conte - Percussion
Paulinho Da Costa - Percussion
Michael Egizi - Arranger, Producer, Fender Rhodes, Drum Programming, Keyboard Programming, Pianette, Synthesizer Programming
Stephen Hart - Track Engineer
Jerry Hey - Strings, Synthesizer Arrangements
Paul Jackson Jr. - Guitar
Herman Jackson - Organ, Synthesizer, Piano (Electric), Wurlitzer
Larry Kimpel - Bass (Electric), Bass (Upright)
Tony Maiden - Guitar
Dean Parks - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
Mark Portmann - Arranger, Keyboards, Programming