Listen To:


Selected MP3s of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, and classic easy listening from the original vinyl.

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Welcome to Guitars & All That Jazz

Guitars & All That Jazz was a radio station that webcast via Live365 for 11 years, ending in June 2011. The playlist consisted of guitar instrumentals, jazz, big band, early rock 'n' roll, lounge music and classic easy listening.

I hope to share some of this music with you via this blog. Most of it will be taken from the original vinyl (LPs and 45s) , cassettes and the occasional commercially unavailable CD.

Here's hoping you'll find something to enjoy. Please note files are available only for a limited time.

I urge you to purchase the digital version of the albums featured, either on CD or via download, wherever possible.

Listen to the Music
There are now two music streams. Click the appropriate player to the right.
1. Guitars & All That Jazz: Five hours of the best in jazz, guitars and other instrumental gems. New songs are added weekly.
2. Tiki Shores: Music to sweep you away to a tropical isle, a South American dance floor or a bossa nova on the beach at Rio. About 4.5 hours of classic exotica music, Latin rhythms and bossa nova.
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Sunday, February 10, 2013

John Evans - Latin Brass


John Evans was a pseudonym for Belgian bandleader Francis Bay (1914-2005). You can read more about Bay at Space Age Pop Music.

Bay used the Evans name on several albums in the early 1960s for Directional Records, an imprint of Premier Albums, a company that was notorious for its poor quality budget label pressings. Although the LPs on Directional were a step above the usual quality of Premier product, they still fell far short of those being issued by such labels as London Phase4 and Command Records.

Premier aimed its Directional product at the same market as Phase4 and Command -- stereophiles looking for albums to show off their stereo systems. Premier even copied Command's style of art work and gatefold covers for the Directional albums.

The Directional label had a very short life span, even though Premier ran a full page ad in the Nov. 6, 1961 issue of Billboard espousing the imprint's supposed technical superiority.

Latin Brass was the first release on Directional Records. A sample track can be had below.

April in Portugal

To make matters worse, all of the tracks on Latin Brass had been released on earlier albums under the Francis Bay name on such labels as Omega and Phillips. Some reverb was apparently added for the Latin Brass release in a weak attempt to live up to the "Directional" sound claim.

Here's a further sampling of Bay's Latin sound, this time under his own name on the Phillips label.


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