Some jazz MP3s for free

"More of my stuff for free? Now I'm really mad!"

Since Independence Day is supposed to be a holiday about freedom, it seems like an appropriate time to see what's available for free on the Internet in the way of jazz MP3s. After a bit of Googling and poking around various sites, I found this sampling of free, complete tracks and performances available for download:

• DarkFunk.com offers a small but select group of downloads that currently includes a Herbie Hancock performance from 1971, a complete out-of-print album by reedman Bennie Maupin, and - making that all-important St. Louis connection - a 1973 live performance from Paris by the Miles Davis Septet, featuring Miles, Dave Liebman, Pete Cosey, Reggie Lucas, Michael Henderson, Al Foster and Mtume. You'll need a high-speed connection (or a whole lot of patience and free time) to download the 169 MB file, but if you're a fan of Miles' electric stuff, you'll want to have this recording.

• A search of the the Internet Archive turns up all sorts of jazz performances and recordings, from an old 78 of "St. Louis Blues" recorded in 1910 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to a 2002 live performance by violinist Billy Bang. There's lots more, too, from Ma Rainey to Randy Weston to beat poet Alan Ginsburg performing with musical accompaniment, all available in a variety of formats and audio streams.

• Jazz Times makes you register to get access to their page of free MP3s, but there's usually some stuff worth having in the constantly changing selection. Today's features include tracks from James Blood Ulmer and Charles McPherson, but the offerings seem to change fairly frequently, so it's worth bookmarking.

• In addition to the sample snippets offered for many of the CDs they carry, Amazon.com also has a page of free, full-length jazz MP3s avalable here, with tracks running the stylistic gamut from from Sun Ra to Dave Brubeck.

• The music site Epitonic features full-length tracks from a number of experimental and avant garde jazz performers including Ken Vandermark, Hal Russell, Nels Cline and Joe McPhee. (There's also a page of free downloads of music from 20th century composers such as Lou Harrison, Frederic Rzewski, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Henry Cowell, Harold Budd, Terry Riley, Morton Feldman, plus pianist Margaret Len Tan performing the music John Cage.)


• If you're in the mood to discover some new music by unknowns, you'll find plenty at JazzPromo.com, which requires an email address, but also gives you access to audio interviews with the likes of Charlie Parker and Fats Waller; at JazzConnect.com, which also offers tracks by established saxophonists Carl Grubbs and Gary Smulyan; and at JazzGuitar.be, where you'll find recordings by Jim Hall and Al DiMeola in amongst those by less-familiar guitarists.
  

Have you found other good sources for jazz MP3s? If so, please leave a comment with the URL and relevant information, or email it to me at stljazznotes at yahoo dot com.