The FLACs of the set from the Vanguard last night are being added to our subscriber downloads database. Those are lossless files that you subscribers can download and sink your ears in to. Thanks to WBGO and NPR for their work. Enjoy.

For non-subscribers, plenty of music to listen to at the NPR Vanguard page. And if you’d like to join our Greenleaf subscriber community, click here to see all the current special offer.

We hope to see you out at the Vanguard. Tickets are available here.

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December 11th, 2009

A quick update on those files. We’ve split the set into tracks rather than the one big file up over at NPR Vanguard page. We cut the chatter, too. So it’s as clean as possible.

Also, of the seven tunes played, four have not been released yet. Those tunes and a lot of the new book that the Quintet have been and will play this weekend is scheduled to be recorded and released on the next Quintet studio album tentatively scheduled for late 2010.

“…posting free streams of a handful of performances from the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival, at wolfgangsvault.com: the first offerings include Count Basie, Dakota Staton and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. By next Tuesday, when more are added, there will be 27 sets from that year’s jazz festival, including some by Ahmad Jamal, Joe Williams, Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver. The plan is to have hundreds more online in the coming months, from other years of Newport Jazz and from the Newport Folk Festival as well.”

A couple clicks later, I’m listening. And noticing that I can embed some of this tunage into this post. What nice guys over there, understanding word of mouth and all.

Looking forward to hearing more.

Happy weekend.

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First, download the FLAC track A Single Sky. (right-click > Save As)

Downloading a Greenleaf FLAC is the same as downloading an MP3, they’re just larger files because they are uncompressed and therefore sound better. After downloading the FLAC track, here are a couple options of how to get going:

If you use iTunes, the only way to play FLACs is by using Fluke. It’s a free software available here. Right-clicking on the FLAC file and choosing Open With > Fluke will import the FLAC into your iTunes where you can then play it with no problem.

You can also convert the FLAC file using a program called Max. WAVs and AIFs are the formats used to press CDs and are supported in iTunes without any software add-on. Simply select what format you’d like to convert to in the Max > Preferences > Formats window. Then drag the file(s) into the Max window and click Convert. Those files can be added directly to your iTunes or burned to a CD that will match the sound quality of a CD you’d receive from us. (Update: Using a PC? Check out dBpoweramp for converting)

For folks not tied to iTunes, you can use a number of FLAC players out there. We recommend the recently discovered Songbird (thanks to Gary, one of our new subscribers). Songbird looks and feels like iTunes, so it’s easy to get set up.

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Internet speeds are getting faster, and hard drive space is getting larger and cheaper with every second. Lossless files like FLACs are here to stay and great for folks like me who are not audiophiles but enjoy listening to quality music in the best way they can. These suggestions and directions are a good place to start. And I’ll be around to answer any questions you have as best I can.

Everyone has their own method for organizing their digital files — feel free to pass on yours in the Comments Section.