For those unaware, the Planet D Nonet is a down and dirty little swing band from Detroit which was founded by drummer RJ Spangler and trumpeter James O’Donnell.

The Planet D Nonet is about swing, blues, space-age jazz and classic American songs all served with plenty of good humor with an eye toward turning people onto this kind of music.

Planet Detroit Nonet’s last recording, “Blues to Be There: A Salute to Duke Ellington,” ELD-40, which came out in 2023 did very well for the band. The recording reached #16 on the JazzWeek chart and so they have just released their brilliant follow-up this past July 18th, 2024, entitled Echoes of Harlem: A Salute to Duke Ellington Vol.2.

1. Happy Anatomy
2. Flirtibird
3. Rocks in My Bed
4. Echoes of Harlem aka Cootie’s Concerto
5. Addi
6. Blood Count
7. Juniflip
8. Azalea
9. La Belle Plus Africaine
10. Caravan
11. Frustration
12. I’m Gonna Go Fishin’ aka Main Title of Anatomy of a Murder
13. Happy Reunion
14. The Shepherd (Who Watches Over the Night Flock)
15. Sophisticated Lady

This wonderful recording opens on the upbeat and joyful Happy Anatomy and the sultry and erstwhile Flirtibird, and they are followed by the languishing Rocks in My Bed, the playfully flirtatious Echoes of Harlem aka Cootie’s Concerto, the rhythmic Addi, and then come both the embracing Blood Count and the forthright Juniflip.

Along next is the sumptuous Azalea and the studious La Belle Plus Africaine, and they are in turn backed by the free-flowing Caravan, the triumphant Frustration, the low slung, at first, latterly perky and strident I’m Gonna Go Fishin’ aka Main Title of Anatomy of a Murder, the collection rounding out on the dulcet tones of Happy Reunion, the intricate piano work of The Shepherd (Who Watches Over the Night Flock), closing on the flourishing Sophisticated Lady.

Planet D Nonet:
James O’Donnell trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals & maracas, co-leader
Charlie Miller, trumpet, flugelhorn
John “Tbone” Paxton, trombone, vocals
Alex Colista, alto sax, clarinet
Christopher Tabaczynski, tenor sax & clarinet
Goode Wyche III, bari, alto saxes
Michael Zaporski, piano
Trevor Lamb, string bass (except 1 & 3)
Sean Perlmutter, drum set, cowbell
RJ Spangler, congas, small percussion instruments, bandleader

Special guests:
Camille Price, vocal
Kurt Krahnke string bass tracks 1 & 3

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, David Liebman is considered a renaissance man in contemporary music with a career stretching over fifty years.

He has played with masters including Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, McCoy Tyner and others; authored books and instructional DVDs which are acknowledged as classics in the jazz field; recorded as a leader in styles ranging from classical to rock to free jazz.

Furthermore, he has performed on over 500 recordings with 200+ as a leader/co-leader featuring several hundred original compositions.

Now the Central New York Jazz Orchestra, a Syracuse area non-profit big band, have joined up with NEA Jazzmaster David Liebman to perform and record together.

This comes 11 years after the orchestra accompanied the saxophonist/flautist’s world premiere solo performance of “If a White Horse from Jerusalem ...,” a four-movement work for soprano saxophone, wooden flute, and jazz orchestra. After the concert, Liebman had offered to record an album with the orchestra, and thus that is the album we are happily reviewing here today.

1. Ahava Raba
2. Allahu Allahu, Maqam Awj Ara
3. Ki Lo Noeh, Maqam Saba
4. Present Tense
5. Somewhere
6. Starmaker
7. Hip Hop Scuffle
8. Where or When

As noted, and with the running theme here being the link between the humanist populations on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides, the recording opens on the startlingly-cinematic Ahava Raba and the sterner fare of the stoic Allahu Allahu, Maqam Awj Ara, and then we get the sprightly Ki Lo Noeh, Maqam Saba and the sweeping Present Tense.

A multi-movement work for soprano saxophone, wooden flute, and jazz orchestra, along next is the languishing beauty of Somewhere which is itself backed seamlessly by the ornately sculpted Starmaker, the recording rounding out on the rambunctiously funky Hip Hop Scuffle, closing on the bubbly finger snapper Where or When.

“If a White Horse from Jerusalem” was originally commissioned by the S.U. Humanities Center on their 2011 theme of “Conflict: Peace and War” and performed that year in the Carrier Theater, with additional support by the Jewish Federation of Central New York and Hillel.

Both the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of Central New York lent their support for the reprise production this past November.

Official Website

For those unaware, Rosemary Loar’s influences are eclectic. Her first five years in New York City were spent performing a critically acclaimed jazz cabaret act, where she wrote the arrangements and broke new ground in what was then, a very homogenous venue. She left cabaret to go the the bigger stages of Broadway but has since returned.

Her cabaret show When Harry Met The Duke was given a rave by BroadwayWorld.com which said the show was “Out of this world” and “Loar.. has managed to come up with yet another variation, (on The Great American Songbook) and her erudite and accessibly sophisticated new show featuring wonderful jazz, pop, and Broadway songs from the 1930s-’50s goes down well like a delicious vodka martini topped with a skewer of blue cheese-stuffed olives.”

More recently Loar had her Joe’s Pub Debut with her latest cabaret creation “STING*chronicity:v Loar doesn’t simply rearrange numbers; she re-contextualizes them, morphing into a series of characters that sing each song as it arises out of an imagined situation.”

As a commercial recording artist she can be heard on Sting’s soundtrack for the movie The Emperor’s New Groove, the cast albums of Chess and Sunset Boulevard and on the Listening Library series. Her debut CD of original music Alternative Torch was released in 1996, her second, Through Women’s Eyes was produced in 1997 to benefit Susan G. Komen Foundation. Water From The Moon released in 2003 is also the score of Rosemary’s original rock musical by the same name: produced by the Grammy award winning Joel Moss (soundtrack for Chicago).

She produced and wrote all the vocal and string arrangements for her fifth CD Indigo and Iridescent Rosemary’s songs have been featured on NBC’s The Today Show, on The Lifetime Network, at Town Hall, Joe Franklin and Joan Hamburg shows, at the UN Fourth Conference for Women in Beijing and in the documentary Our Daughters, Our Future narrated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The release of Rosemary’s fourth CD, The Quando Swing punctuated her return to the jazz-cabaret scene in 2006 and features standards with a modern take. For Rosemary Loar, jazz is a smorgasbord, a feast of incredible tastes and textures. STING, STANG, STUNG, SWINGING THE MUSIC OF STING is a live recording of her critically acclaimed tribute to the pop icon Sting’s music.

With Rosemary having redefining the intersection between Jazz and the American songbook, we are next to be graced with her brand new recording, entitled Coração Vagabundo [aka Vagabond Heart].

Coração Vagabundo is the latest example of Ms. Loar’s lifelong love of jazz, elegantly showcasing her ability to infuse the genre with international influences and traditional cabaret.

1. Coraçāo Vagabundo
2. Just A Fairy Tale
3. Get Out Of Town
4. Midnight Sun
5. Your Turn To Be Brave
6. You Taught My Heart To Sing
7. Fascinating Rhythm
8. La Belle Dame San Regret
9. I Don’t Want To Know For Sure
10. Show Me
11. I Fall In Love Too Easily
12. Cool

This vibrantly-hued, aesthetically pleasing new recording opens on the delicately-hued Coraçāo Vagabundo and the ornately sculpted Just A Fairy Tale and then brings us the luscious gossamer of Get Out Of Town, the sheer elegance within Midnight Sun, and then we get both the gracefully playful Your Turn To Be Brave and then her vocal expertise comes to the fore on the harmonica-hued You Taught My Heart To Sing.

Along next is the free-flowing Fascinating Rhythm and the finely-spun La Belle Dame San Regret and they are in turn followed by the refined I Don’t Want To Know For Sure, the gently perky Show Me, the album rounding out on the veritably opulent I Fall In Love Too Easily, closing on the upbeat and jaunty Cool.

Official Website

For those unaware, one of the baddest, meanest, most unsung heroes of classic rock, Cactus, recreate their greatest moments with the help of their many admirers and acolytes here on the just-released new recording, Temple Of Blues.

Includes founding Cactus members, drummer Carmine Appice and guitarist Jim McCarty, joined by the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Ted Nugent, Billy Sheehan, Bumblefoot, Dee Snider, Pat Travers plus members of Gov’t Mule, Vanilla Fudge, Living Colour, Vixen and more!

What has already been heavily promoted far and wide is a full concept video for the first track released “Evil” that features video performances by the guests Dee Snider and Dug Pinnick as well as Appice and McCarty!

1. Parchman Farm [feat. Joe Bonamassa & Billy Sheehan] (3:06)
2. Brother Bill [feat. Randy Jackson, Randy Pratt & Bob Daisley] (4:50)
3. Guiltless Glider [feat. Ron Bumblefoot Thal & Phil Soussan] (6:12)
4. Evil [feat. Dee Snider & Dug Pinnick] (3:17)
5. One Way...Or Another [feat. Dug Pinnick & Ted Nugent] (5:09)
6. Alaska [feat. Johnny A & Tony Franklin] (3:45)
7. No Need To Worry [feat. Warren Haynes & Jorgen Carlsson] (6:13)
8. Oleo [feat. Steve Stevens & Billy Sheehan] (4:03)
9. Big Mama Boogie [feat. Pat Travers & James Caputo] (6:18)
10. You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover (5:26)
11. Rock N’ Roll Children [feat. Britt Lightning, Vernon Reid & Rudy Sarzo] (6:25)
12. Let Me Swim [feat. Doug Aldrich & Marco Mendoza] (4:27)
13. Restrictions [feat. Ty Tabor & Phil Soussan] (6:16)
14. Long Tall Sally [feat. Mark Stein & Fernando Perdomo] (5:09)
15. Guiltless Glider [feat. Tim Ripper Owens] (6:12)

This massively pulsating, and yet always melodically pleasing, new recording opens on the frrenetic Parchman Farm (featuring Joe Bonamassa & Billy Sheehan) and the low slung, harmonica-driven Brother Bill (featuring Randy Jackson, Randy Pratt & Bob Daisley) and then brings us the drum-led rocker Guiltless Glider (featuring Ron Bumblefoot Thal & Phil Soussan), the rocking blues of Evil (featuring Dee Snider & Dug Pinnick), and then come the trio of the guitar fest that drives One Way...Or Another (featuring Dug Pinnick & Ted Nugent), the mid-tempo rambler Alaska (featuring Johnny A & Tony Franklin) and the aching guitar yearn of No Need To Worry (featuring Warren Haynes & Jorgen Carlsson).

With the shredding Tom Beckham, the rock-solid Matt Pavolka on bass and “six-arms” Moses Patrou on percussion, along next is the foot-tapping delights of Oleo (featuring Steve Stevens & Billy Sheehan) and the all-embracing, harmonica-driven Big Mama Boogie (featuring Pat Travers & James Caputo) and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the grooved You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover, the flat out blues rocker Rock N’ Roll Children (featuring Britt Lightning, Vernon Reid & Rudy Sarzo), the shredding guitar rock of Let Me Swim (featuring Doug Aldrich & Marco Mendoza), the rhythmic Restrictions (featuring Ty Tabor & Phil Soussan), the set closing on a guitar-honed cover of the Beatles’ Long Tall Sally (featuring Mark Stein & Fernando Perdomo) and the pounding Guiltless Glider (featuring Tim Ripper Owens).

Official Purchase Link

www.cactusrocks.com

For those unaware, Transylvanian Dance (due out on August 30th, 2024 via ECM) takes as its starting point transcriptions of folk songs and dance tunes collected by Béla Bartók a century ago.

For Romanian Pianist Lucian Ban and American Violist Mat Maneri, these pieces have become “springboards and sources of melodic material” for performances “that capture the spirit of the original yet allow us to improvise and bring our own world to them…”.

Ban explains: “In our process we don’t have any preconceived notions of how we should arrange these songs. Some take a very improvisational approach. Some are more defined compositionally and harmonically. And others combine the folk material with original motives of ours. If you go deeper into the source material, new vistas are opening.”

Recorded live in October 2022 in the context of the Retracing Bartók project in Timișoara, the album also bears testimony to the finely attuned understanding that Ban and Maneri have achieved in their long-running musical partnership.

1. Poor Is My Heart
2. Romanian Folk Dance
3. Lover Mine Of Long Ago
4. Transylvanian Dance
5. The Enchanted Stag
6. Harvest Moon Ballad
7. The Boyar’s Doina
8. Make Me, Lord, Slim And Tall

Recorded live in Timișoara, Romania, in October 2022, the duo’s second album for ECM opens on the veritably translucent Poor Is My Heart and then we get the cloistered furtiveness of Romanian Folk Dance, the aching yearn within Lover Mine Of Long Ago and the jaunty title track Transylvanian Dance.

Along next is the wistful The Enchanted Stag which is itself backed seamlessly by the dreamy Harvest Moon Ballad, the recording rounding out on the dulcet orchestrations that drive The Boyar’s Doina, closing on the apprehensively disconsolate, yet threaded with hope, Make Me, Lord, Slim And Tall.

Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri bring the music of Transylvanian Dance on the road in the months ahead, with concerts on both sides of the Atlantic.

www.lucianban.com

Mat Maneri @ Twitter

For those unaware, rekindling the familiarly flowing interplay with fellow travelers Thomas Morgan and João Lobo – the trio’s musical partnership goes back over a decade at this point – on A New Day Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi moreover expands the group’s instrumental grasp with the introduction of American saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, who makes his ECM debut here.

Not only is the ensemble scope widened; with Brandon Lewis in tow, new dialects and fresh perspectives are broached, and different instrumental paths taken, inspired by an overall heightened sense of communication and Lewis’s unmistakable, confident tone.

Recorded at Studios La Buissonne, Southern France, in August 2023, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.

1. Cantos Del Ocells
2. To A Young Student
3. Means For A Rescue
4. Only Sometimes
5. Luigi (The Boy Who Lost His Name)
6. My Funny Valentine
7. Wonderland

This beautifully sculpted new recording opens on the delicately-hued Cantos Del Ocells and then we get the aching, pensive yearn found within To A Young Student and my own personal favorite, the flirtatiously emboldened Means For A Rescue.

Along next is the quietly furtive Only Sometimes which is itself backed seamlessly by the veritably cinematic Luigi (The Boy Who Lost His Name), the recording rounding out on the gently rhythmic My Funny Valentine, closing on the all-embracing nature of beauty that thrives within Wonderland.

Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri bring the music of Transylvanian Dance on the road in the months ahead, with concerts on both sides of the Atlantic.

www.giovanniguidi.it

For those unaware, Tom Johnson (BMI) grew up listening to his father perform with the Al Cobine, Jim Edison, and John Von Ohlen/Steve Allee/Chuck Carter Big bands. Tom began studying composition privately while in high school, and by his senior year had three works performed by his high school jazz band and jazz combo. He began studying trumpet in fifth grade with Jim Edison, and then during High School studied with Bill Adam of Indiana University.

A lot has obviously happened between then and now to and for Tom, including having published more than 30 articles and book chapters in psychology and received the Theodore Dreiser Distinguished Research and Creativity Award from ISU in 2005, and yet despite being in a self-inflicted “phased retirement” since January 2023, he is still conducting research on effects of listening to sad music and personality styles of jazz musicians.

Indeed, Tom’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by various professional, high school, college, and community bands and choirs in eight states and his brand new recording, entitled Time Takes Odd Turns (out now) brings together his recordings begun in May 2023 for Jazz Orchestra.

1. Naught One (8:37)
2. Simple Song (8:23)
3. Book One (6:36)
4. One More Time (4:31)
5. Lucky 13 (8:55)
6. En La Casa de Los Perritos (9:50)
7. Well You Better (4:07)
8. Ballad for the A1 Band (5:29)
9. Cats and Mouses (6:04)
10. Bossa Monday Suite (11:27)
11. Simply Stuff and Nonsense (3:56)

The playful Naught One opens this expansively delightful new recording and is backed by the languishing, at first, quietly sprightly latterly Simple Song, the boisterous Book One, and then come both the beautiful piano/sax piece One More Time and the free-flowing Lucky 13.

Along next is the veritably cinematic in scope En La Casa de Los Perritos and the jazzy finger-snapper Well You Better and they are in turn followed seamlessly by the low slung Ballad for the A1 Band, the perky Cats and Mouses, the album rounding out on the impassioned Bossa Monday Suite, closing on the triumphant Simply Stuff and Nonsense.

Official Purchase Link

Official Website

For those unaware, The Chris Slade Timeline was formed in 2012 with hand picked musicians to celebrate his then 50 year career as a professional rock drummer; since starting with Tom Jones at 16 yrs of age, taking in Manfred Mann, The Firm with Jimmy Page and AC/DC along the way.

The Chris Slade Timeline band have toured the UK and Europe extensively playing hits of this lengthy career and so after being asked many times if they were going to produce any new original songs of their own, Chris finally decided to put pen to paper and do something about it.

And so with the help of his band mates, their brand new album Timescape is out now as a 2CD musical event. Their debut album includes a playlist of 9 original songs and a selection of hits from the many artists he has been privileged to perform with over the last 60 years.

Disc 1:
1. SUNDANCE
2. WE WILL SURVIVE
3. JOYBRINGER
4. LIVING THE DREAM
5. FREEDOM SONG
6. BACK WITH A VENGEANCE
7. QUESTIONS
8. TIME FLIES
9. END OF ETERNITY

The first CD opens on the rhythmic rocker SUNDANCE and the AOR of WE WILL SURVIVE and then comes the soaring, synth-tastic JOYBRINGER, the mid-tempo ballad LIVING THE DREAM, the melodic FREEDOM SONG, before we are brought forth the forthright BACK WITH A VENGEANCE, the beautiful ballad QUESTIONS, and both the fluctuating guitar fests that adorn both TIME FLIES and END OF ETERNITY.

Disc 2:
1. THE RAZORS EDGE
2. FREE
3. BLINDED BY THE LIGHT
4. JULY MORNING
5. THUNDERSTRUCK
6. BIG GUN
7. HELLS BELLS
8. HIGH VOLTAGE

The second CD opens on their AC/DC cover THE RAZORS EDGE and a quite breathtaking, nine minute long rendition of FREE and they are in turn backed by their pulsating rendition of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s BLINDED BY THE LIGHT, a delicately-hued version of Uriah Heep’s JULY MORNING, the second disc closing on four more from his AC/DC era: the brilliantly sculpted, mountainous THUNDERSTRUCK, the foot-pounder BIG GUN, the impassioned AC/DC fan favorite HELLS BELLS, closing on the rambunctious early days of the band on the rhythmically propulsive HIGH VOLTAGE.

Official Purchase Link

Official Website/

For those unaware, Warhorse was formed last year by Paul Di’Anno and two guitarists/authors, Hrvoje Madiraca and Ante Pupi Pupačić.

Recorded primarily at Pupi studios in Split, Croatia, Warhorse includes nine original songs and two covers, Precious (DEPECHE MODE) and Tequila (THE CHAMPS).

Warhorse previously recorded three songs, two of which — Stop The War and The Doubt Within — were released in May 2022 as a special DVD single along with Paul’s video message to all fans who bought the single and thus helped raise funds for his recent knee operation.

1. Warhorse
2. Get Get Ready
3. Go
4. Stop The War
5. The Doubt Within
6. Here Comes The Night
7. Tequila (THE CHAMPS cover)
8. Forever Bound
9. Precious (DEPECHE MODE cover)
10. Going Home

The thunderously emotive new recording opens on the atmospheric, euphorically-charged Warhorse and the gritty rocker Get Get Ready and then brings us the foot-to-the-floor rocker Go, the free-wheeling rock of Stop The War and the screaming guitars that drive The Doubt Within.

Along next is the impassioned, racing car-imbibed Here Comes The Night and their rambunctious cover of The Champs’ Tequila, and they are in turn backed by the power ballad, at first, rocker by night latterly Forever Bound, the album rounding out on a stunning metal-rock cover of Depeche Mode’s Precious, closing on the fist-clenched AOR of Going Home.

Musicians:
Paul Di’Anno
Hrvoje Madiraca
Ante Pupačić Pupi

Official Purchase Link

Official Website/

For those unaware, when Livio Almeida arrived on the New York jazz scene a few years back, we were all put on notice. There’s a new Brazilian tenor saxophonist who can shred. His lights-out playing and performances undoubtedly created a stir among fellow artists and aficionados.

Almeida was quickly absorbed into Arturo O’Farrill’s musical crew. This is how even more began to realize and recognize the Brazilian’s incredible prowess, as he began to tour with Arturo in several formations. Almeida’s 2016 CD release Action and Reaction, produced by O’Farrill, received enthusiastic reviews and left listeners wanting more.

Brasília Sessions isn’t just more. It’s one of the most remarkable Brazilian jazz albums in recent memory. It showcases Almeida as a composer, arranger, soloist, bandleader, and conceptual artist. One has come to expect stunning playing on an Almeida project, but the start-to-finish sonics of this album reveal his meticulous attention to detail. We hear ambient soundscapes, timbral contrast, legato lines, and feel-good rhythms.

“This music is deeply rooted in my Brazilian tradition,” Almeida explains. “It’s a synthesis of my cultural experience as a Brazilian immigrant in New York.”

Recorded in Brasília, his hometown and Brazil’s capital, the album is indeed a full circle for the maestro. Joining him are tremendous artists Misael Silvestre (keys), Daniel Castro (bass), Pedro Almeida (drums).

1. SAMBASUS (5:15)
2. PARTIDO CERRADO (5:02)
3. BRASÍLIA AFRO SAMBA (6:27)
4. FOLHAS SECAS (8:31)
5. ROCKS IN MY PATH (Pedras no caminho) (7:35)
6. DITMAS AVENUE (7:39)
7. UM GIRASSOL DA COR DO SEU CABELO (A sunflower the color of your hair) (6:54)
8. Q TRAIN SAMBA (Sambete do trem Q) (5:57)

This majestically rhythmic and thoroughly melodic new recording opens on the atmospherically-charged, old school vinyl-hued SAMBASUS and the genuine foot-tapper PARTIDO CERRADO and then brings us the free flowing BRASÍLIA AFRO SAMBA, and the lushly laid back FOLHAS SECAS (and which was composed by Nelson Cavaquinho, an acclaimed twentieth-century singer).

Along next is the playfully flirtatious ROCKS IN MY PATH (Pedras no caminho) and the impassioned DITMAS AVENUE (named after the street where Almeida lives in Brooklyn), the album rounding out on the unblushingly stoic UM GIRASSOL DA COR DO SEU CABELO (A sunflower the color of your hair), closing on the melodically grandiose Q TRAIN SAMBA (Sambete do trem Q).

Musicians:
Livio Almeida - tenor saxophone, compositions and arrangements
Misael Silvestre - keys
Daniel Castro - bass
Pedro Almeida - drums

Official Spotify Purchase Link

Official Website/

For those unaware, Shakespeare buffs know soliloquies as intimate dramatic monologues in which characters stand alone on stage to confide their innermost thoughts and feelings directly to the audience, but how might an artist like Jason Kao Hwang reconceive this practice in an improvisational context, where author and character are one and the same, and their musical statement is composed as extemporaneously as words freely spoken?

The fascinating possibilities that Jason explores in these solo violin improvisations open new vistas into the autobiographical aspects of his own distinctive musical language, as developed and deployed in musically reimagined moments to bridge the cultural-historical gulf dividing his family’s first- and second-generation immigrant experiences.

1. At the Beginning
2. Hungry Shadows
3. Vagabond
4. Spinning Coins
5. Remembering Our Conversation
6. Where the River Runs Both Ways
7. Dreams Dream
8. Silhouettes Lean Forward
9. Encirclement
10. Bending Branches into Books
11. Shards
12. Before God

This majestically flawless, and wholly embodied new recording opens on the transformational, and aptly-titled At the Beginning and the sculpted preciseness of Hungry Shadows and then brings forth the embodied Vagabond, the fluttering Spinning Coins, the alluring Remembering Our Conversation and then we get the delicately phrased Where the River Runs Both Ways.

Along next is the articulate Dreams Dream and the gently flirtatious Silhouettes Lean Forward and they are backed seamlessly by the resoundingly attune Encirclement, a sympathetic resonance that veins throughout Bending Branches into Books, the album rounding out on the veritably crystalline Shards, coming to a close on the intricately explorative Before God.

Official Website

For those unaware, Songs for Stuffed Animals is the debut album from saxophonist Richard Guba and features an eight-piece band with four horns.

Richard is based in Annapolis, Maryland where he plays in jazz big bands and combos. He plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones and this is his much-anticipated debut album.

Included within the eight tracks are four original tunes: The Gospel according to Lewis, Playing in Traffic, Tributaries, and Nicholas Carico’s composition Simply Do Not. The other four tunes being covers, including Morning Dance, Black Narcissus, Search for Peace, and To Wisdom the Prize.

1. Morning Dance (Jay Beckenstein) (3:59)
2. The Gospel According to Lewis (4:41)
3. Playing in Traffic (4:57)
4. To Wisdom the Prize (Larry Willis) (6:42)
5. Simply Do Not (6:19)
6. Black Narcissus (Joe Henderson) (4:30)
7. Tributaries (4:14)
8. Search for Peace (McCoy Tyner) (5:10)

The perky and flyright Morning Dance opens this expansively delightful new recording and is backed by the low slung, funk-grooved The Gospel According to Lewis, the languishing Playing in Traffic, and then comes the euphorically-charged To Wisdom the Prize.

Along next is the mood-enhanced Simply Do Not and the soaring Black Narcissus and they are in turn followed seamlessly by the ornately-adorned Tributaries, the album closing on the delicately-hued Search for Peace.

Musicians:
Ken Zimmerman. Acoustic piano and Ensoniq ESQ 1 digital wave synthesizer (on “Playing in Traffic” and the intro to “Morning Dance”)
David Mueller. Electric Bass
James Burcky. Drummer and arranger of “The Gospel According to Lewis”
Nicholas Carico, guitarist, composer of “Simply Do Not”, and arranger of “Playing in Traffic”
Joel McCord. Trumpet and flugelhorn
Jim Tavener. Tenor trombone
Rodney Laster. Alto saxophone and flute
Richard Guba. Alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones. Composer “The Gospel According to Lewis”, “Tributaries”, and co-writer of “Playing in Traffic”

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, late 18th century Italian composer Luigi Boccherini produced a vast catalogue of compositions, several of which were chamber works featuring the flute.

Australian flautist Sally Walker, whose first appearance on AVIE was in collaboration with harpist Emily Granger on the album Something Like This, has taken a deep dive into the provenance of Boccherini’s works for her instrument to produce a 90-minute, 2-for-the-price-of-one volume of music that is infinitely elegant, virtuosic and beautifully refined.

The relatively rare yet imaginative Six Quintets, Op. 19, for two violins, flute, viola and cello vary in their configuration, some intimate, others on a grander scale reminiscent of the composer’s orchestral music. Also included are the first Divertimento Notturno from the Sextet, Op. 38 for violin, viola, bassoon, flute, horn and double bass; and, as a bonus the Quintet G.443 for flute, oboe, violin, viola and cello, a work attributed to Boccherini.

Although its authorship is contested, as Sally says, “It is such a beautiful work that we wanted to include it anyway.”

CD 1:
Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 1 in E Flat Major, G.425
1. I. Allegretto con moto
2. II. Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 2 in G Minor, G.426
3. I. Allegro con un poco di moto
4. II. Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 3 in C Major, G.427
5. I. Andante non troppo
6. II. Rondeau (Grazioso)

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 4 in D Major, G.428
7. I. Adagio assai
8. II. Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 5 in B Flat Major, G.429
9. I. Allegro moderato
10. II. Allegro presto assai

Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 6 in D Major, G.430 ‘Las Parejas’
11. I. Entrada: (Andante) – Marcha
12. II. Galope –
13. – Como la Entrada (Andante) – Marcha

The beauty of Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 1 in E Flat Major, G.425 opens the recording for us, with the spirited, emboldened Allegretto con moto and the more thoughtful, cultured tones of Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio paving the way for Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 2 in G Minor, G.426, and both the undaunted Allegro con un poco di moto and the sheer elegance of Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio, and then comes the Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 3 in C Major, G.427 with both the graceful Andante non troppo and the playful Rondeau (Grazioso), being backed by Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 4 in D Major, G.428, and the pure gossamer of Adagio assai and the languishing beauty within Minuetto (Con moto) – Trio.

Along next is Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 5 in B Flat Major, G.429, which opens on the upbeat and joyful Allegro moderato, closing on the rousing Allegro presto assai, the first CD rounding out on Flute Quintet Op. 19, No. 6 in D Major, G.430 ‘Las Parejas,’ with the forthright Entrada: (Andante) – Marcha leading the way and followed by the regimented rhythms of Galope – and the strident Como la Entrada (Andante) – Marcha.

Sally Walker, flute
Elizabeth Layton, violin | Alison Rayner, violin
Stephen King, viola | Thomas Marlin, cello

CD 2:
Sextet in E Flat Major, Op. 38, No. 1, G.467
1. I. Andante lento
2. II. Allegro ma non presto
3. III. Tempo di Minuetto – Trio

Sally Walker, flute
Elizabeth Layton, violin | Stephen King, viola
Sarah Barrett, horn | Mark Gaydon, bassoon | Robert Nairn, double-bass

Flute Quintet in C Major, G.443
4. I. Allegro non troppo
5. II. Allegretto
6. III. Tempo di Minuetto (Vars. I–XII)

Sally Walker, flute
Celia Craig, oboe
Elizabeth Layton, violin | Stephen King, viola | Thomas Marlin, cello

Opening the second disc is Sextet in E Flat Major, Op. 38, No. 1, G.467, which begins with the impassioned Andante lento, and then proceeds to bring us the flirtatious Allegro ma non presto and a delightful elegance within Tempo di Minuetto – Trio, and the highly impressive recording comes to a close on the resplendent Flute Quintet in C Major, G.443, which opens on the dainty fare of Allegro non troppo, the free flowing musical majesties of Allegretto, ending on an aching yearn found within Tempo di Minuetto (Vars. I–XII).

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For those unaware, if you’ve seen the Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro”, you’ve seen and heard The Orchestra Now, the exceptional ensemble that appears in the movie’s Tanglewood Music Festival scene.

The Orchestra Now (TŌN), a New York-based graduate-level training orchestra comprised of the most vibrant young musicians from around the globe, was founded by conductor, educator and music historian Leon Botstein, whose insatiable curiosity has resulted in rescuing countless musical works from oblivion.

Their first recording for AVIE, “The Lost Generation”, brings together three German-speaking composers who were contemporaries of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, but whose music became suppressed by historical events of the 20th century.

HUGO KAUDER (1888–1972)
Symphony No. 1
1. I. Bewegt
2. II. Sehr mäßig bewegt
3. III. Sehr breit und betragen
4. IV. Ruhig, streng gemessen

The recording begins with Hugo Kauder’s Symphony No. 1, which opens on the sweeping work Bewegt, the organic Sehr mäßig bewegt, the embodied Sehr breit und betragen and culminates on the sterner fare of Ruhig, streng gemessen.

HANS ERICH APOSTEL (1901–1972)
Variations on a Theme by Haydn
5. I. Theme: Andante più tosto Allegretto
6. II. Variation I: Allegretto
7. III. Variation II: Andante cantabile
8. IV. Variation III: Tagstück (Pastorale)
9. V. Variation IV: Vivace
10. VI. Variation V: Adagio
11. VII. Variation VI: Vivace
12. VIII. Variation VII: Nachtstück (in Kubins Manier)
13. IX. Variation VIII: Andante cantabile
14. X. Variation XI: Allegretto

Up next is Hans Erich Apostel’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn, which itself opens on the flirtatious Theme: Andante più tosto Allegretto, the playful Variation I: Allegretto, the creeping Variation II: Andante cantabile, and the furtive Variation III: Tagstück (Pastorale), before bringing forth the vociferous Variation IV: Vivace, the more sedate Variation V: Adagio, the beholden Variation VI: Vivace, the work culminating with the inching Variation VII: Nachtstück (in Kubins Manier), the atmospheric Variation VIII: Andante cantabile, and the hopeful optimism found within Variation XI: Allegretto.

ADOLF BUSCH (1891–1952), arr. Peter Serkin (1947–2020)
15. Variations on an Original Theme

The final work is Adolf Busch’s aching yearn that drives the stellar, ten minute Variations on an Original Theme, and which features an arrangement by Peter Serkin. One of the most celebrated violinists and chamber musicians of the 20th century, this piece is a rather dutifully resplendent way to end this simply magnificent new recording.

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For those unaware, as responses to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons go, the world-premiere of The Irish Four Seasons by Ailbhe McDonagh instantly ranks amongst the most evocative and ear-catching.

Presented alongside the “Red Priest’s” monumental opus, in the debut recording by leading Irish violinist Lynda O’Connor, McDonagh’s The Irish Four Seasons resonates with a shrewd synthesis of Baroque style and Irish culture.

O’Connor explains, “Irish and Baroque music are similar in many ways. The freedom to ornament, similarities in structure and the prominence of reinterpretation are apparent in both styles”. O’Connor and McDonagh are frequently referred to as musical soulmates. In their most recent collaboration, they bring to bear Ireland’s huge musical heritage.

Arranged over four movements – Earrach (Spring), Samhradh (Summer), Fómhar (Autumn), and Geimhreadh (Winter) –The Irish Four Seasons introduces new Irish airs inspired by Vivaldi’s memorable melodies, creating an exciting and emotive work that proudly takes its place alongside the Baroque evergreen. Supported by her new, hand-picked ensemble Anamus under the baton of David Brophy, O’Connor brings these programmatic works – old and new alike – to palpable life.

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678–1741)
Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op. 8
Concerto No. 1 in E Major, RV 269 “La primavera” (spring)
1. I. Allegro
2. II. Largo
3. III. Allegro

Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, RV 315 “L’estate” (summer)
4. I. Allegro non molto – Allegro
5. II. Adagio – Presto
6. III. Presto

Concerto No. 3 in F Major, RV 293 “L’autunno” (autumn)
7. I. Allegro – Larghetto – Allegro assai/molto
8. II. Adagio molto
9. III. Allegro

The Four Seasons: Concerto No. 4 in F Minor, RV 297 “L’inverno” (winter)
10. I. Allegro non molto
11. II. Largo
12. III. Allegro – Lento – Allegro

AILBHE McDONAGH (*1982)
The Irish Four Seasons
13. I. Earrach (spring)
14. II. Samhradh (summer)
15. III. Fómhar (autumn)
16. IV. Geimhreadh (winter)

This most magically sculpted new recording opens on ANTONIO VIVALDI’s stupendous Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), Op. 8, and which first offers up Concerto No. 1 in E Major, RV 269 “La primavera” (spring) and the adorable Allegro, the sterner fare of Largo and the dancefloor swirl that guides Allegro.

Along next is Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, RV 315 “L’estate” (summer), where we are first greeted by the ornately sculpted Allegro non molto – Allegro, the aching yearn found within Adagio – Presto and then comes the formidable Presto, with the Concerto No. 3 in F Major, RV 293 “L’autunno” (autumn) following closely behind: opening on the spirited Allegro – Larghetto – Allegro assai/molto, the ornately plucked melodies of Adagio molto and then we get the flourishing Allegro.

Up next is the culminating piece within the work, The Four Seasons: Concerto No. 4 in F Minor, RV 297 “L’inverno” (winter) and which begins on the playful, at first, fervent latterly Allegro non molto, then gives us the sheer elegance of Largo, before the dainty fare of Allegro – Lento – Allegro is brought forth, the recording closing on the impassioned work from AILBHE McDONAGH, The Irish Four Seasons: which itself opens on a longing found within Earrach (spring), the vivacious Samhradh (summer), the flirtacious Fómhar (autumn), closing out on the lonesome craving that embodies Geimhreadh (winter).

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Nashville singer-songwriter and poet Kevin Gordon has announced his new album The In Between (Crowville Media) will be released on September 13th, 2024.

Produced by Joe V. McMahan (Justin Townes Earle), it’s his first full-length album since 2018’s Tilt & Shine and his songs have been recorded by Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Hard Working Americans, Irma Thomas, and others.

With the announcement, Gordon has shared the lead single and album opener “Simple Things,” which was mixed by five-time Grammy Award winner Tchad Blake (Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, Al Green, The Pretenders, Tom Waits).

The track was written about the energy of live performance, but while recording it, Gordon was diagnosed with throat cancer between two recording sessions.

The sessions had to go on indefinite pause while Gordon underwent radiation and chemotherapy.It took the better part of a year for doctors to certify Kevin as cancer-free. The return to vocals felt that much sweeter for Gordon and it shows here on this brilliant new album.

1. Simple Things
2. Keeping My Brother Down
3. The In Between
4. Love Right
5. Tammy Cecile
6. Coming Up
7. Destiny
8. Marion
9. Catch a Ride
10. You Can’t Hurt Me No More

The Louisiana native opens his new recording on the rambunctiously melodic Simple Things and that is backed by the low slung blues rocker Keeping My Brother Down, an aching, lonesome yearn that drives the titular The In Between is then brought forth, and then we get both the rhythmically frenetic Love Right and the countrified twang of the mid-tempo ballad Tammy Cecile.

Along next is the foot stomper Coming Up and the enthusiastically-sculpted guitar rock of Destiny and they are in turn followed by the languishing ballad Marion, the album rounding out on the free-wheeling rocker Catch a Ride, coming to an all-too-soon close on the leisurely You Can’t Hurt Me No More.

“Simple Things” [Official Music Video]

Official Purchase Link

Official Website

Kevin Gordon @ Facebook

Mexican born vibraphonist, marimbist, improviser and composer Patricia Brennan “has been widely feted as one of the instrument’s newer leaders,” observed The New York City Jazz Record. Patricia has won the rising star vibraphonist award from Downbeat magazine’s 70th (2022) and 72nd (2024) Critics Poll and was listed #4 vibraphonist of the year on the 71st (2023) & 72nd (2024) Critics Poll.

Patricia inherited a deep love and appreciation for musical tradition from both parents, as well as being exposed to the musical richness of her native Port of Veracruz in Mexico. She started studying music at 4 years old, playing latin percussion along salsa records with her father and listening to Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin records with her mother. Also, around the same age, she started playing piano, influenced by her grandmother who was a concert pianist.

Patricia has appeared on numerous recordings from classical to improvised music, including an ECM recording with Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus called “The Distance” and a world premiere recording with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach on Ondine Records.

Patricia’s acclaimed debut solo album “Maquishti”, released on Valley of Search, was listed #4 on The New York Times 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2021. Patricia’s sophomore album, “More Touch”, released in November 2022 on Pyroclastic Records received multiple accolades from critics. “More Touch” was included in several Best Jazz Albums of 2022 lists such as NPR Best Music of 2022, Bandcamp Best Jazz Albums of 2022 and PopMatters Best Jazz Albums of 2022.

And now Patricia is releasing her third album as a leader, “Breaking Stretch” featuring the Patricia Brennan Septet on September 6th, 2024 on Pyroclastic Records.

This septet record features master improvisers Adam O’Farrill on trumpet, Jon Irabagon on alto and sopranino saxophones, Mark Shim on tenor saxophone, Kim Cass on bass, Marcus Gilmore on drums and Mauricio Herrera on percussion.

1. Los Otros Yo
2. Breaking Stretch
3. 555
4. Palo de Oros
5. Sueños de Coral Azul
6. Five Suns
7. Mudanza
8. Manufacturers Trust Company Buildings
9. Earendel

Patricia’s search for freedom in her musical expression continues onward here on this new recording as her septet opens on the veritably shimmering Los Otros Yo and the jaunty, staggered title track Breaking Stretch, and then comes the joyously sculpted 555 and the impassioned Palo de Oros.

Next up is the simply sumptuous, glistening Sueños de Coral Azul and the furtively skewed Five Suns and they are in turn backed by the delicately-hued Mudanza, the recording rounding out on the cinematically propulsive Manufacturers Trust Company Building, closing on the stoically absorbant Earendel.

Official Website

Patricia Brennan @ Bandcamp

Patricia Brennan @ Twitter

California-based husband-and-wife duo Andrew Stern and Laura Arias of 3 Pairs of Boots share a talent for pairing catchy melodies with heartfelt messages.

Influenced by genre-bending acts like Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds as well as country bards Johnny Cash and Shania Twain, 3 Pairs of Boots are rooted in rock-and-roll, with catchy melodic hooks and engaging lyrics pulled from both history and modern life.

Main songwriter Stern crafts songs that showcase lead singer Arias’s distinctive vocals, together creating the band’s compelling, Americana-leaning blend of folk, rock, and country.

After releasing their 2019 debut album Gone South, Arias and Stern developed YouTube series Cook’N’& Country, pairing cooking with live country music. They released sophomore 3 Pairs of Boots album Long Rider in January 2021, a bluesy collection named after “Lady Long Rider” Bernice Ende.

During the 2020-2021 quarantine, Arias and Stern produced three outstanding Livestream shows from their home studio. They also wrote, recorded, and produced Mighty Love, their third full-length album which released in the fall of 2022.

In the fall of 2024, the duo has just released their much anticipated 4th studio album in five years, Boot Scootin’, and album that leans into the band’s country roots.

1. Boot Scootin’
2. Tempt My Fate
3. Please Tell Me
4. Upon A High Horse
5. Long Rider
6. Reno
7. Lost And Found
8. Dark Sun Rising
9. My American Boy
10. Runaway

With 3 Pairs of Boots achieving just the right balance between lightheartedness and profundity here on this new recording, they open on the beautifully crafted pop-country of the titular Boot Scootin’ and the more cultured Tempt My Fate and they are backed by the whistling twang of Please Tell Me, the all-embracing Upon A High Horse and the impassioned Long Rider.

Along next is the atmospherically-charged Reno and the melodic, mid-tempo balladry of Lost And Found and they are backed seamlessly by the lush Dark Sun Rising, the album rounding out on the free flowing, majestic country vibe that drives the buoyant My American Boy, closing on the dulcet, fluctuating ballad Runaway.

Boot Scootin’ was written and produced by Andrew Stern and mixed and mastered by Rob Beaton. “Boot Scootin’” is Laura Arias on vocals; Greg Perkins on background vocals; Andrew Stern on stringed instruments; Dave Cohen on keys; and Randy Cooke on drums.

Boot Scootin’ (Official Music Video) - 3 Pairs of Boots

Official Website

3 Pairs of Boots @ Facebook

3 Pairs of Boots @ Twitter

Return Of Halloween Nuggets is the ultimate Halloween-themed novelty rock ’n’ roll soundtrack, featuring vintage sides from the 1960s on one spooktacularly ghoulish CD!

Looking for a somewhat-camp-but-always-fun novelty rock ’n’ roll soundtrack for your next Halloween party? Look no further: Return of Halloween Nuggets, the latest collection of crate- (and grave-) digging favorites, collects 18 graveyard smashes (plus two spooky film trailers, one featuring Vincent Price) all in the one place!

For fans of deep 1960s vintage Halloween themed tunes: witches, haunted houses, werewolves, graveyards, monsters, devils, space aliens, and zombies set the stage for a camp and entertaining holiday bash.

It features the super-rare 1962 Bettye LaVette track, Witchcraft in the Air, and the trailer to the 1959 Vincent Price spooktacular, House on Haunted Hill. Also available on orange/black splatter colored vinyl.

1. The Shandells - Gorilla
2. Billy Duke and the Dukes - Roland
3. The Circus - Burn, Witch, Burn
4. Teddy Durant - The Night Stalker
5. Cris Kevin - Haunted House
6. The Devotions - Devil’s Gotten Into My Baby
7. The Spellbinders - Castin’ My Spell
8. Sonny Day & The Tony Ray Combo - Creature From Outer Space
9. Vic Plati Qunitet - The Chiller
10. Movie Trailer - The House On Haunted Hill
11. Carl Bonafede & The Gem-Tones - Were Wolf
12. Ralph Nielsen & The Chancellors - Scream
13. Frankie Stein and His Ghouls - Knives and Lovers
14. Bettye Lavette - Witchcraft In The Air
15. Glenda and Glen - VooDoo Doll
16. The Upperclassmen - Cha Cha With the Zombies
17. Terry Teen - The Hearse
18. Boots Walker - They’re Here
19. Dave Gardner - Mad Witch
20. Film Trailer - Robot Monster

This spooktacularly ghoulish rock ’n’ roll soundtrack recording, opens on the uber catchyf Wisconsin garage rock group The Shandells’ Gorilla, the rambunctious Billy Duke and the Dukes’ vampire character Roland and the finger-snapping foot-tapper in The Circus’ 1967 hit Burn, Witch, Burn and then we get Teddy Durant voiceover for The Night Stalker, the countrified Haunted House (Cris Kevin, who himself was a DJ on WARL (Arlington VA) and WCMS (Norfolk VA)), the female-driven power behind Devil’s Gotten Into My Baby (doo-wop group The Devotions), before the slower, but funkier than the original The Spellbinders’ Castin’ My Spell (which was first released by The Johnson Brothers in 1959), the atmospherically-charged Sonny Day & The Tony Ray Combo’s Creature From Outer Space, and both the fun of the 1965 Vic Plati Qunitet hit The Chiller (A tisket, a tasket. There’s crumbs in my casket) and the always-incredible-to-hear Vincent Price voiceover for the 1959 horror film trailer of The House On Haunted Hill.

Up next is the Rockabilly of Carl Bonafede & The Gem-Tones’ Were Wolf, the surf rock of Metuchen, New Jersey act Ralph Nielsen & The Chancellors’ excellent Scream, and the jangly instrumental rock of Frankie Stein and His Ghouls’ Knives and Lovers, and they are in turn backed by the Motown-imbibed Witchcraft In The Air (soul singer Bettye Lavette), the low slung doo-wop finger-snapper VooDoo Doll (Glenda and Glen) and the 1959 dancefloor hit Cha Cha With the Zombies (The Upperclassmen), the music rounding out on Terry Teen’s horror rocker The Hearse, the awesomely creepy Boots Walker oddball Sci-fi based novelty single They’re Here, the horror punk vibe of Dave Gardner’s Mad Witch, coming to a close on the film trailer for the 1953 independently made American black-and-white gem Robot Monster.

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For those unaware, on 24th March 2024, approximately 40 years since they first shared a stage, Howard Jones performed live at The O2 Arena in London as the Special Guest of his great friends OMD.

This brilliant new recording features live versions of many of Howard’s big hit singles including ‘New Song’, ‘What Is Love?’, ‘Hide & Seek’, ‘Pearl In The Shell’, ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ plus Howard’s cover version of Kajagoogoo’s ‘Too Shy,’ accompanied by his friend and former Kajagoogoo band member Nick Beggs.

1. Intro
2. Pearl In The Shell
3. New Song
4. Like To Get To Know You Well
5. The One To Love You
6. Too Shy
7. Hide & Seek
8. The Human Touch
9. You Know I Love You… Don’t You?
10. What Is Love?
11. Things Can Only Get Better
12. Things Can Only Get Better (Remix)

For me, a fan of all-things ’80s (music being the headliner to that statement, closely followed by movies, of course), Howard Jones has not only stood out as being a consummate performer of that decade, but has continued to showcase his never ending desire to remain relevant to the new generations with not only his continual touring ethic, but his new recordings.

Ergo, the only thing that was missing from that list of previously released music down the years was a live album, and so here on Live At The 02, Jones (together with his trio touring mate Nick Beggs) bring forth a most splendid night of ’80s flashbacks and more.

Opening on a funky, synth-tastic .49 second intro, the band quickly launch into a clean cut Pearl In The Shell and a well-received (albeit a live version where Jones already sounds out of breath) New Song, the pop Caribbean bounce flow of Like To Get To Know You Well, a sparkling The One To Love You (from his 2019 album Transform), and then comes one of the highlights for us all, Howard and Nick coming together for the soulfully-grooved Kajagoogoo hit Too Shy.

The ornately delicate ballad Hide & Seek then gives way to the propulsive synth-funk dynamism that drives The Human Touch (which was a new bonus track on his recent best of Celebration) and they are backed by a full on, forcefully driven rock version of You Know I Love You… Don’t You?, the night (or at least this recording) rounding out on the haunting What Is Love? and, after an impassioned message from Jones, a vibrantly-charged Things Can Only Get Better, merged with a dub house remix of it, closes the musical extravaganza.

Howard Jones’ Live At The O2 is packaged in a digi-sleeve and contains a 464mm x 348mm pull-out poster featuring the great cover shot of Howard performing live at the O2.

Howard Jones Live At The O2 [Official Trailer]

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For those unaware, 999/Separates is a superb 36 track 2CD digipak covering the first two albums by 1977 Punk Rock legends 999.

999 are an English punk rock band, formed in London in December 1976. From 1976 to 1985, their line-up consisted of Nick Cash (vocals, guitar), Guy Days (lead guitar), Jon Watson (bass guitar) and Pablo LaBritain (drums).

LaBritain was temporarily replaced in 1980 by drummer Paul Edward (aka Ed Case) while he recovered from a motor accident. Bassist Jon Watson left the band in 1985 and was replaced by Danny Palmer, who was succeeded by Arturo Bassick in 1991.

Between 1978 and 2007, 999 released fourteen singles and twelve studio albums. Five of the singles released by 999 between 1978 and 1981 charted within the Top 75 in the UK Singles Chart, with one further single in 1978, Homicide, charting within the Top 40.

In addition, as a result of extensive touring in the United States in the early 1980s, the band’s third and fourth studio albums, The Biggest Prize in Sport and Concrete, each charted on the U.S. Billboard 200.

Disc 1 is the self-titled debut album which reached No.53 in the UK National Chart and it includes the singles ‘I’m Alive’, ‘Nasty Nasty’, ‘Emergency’ and ‘Me And My Desire’.

Disc 2 is the ‘Separates’ album which features the Top 40 single ‘Homicide’ plus the anthemic ‘Feelin’ Alright With The Crew’ 45.

999:
1. Me And My Desire
2. Chicane Destination
3. Crazy
4. Your Number Is My Number
5. Hit Me
6. I’m Alive
7. Titanic (My Over) Reaction
8. Pick It Up
9. Emergency
10. No Pity
11. Direct Action Briefing
12. Nobody Knows
13. I’m Alive (Single Version) [BONUS TRACK]
14. Quite Disappointing [BONUS TRACK]
15. Nasty! Nasty! [BONUS TRACK]
16. No Pity (Single Version) [BONUS TRACK]
17. My Street Stinks [BONUS TRACK]
18. Me And My Desire (Single Version) [BONUS TRACK]
19. You Can’t Buy Me [BONUS TRACK]

A truly neglected classic, 999’s eponymous debut album was issued in March, 1978, on the back of three stunning 45s - the romping I’m Alive, the anthemic Nasty! Nasty!, and the oddly ambitious Me and My Desire. The first, and last of these appeared on the album, together with the summer smash that never was, June, 1978’s, Emergency, and it is with these tracks as its benchmarks that 999 should be judged, in my humble opinion.

A ferocious live band, the group harnessed every iota of their stage performance for the studio, turning in an album that zips past at the speed of light, in a blur of chant-worthy choruses and pogo-able riffs; even better, three bonus tracks round up the absent Nasty! Nasty! 45, plus a pair of period B-sides, to deliver a picture perfect portrait of 999’s first year.

There would, of course, be many more to come, and here on this first disc we also now get seven varying in quality bonus tracks, the stand outs for me being the propulsive My Street Stinks and the impassioned You Can’t Buy Me.

SEPARATES:
1. Homicide
2. Tulse Hill Night
3. Rael Rean
4. Let’s Face It
5. Crime Part 1 / Part 2
6. Feelin’ Alright With The Crew
7. Out Of Reach
8. Subterfuge
9. Wolf
10. Brightest View
11. High Energy Plan
12. Waiting [BONUS TRACK]
13. Action [BONUS TRACK]
14. Homicide (Single Version) [BONUS TRACK]
15. Soldier [BONUS TRACK]
16. Quite Disappointing (Live - Front Row Festival) [BONUS TRACK]
17. Crazy (Live – Front Row Festival) [BONUS TRACK]

From the opening blare of Homicide - 999’s sixth single and first British hit - it was apparent that Separates was to be no ordinary punk second album. Almost without exception, every other band in the pack had faltered or fallen when it came time to delivering their sophomore effort.

999, however, simply looked back at what they’d already accomplished, then made certain that they repeated it, with added improvements all over the show. So, the tunes are tighter, the riffs are crunchier, the choruses are even more memorable, and the entire album - released just six months after its 999 predecessor - stands among the most timeless artifacts in all punk history; in my humble opinion.

Of the seven now-included bonus tracks, stand outs include the single B-Side Soldier - which has to be among the finest tracks in the band’s entire repertoire - and both the fervent Waiting and the anthemic Action are actually pulled from a free 12 inch single given away back in the day to fan club members on the band’s own LaBritain label.

Lyrics to all the songs are included in the booklet along with pictures of all relevant record sleeves.

Vocalist Nick Cash and guitarist Guy Days still lead 999 to this day, some 47 years after first forming, and are regulars at the major European Punk festivals.

999/Separates 2CD [Official Trailer]

Official Purchase Link

For those not in the know, earlier this month, 6x GRAMMY Award-winning artist, musician, and producer CHARLIE PEACOCK released the official music video for his charming lead single, “Turtle in a Chinese Food Box.”

With his signature style and lyrical finesse, PEACOCK invited listeners into a realm where musical storytelling reigns supreme, and which lovingly continues onward and throughout his upcoming full-length vocal album EVERY KIND OF UH-OH (out Friday, August 30th, 2024).

PEACOCK’s heartfelt ode, “Turtle in a Chinese Food Box,” encapsulates the story of his first date with his wife, Andi. The track not only serves as a tantalizing glimpse into the sonic voyage awaiting on the project, but it also highlights PEACOCK’s remarkable ability to weave together memorable melodies with evocative narratives.

Produced and directed by PEACOCK and filmed at Ocean Way Nashville Studio, the music video (which you can see via the link below) is a visual delight, skillfully blending studio footage, whimsical animation, and nostalgic photographs of Charlie and Andi, all of which radiate positivity and warmth.

Co-produced with his son, GRAMMY and Oscar-nominated songwriter and producer Sam Ashworth (H.E.R, Andy Grammer, Leslie Odom Jr.), EVERY KIND OF UH-OH was released on It’s Time To Art and distributed by Re:Think/Universal Music Group.

The 10-track masterclass in songwriting — only made possible through the lens of his profound experience and musical prowess — is now available across the digital streaming services, in addition to a limited-edition release of vinyl and CDs.

1. Turtle in a Chinese Food Box
2. Stand in One Place Too Long
3. Get Yourself Some
4. Grace Wrapped in Thorns
5. The Only Remedy
6. Someone About to Get Sent
7. One Small Pebble
8. Less About When
9. Damnation
10. Forgive Me

This musically resplendent new recording opens on the joyful bounce of Turtle in a Chinese Food Box and the gentle hipsway of Stand in One Place Too Long and then we get the ambient ballad Get Yourself Some, a dutiful aching yearn that drives Grace Wrapped in Thorns and then we get the acoustically-imbibed The Only Remedy.

Along next is the engaging Someone About to Get Sent and the all-encompassing One Small Pebble and they are in turn backed by the quiet balladry of Less About When, the album rounding out on the countrified, whistling twang of Damnation, closing on the impassioned Forgive Me.

Charlie Peacock - Turtle in a Chinese Food Box (Official Music Video)

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For those unaware, Matt Panayides is a highly acclaimed guitarist and composer based in the New York City area. Influenced by guitar legends such as Jim Hall, John Scofield, Wes Montgomery, Jimi Hendrix, and Joni Mitchell, he has crafted a unique sound that has earned him worldwide recognition.

Known for his distinctive playing style and improvisational skills, Panayides frequently leads his own groups and collaborates with other musicians both in New York City and abroad.

Currently, Panayides is focused on applying concepts developed on his previous three albums to the solo and trio jazz guitar format. He is delving into the American songbook repertoire and compositions by great jazz composers, sculpting arrangements that showcase the natural acoustic sound of his hollow body guitar made by Victor Baker.

Indeed, this actually marks a departure from his earlier, more electric and effects-driven sound and original compositions.

Adding to his impressive discography, Panayides has just released a new trio album this September entitled With Eyes Closed. The album features Steve LaSpina on bass and Anthony Pinciotti on drums, and focuses on the music of the masters and has been released on the Pacific Coast Jazz label.

His previous recordings on Pacific Coast Jazz have highlighted his original compositions: Field Theory (2021), featuring Matt Vashlishan (EWI), Rich Perry (tenor sax), Robert Sabin (bass), and Mark Ferber (drums); Conduits (2015), featuring Rich Perry (tenor sax), Mark Ferber (drums), and Thompson Kneeland (bass); and Tapestries of Song (2011), featuring Rich Perry (tenor sax), Steve LaSpina (bass), and Dan Weiss (drums).

1. Simone (4:51) - Frank Foster
2. Straight Up and Down (3:40) - Chick Corea
3. I Fall in Love too Easily (7:06) - Jules Stein
4. Hindsight (5:06) - Cedar Walton
5. Nefertiti (5:09) Wayne Shorter
6. Serenity (4:42) - Joe Henderson
7. Ju-Ju (6:50) - Wayne Shorter
8. Mode for Joe (5:07) - Cedar Walton
9. Moon River (4:33) - Henry Mancini
10. The Moontrane (5:22) - Woody Shaw
11. Darn That Dream (5:22) -Jimmy Van Huesen

This musically resplendent new recording opens on the free flowing vibe found within Frank Foster’s classic modal blues waltz, Simone and the frenetically sculpted Chick Corea cut Straight Up and Down and then proceeds to being us the languishing I Fall in Love too Easily, the finger-snapping foot-tapper Hindsight and then comes Wayne Shorter’s fluidly alluring Nefertiti.

Along next is the playfully flirtatious Joe Henderson cut Serenity and the perky flow of another Shorter track, Ju-Ju and they are in turn backed by the pulsatingly cultured Mode for Joe, the laid back, lazy river ambiance of the classic Henry Mancini track Moon River, the album rounding out on trumpeter Woody Shaw’s uproariously joyful, upright bass-fed The Moontrane, closing on the luxuriant 1939 composed track, Darn That Dream.

www.mattpanayides.com

Hailing from the vibrant Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, CA, alto saxophonist Devin Daniels stands out as one of the most unique and versatile voices to emerge from LA’s rapidly evolving creative music landscape.

Alto saxophonist Devin Daniels stands out as one of the most unique and versatile voices to emerge from LA’s rapidly evolving creative music landscape. The Inglewood (CA) native has the unique ability to fit into any musical situation without sacrificing the integrity of his individual voice.

That, combined with his warm and thoughtful personality, is why Daniels has been invited to perform with bands led by Gerald Clayton, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, John Beasley, Sam Barsh and Jamael Dean.

In 2023, the great Herbie Hancock invited Devin to join him alongside jazz legends Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Terence Blanchard, Chris Potter and LA-royalty, Kamasi Washington in a performance at the Hollywood Bowl honoring the late iconic saxophonist, Wayne Shorter.

Following this performance, Hancock invited Daniels to join his band again, this time for a month-long US tour in the Spring of 2024.

Recorded live at LA’s westside jazz club, Sam First, LesGo! captures the live, unadulterated energy from five exceptionally gifted LA-based musicians – trumpeter Julien Knowles, pianist Chris Fishman, bassist Jermaine Paul and drummer Benjamin Ring.

With an impressive list of collective performance credits that include Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Billy Childs and Pat Metheny, it goes without saying that these incredibly talented musicians represent a very important branch of LA’s evolving music scene.

Side A:
1. LesGo! (7:07)
2. Spiral (14:14)

Putting the vinyl LP on the record player, and Side A opens the opulently organic title track LesGo!, where everyone assembled is notably up for the task of bringing their musical talents to the fore, and then we are brought forth my own personal favorite track here, the stunningly alive, elegantly jaunty, yet both emphatically scrolled and exuberantly soaring at the same time, Spiral.

Side B:
3. Reckon (6:31)
4. N**’s N** (10:50)

Flipping the lush vinyl LP over, and having been recorded on February 16th and 17th, 2024 at the aforementioned Sam First, we next get brought forth the luxuriantly sculpted, at times suave, at others playfully flirtatious, Reckon and then comes the forthright stance that drives the ten minute N**’s N**.

A track truly in and unto itself here on this recording, it is a masterpiece of the highest order; soaring, dipping, floating, glistening, shimmering, and yet at all times confidently sturdy. Also know that if you get the digital edition of this wondrous new album, be on the look out for the fifth track Him, a rather assuredly resounding track that showcases a genuine growing confidence within Daniels.

Sam First Records is the in-house label for the Westside Los Angeles jazz club, Sam First. A product of the club owner Paul Solomon and musician/artistic director David Robaire, the label is keeping the spirit of jazz moving forward in the 21st century.

Recorded using Sam First’s state-of-the-art analog to digital recording setup, then mixed and mastered in-house. The music is then pressed onto 180-gram vinyl LP and packaged in static-free audiophile rice paper sleeves with a double-sided full-bleed insert displaying the album credits and liner notes.

Vinyl packaging displays a full-bleed print of the cover photo taken by Sam First Records owner, Paul Solomon. Edition of 1,000, each copy displaying its own unique foil-stamped number.

Musicians:
Devin Daniels - alto saxophone
Julien Knowles - trumpet
Chris Fishman - piano
Jermaine Paul - basses
Benjamin Ring - drums

Devin Daniels Quintet - LesGo! (Official Video)

www.devindaniels.com

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For those not in the know, self-proclaimed “demented pop” chanteuse Eddy Lee Ryder makes her long-awaited full-length debut with Sweet Delusions, synthesizing timeless songcraft, dramatic introspection, and infinite pop smarts to create a breathtaking song cycle of apocalyptic romance and anxious regret, badly broken hearts, and wishful hope for the future.

Songs like “Highwaymen” and the deceptively optimistic title track, Ryder – known to friends and family as Woodstock, NY-based singer-songwriter Liz Brennan – fusing chanson and country, indie and standards, into her own strain of modernist pop Americana, all informed by her distinctively wry sense of humor and classic rock spirit.

That creative capriciousness resonates throughout the album, Ryder’s witty but deeply reflective songwriting offering up keenly detailed snapshots of secret intimacies, small cruelties, and a relationship gone horribly south.

Quirky and charming while still precise and powerfully personal, Sweet Delusions reveals Eddy Lee Ryder as a one-of-a-kind new artist, her unabashed heartache and beguiling humor completely her own yet as identifiable and real as any of our own.

“I want my music to carry multiple emotions, just like every experience,” Ryder says. “Nostalgia, absurdity, humor, and sorrow.”

1. Sweet Delusions
2. Highwaymen
3. Bad Decisions
4. Joke Is On Me
5. Antarctica
6. Pennyroyal Tea
7. Simple Touch
8. Shoop Shoop Shut Up
9. Smoke and Mirrors
10. Only Real Cowboy
11. County Fair

Penned and performed with uncommon brio and invention, this musically resplendent new recording opens on the veritably sweeping title track Sweet Delusions and the atmospheric, shimmering twang of Highwaymen, and then we get the silky smooth, low slung country balladry of Bad Decisions, the gentle melodic hipsway of Joke Is On Me and then comes the veritably ethereal Antarctica.

Along next is a shadowy ambiance that drives Pennyroyal Tea and the pop-country vibe of Simple Touch and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the sweeping balladry of Shoop Shoop Shut Up, the gently rambunctious foot-tapper Smoke and Mirrors, the album rounding out on the storytelling that drives Only Real Cowboy, closing on the delicately-hued, airy ballad County Fair.

Eddy Lee Ryder has toured with Howie Day, been synched in the smash horror it, “Terrifier 2”, and featured in American Songwriter & Pop Matters. She has played live on Jam in the Van, and Radio Woodstock.

Official Spotify Purchase Link www.eddyleeryder.com

Released in 1956 as the debut album by the Miles Davis Quintet, “Miles” features a combination of pop and jazz standards. Originally released on Prestige Records, the album features an all-star cast of players with John Coltrane (tenor sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Philly Joe Jones (drums).

This new edition of the album is released as part of the OJC Series and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI with (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. It is presented in a Tip-On Jacket.

Side A:
1. Just Squeeze Me
2. There Is No Greater Love
3. How Am I To Know?

Side B:
1. S’Posin
2. The Theme
3. Stablemates

After his success at the Newport Jazz Festival in the summer of 1955, Miles Davis was back as a leading jazz figure and had the clout to form his own band: The Quintet. Not that many weeks after forming they recorded this album in November for Prestige (the band is credited as The New Miles Davis Quintet, although, in all truth, I am not sure if it is the Quintet or Davis that is new - but yes, it could well be the latter).

In the long view of Davis’s career this is not a major work, but it is so much more than simply an apprentice work for in my humble opinion, it is a mighty fine work of musical art.

Indeed, the two notable things about it are that Davis plays with a consistency, range and assured smoothness that I’m not aware that he had previously matched, and that the band are not just a collection of fine musicians, but already have the mutual understanding that was to make them one of the greatest jazz combos of the 1950s (or of any time, some might argue).

Davis plays mostly with a muted trumpet - an important part of the distinctive Davis sound - and let us never forget the importance of the microphone for Davis, for he could play gently to the microphone, not needing the strength of lungs and technique that all of the previous great trumpet players had to project his personality.

There Is No Greater Love (where if you listen closely enough, you can hear a dog barking) is one of the brooding ballads that provoke images of a figure alone looking out to sea on a frosty morning. Just Squeeze Me is one of the mid-tempo numbers where he plays with that uniquely cool nonchalance. How Am I To Know and S’posin show his relatively new mastery of up-tempo numbers and the penultimate The Theme has some impressive upright bass work in the first minute or so, culminating with a nice drum-led finish.

Overall, the band are just superb throughout. Philly Joe Jones is quiet on the first two tracks, but blistering on the rest. Red Garland is a bit too billowing for my taste on the ballad There Is No Greater Love, but is fine on the others. Paul Chambers plays the clear lines of hard bop bass with gusto and the always-inspiring John Coltrane is great, but in the context of his career he seems slightly tentative, not yet the overpowering musician he would be in a few years time.

In closing, and even if the Quintet was to record much finer records in the near future, this is an excellent beginning and well worthy of this rather wondrous Craft Recordings 180g new vinyl re-release.

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For those unaware, Cookie Crew: Pick Up On This - 1987-1992 is a wondrous 4CD Box-Set and is the first career overview of Britain’s most celebrated female rap act, Cookie Crew.

One of the first and most significant British female hip-hop acts, South London duo Cookie Crew were equally skilled at making club-oriented pop-rap and more socially conscious hardcore rap. They broke through with 1987’s Rok da House, a collaboration with the Beatmasters which was arguably the first hip-house track, and certainly the style’s first major hit.

While Cookie Crew incorporated elements of house and electro into their music, they were never interested in being pigeonholed as a dance act. Their two albums, 1989’s Born This Way and 1991’s Fade to Black, featured production by members of Stetsasonic, Black Sheep, and Gang Starr, as well as collaborations with vibraphonist Roy Ayers and funk legend Edwin Starr.

Following a pair of 1992 singles which respectively concentrated on the duo’s house and hardcore sides, Cookie Crew sadly disbanded.

Their entire discography is now brought forth here in this new Box-Set and contains both their albums - Born This Way and Fade To Black - and all of the singles, plus an abundance of remixes with 20 of the tracks being issued here on CD for the first time.

Disc One: Born This Way (1989)
1. Yo! What’s Up
2. From The South
3. Come On And Get Some
4. Pick Up On This
5. Feelin’ Proud
6. Bad Girls (Rock The Spot)
7. Got To Keep On
8. Born This Way
9. Black Is The Word
10. Places And Spaces For Your Mind
11. Rhymes And Careers
12. Dazzle’s Theme
13. Got To Keep On (B-Boy Mix)
14. Places And Spaces (Mellow Mix)
15. Rok Da House 12” [Bonus Track]
16. Rok Da House (Remix)* [Bonus Track]
17. Females (Get On Up) 12” [Bonus Track]

The first disc features their Born This Way album, as well as Cookie Crew’s first appearance on record when they joined Beatmasters for their hit single Rok Da House, alongside a remix of the single that’s not been available on CD before. It also features their debut single in their own right, Females.

After signing with London Records, Cookie Crew took on the US, and soon they were working with the likes of Stetsasonic and Gang Starr. But through all of this, they stuck to their truth, and to their British identity, and did all they could to represent the burgeoning scene at home.

Thus songs from their debut album Born This Way make direct reference to their home town and to their journey (“We’ve got a message to all who said we couldn’t do it / take a look at us now, take your words and chew it”); Black is the Word captures their pride in their Black British identity and From the South is a homage to their home.

Indeed, their subject matters overall were very, very British, with their references actually coming from their parents, themselves from the Windrush era. Hip-hop in a way introduced them to what was happening in America, but it didn’t introduce them to wider issues they faced as Black people. Hence why their music/lyrics dive into these topics in a way that is brightly bold, in my humble opinion.

Disc Two: Fade To Black (1991)
1. Secrets (Of Success)
2. Love Will Bring Us Together
3. Fade To Black
4. Mysteries
5. The Powers Of Positive Thinking
6. Mental Maniac
7. Watch The Cookies Crumble ’Em
8. Going Freestyle
9. A Word To The Conscious
10. How Long (Has This Been Going On)
11. Here We Go
12. Like Brother Like Sister
13. Time 2b What We Wanna Be
14. Secrets (Of Success) (Cooks Mix)
15. Secrets (Of Success) (Live At The Bar-b-que Mix) [Bonus Track]
16. Mental Maniac (Broadmoor version) [Bonus Track]

The second disc features Fade To Black as well as bonus tracks, where tracks such as The Powers of Positive Thinking and A Word to the Conscious laid bare their thoughts and feelings on vital issues of the day - including the incarceration of Mandela, the causes of racism and oppression, and gun control.

Of course, they must have also known that these tracks would never be chosen as radio play singles, but they still wanted to make them, to satisfy themselves, to show they had a voice on the subjects.

They came from a very tomboyish image and so for them to try and be like, say, Salt-N-Pepa, well, it just was not going to work and I think that it was their demise in the end. Female rappers were getting more and more sexual, and they were going more and more the other way. They did not want to compete, and perhaps, just couldn’t.

Female rappers are all about the lyrics and delivering and showing that they are better than the guys, in regards to the UK scene at that time, and Cookie Crew felt like that when they first started in 1985, their whole point was to be better than the boys. Because they were the ones that were popular.

The third disc contains remixes, eight of which have never been issued on CD before and the fourth, and final disc, is comprised of remixes, eleven of which have never been issued before!

Disc Three: Remixes
1. Come On & Get Some (Cookapella)* 2. Females (Get On Up) (Remix Cut)* 3. Got To Keep On (Danny D’s HipHouse Remix)* 4. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Biznizz Beats)* 5. Born This Way (Let’s Dance) (12” Version) 6. Come On & Get Some (Super Fly Mix) 7. (Secrets (Of Success) (Club Mix)* 8. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Feel The Vibe) 9. Mental Maniac (Psychotropic Version)* 10. Brother, Like Sister (Sure Is Pure Mix) 11. Crew’s Gone Mad (Lyrics)* 12. Born This Way (Let’s Dance) (Prince Paul Dope Mix) 13. Secrets (Of Success) (Cooks Instrumental)*

Disc Four: Remixes
1. Born This Way (Sue’s Favourite Mix) 2. Females (Get On Up) (The Godmother)* 3. Come On & Get Some (Drum & Bass Mix) 4. Secrets (Of Success) (Two Step Style)* 5. Brother Like Sister (Full On Mix) 6. Crew’s Gone Mad (Acapella)* 7. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Cooks Mix)* 8. Born This Way (Prince Paul Instrumental)* 9. Come On & Get Some (Jack Swing Mix) 10. Secrets (Of Success) (Acapella)* 11. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Louis Louis Mix)* 12. Brother Like Sister (Deep Club Mix)* 13. Crew’s Gone Mad (Beats)* 14. Come On & Get Some (Raga Mix)* 15. Love Will Bring Us Back Together (Acapella)

* PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE ON CD

Both members, Cookie Pryce and Susan Banfield, have been interviewed exclusively for the sleeve notes and have also opened their photo archive, providing a wealth of rare images.

Cookie Crew - Pick Up On This - 1987-1992 4CD [Official Trailer]

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For those unaware, SoulMusic Records (SMR) in association with The Second Disc presents this definitive, first-time-ever 5CD box set by this Grammy-nominated artist believed to be the most-sampled female singer in popular music.

A total of 58 tracks which includes expanded editions of the four full-length albums recorded during her association with Salsoul’s Gold Mind Records and a specially curated fifth disc that includes remixes, instrumentals, acapellas and reinventions from her Gold Mind/Salsoul catalog. All audio has been newly remastered by Nick Robbins.

Key tracks include her #1 Dance smash, ‘Love Sensation’, written and produced by Grammy-nominated multi-hyphenate Dan Hartman, her first Top Three dance hit, ‘Hit and Run’, and her cover of Debby Boone’s ‘You Light Up My Life’, which earned Ms. Holloway her singular Grammy nomination.

It also includes productions by Norman Harris, Ron Kersey, Bunny Sigler, Ron Tyson and Vincent Montana Jr., all synonymous with the Philly Sound, as well as Floyd Smith, Bobby Womack, Tom Moulton and Patrick Adams, with mixes and re-edits by Larry Levan, Walter Gibbons, Shep Pettibone, Danny Krivit, and others.

Indeed, every album features legendary musicians including The Trammps’ Earl Young, Bobby Eli, Ron Baker, Steve Gadd, Cornell Dupree, Richard Tee, George Bussey, Larry Washington and Gordon Edwards of Stuff with The Waters and The Sweethearts of Sigma (Barbara Ingram, Carla Benson and Evette Benton), among others, providing background vocals.

Disc One: LOLEATTA (EXPANDED EDITION) (1973)
1. Hit and Run (5:59)
2. Is It Just a Man’s Way (3:44)
3. We’re Getting Stronger (The Longer We Stay Together) (4:34)
4. Dreamin’ (6:19)
5. Ripped Off (4:52)
6. Worn Out Broken Heart (5:36)
7. That’s How Heartaches Are Made (3:03)
8. What Now (6:19)
9. Hit and Run (Original Walter Gibbons 12” Mix) (10:57) [Bonus Track]
10. We’re Getting Stronger (The Longer We Stay Together) (Original Walter Gibbons 12” Mix) (7:18)[Bonus Track]
11. Dreamin’ (12” Disco Mix by Carl Paroulo) (8:51)[Bonus Track]
12. Hit and Run (Unreleased Walter Gibbons Jungle Mix) (8:51)[Bonus Track]

Synonymous with Disco Diva, Loleatta Holloway was a gospel-trained powerhouse with a full-bodied vocal style - and a knack for entertaining monologues - who was also successful with her deeply impassioned ballads.

The first disc is her self-titled Loleatta, which was released after she has just signed with Gold Mind, the Salsoul Records subsidiary run by producer Norman Harris, and thus was embraced by DJs and dancers alike.

Featuring a club-tailored trio of Dreamin’, Hit and Run, and Ripped Off that altogether nearly topped Billboard’s disco chart, Holloway’s voice, however full of strident indignation and volcanic sexuality, is always the dominant force in her songs, going toe to toe with even the most pounding pianos and lushest orchestras.

Disc Two: QUEEN OF THE NIGHT (EXPANDED EDITION) (1978)
1. Catch Me on the Rebound (6:08)
2. Only You (Guest vocalist: Bunny Sigler) (6:15)
3. Good, Good Feeling (4:14)
4. Mama Don’t, Papa Won’t (4:58)
5. I May Not Be There When You Want Me (But I’m Right On Time) (7:33)
6. You Light Up My Life (4:03)
7. Two Sides to Every Story (4:29)
8. I’m In Love (4:15)
9. Catch Me on the Rebound (Original Walter Gibbons 12” Mix) (10:47) [Bonus Track]
10. Catch Me on the Rebound (Instrumental) (7:19) [Bonus Track]
11. I May Not Be There When You Want Me (Original Tom Moulton 12” Mix) (10:19) [Bonus Track]

After Gold Mind folded, all of their acts were transferred to Salsoul and Holloway’s first Salsoul album once again reunited her with Salsoul stalwart Norman Harris, who took on the production duties, and with this now being her second album for the Disco-dominated label, it confirmed her transformation from Southern Soul songstress to Disco royalty!

With Queen of the Night, Holloway scored the number 11 R&B hit Only You and earned a Grammy nomination for her version of You Light Up My Life. In addition to the Salsoul Orchestra’s number three disco single Run Away, it also contained the disco hits Catch Me on the Rebound, Mama Don’t, Papa Won’t, and I May Not Be There When You Want Me.

This is one of those albums where everything worked. If you like a great voice, great Disco and you are familiar with names like Vince Montana, Tom Moulton, Salsoul Orchestra and The Philadelphia Sound, then you have purchased the right Box-Set here, my friends!

Disc Three: LOLEATTA HOLLOWAY (EXPANDED EDITION) (1979)
1. The Greatest Performance of My Life (6:59)
2. All About the Paper (6:11)
3. There Must Be a Reason (6:13)
4. That’s What You Said (6:48)
5. Baby It’s You (3:55)
6. There’ll Come a Time (3:21)
7. Sweet Mother of Mine (4:39)
8. The Greatest Performance of My Life (Larry Levan Remix) (6:48) [Bonus Track]
9. That’s What You Said (12” Disco Version by Rick Gianatos) (10:07) [Bonus Track]
10. All About the Paper (Extended Version) (7:09) [Bonus Track]
11. The Greatest Performance of My Life (12” Disco Version) (9:26) [Bonus Track]
12. That’s What You Said (Special Edit) (3:26) [Bonus Track]

Her next album, the again self-titled Loleatta Holloway includes the disco hits All About the Papers, That’s What You Said (another Holloway/Sigler duet), The Greatest Performance of My Life, and the deep-soul ballad There Must Be a Reason.

Around 1979, Holloway contributed vocals to Relight My Fire, a massive disco hit for Dan Hartman (Instant Replay, I Can Dream About You). Indeed, Hartman produced the singer’s signature tune, Love Sensation, which topped the club chart and the song was also the title of Holloway’s 1980 LP (see below).

Disc Four: LOVE SENSATION (EXPANDED EDITION) (1980)
1. Love Sensation (6:02)
2. Long Hard Climb to Love (4:34)
3. Short End of the Stick (3:23)
4. I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (4:42)
5. Two Became a Crowd (5:22)
6. Dance What ‘Cha Wanna (5:10)
7. My Way (5:25)
8. I’ll Be Standing There (4:50)
9. Love Sensation (Original Tom Moulton 12” Mix) (6:31) [Bonus Track]
10. Love Sensation (Original Shep Pettibone 12” Mix) (7:46) [Bonus Track]
11. Love Sensation (Unreleased Tom Moulton Mix) (8:36) [Bonus Track]
12. Love Sensation (After Hours Mix) (6:51) [Bonus Track]
13. Love Sensation (Acapella) (3:30) [Bonus Track]

On an album that spawned the disco hits Dance What Cha Wanna and Short End of the Stick, Holloway takes the utopian ideals of clubland – sex, community, abandon – and massively amplifies them back at the dancers, singing to each one of them and the club as a whole. As her voice surges onto and fills the dancefloor, it really does feel like we’re all getting stronger.

As for the album’s stand out tracks, well for me, Love Sensation itself is one of the most thrilling dance songs recorded in the age of early club music! But also take a listen to her cover of Otis Redding’s I’ve Been Loving You too Long and you’ll see she is a phenomenon with a quite unparalleled depth.

Disc Five: REMIXES AND REINCARNATIONS
1. Catch Me on the Rebound (Original Walter Gibbons Disco Madness Version) (7:34) 2. Hit and Run (Joey Negro Dub Sensation) (5:12) 3. Runaway (Danny Krivit Re-edit) (8:37) 4. We’re Getting Stronger (Instrumental) (6:04) 5. Mama Don’t, Papa Won’t (Mama’s Mix) (6:18) 6. Love Sensation (Shep Pettibone Rough Mix / Dim’s DJ Friendly Re-Edit) (7:31) 7. Stand Up (Pangaea’s Mix) (5:44) 8. Short End of the Stick (The Reflex Edit) (5:43) 9. Seconds (Special Club Version) (8:57) 10. Dreamin’ (Jazz N Groove Mix) (6:48) 11. We’re Getting Stronger (Acapella) (5:51).

A deluxe booklet designed by Ray Curenton includes comprehensive notes by the collection’s producer, God’s Music Is My Life’s Tim Dillinger creating the most in-depth biographical account of Holloway’s career on record with rare photographs and artifacts.

Official Purchase Link

For those not in the know, singer-songwriter-musicologist Phil Alvin drew from the deep well of American blues, jazz (both hot and avant garde), R&B, gospel, and early 20th century popular song for the collection’s material.

He is joined on the album by the 1994 edition of the Blasters and an illustrious lineup of guests: Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, Chicago blues ace Billy Boy Arnold, New Orleans’ Dirty Dozen Brass Band, blues shouter Top Jimmy of Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, and L.A. street musician Jerome Bowman.

In addition to being available on CD and digital, County Fair 2000 will make its vinyl debut in a gatefold LP package; due to time limitations, the LP will omit four songs from the original track list. Those songs will, however, appear on CD and digital.

1. County Fair
2. Wreck Your V-8 Ford
3. The Blue Line
4. That Thing
5. Turnin’ Blues Into Gold
6. Starlight
7. Keep In Touch
8. What’s the Reason I’m Not Pleasin’ You
9. She Loves So Good
10. Callin’ Corinne
11. The Terror
12. Oh Doctor
13. Mr. Satellite Man
14. Low Down Rhythm
15. Danny Boy’s Mourning Sunset: Old Rugged Cross
16. Ankh / Didn’t He Ramble

County Fair 2000 received a warm reception from media upon its 1994 release, even if it struggled to find commercial success, and opens on that gently frenetic title track, and backs it up with the rambunctious, harmonica-driven Wreck Your V-8 Ford, the groovy blues of The Blue Line, the low slung That Thing and then we get brought forth the triumphantly-hued Turnin’ Blues Into Gold, the lonesome ode Starlight, the turbo-charged Keep In Touch and the playful What’s the Reason I’m Not Pleasin’ You.

Along next is the melodic She Loves So Good and the gritty Callin’ Corinne, and they are in turn backed by the Charleston-imbibed The Terror, the impassioned Oh Doctor, the old school blues of Mr. Satellite Man, and then comes the spirited Ragtime vibe of Low Down Rhythm, the resounding Danny Boy’s Mourning Sunset: Old Rugged Cross rounding things out, the smooth elegance of Ankh / Didn’t He Ramble closing the recording.

The Blasters appear on four tracks (“County Fair,” “The Blue Line,” “Keep In Touch,” and “Mr. Satellite Man”).

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For those not in the know, with her lyrically driven songs, Rachel McIntyre Smith’s comfort twang music reminds listeners of the classics while also adding a relevant and fresh perspective.

Raised in the small East Tennessee town of Oliver Springs, Rachel began piano lessons at 9 years old. She won the Tennessee State Piano Competition twice and earned the Paderewski Medal for Guild for 10 years of superior ratings in a row.

This strong background of music theory allowed Rachel to excel in other areas of music. She taught herself ukulele and guitar and also served as clarinet section leader in her school band. She made her debut singing “Please Mister Postman” in the high school theater arts production.

Upon graduating from college, she compiled 13 demos of her original music and began sending them to venues. Due to the quirky subject matter of her original “The Kitten Song,” she became a regular performer at cat cafes. In early 2020, she launched a concert tour of those feline-friendly venues.

In 2022, Rachel independently released her debut EP Glory Daze, which went on to be featured on BBC Radio, Spotify’s Best of Fresh Finds Country 2022, and Grady Smith’s Youtube Channel where he named the title track one of the best country songs of 2022.

Now in 2024, Rachel just released her second EP, Honeysuckle Friend, which features her most poignant lyrics set to banjo, mandolin, and three-part harmonies.

1. Grow Up Slow
2. Parentheses
3. Memories In The Middle
4. Stoke The Coals
5. Hold The Ladder

Her brightly colored style, smooth vocals, and small-town charm immediately comes to the fore on the dreamy Grow Up Slow and then we get brought forth the luxuriant Parentheses, the upbeat and free-wheeling Memories In The Middle, the delightful new recording rounding out on the impassioned foot-tapper Stoke The Coals, closing on the robustly emboldened Hold The Ladder.

Musicians: Andy Ellison (steel guitar) & Johnny Smith (drums).

Grow Up Slow by Rachel McIntyre Smith (Lyric Video)

Official Spotify Purchase Link

For those not in the know, Thad Jones was still in his mid-50s when he originally recorded “My Centennial,” little more than halfway to the landmark birthday suggested by the composition’s title – hardly out of character for a trumpeter, composer and bandleader who was always well ahead of his time.

With Joes’ untimely passing in 1986 at the age of 63, the responsibility of commemorating his actual centennial – March 28, 2023, to be exact – falls to the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the now-legendary ensemble that he co-founded in 1966 as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.

Centennial: The Music of Thad Jones (due out August 30th via BCM+D Records), is a vibrant celebration of an unparalleled body of work and an estimable legacy, renewed and revivified every Monday night on the stage of the most revered jazz club on the planet.

“I always say that we have two things going for us that no other band has,” explains bass trombonist Douglas Purviance, who joined the VJO in 1978 and now serves as its business manager. “That’s Thad Jones’ music and a steady gig at the Mecca of jazz. It’s every jazz musician’s goal to play the Village Vanguard, and we get to do that every week. It’s magic every Monday.”

The magic was extended to a week long enchantment in February 2024, as it is every year, to celebrate the ensemble’s own anniversary. Late in 1965, Jones -- middle brother of the famed jazz family that also included pianist Hank and drummer Elvin -- and the drummer Mel Lewis had agreed to share the helm of a new big band, booking three nights the following February to test the concept on the stage of the Village Vanguard.

The club’s cantankerous owner, Max Gordon, grudgingly acknowledged the Orchestra’s successful debut, reportedly suggesting, “We’ll keep it going until it tapers off.”

Nearly six decades and more than 2,700 Monday nights later, the Vanguard is still waiting. The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra modernized the big band sound as the world changed through the late 60s and early 70s.

Jones’ writing and arranging drew upon the inspiration of the two most iconic bands in jazz history, elegantly interweaving the complexity and elegance of Duke Ellington with the fervor and blues roots of Count Basie, in whose band Jones had launched his career.

Disc 1:
1. Interloper (9:40)
2. Antigua (8:31)
3. Blues in a Minute (12:31)
4. 61st & Rich’it (12:52)
5. A Child Is Born (6:33)
6. Tow Away Zone (10:46)

The set-list, which reaches all the way back to the band’s beginnings, opens the first disc on the expressively free flowing Interloper and then brings us the sparkling Antigua, the veritably cinematic gem Blues in a Minute, the emotively entrancing 61st & Rich’it (which itself serves as a tribute to another foundational band member, original Orchestra bassist Richard Davis, who passed away in September 2023), and then we get both the dutifully spellbinding ballad A Child is Born and the spirited Tow Away Zone.

Disc 2:
7. Back Bone (11:02)
8. My Centennial (11:38)
9. All of Me (8:05)
10. Once Around (9:29)
11. Easy Livin’ (8:54)
12. Don’t Git Sassy (14:29)

Along next on this vibrant two-album set captured live on stage at the ensemble’s Monday night home for nearly six decades, the iconic Village Vanguard, the second disc opens on the luxuriant Back Bone and the fervently-charged My Centennial, and they are then in turn backed seamlessly by the sumptuous All of Me, the all-embracing Once Around, the recording rounding out on an impassioned Easy Livin’, closing on the soulful finger-snapper Don’t Git Sassy.

For those not in the know, another collaboration between Javon Jackson and Nikki Giovanni has produced a new album, Javon and Nikki Go to the Movies, which will be released on August 23rd, 2024.

Jackson and Giovanni have forged an artistic partnership that all started at UHart. Since bonding together over their connection to jazz during the University of Hartford’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Observance in 2020, the pair came full circle releasing their first two years later during Black History Month 2022, entitled The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni.

Their relationship over the years have only deepened, as well as their shared interests. One of them is American Cinema, as directly referenced in latest album’s title. The album selects some of Giovanni’s favorites - standards from the Great American Songbook, many of them originally composed for Hollywood classics — as well as some of Jackson’s own compositions.

On Javon and Nikki Go To The Movies, Jackson is once again joined by longtime musicians he’s worked with for more than a decade. They include pianist Jeremy Manasia, bassist David Williams and drummer McClenty Hunter.

These musicians have appeared on Jackson’s 2018 album For You and its 2020 follow-up, Déjà Vu, then after The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni, they reconvened for a portion of Jackson’s soundtrack to the documentary With Peter Bradley in 2023. On their latest album, they’re also joined by Grammy-winning vocalist Nicole Zuraitis.

1. When the Time Is Right
2. Speak Low/That Day
3. How About You
4. Theme For Nikki
5. I Belong To You
6. Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
7. The Nearness of You
8. Valse Hot
9. The Folks Who Live on the Hill
10. Have You Heard/Vegetable Soup

This vibrantly melodious new recording opens on the spirited When the Time Is Right and then brings us the low slung splendor of Speak Low/That Day, then Nicole Zuraitis brings her compelling vocals to an exhilarating How About You, before we are brought the aptly-cinematic Theme For Nikki (Jackson’s tribute to his collaborator), and again Nicole comes to the vocal fore on the languishing ballad I Belong To You.

Along next is the silky smooth Love is a Many-Splendored Thing and an achingly ornate The Nearness of You, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the gentle finger-snapper Valse Hot, the album rounding out on the luxuriant, Nicole-sung, wistful The Folks Who Live on the Hill, closing on her mature reflection, along with that of Nikki Giovanni, on the combined Have You Heard/Vegetable Soup.

For those not in the know, with the release of his debut album, Gateway, the Phoenix-raised, New York City-based trombonist, composer, and educator Michael Pallas looks to make his mark as a leader to be reckoned with.

A trombonist inspired by J.J. Johnson. Curtis Fuller, Steve Turre and Papo Vasquez, Pallas is a proud alumnus of the Jackie McLean Institute, founded by legendary alto saxophonist and educator Jackie McLean in Hartford, Connecticut.

While Pallas has been performing professionally for over 15 years, including stints with legendary jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, mambo big band leader Steve Oquendo, Afrobeat band Antibalas, hip-hop group Soul Science Lab and others, the trombonist was inspired to become a solo artist during the pandemic.

“I really had a lot of time just to reflect on where my career was at that point,” Pallas says, “and I felt like it was necessary for me to start moving in this direction of really seriously writing my own music, and eventually releasing my own record. So I began to compose tunes that dealt with themes and emotions that I and many artists were facing during the first two years of the decade.”

1. Life on Mars
2. One for the City
3. Steaming Hope
4. Patent(s)
5. Disu’s Dream
6. Counterfeit Blues
7. The Verdict
8. Today and Forever
9. Next Exit
10. Gateway
11. Beyond (The Gateway)
12. El Boli
13. Variant

This vibrantly melodious new recording opens on the smoothly fervent, infectious Cubop cut Life on Mars, the low slung finger-snapper One for the City (an upbeat waltz dedicated to New York City) and the languishing Steaming Hope and then we get brought forth the short, but nonetheless sweet, hip-hop flavored interlude Patent(s), the low slung Disu’s Dream (a rumba dedicated to memory of Pallas’ friend and fellow trombonist Jason Disu) and the groove-tastic Counterfeit Blues (which features spoken word artist Ghazi Omair talking about police brutality and the murder of George Floyd).

Along next is the continuance, in a way, of that last track, the addictive, drum ad percussion-led The Verdict and the beautiful ballad Today and Forever and they are in turn followed by the veritably shimmering, hip-hop friendly interlude Next Exit, the free-flowing musical majesties that come together for Gateway, and the Afrofuturistic, neo-soul-hued Beyond (The Gateway), the album rounding out on the buoyant El Boli (which is based on Chick Corea’s “Humpty Dumpty,”), closing on the empowering sounds of Variant (itself a blend of dance beats, psychedelic effects and Afro-Colombian cumbia rhythms).

Backed by saxophonist Lomar Brown, pianist Yeissonn Villamar, bassist John Benítez, drummer Jonathan Barber, and percussionist Nelson Mathew Gonzalez – with co-producer Alex Meltzer – the 13 Pallas-penned selections on Gateway reflect the myriad inventions and dimensions of 21st century jazz.

www.pallasmusic.com

For those not in the know, Fredericton-based singer songwriter Kylie Fox has reached a pivotal point in her music career. After making her introduction with the Balcony EP in 2017, Fox recruited EMCA award winning producer Dale Murray to create her claimed debut full-length album, Green.

Now firmly established as a prominent, emerging voice in both folk and indie rock circles in Atlantic Canada, her next moves may be her most important.

To help plot her course, Fox enlisted some of the Fredericton region’s most ubiquitous and sought after musicians. For the past few years she has been backed by a dream team of local players that includes multi-instrumentalist Kelly Waterhouse, drummer Ryan Barrie, bassist Camilo Villamizar, and lead guitarist Sean Hutchins, all four of which are featured alongside Fox and producer by Daniel Ledwell on her latest single.

Confetti was that single, a one sided, scornful love song with an awkward twist. “This song is actually a fairy tale break-up I stole from one of my friends,” said Fox of the inspiration behind writing the song.

And so it was Fox’s single that delightfully offered a dutiful, and insightful first glimpse of what’s to come from her upcoming sophomore album, Sequoia (out now).

1. Sequoia
2. Brandi Baby
3. Confetti
4. Ming Mei
5. Flush
6. Hit
7. Alberta
8. Spend the Morning with Me
9. Flying Dreams
10. Ali’s Wedding
11. Certain

This vibrantly melodious new recording, and one that delves into folk-Canadiana while exploring folk-rock and jazz-pop fusion, opens on the impassioned title track Sequoia and the rhythmically staggered Brandi Baby (a heartfelt tribute to Brandi Carlile, although interestingly enough the you in the song is Fox’s drummer and fiancé, Ryan Barrie), and then we get the upbeat and free flowing Confetti, the melodiously low slung Ming Mei and the silky smooth pop styling of Flush (which humorously lists said same fiancé’s flaws!)

With Fox herself describing the album as ’70s Sesame Street meets Sharon Van Etten, and all the tracks reflections on gratitude in relation to the women in her life, her environment, her relationships, and her very own self-awareness, along next is the gentle funk that drives Hit and the languishing Alberta, and they are backed by the lovely Spend the Morning with Me, rounding out with the more stridently structured Flying Dreams, coming to a close on the passively harmonic Ali’s Wedding, and the stillness of storytelling within Certain.

Kylie Fox - Confetti (Live Music Video)

www.kyliefox.ca

For those not in the know, since the late 1980s Sam Phillips has been a poetic voice in the alternative/pop realm. She recorded a series of acclaimed albums for Virgin Records, including the Grammy-nominated Martinis And Bikinis (expanded and reissued by Omnivore Recordings in 2012), all produced by T Bone Burnett.

At the turn of the century, Sam was invited by Amy Sherman-Palladino, who was a fan of Sam’s music, to score her new television series, Gilmore Girls, on a new network, The WB. Sam’s unconventional score featuring vocal and acoustic guitar was likened to an onscreen character itself and dubbed “the La La’s” by the growing legion of Gilmore Girls fans. Around that time Sam signed a new deal with Nonesuch Records and continued to build her stellar catalog.

In 2004, Phillips released A Boot And A Shoe, featuring guest artists including Burnett, Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello), Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Eminem), legendary drummer Jim Keltner, and the Section Quartet. The album contained 13 tracks including “Reflecting Light” and “If I Could Write”—both featured prominently in the Gilmore Girls original series and, most memorably, the Netflix revival Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life.

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of A Boot And A Shoe and to commemorate the anniversary, it is being issued for the very first time on vinyl, and reissued on CD, both with new liner notes by Sam. On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, now is the time to reintroduce this incredible record, and on the format fans of Sam and Gilmore Girls have been waiting for.

1. How To Quit
2. All Night
3. I Dreamed I Stopped Dreaming
4. Open The World
5. Red Silk Five
6. Reflecting Light
7. Infiltration
8. Draw Man
9. I Wanted To Be Alone
10. Love Changes Everything
11. If I Could Write
12. Hole In My Pocket
13. One Day Late

While I personally (albeit only slightly) prefer the darker tones on her previous-to-this masterpiece Fan Dance, here on A Boot And A Show the always-dulcet Sam is still musically sublime. The track Reflecting Light is simply one of the most beautiful songs she has ever written, in my humble opinion.

Noticeably brighter and a little more playful than her previous aforementioned release, it is no less profound and if, anything, is just a bit better than the second half of Fan Dance; based on the quality of the songwriting progression.

Indeed, her husband T-Bone Burnett has produced every one of Sam’s albums since 1988, and the success of each release is due in part to his general vision, but Sam’s creative input is still the reason I look for every record she puts out, even today.

Funnily enough, because of the overloaded bass on the brilliant All Night, I would highly recommend listeners use that song as a guide to program their stereos to get the most effective settings for listening to the album. The song itself actually sounds like something on a 50’s transistor radio, which itself simply adds tuneful credence to this album.

Furthermore, I really think that this album was her most adult and sophisticated set to date, and most definitely her strongest since 1994’s rockier, country-tinged Martinis & Bikinis (perhaps even stronger, at times).

Now, sure, at first A Boot And A Shoe may seem slight, but it is for sure an album that got better and better the more you played it. I mean, it had only been a few months since it had been released, and I can recall that my subtly nagging inner ear, suggesting that a lot of the songs were understated, sparing of melodic interludes, was soon eradicated as the songs got better and better with each listen.

In closing, this album has proven to be one of the most lovely, subtly engrossing and stalwart albums of that year and to this day remains in my Top 20 of all-time.

Official Purchase Link

www.samphillips.com

For those not in the know, this remastered Delay Tactics limited-edition 2CD set includes the double CD reissue of Out-Pop Options (1982) and Any Questions? (1984), as well as there also being a deluxe box-set which houses their brand new album Elements of Surprise (2022), plus the bonus CD, Delay tactics Live at The River Styx Poetry Series concert from 1983.

Delay Tactics was among the first American bands to produce music using digital instruments, including looping, sampling and delay effects, and was one of the most innovative indie bands of the 1980s. Formed in 1981 as the tape-looping guitar duo of Carl Weingarten and Reed Nesbit, Delay Tactics made its mark with late night ambient music concerts in St. Louis movie theaters.

Within a year, synthesist/sound designer Walter Whitney joined the band while recording the first Delay Tactics album, Out-Pop Options (Multiphase 1982). Nesbit departed in 1983 and was replaced by guitarist David Udell (of Wax Theatricks) and Delay Tactics released their second album, Any Questions? (Multiphase 1984).

Disc One: OUT-POP OPTIONS
1. Yellow Samba (5:35)
2. This Time (1:54)
3. Five PM Expressway (2:46)
4. On The Roll (2:32)
5. Journey To Omdurman (2:38)
6. Le Noeud De Viperes (4:39)
7. Cymbolia (3:56)
8. Rommie Dancing (3:49)
9. Chasing Moroder (5:43)
10. Basic Tactic (2:03)
11. Departure (2:56)
12. Fire Quest (5:06)*
13. Ceremony (2:28)*
14. Initial Opus*
15. Rommie Dancing (Live)*

*Tracks Previously Unreleased

The first album from St. Louis’ most vital group of musicians, is Out-Pop Options and opens on the veritably shimmering Yellow Samba, the opulent This Time, and the striking jagged Five PM Expressway and they are followed by the jaunty On The Roll, the powerful Journey To Omdurman and both the hauntingly ethereal, veritably industrial strains of Le Noeud De Viperes and then more aesthetic melodies that form Cymbolia are brought forth.

We then get brought forth the synth-propelled fever of Rommie Dancing, the cinematic Chasing Moroder and the cultured Basic Tactic, which are in turn backed seamlessly by the free-flowing Departure, a trio of previously-unreleased cuts in the vibrant Fire Quest, the elegantly-sculpted Ceremony and the pure brilliance of Initial Opus, the disc rounding out on a live version of Rommie Dancing (recorded at West End Wax, St. Louis, 4-9-1983).

Disc Two: ANY QUESTIONS?
1. Pterodactyl (3:11)
2. Hands On Fire (3:46)
3. Oysters (3:30)
4. On Green Waters (4:54)
5. Almost Touching (4:27)
6. Kites (6:05)
7. Under The Ice (4:18)
8. Trio (0:51)
9. Spring Man (5:56)
10. Woman In A Room (of Colors) (3:38)
11. Fiction Music (4:29)*
12. Nuke The Beat (3:43)*
13. Big Sound (3:10)*
14. Funk Tune (3:13)*
15. Ms. Witchdoctor (2:47)*
16. Car Crash Jam (5:42)*

*Tracks Previously Unreleased

Using a unique synthesis of electronic effects within a framework of rock bass and percussion, along next is their Any Questions? album, which itself kicks off with the synth-driven ebbs and flows of Pterodactyl, the sumptuously-synth Hands On Fire, and the gorgeous Oysters, and then we are graced with the ambient On Green Waters, the digitally punctuated Almost Touching, the eloquent Kites, and both the diffusive Under The Ice and the short, but sweet Trio.

Along next is the playfully perky Spring Man and the resoundingly all-encompassing Woman In A Room (of Colors), and the remainder of disc are all previously-unreleased tracks, such as the fun Fiction Music, the Human League-esque lines of Nuke The Beat, the aptly-titled Big Sound, the album closing on the Kraftwerk-esque Funk Tune, the atmospheric nature of Ms. Witchdoctor, and finally we get the charged Car Crash Jam.

From the more expansive box-set, Elements of Surprise is the latest release from the techno-pop instrumental trio Delay Tactics, making the band’s remarkable return with their first new album in 38 years. Produced and recorded by the original members Walter Whitney (keyboards, synthesizers), Carl Weingarten (electric and slide guitars) and David Udell (acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards), with special guest Michael Manring on fretless bass, Elements of Surprise contains all new songs ranging from the pop-ambient sound of Viola’s Ascent to the pastoral and evocative Acoustic Reprise to the prog inspired Shadow of Berlin, all showcasing the Delay Tactics signature sound.

This reissue of Delay Tactics’ seminal albums comes as a deluxe double compact disc package, remastered from the original master tapes. The package includes artwork and credits for both albums, plus 10 bonus tracks of previously unreleased studio and live recordings.

Official Purchase Page

Official Website

For those not in the know, The Breakers - a Surf /Psychedelic /Garage /Punk instro combo from the Chicago area - return with a collection of 18 psych surf instrumentals!

Ranging from galloping garage stompers to more experimental and atmospheric cuts, this hypnotic release is sure to get your synapses firing on all cylinders!

Featuring the previously released single, Monster Storm, along with evocative tracks like Escaping Through the Window and Garage Door To Your Mind, this one is sure to blow your stack!

1. Salute
2. Monster Storm
3. Escaping Through The Window
4. Landmark
5. A Seahorse Of A Different Color
6. El Tradicional
7. BagPipeline
8. Teardrops
9. Garage Door to Your Mind
10. Seamhead
11. Houses Floating Away
12. Moon Base Alert
13. Sharks in The Street
14. Skeleton Invasion
15. Rammer
16. Luck Favors the Prepared
17. White Bird
18. Internal Sun

Lovingly built for all surf-instro fans, the album opens on the Celtic-imbibed Salute, the propellant Monster Storm, and the melodically drum-led Escaping Through The Window, and then we get the all-embracing Landmark, the silky smooth title track A Seahorse Of A Different Color, the funky El Tradicional, the aptly-titled BagPipeline, and then both the languishing, shimmering Teardrops and the foot-tapper Garage Door To Your Mind.

Along next is the fully-charged guitar romp Seamhead, the glistening Houses Floating Away, and the atmospheric Moon Base Alert, and they are in turn backed by the fervently-driven Sharks In The Streets, the Halloween treat Skeleton Invasion, the grooved Rammer, some addictive rhythms that drive Luck Favors The Prepared, the recording rounding out on the melodious White Bird, closing on the vibrant Internal Sun.

Official Purchase Page

The Breakers @ BandCamp

For those not in the know, Jack Wood is a familiar face on the Southern California jazz scene, both as concert producer and singer.

His inimitable style has won over audiences of all ages and sizes, whether in small clubs, college theaters, large amphitheaters or jazz festivals.

He has opened for such artists as Sergio Mendes and Maureen McGovern, and has shared stages with the likes of Nancy Wilson, Jack Jones, Barbara Morrison, and Eddy Daniels.

His Sinatra Centennial Tribute with the Phoenix Jazz and Swing Band headlined the opening night of the 2016 Utah Arts Festival. A reprise performance a week later at Salt Lake City’s Gallivan Center (pictured here) drew a crowd of record-setting size.

He frequently works with musicians who have spent their careers backing such stars as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Jack Jones, Natalie Cole and Diana Krall, and they often comment on Jack’s impeccable intonation and smooth, clean sound.

His brand new album is entitled Movie Magic: Great Songs From The Movies (out October 10th, 2024 via Jazz Hang Records) and is a musical pairing with Nichaud Fitzgibbon, herself recognized as Australia’s premier jazz stylist, her natural charisma and feisty elegance bringing a dutiful sophistication to performances at all times.

1. Make Someone Happy [Sleepless in Seattle]
2. When I Look in Your Eyes [Doctor Dolittle]
3. Speaking of Happiness [Se7en]
4. Quando, Quando, Quando [Training Day]
5. The Shadow of Your Smile [The Sandpiper]
6. I’ve Got You Under My Skin [Born to Dance]
7. That Old Feeling [With a Song in My Heart]
8. I Only Have Eyes for You [Dames]
9. With a Song in My Heart [With a Song in My Heart]
10. Moon River [Born on the Fourth of July]
11. How Insensitive [Airport]
12. I Will Wait For You [The Umbrellas of Cherbourg]
13. Skylark [Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil]
14. The Shining Sea [The Russians Are Coming]
15. Close Your Eyes [The Abominable Mr. Phibes]
16. It Had to Be You [Casablanca]

This sumptuously delightful new recording opens on the staggered Make Someone Happy, the soulful When I Look in Your Eyes, and the low slung Speaking of Happiness, and they are followed by the emboldened Quando, Quando, Quando, the wistful The Shadow of Your Smile, a perky I’ve Got You Under My Skin, and then we get both the languishing That Old Feeling and a silky smooth I Only Have Eyes for You.

Along next is the effortless beauty of melody brought forth on With a Song in My Heart, the tranquil Moon River and the late night, Parisian-hued How Insensitive, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the dulcet I Will Wait For You, a sweeping Skylark, the mesmerizing ballad The Shining Sea, the album rounding out on the finger-snapper Close Your Eyes, closing on the opulent It Had to Be You.

www.jackwoodmusic.com

Jack Wood @ Instagram

For those not in the know, Swedish musical sensation Gunhild Carling competed as a celebrity dancer in Let’s Dance 2014 on TV4, placing third, and was also on Sweden’s Dancing with The Stars and even performed for Sweden’s Got Talent in 2017 and on America’s Got Talent season 2019.

She also performed with her Carling Big Band at the Royal Palace in Stockholm in the celebration for King Carl XVI Gustaf’s Ruby Jubilee. Between Touring with her own band, she performs in several configurations from solo to orchestra to symphony and as a featured singer and multi-instrumentalist in several of Postmodern Jukebox’s songs, including a 1920’s jazz swing version of Material Girl, and a 1920s hot jazz cover of ABBA’s Dancing Queen.

Gunhild Carling keeps serenading audiences in the US and all around the world today, has over 3 million views from social media earning her a silver award from You Tube, and has just released her brand new album, Jazz Is My Lifetyle (which includes her Big Band with Strings and some special guests.

1. Jazz is My Lifestyle
2. Shaking the Bangkok
3. I Desire You
4. Your Smile Makes the Difference
5. Fire Alarm
6. Chanson
7. Mardi Gras Blues
8. Cosmic Drive
9. Winters Day
10. You Are the Music
11. I’ll Wait In San Francisco

This wholly gratifying new recording, opens on the New Orleans-styled title track Jazz is My Lifestyle and then brings us the vibrant Shaking the Bangkok, the languishing I Desire You, and then come both the joyful finger-snapper Your Smile Makes the Difference and the frenetically-charged Fire Alarm.

Along next is the low slung Chanson and the buoyantly free flowing, harmonica-imbibed Mardi Gras Blues, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the engaging balladry of Cosmic Drive, the sumptuous Winters Day, the recording rounding out on a sanguine You Are the Music, coming to a close on the impassioned, veritably showstopping I’ll Wait In San Francisco.

Whether she’s singing favorite jazz standards, playing one of her many instruments (trumpet, trombone, harmonica, oboe, harp, flute, recorder, or jazz bagpipe!), or juggling and tap dancing, Gunhild’s sublime showmanship shines.

Part musical extravaganza/part Vaudevillian spectacle, Carling’s live performances are guaranteed to be some of the most feel-good, toe-tapping, exhilarating shows of the year!

Official Purchase Link

www.gunhildcarling.net

For those not in the know, Chicago based Anne Burnell (vocals) and Mark Burnell (piano/vocals) are known for their unique arrangement of Great American Songbook, jazz standards, vintage pop and originals.

They tour the US and Internationally, including New York, Paris, and Panama as Illinois ArtsTour and City of Chicago Band Roster artists. Anne was awarded the 2024 Service Award from Chicago Cabaret Professionals, and she is an Individual Artists Program Grant award recipient from Chicago DCASE.

Mark taught for 10 years at Carnegie Mellon University, and received two music degrees there. The Burnells are to receive the Gold Coast Award in October 2024 and they have just released their brand new album This Could Be the Start of Something Big.

1. This Could Be the Start of Something Big
2. I Could Have Danced All Night
3. Joy Spring
4. Song Sung Blue
5. Give Me One More Song
6. The Lusty Month of May
7. Fiets Don’t Fail Me Now
8. Sir Duke
9. Sweet Dream of Love
10. Isn’t This A Lovely Day
11. Two
12. A Sunday Kind of Love
13. Let’s Eat Home

This wholly gratifying new recording, opens on the spirited title track This Could Be the Start of Something Big and then brings us the joyous hipsway of I Could Have Danced All Night, the finger-snapper Joy Spring, a decadent Song Sung Blue, and then come both the luxuriant Give Me One More Song and the free-spirited The Lusty Month of May.

Along next is the sheer melodic elegance of Fiets Don’t Fail Me Now and a quite memorable rendition of Sir Duke, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the all-encompassing Sweet Dream of Love, the silky smooth Isn’t This A Lovely Day, the recording rounding out on the effortless of Two, the polished A Sunday Kind of Love, coming to a close on the bubbly Let’s Eat Home.

Musicians:
Anne Burnell, vocals
Mark Burnell, Piano, keyboards, vocals
Joshua Ramos, bass
Jim Widlowski, drums, percussion
Pat Mallinger, sax
Fareed Haque, guitar

Anne & Mark Burnell @ YouTube

www.burnellmusic.com

For those not in the know, Hartford, CT-Based Pianist/Composer Andrew Wilcox pens an open letter to the Mentors and Influences that shaped him on his dazzling debut album, Dear Mr. Hill, available August 16th, 2024 from Truth Revolution Recording Collective.

The title of Dear Mr. Hill, the engaging debut album by the gifted, Hartford-based pianist and composer Andrew Wilcox, is addressed to the legendary Andrew Hill. But the album as a whole, a spirited mix of original compositions and keenly chosen standards, is a missive from Wilcox to the many mentors and influences that have guided him along his path.

“The elements that are at the core of this album are the people, places and things that have inspired me along the way,” Wilcox says. “Andrew Hill’s music hit me in a very deep, emotional place. It was the first time I’d heard somebody who was able to paint such complex emotional portraits in ways that I’d never heard before.”

Thus, Dear Mr. Hill not only conveys the musical inspiration of those teachers and influences, but surrounds Wilcox with them. The album teams Wilcox with the veteran rhythm section of bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Yoron Israel, both of whom have taken the young pianist under their prodigious wings. The date was produced by fellow pianist and Truth Revolution co-founder Zaccai Curtis, while the liner notes were penned by the trumpeter Haneef Nelson.

1. Muir Woods
2. Mary
3. Home
4. Dear Mr. Hill
5. Stella By Starlight
6. Self-Doubt
7. Old Devil Moon
8. Onyx Warrior
9. Snow Queen

Recorded almost two years ago, his debut album opens on the all-encompassing Muir Woods (itself a tribute to the towering redwoods of the Bay Area forest) and then brings us the durable, yet supple Mary (dedicated to a close friend of Wilcox’s family), and then come both the impassioned, titular Dear Mr. Hill and the reharmonized standard Stella By Starlight.

With the album reflecting a broader base of influence and experience than just Wilcox’s musical evolution, along next is the penetrating Self-Doubt and that is in turn backed seamlessly by the encouraging standard Old Devil Moon, the recording rounding out on the audacious Onyx Warrior (which pays homage to the late drummer Ralph Peterson Jr.), the enticingly-sculpted Snow Queen (an ode to the Wilcox’s sadly missed golden retriever Koa) closing the set.

Andrew Wilcox - Dear Mr Hill [Official Video]

www.andrewwilcoxmusic.com

Andrew Wilcox @ Instagram

For those not in the know, right out of the starting gate, it’s apparent that the eagerly awaited new King Llama album, Fata Implexis (translating to “fate intertwined”), is something special, commanding and category-elastic.

The fiery and whip smart instrumental band’s tune “Lora Ky” packs an immediate and visceral punch, within its sophisticated changes, spidery guitar riffs, tricky unison lines and mosaic-like structure, built from material conjured up by guitarist-songwriter Ryan T. Bailey.

The song serves as a prelude and on-ramp to the electrifying journey unfolding over six tracks—including the multi-sectional 11-minute epic “Sir Isaac.”

What to call this music? Is it prog rock, post-fusion, and earthier variation on math rock, which also manages to be suitable for the jam band universe? Or is it, as the dynamic drummer Luis Briones wonders, something along the lines of “experimental fusion-influenced jam band music?

By whatever name or genre identifier, this music makes a bold statement on impact and paves the way for a bright future for this unique band.

At the core of the operation is a deep musical connection between guitarist-composer Bailey and Briones, who have tended the King Llama fires for many years and released their debut, Return to Ox in 2016.

As with much of the music world, the band’s forward motion was interrupted by the pandemic and the shuttering of live music, which then led to a long process of composing, rethinking and expanding the vision of the band.

1. Lora Ky
2. Bus Stop
3. Sir Isaac
4. Hamilton
5. Level Z
6. Vita et Mors

This brand new album, four years on from their last release, opens on the fervently-charged Lora Ky and then brings us the funky Bus Stop and the veritably shimmering at times, propellant and startling at others Sir Isaac.

Produced by Multi-Platinum and Grammy Award Winning Producer/Engineer Dennis MacKay (David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Stanley Clarke, Whitney Houston), along next is the all-encompassing rhythms within Hamilton, the album rounding out on the sweeping Level Z, closing on the impassioned, strident opus Vita et Mors.

www.kingllama.com

King Llama @ Instagram

King Llama @ Facebook

For those not in the know, Jeff Rupert is a freelance tenor saxophonist, a Yamaha Artist and a record producer under the Flying Horse Records label.

His numerous recordings as a featured soloist include dates with Maynard Ferguson, Sam Rivers, Diane Schuur, Mel Torme, Benny Carter’s Grammy winning recording, Harlem Renaissance (Music Masters), and the New Jersey Blues band TheFins, to name just a few.

He has also been featured on his own quartet recordings, Jeff Rupert, Jeff Rupert + Dirty Martini, Jeff Rupert & Kenny Drew Jr From Memphis to Mobile, in recordings with the Flying Horse Big Band, with blues group The Fins, and Jazz pianist, vocalist, and radio show host Judy Carmichael, among his many appearances.

His brand new album is entitled It Gets Better and is out now via Rupe Media.

1. Petrichor (in the Cote D’azur)
2. Comanche Crush
3. Lana Turner
4. It Gets Better
5. Pharaoh’s Daughter
6. Like Someone in Love
7. Nowhere to Go But Up
8. Not My Blues
9. Promenade in Blue

Few musicians can master the intricacies of jazz like Jeff Rupert and thus his wonderful new album opens on the luxuriant Petrichor (in the Cote D’azur) and then we get the spirited Comanche Crush, the ornately-hued, sultry Lana Turner, and then comes the finger-snapping title track, It Gets Better.

The talented tenor saxophonist continues onward with the free-flowing ambiance found within Pharaoh’s Daughter and the upbeat and joyful Like Someone in Love, which are in turn backed seamlessly by the bewitchingly guided Nowhere to Go But Up, the album rounding out on the fervent Not My Blues, closing on the low slung Promenade in Blue.

Jeff Rupert @ Facebook

For those not in the know, drawing on their eclectic backgrounds and passions, Dharma Down delivers a musical adventure spanning centuries and the globe, while always pushing their genre-bending music into the future.

Presenting music across the jazz compendium, Dharma Down also draws on influences from East European and Middle Eastern music and turns this identity crisis into its biggest asset.

The group’s just released debut album, Owl Dreams, prominently features original compositions inspired by American and Arabic traditions.

The ensemble is made up of some of New England’s top players united by their love of modern jazz and middle eastern music: Mike Effenberger (piano), Duncan Hardy (alto sax & qanun), Scott Kiefner (upright bass), and John Mettam (percussion) create a sound that is as intimate as it is powerful.

Trust me when I say that their compelling rapport creates an exciting new ensemble to follow closely for years to come.

1. Jalla Man (Trad.)
2. Bubu Jinn
3. Baghdad
4. Ex One Blues
5. A Murder of Cheerleaders
6. Tadafuqun
7. Among the Reeds
8. East 73rd Street
9. Michel
10. Jurjina
11. Thoughts and Prayers

Featuring 10 original tracks plus a modern reinvention of a 1000-year-old classical Arabic song, their debut recording opens on just that, the spirited traditional fare of Jalla Man and then brings us the highly impassioned Bubu Jinn, the languishing Baghdad, the playful modern and postmodern jazz found within Ex One Blues, and then we get brought forth the all-embracing A Murder of Cheerleaders.

With the recording leaning into the breadth of the group’s influences and styles, buoyed by the sensitivity and virtuosity of the individual players, along next is the intricately-sculpted, middle eastern influenced jazz of Tadafuqun and the late night, warming ambiance of Among the Reeds, the perky, veritably skittish East 73rd Street, the free flowing Michel, the recording rounding out on the flourishing Jurjina, closing on the shimmering Thoughts and Prayers.

www.dharmadown.com

Dharma Down @ Instagram

For those not in the know, Michael Dease is one of the world’s eminent trombonists, lending his versatile sound and signature improvisations to over 200 recordings and groups as diverse as Grammy winning artists David Sanborn, Christian McBride, Michel Camilo, and Alicia Keys.

Born in Augusta, GA, he played the saxophone and trumpet before choosing the trombone at age 17. In 2001, Dease moved to New York City to become part of the historic first class of jazz students at The Juilliard School, earning both Bachelors and Masters degrees, and quickly established a reputation as a brilliant soloist, sideperson, and bandleader.

Dease’s unique blend of curiosity, hard work and optimism has helped him earn worldwide recognition, including awards from ASCAP, The International Trombone Association, Yamaha, Eastern Trombone Workshop, New York Youth Symphony, Hot House Magazine, Michigan State University, among others.

And now the perennial DownBeat Critics Poll winner has just released his brand new album, Found In Space: The Music Of Gregg Hill on Origin Records.

1. The Last Pop Tune (7:37)
2. Found in Space (8:34)
3. One for Rodney (6:42)
4. The Stray Moonduck (6:28)
5. The Puppet Thief (6:27)
6. Rue De Royal (6:35)
7. Chillin With Wess (7:42)
8. Anthem (7:32)
9. Nostalgia (6:25)
10. A Wrinkle in Time (7:06)

This second pairing of the trombonist and prolific composer Gregg Hill opens on the almost Exorcist-esque lines of what then shows itself to be a highly cinematic The Last Pop Tune and then we get the flirtatiously comfortable title track Found in Space, the playful One for Rodney, the looming The Stray Moonduck and the low slung finger-snapper The Puppet Thief.

Full of reminders of ’70s cinema, Zappa albums circa The Grand Wazoo, bebop, and Big Bands through the ages, along next is the joyously forthright Rue De Royal which is it turn followed by the languishing Chillin With Wess, the elegantly organic vibe of Anthem, the album rounding out on the flighty Nostalgia, closing on the fervently impassioned A Wrinkle in Time.

Performers:
Sharel Cassity - flute, alto sax (3)
Virginia MacDonald - clarinet
Rudresh Mahanthappa - alto sax
Jason Hainsworth - tenor sax
Matt White - trumpet
Michael Dease - trombone, bari sax
Nanami Haruta - trombone
Bill Cunliffe - piano, Rhodes
Katie Thiroux - bass
Colleen Clark - drumset
Gwendolyn Dease - marimba, percussion
Gregg Hill - compositions & producer

Official Purchase Link

Official Website

Michael Dease @ Facebook

For those not in the know, Marc Ciprut is a guitarist, songwriter, and producer from New York. His music is influenced by the many different musicians he grew up listening to.

Everyone from Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, George Benson and Grant Green to Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Donny Hathaway. His music reflects these influences in his own unique way. It’s a mix of Blues, Rock and Jazz.

Indeed, Marc’s early years found him performing and recording in New York with everyone from Joss Stone and The Baha Men to Lenny White and Kenwood Denard.

In recent years he has turned his attention to writing and producing music for himself as well as various other artists.

His latest project is entitled Moonshine (out now) and is co-produced by Jimmy Haslip.

1. Moonshine
2. No Compromise
3. Cutie
4. Who Got Next?
5. No Mas Blues
6. No More Room
7. Slippery Slope
8. Funk You

This elegantly constructed and wholly impassioned new recording opens on the smart jazzy blues of the title track Moonshine and then brings us the propulsive blues guitar work of No Compromise, the low slung Cutie and the funky Who Got Next?

Along next is the free flowing No Mas Blues and that is in turn backed by the rhythmically funky, slight return of No More Room, the recording rounding out on the languishing, mid-tempo balladry of Slippery Slope, closing on the drum-fed, Hammond organ-hued, and aptly-titled Funk You.

Official Spotify Purchase Link

Official Website

Michael Dease @ Facebook

For those not in the know, Neil Adler grew up with musician parents and thus music has always been part of his life. He’s played and studied with masters of his craft, teaches, and has just released his brand new album entitled Emi’s Song, a record featuring original compositions, with Neil playing piano and chromatic harmonica, Jeff Buenz on 6-string bass, and drummer Akira Tana, and Carlitos Medrano on congas.

The music is energetic and melodic, driven and guided by a rhythmic core, this trio creates a great groove for your mind with every track. As Neil says, these are “... twelve tunes to make life better.”

1. Emi’s Song (4:44)
2. Besame Mucho (6:21)
3. Yearnin’ (5:41)
4. Tell Me a Bedtime Story (5:50)
5. Blues for McCoy (4:26)
6. Bill Evans Medley - Remembering The Rain/Only Child/My Bells (2:42)
7. The Peacocks (5:01)
8. Nelson’s Son (3:26)
9. Tenderly/That’s All (4:10)
10. Los Tres Golpes (3:32)
11. Century Rag (6:17)
12. Donna Lee (1:30)

This dutifully elegant new recording opens on the lazy-hazy, Parisian-hued title track Emi’s Song and the spiritedly forthright Besame Mucho and then we get the upbeat and joyous Yearnin’, the laid back, yet all-encompassing Tell Me a Bedtime Story, and then come the gently frenetic Blues for McCoy, and smoothly luxuriant Bill Evans Medley (Remembering The Rain/Only Child/My Bells).

Along next is the silky The Peacocks and the Afro-Cuban swirls and twirls that drive Nelson’s Son, and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the languishing Tenderly/That’s All, the cultured Los Tres Golpes, the album rounding out on some old ragtime ambiance that thrives within Century Rag, closing on the short, but nonetheless, chromatic harmonica-styled sweet Donna Lee.

Musicians:
Neil Adler - piano & chromatic harmonica
Jeff Buenz - six string bass
Akira Tana - drums
Carlitos Medrano - congas

Official Purchase Link

Official Website

Neil Adler @ Facebook

The second in their award winning series, the Calidore String Quartet return with a three disc album of the Middle Quartets (released September 13th, 2024, via Signum Records). Their Beethoven performances have been described as ‘shockingly deep’ by LA Times.

The first album of Late Quartets won the Chamber Music Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024. Their interpretation is informed by their diverse set of mentors which include Alban Berg, Emerson, Guarneri and yet still uniquely representing the sentiments, aesthetics and research of their generation.

Their interpretations of Beethoven are already critically acclaimed with performances at the Lincoln Centre planned as part of their residency.

Disc 1:
1. String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 Razumovsky No. 1: I. Allegro (10:04)
2. String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 Razumovsky No. 1: II. Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando (8:31)
3. String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 Razumovsky No. 1: III. Adagio molto e mesto (12:55)
4. String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 Razumovsky No. 1: IV. Allegro (Russian Theme) (8:05)

The first disc opens on the beautiful String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59 No. 1 Razumovsky No. 1, which opens on the playful Allegro, the flirtatious Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando, the sterner fare of Adagio molto e mesto, culminating on the delightful dance floor swirl of Allegro (Russian Theme).

Disc 2:
1. String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 Razumovsky No. 2: I. Allegro (9:26)
2. String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 Razumovsky No. 2: II. Molto adagio (13:03)
3. String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 Razumovsky No. 2: III. Allegretto (6:57)
4. String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 Razumovsky No. 2: IV. Finale - Presto (5:29)
5. String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 Razumovsky No. 3: I. Andante con moto - Allegro vivace (10:55)
6. String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 Razumovsky No. 3: II. Andante con moto quasi allegretto (9:07)
7. String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 Razumovsky No. 3: III. Menuetto & Trio (5:14)
8. String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 Razumovsky No. 3: IV. Allegro molto (5:47)

The second disc opens on the dulcet Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 Rasumovsky No. 2, which opens on the strident Allegro, the stoically-hued Molto adagio, the graceful Allegretto, closing on the sprightly Finale - Presto.

Along next is the flourishing String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59 No. 3 Razumovsky No. 3, which itself begins on the grounded Andante con moto - Allegro vivace, and then we get the aching yearn of Andante con moto quasi allegretto, the sheer elegance of Menuetto & Trio, the piece settling on the perky Allegro molto.

Disc 3:
1. String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major, Op. 74 Harp: I. Poco adagio - Allegro (9:41)
2. String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major, Op. 74 Harp: II. Adagio ma non troppo (10:14)
3. String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major, Op. 74 Harp: III. Presto - Più presto quasi prestissimo (4:58)
4. String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major, Op. 74 Harp: IV. Allegretto con variazioni (6:45)
5. String Quartet No. 11 in F minor Op. 95 Serioso: I. Allegro con brio (4:22)
6. String Quartet No. 11 in F minor Op. 95 Serioso: II. Allegretto ma non troppo (7:33)
7. String Quartet No. 11 in F minor Op. 95 Serioso: III. Allegro assai vivace, ma serioso (4:39)
8. String Quartet No. 11 in F minor Op. 95 Serioso: IV. Larghetto espressivo - Allegretto agitato - Allegro (4:49)

The third, and final disc, opens on the flirtatious work String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major, Op. 74 Harp, which opens on the lingering Poco adagio - Allegro, then comes the earnest Adagio ma non troppo, the free flowing Presto - Più presto quasi prestissimo, finishing with the elegant Allegretto con variazioni.

The last work is the stunning String Quartet No. 11 in F minor Op. 95 Serioso, which begins on the forthright Allegro con brio, before we are brought the alluring Allegretto ma non troppo, the flourishing Allegro assai vivace, ma serioso, closing on the fully-embracing Larghetto espressivo - Allegretto agitato - Allegro.

Official 3CD Purchase Link

www.calidorestringquartet.com

For those not in the know, marking the 20th anniversary of Cy Coleman’s death, the release of Janis Siegel and Yaron Gershovsky’s acclaimed new album The Colors of My Life is an unmissable celebration of the composer of such immortal classics as “Witchcraft,” “Rhythm of Life,” “The Best is Yet to Come,” and, of course, the titular “The Colors of My Life.”

Member of the famous vocal group, Manhattan Transfer since 1972, in addition to her work with the Transfer, Janis Siegel has maintained a solo career, releasing her first album, Experiment in White, in 1982. This is her eleventh solo/collaboration album.

Yaron Gershovsky is a highly accomplished, internationally recognized and award winning pianist, arranger, composer and producer. He has also been the music director for several popular artists, including Lonnie Smith, Steve Gadd, Take 6, Manhattan Transfer and The Count Basie Orchestra, to name but a few.

1 I’ve Got Your Number
2 With Every Breath I Take
3 Playboy’s Theme
4 Witchcraft
5 That’s My Style
6 Being Without You
7 The Best Is Yet to Come
8 I’m Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life
9 Why Try to Change Me Now
10 The Colors of My Life

On what is a most sumptuously-crafted new recording, it opens on the silky smooth, sultry I’ve Got Your Number and the languishing With Every Breath I Take and then we get brought forth the playfully free flowing Playboy’s Theme, the immersive, bewitchingly elegant Witchcraft, and the finger-snapper That’s My Style.

Up next is the veritably cinematic Being Without You and that in turn is backed seamlessly by the ornately supple The Best Is Yet to Come, the soulful I’m Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life, the album rounding out on the all-encompassing beauty of Why Try to Change Me Now, closing on the luxuriant title track, The Colors of My Life.

Cy Coleman was a popular composer, songwriter and jazz pianist whose work included Billboard chart topping singles, Broadway musicals and film scores.

Songwriting credits include The Best is Yet To Come and Witchcraft 5-time TONY® Award winner, 3-time EMMY® Award winner. 2-time GRAMMY® Award winner, Academy Award® nominee Musical credits include City of Angels, Sweet Charity, The Life and Barnum Film credits include Father Goose, Garbo Talks, Sweet Charity, and Family Business. That was first recorded in 1957 by Frank Sinatra, and is considered part of the Great American Songbook, and was nominated for 3 Grammys.

Official Spotify Purchase Link

www.janis-siegel.com

For those not in the know, pianist, vocalist, and composer Dawn Clement is a joyful and formidable force in the landscape of modern creative music.

For over two decades, Clement has served as both a torchbearer of the jazz tradition and as a trailblazer in fresh sonic explorations. “In all this world of jazz, there are very few individual voices, no matter what the instrument, but Dawn has come up with a voice that’s unique…” says legendary jazz trombonist Julian Priester.

Clement’s original music is an expansive collection that features her distinctive musical voice in a variety of genres, styles, and settings. Her six albums as a leader showcase her impressive range from master of the jazz piano trio style, to avant garde improviser, to an expressive songwriter and vocalist effortlessly incorporating indie and alternative influences.

And the brand new recording from Dawn Clement and both Jon Hamar and Steve Kovalcheck, the self-titled Clement/Kovalcheck/Hamar, is due out this September.

1. Blind
2. Spirit Spin
3. Lazy Dragon
4. Paseo Del Mar
5. Hard Ball
6. Clarity
7. It’s About Time
8. The Meadow is an Ocean
9. Tomorrow Island
10. For Now
11. Tree Hugger

This dutifully elegant new recording opens on the flourishing Blind and the veritably glistening Spirit Spin, and then we get my personal favorite, the sheer elegance of Lazy Dragon, the playful Paseo Del Mar and then we are brought forth the scintillating Hard Ball.

Along next is the demure Clarity and some beautiful dancefloor swirls and twirls of It’s About Time and they are in turn backed by the languishing The Meadow is an Ocean, the impassioned finger-snapper Tomorrow Island, the album rounding out on the intricately-sculpted For Now, closing on a vibrant melodic sheen that embodies Tree Hugger.

For those not in the know, internationally renowned Saxophonist Eric Person continues to make a strong impression on the creative music scene. Eric’s work as a leader is stylistically diverse and intrepid. performing with a broad range of performers such as jazz masters McCoy Tyner, Dave Holland, Chico Hamilton, Houston Person, Wallace Roney, Ronald Shannon Jackson, World Saxophone Quartet et al.

Clement’s original music is an expansive collection that features her distinctive musical voice in a variety of genres, styles, and settings. Her six albums as a leader showcase her impressive range from master of the jazz piano trio style, to avant garde improviser, to an expressive songwriter and vocalist effortlessly incorporating indie and alternative influences.

Originally released in 2007, Rhythm Edge is now better than ever! It has been remixed and remastered for a new generation of jazz listeners. I believe you will like the updated Rhythm Edge. Enjoy!

1. Tyner Town (remastered) (7:17)
2. The Multitudes (remastered) (7:28)
3. Majestic Taurean Majesty (remastered) (4:34)
4. I’ll Be Just Fine (remastered) (5:40)
5. Beauty (remastered) (5:44)
6. Reach (remastered) (6:29)
7. Rhythm Edge (remastered) (3:03)
8. A word from our sponsor (remastered) (0:04)
9. It’s Time Again (remastered) (7:15)
10. Supersonic (remastered) (4:59)
11. Pendulum Swing (remastered) 05:27)
12. Sunset (remastered) 05:23)
13. Pretty Strange Love (remastered) (5:23)

This dutifully elegant new recording opens on the spirited Tyner Town and the all-embracing The Multitudes, and then we get my personal favorite, the smooth Majestic Taurean Majesty, the low slung I’ll Be Just Fine and then we are brought forth both the flighty Beauty and the finger-snapper Reach.

Along next is the aptly-titled Rhythm Edge and after a very brief (and weirdly sped up) word from their sponsor, we are next presented the languishing It’s Time Again, the perky Supersonic and the flirtatious Pendulum Swing, the album rounding out on the laid low Sunset, closing on the sumptuous Pretty Strange Love.

Musicians:
Eric Person-soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, flute
Ingrid Jensen-trumpet
Robin Eubanks-trombone
Daniel Sadownick-congas, percussion
Cary DeNigris-electric guitar
Jerod Kashkin-piano, electric piano
Adam Armstrong-acoustic bass

Official Website

For those not in the know, this final album featuring The Nelons was completed shortly before the plane crash that claimed the lives of Nelons’ members Kelly Nelon Clark, Amber Nelon Kistler, Jason Clark, Amber’s husband, Nathan Kistler, and friends Melodi Hodges, Larry Haynie, and Melissa Haynie.

Of course, their family and friends are heartbroken and miss them dearly and given that The Nelons were immensely proud of this recording - produced by Jason Clark, Gordon Mote, Wayne Haun, and Bill Gaither, and featuring their friends Joseph Habedank, N.T. Martin, and the Gaither Vocal Band - on August 30th, 2024, their final album Loving You will be released.

1. That’s What Love Is
2. Loving You
3. There’s a Hole In The Heart
4. He Looked Beyond My Fault
5. Moses
6. God Won’t
7. River of Peace (Rio de Paz)
8. Hand of an Unseen God
9. Three Nails Instead,br> 10. We’ve Always Had a Song
11. There’s a Hole in the Heart (Radio Edit)

This profoundly beautiful, heartfelt, and incredibly impassioned new album opens on the sumptuous That’s What Love Is and then we get the heavenly title track Loving You, the playful There’s a Hole In The Heart, the aching He Looked Beyond My Fault, before we are brought forth the al-embracing Moses (which features the Gaither Vocal Band and Joseph Habebank).

Along next is the joyous God Won’t and the dutiful balladry of River of Peace (Rio de Paz) with NT Martin, and they are in turn backed by the serenely beautiful Hand of an Unseen God, the luxuriantly sculpted Three Nails Instead, the recording rounding out on the elegant We’ve Always Had a Song, closing on a radio edit of There’s a Hole in the Heart.

Official Website

For those not in the know, Vakili Band is a fiery five-piece rock band with a trio of albums under their belt, fronted by Lily Vakili, a savvy street poet who finds the sweet spot in the nexus formed by Patti Smith’s loose-limbed punk swagger, Grace Slick’s inviting psychedelia and the throaty blues-belting of a Janis Joplin; not to mention the full-throated howl of a Grace Potter or Brittany Howard.

Their just-released EP Tannersville is a follow up to 2023’s Honey, which in turn followed 2018’s Oh Alright and 2021’s Walking Sideways (along with a pair of previous Lily Vakili solo efforts, making six releases now over the last decade).

1. Photograph
2. Rocket
3. April Fools
4. Tannersville

This brilliantly emotive new recording opens on an earnest yearn found within the veritably seductive Photograph and then proceeds to bring forth the dulcet Rocket, before rounding out on the languishing April Fools, coming to an all-too-soon close on the gracefully-sculpted, titular Tannersville.

Official Website

For those not in the know, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jim Eannelli has been in every sort of band from hard rock to synth pop; he worked with Rick Derringer on the Colour Radio record, played guitar, performed and recorded with both former BoDean Sam Llanas and the Shivvers, the ’80s power-pop band that finally gained international recognition in recent years.

He is a legendary supporting player in his hometown, Milwaukee, and he steps onto center stage for his first album, the brilliant Just Deserts (released in both digital and physical formats on September 27th, 2024).

Dipping into a trove of original songs written over the years, Eannelli’s Just Deserts encapsulates his experiences in life as well as music. The songs are deeply rooted in his years as a member of diverse bands.

1. 29 Women
2. Where I’ve Been
3. News For You
4. Train From Chicago
5. Waitin’
6. Christine
7. Young Girl
8. I Want To Be Your Man
9. Down My Road
10. Old 97
11. Simple Man
12. Should I Try

This wonderfully vibrant, elegantly sculpted new recording opens on the spirited 29 Women and the dutiful I’ve Been and then we get the languishing News For You, the charged Train From Chicago, and both the low slung ballad Waitin’ and the yearnful Christine.

Along next is the impassioned Young Girl and the vibrantly robust honky tonk of I Want To Be Your Man and they are in turn backed by the foot-tapper Down My Road, the expressive Old 97, rounding out on the embodied, mid-tempo balladry of Simple Man, closing on the rambunctious rocker Should I Try/

For those not in the know, born from the curiosity of exploring Latin influences that are fundamental to pop, classical music and Jazz, pianist & master arranger Gino Amato presents Latin Crossroads, his debut release on Ovation Records.

Co-produced by 3x Grammy® Award winner Oscar Hernández, Latin Crossroads features a stunning array of musicians, including Randy Brecker, Will Lee, Joe Locke, and vocalist Janis Siegel.

Experience an extraordinary album that will completely capture your imagination and revitalize your appreciation for American popular music.

1. Blackbird (5:19) (Paul McCartney)
2. The Summer Knows (3:49) (Michel Legrand)
3. On The Street Where You Live (4:30) (Lerner & Lowe)
4. Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered (4:32) (Rodgers & Hart)
5. Shower The People (4:49) (James Taylor)
6. Aranjuez (5:16) (Joaquín Rodrigo)
7. Bad Things (4:09) (Jayce Everett)
8. ’Round Midnight (5:03) (Thelonious Monk)
9. Tonight (3:44) (Bernstein & Sondheim)
10. Romeo and Juliet (5:37) (Tchaikovsky)
11. Green Flower Street (4:02) (Donald Fagen)

This wonderfully vibrant, elegantly sculpted new recording opens on a vibrantly swung rendition of the Beatles’ Blackbird and Michel Legrand’s Latin jazz romp The Summer Knows, and then we get the sweeping Lerner & Lowe composition On The Street Where You Live (from My Fair Lady, and which features vocals from Kevin Osborne), the sheer elegance of the Rogers & Hart track Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered, with a soulful Shower The People (by James Taylor, featuring vocals from Arnold McCuller) along next.

They are all then followed by the strident Joaquín Rodrigo’s Aranjuez (immortalized by Miles Davis and Gil Evans on Sketches Of Spain) and a sumptuous version of Jayce Everett’s Bad Things, which are in turn backed seamlessly by an uptempo Latin groove that vibrates within Thelonious Monk’s ’Round Midnight, the album rounding out on an incredibly impassioned cover of Bernstein & Sondheim’s Tonight (from West Side Story, and featuring vocals from Margo Rey and the late flutist Dave Valentin), Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, closing on Donald Fagen’s all-embracing Green Flower Street (from his spectacular Nightfly album).

The wide repertoire of Latin Crossroads reflects Gino Amato’s career. Classically trained, he worked early on with the Puerto Rican salsa band La Sonora Ponce.a and pianist Papo Lucca, studied with Don Sebesky and Jim McNeely, formed the Steely Dan tribute group Royal Scam, and has written for big bands, Latin ensembles, and many popular artists.

Throughout Latin Crossroads, Gino Amato’s recording debut as a leader, he shows that a creative arranger on his level can turn nearly any song, no matter its original source, into infectious and unforgettable Afro-Cuban music.

Official Website

For those not in the know, within her latest album Motherhood, Brenda Earle Stokes shares the journey of motherhood with songs exploring identity, fear, expectations, body image, friendship and growth.

Rooted in her native language of jazz, Stokes drew additional inspiration from singer-songwriters, music theater, spoken word and 1960s protest songs.

Each song is richly orchestrated by a four-piece ensemble jazz ensemble which provides an energetic backdrop for Stokes’ material which is at once honest, thought provoking and laced with humor.

1. The Endless Wait (5:00)
2. This is Your Childhood (4:25)
3. Who Am I Now? (4:54)
4. Where Are the Mothers? (5:05)
5. Kathleen (6:35)
6. Loose Tooth Blues (6:51)
7. Saying Goodbye (4:57)
8. Sharp Edges (8:11)
9. The Strength of a Woman (5:24)
10. Happy Mother’s Day (3:48)

This expertly sculpted, and wholly impassioned with a funny bone new recording opens on the languishing The Endless Wait and the beautiful dancefloor swirl of This is Your Childhood and then we get brought forth the delicately jaunty Who Am I Now?, the veritably shimmering Where Are the Mothers?, before the impassioned Kathleen is brought forth.

They are all then followed by the snappy Loose Tooth Blues and the Joni Mitchell-esque (only within its vocally melodically hipsway though) Saying Goodbye, which are in turn backed by the informative, spoken-word Sharp Edges, the album rounding out on the reaching The Strength of a Woman, closing on the joyful bounce of Happy Mother’s Day.

Personnel:
Brenda Earle Stokes - vocals, piano, producer
Evan Gregor - bass
Ross Pederson - drums
Ingrid Jensen - trumpet
Melissa Stylianou and Nicole Zuraitis - supporting vocals

Official Website

For those not in the know, from the sparkling waters of Lake Pontchartrain to the mouth-watering Creole cuisine, the cultural tapestry of the French Quarter to, of course, the exhilarating music that fills the air, New Orleans is world renowned for the dazzling gems that make it the extraordinary city that it is.

The life of the city breathes through its hometown heroes; who Delfeayo Marsalis triumphantly celebrates on Crescent City Jewels, the latest album with his Uptown Jazz Orchestra.

1. Sidewalk Sizzle
2. A Sleepin’ Bee
3. Ooh Poo Pah Doo
4. Basie Moods
5. Valley of Prayers
6. El Ultimo Cafe
7. High Cotton
8. Summertime
9. Exactly Like You
10. Inner Urge
11. ‘Round Midnight
12. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free
13. Basin Street Blues
14. What A Difference A Day Makes
15. Lil Liza Jane

This vibrantly hued, colorful and veritably glistening new recording opens on the upbeat Sidewalk Sizzle and the sparkling A Sleepin’ Bee and then we get brought forth the joyous sing-along of Ooh Poo Pah Doo, the languishing Basie Moods, and then come the perky Valley of Prayers, a dulcet ache within El Ultimo Cafe and the melodically-sculpted High Cotton.

They are all then followed by the sunny disposition always brought forth on the much beloved Summertime, which is in turn backed by the finger-snapper Exactly Like You, the feisty Inner Urge, then we get a low slung rendition of ‘Round Midnight, the album rounding out on the impassioned I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free, the late night, smokey jazz cub appeal of Basin Street Blues, a sultry What A Difference A Day Makes, and after a forty second flighty jam of an intro, comes to a close on a harmoniously gentile rendition of the traditional Lil Liza Jane.

Official Website

For those not in the know, the 80’s saw the Cincinnati collective Midnight Star traversing a variety of music genres, paying homage to psychedelic soul and disco legends such as Parliament-Funkadelic and Giorgio Moroder, paving the way for further experiments with techno-funk.

This incredible three-disc Definitive Collection captures the decade of Midnight Star - from nascent 1980 debut ‘The Beginning’ to the 1990 album ‘Work It Out’, released shortly before the collective went on hiatus.

Disc One:
1. Make It Last 2. Keep The Spirit High 3. You’re The Star 4. Set Me On Fire 5. Two In Love 6. I’ve Been Watching You 7. Tuff 8. Can’t Give You Up 9. Standing Together 10. I Got What You Need 11. Hot Spot 12. Victory 13. Strike A Match 14. You Can’t Stop Me

This definitive collection of Midnight Star celebrating the hitmakers from the SOLAR Records galaxy, opens on the groovelicious Make It Last and the funky Keep The Spirit High and then we get the fantastic You’re The Star, the infectious Set Me On Fire, the horns and strings brilliance of Two In Love, and then comes the funky bass playing that drives I’ve Been Watching You, the luxurious Jerri Curl funk of Tuff, the first disc rounding out on the beautiful ballad Can’t Give You Up, the high pitch synths of Standing Together, the underrated B-Side classic gem I Got What You Need, closing on the Bootsy-fueled Hot Spot, the jam session Victory, the funky Strike A Match and the Disco cut You Can’t Stop Me.

Disc Two:
1. Freak A Zoid 2. Wet My Whistle 3. Feels So Good 4. No Parking On The Dance Floor 5. Electricity 6. Night Rider 7. Operator 8. Scientific Love 9. Body Snatchers 10. Curious 11. Planetary Invasion 12. Headlines

The second disc begins with the dancefloor NRG of their massive smash hit Freak A Zoid and the synth-slide that glides through the totally awesome Wet My Whistle and then we get the low slung balladry of Feels So Good, the immortal Disco cut No Parking On The Dance Floor, the grooved, funky beats of Electricity, the hand-clapper Night Rider, before we are brought forth the computer voiced gem Operator, the beautiful chords and synth arrangements that flow within Scientific Love, the disc ending with the African tribal junjun and djembe drum beat interplay of Body Snatchers, the RnB of Curious, the jamming beats of Planetary Invasion, and the brilliant old school music of Headlines.

Disc Three:
1. Midas Touch 2. Engine No. 9 3. Stay Here By My Side 4. Get Dressed 5. Don’t Rock The Boat 6. Snake In The Grass 7. 90 Days (Same As Cash) 8. Pamper Me 9. Love Song 10. I Don’t Wanna Be Lonely 11. Do It (One More Time) 12. Luv-U-Up 13. Work It Out 14. If Walls Could Talk 15. Take Your Shoes Off

The third disc opens on the Whispers-esque Midas Touch and the forever jam of Engine No. 9, and they are seamlessly followed by the saxophone-imbued Stay Here By My Side, the poppy R&B of Get Dressed, the dope beats Don’t Rock The Boat, the jammin’ old school cut Snake In The Grass, and the third disc rounds out on the forthright funk of 90 Days (Same As Cash), the infectious jam of Pamper Me, the simply lovely Love Song, the smooth I Don’t Wanna Be Lonely, coming to a close on the Cameo-enveloped Do It (One More Time), the vivacious R&B of Luv-U-Up, the timeless Work It Out, the faster paced If Walls Could Talk, and the Solar sound that frequented Vegas back then, Take Your Shoes Off.

This incredible 3CD package features tracks from albums ‘The Beginning’ (1980), ‘Standing Together’ (1981), ‘Victory’ (1982), ‘No Parking On The Dance Floor’ (1983), ‘Planetary Invasion’ (1984), ‘Headlines’ (1986), ‘Midnight Star’ (1988), and ‘Work It Out’ (1990).

Featuring such electrifying tracks as ‘Wet My Whistle’ and ‘Freak-A-Zoid’ - which both took over dancefloors across the globe - it also includes brand new inner sleeve notes by Irina Shtreis, contributor to MOJO, Record Collector, The Quietus and Under The Radar.

www.cherryred.co.uk

For those not in the know, after hitting the charts in 1968, Dave Edmunds began a spectacular career as a writer, performer, and producer.

Signing with Swan Song Records, all of the pieces of the puzzle would fit into place. Beginning with “Here Comes The Weekend” (co-written with Nick Lowe), Dave began a stellar run on the charts, showcasing his propensity for, and ability to bring a “classic” sound back to the airwaves, and to remember where all of those sounds came from.

Swan Songs: The Singles 1976–1981 reveals the magic of the 7″ single in a way that has yet to be explored. Containing 29 tracks, covering every A- and B-side from that period, guide the listener through that pivotal time when listeners heard what they liked and liked what they heard.

Funny thing is, if you missed them the first time, you heard them later, of course, and so from covers of contemporaries Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, and beyond, these Swan Songs all meld into Chuck Berry, Rodgers & Hart, and more.

They’re the songs you know and love, played with the passion of their roots. Huey Lewis & The News had a huge hit with “Bad Is Bad,” but Dave released it in 1979. Same with Hank DeVito’s “Queen Of Hearts,” with Juice Newton took onto the US airwaves years later.

Bob Seger’s “Get Out Of Denver,” John Fogerty’s “Almost Saturday Night”—classics and stunning originals, this was the time where music ruled, and it is collected here on Swan Songs: The Singles 1976–1981.

Disc One:
1. Here Comes The Weekend 2. As Lovers Do 3. Where Or When 4. New York’s A Lonely Town* 5. Juju Man 6. What Did I Do Last Night? 7. I Knew The Bride 8. Back To Schooldays 9. Little Darlin’ 10. Get Out Of Denver 11. Worn Out Suits, Brand New Pockets 12. Deborah 13. What Looks Best On You 14. Television 15. Never Been In Love 16. Trouble Boys [* First time on CD]

This brilliant collection opens on the rousing quartet of the rockabilly vibe that drives Here Comes The Weekend, its lush 7 inch single B side As Lovers Do, the beautifully harmonized Where Or When and the produced-and-arranged-by Brian Wilson cut New York’s A Lonely Town (first time on CD), and then we get brought forth the jubilant Juju Man, the rambunctious What Did I Do Last Night?, the always-brilliant roustabout track I Knew The Bride and the dulcet dancefloor rocking swing that drives Back To Schooldays.

Along next is the low key rocker Little Darlin’ and the frenetically-charged Get Out Of Denver (although I actually grew up on the Bob Seger version), which are in turn backed in style by the Buck Owens-styled Worn Out Suits, Brand New Pockets, the upbeat Deborah, the lonesome country of What Looks Best On You, the Edmunds-Bremner rockabilly, two-guitar attack of Television, the first disc rounding out on the melodic rocker Never Been In Love and the foot-to-the-floor rocker Trouble Boys.

Disc Two:
1. A.1. On The Jukebox 2. It’s My Own Business 3. Girls Talk 4. Bad Is Bad 5. Queen Of Hearts 6. The Creature From The Black Lagoon 7. Crawling From The Wreckage 8. Singing The Blues 9. Boys Talk* 10. Almost Saturday Night 11. You’ll Never Get Me Up (In One Of Those) 12. The Race In On with the Stray Cats 13. (I’m Gonna Start) Living Again If It Kills Me [* First time on CD]

The second disc then opens on the countrified A.1. On The Jukebox, the propelent It’s My Own Business, one of my all-time Edmunds favorites, the alt-pop sound of Girls Talk, and then we get his version of Bad Is Bad, before the all-time great cut Queen Of Hearts, the gritty rocker The Creature From The Black Lagoon, and the absolutely pulsating, frenetically-charged Crawling From The Wreckage.

Up next is the lighter fare of the melodic Singing The Blues and the delightfully luxurious pop of Boys Talk (weirdly, this being its first time on CD), and they are followed by the all-embracing power pop lushness of Almost Saturday Night, the twanging rock of You’ll Never Get Me Up (In One Of Those), with his feisty duet with the Stray Cats The Race In On along next, the second disc closing out on the Everly Brother-styled harmonies of (I’m Gonna Start) Living Again If It Kills Me.

With new mastering and restoration from multiple Grammy-winner Michael Graves, the packaging of this double-CD and double-LP features a look at picture sleeves that 7″ collectors cherish, as well as detailed liner notes from Joe Marchese (theseconddisc.com) which outline Edmunds’ roots and trajectory from performer and band leader, to super producer (including his work with Stray Cats, as featured on their version of “The Race Is On”).

Swan Songs: The Singles 1976–1981 is truly the definitive look at Dave Edmunds: the artist—whether with his incredible guitar tone, his signature production style, or his ability to make every song distinctive, and truly his own. Take the (swan) dive.

Official Dave Edmunds Facebook Page

For those not in the know, the name THANATEROS is a combination of the names of the Greek gods of death (Thanatos) and love/sexuality (Eros).

Though it refers to the chaos-magical order of the “Illuminates of Thanateros” (IOT), THANATEROS is not bound to the IOT but an independent and separate band. Nevertheless, sometimes THANATEROS draws on magical and pagan motives including Celtic mythology and shamanism.

And THANATEROS (the German goth-metal band) is back after 23 years on from the first release with their brand new album, Tranceforming (due out October 11th, 2024).

1. Anrufung
2. The Horned One
3. Everything Decays
4. Shapeshifter
5. I Hold You
6. Raise Your Voices
7. Hagazussa
8. The Banshees Of Kealkil
9. Feel The Fire (Goddess 24)
10. I Am All
11. Runir
12. By The Wind

This brilliant album, chock full of shamanic sounds and the ritual rhythms, opens on the mood setting Anrufung and the melodically rhythmic The Horned One and then we get the darker Everything Decays, the expedient, and my own personal favorite track here, Shapeshifter, and then come the lighter fare of the tuneful ballad I Hold You and the rambunctious Raise Your Voices.

Along next is a most perfect example of the aforementioned ritual rhythms (Celtic, in this case) on the abounding Hagazussa and the spirited tale-telling within The Banshees Of Kealkil and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the propulsive Feel The Fire (Goddess 24), the Celtic-emboldened I Am All, the album rounding out on the forcefully melodic sing-along Runir, closing on the stirring ballad By The Wind.

www.thanateros.net

Thanateros @ Facebook

For those not in the know, the Rich Halley 4 is composed of Rich Halley, tenor sax; Michael Vlatkovich, trombone; Clyde Reed, bass; and Carson Halley, drums.

This group explores new musical spaces and approaches using the roots of American and world music as sources with an emphasis on spontaneous and compositional group improvisation.

Rich has been working with Michael, Clyde and Carson in various combinations for more than a decade and now they have grouped together once again to being us this brand new recording entitled Dusk And Dawn.

1. Spherical Aberration
2. The Return
3. Retrograde
4. After Dawn
5. Splatter
6. Stretching the Sinews
7. The Hard Truth

This expertly crafted new album opens on the melodically jaunty Spherical Aberration and then brings us the rhythmically flirtatious The Return, the veritably shapeshifting Retrograde, and then we get the languishing After Dawn, the organically perky Splatter, the album rounding out on the forthrightly sculpted Stretching the Sinews, closing on the ’70s New York scene-imbued The Hard Truth.

www.richhalley.com

For those not in the know, Doug Ferony has been pleasing audiences for years with his delivery of many traditional pop, rock, swinging standards, and love songs. He sings at many different concerts, shows, events, and venues every year, sending his songs out with passion, warmth, and excitement.

So far in his career, he has released 14 music albums with many singles that have been considered for Grammy award nominations in the Traditional Pop field. The song I’m In Love With a Girl, written and performed by Doug Ferony is featured in Apple TV’s The After Party.

Doug has also appeared in many big hit films, such as Goodfellas, The Irishman, Back to School, Mr. Deeds, Spiderman II, The Brave One, Inside Man, along with TV’s Law & Order and The Sopranos.

His brand new album is entitled Alright Okay You Win and features the Swingin Big Band and is out now via Ferony Enterprizes Music.

1. We’ve Only Just Begun
2. Alright Okay You Win
3. Do You Wanna Dance (Remix)
4. A Hundred Years From Today
5. Always On My Mind
6. East Of The Sun
7. You Make Me Feel So Young
8. Georgia on My Mind
9. It All Depends On You
10. ’S Wonderful
11. All Of Me
12. Anything Goes
13. I Wish I Were In Love Again
14. I’ve Got The World On A String

This smoothly vibrant, colorful and expertly heartfelt new recording opens on the swinging delights of We’ve Only Just Begun and the buoyant Alright Okay You Win and then we get brought forth the jubilant Do You Wanna Dance (Remix), the more stridently sculpted A Hundred Years From Today, the dutiful ballad Always On My Mind, and both the joyful East Of The Sun and the free-flowing You Make Me Feel So Young.

Along next is the languishing Georgia on My Mind and the finger-snapper It All Depends On You and they are in turn backed seamlessly by the heartwarming ’S Wonderful, a rather sumptuous All Of Me, and the spirited Anything Goes, before rounding out on the merrily orchestrated I Wish I Were In Love Again, closing on an emphatic I’ve Got The World On A String.

Official Website

For those not in the know, hitmaker and Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame member, Kent Blazy has just released his brand new album, entitled My Life So Far.

Recorded at the Emporium Recording Studio in Nashville, the eleven-song project honors his remarkable journey. It showcases compositions penned by Kent Blazy, except track eleven, which was co-written with Garth Brooks.

“My new record “My Life So Far” is a celebration of where I am now. This album was inspired by the death of two people who were an important part of my early 20s,” shared Kent Blazy. Writing for this album was an emotional yet fun project. “Still My Only Child” was written about my first love and giving up a normal life to chase my music and I wrote “This Song’s For You” about a friend and band mate in my first band. A warning from a Kentucky preacher when I started playing guitar inspired the song, “The Devil’s Music,” “Feeling Alive Again” is about recovery from the loss of a loved one, and the song “Empty House” is a nod to the yardbirds,” he reveals.

1) One Big Love
2) Feeling Alive Again
3) Thank Him Everyday
4) Can’t Sleep With You
5) Who Really Rescued Who
6) This Songs For You
7) Still My Only Child
8) The Devil’s Music
9) Nature Of The Beast
10) Empty House
11) For A Minute There (Full Demo) (Garth Brooks & Kent Blazy)

This dutifully elegant musical celebration of a most glorious career opens on the vibrant finger-snapper One Big Love and the all-embracing Feeling Alive Again and then he brings us the honky tonk guitar vibe of Thank Him Everyday, the delightfully rhythmic Can’t Sleep With You and then one of my own personal favorites, the sweeping Who Really Rescued Who.

Along next is the guitar rocker This Songs For You and the impassioned Still My Only Child and they are in turn backed by the emphatically-imbued The Devil’s Music, the free-wheeling Nature Of The Beast, the album rounding out on the rambunctious Empty House, closing on a full demo version of the Garth Books co-written, mid-tempo country ballad For A Minute There.

With the new album notably honoring his journey and his inspirations - in two cases, inspired by the deaths of two people who were an important part of his early 20s - here he explains which song they were.

“This One’s for You (This Song’s for You)” was written about a long term friendship that evolved into band mates and then the event that led to us going separate ways. “Still My Only Child” is about the woman everybody thought I would marry. She wanted to settle down and have kids and I knew that would drastically change how my life would go, and I chose to follow my path. I did introduce her to a friend, and they got married, had kids and a farm,” he reveals.

Official Website

For those not in the know, in various configurations, from solo to duo to orchestra, pianist Satoko Fujii has amassed a prodigious and voluminous output, hitting the 100-album mark in 2022, and that’s only counting her work as a leader.

Amongst all that achieving is the output of the Satoko Fujii Quartet alongside trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, bassist Takeharu Hayakawa, and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida.

Jazz-rock is the group’s specialty, avant-garde friendly in its explorations as it avoids leaning too heavily into familiar aspects of fusion.

After a long dormant stretch, they have reconvened for studio record number six, Dog Days of Summer, available on CD and digital September 13th through Libra Records.

1. Not Together (5:47)
2. Haru wo Matsu (9:21)
3. Metropolitan Expressway (8:27)
4. A Parcel for You (5:44)
5. Circle Dance (11:18)
6. Low (6:42)
7. Dog Days of Summer (7:28)

This dutifully elegant musical work of art opens on the elegantly propulsive Not Together and then brings us the expressively smooth Haru wo Matsu and the sweeping Metropolitan Expressway, which in turn is backed by the euphorically-charged A Parcel for You, the joyously-sculpted Circle Dance and the rhythmical Low rounding things out, the triumphant, titular Dog Days of Summer closing proceedings.

Satoko Fujii Quartet:
Natsuki Tamura - trumpet 田村夏樹
Satoko Fujii - piano 藤井郷子
Hayakawa Takeharu - bass 早川岳晴
Tatsuya Yoshida - drums 吉田達也

Official Website

“I found that, in the increasingly insane and divisive world, it was the craft of composing music that kept me sane,” describes Renaissance man Jim Brunberg about his new album, CROONING THROUGH THE APOCOLYPSE, out today on vinyl and all streaming services.

The longtime Wonderly and Box Set frontman is an accomplished composer, with a handful of Billboard-charting pop singles and a hit theme song for The New York Times podcast to his credit. For Brunberg, it’s all about the songwriting.

“Not just my writing, but specifically finding gems by others - mostly in the past - who had honed their craft to the highest potency level. I learned a lot about form, nuance, melody, counterpoint, and arrangement through coming up with fresh takes on these old songs,” describes Brunberg, taking on the new challenge of reimagining American songbook standards.

“Musically, these songwriters are my heroes, up there with Randy Newman, Joni Mitchell, and Paul McCartney. Lyrically, these songs come from a time when less could be more, with the help of a good arrangement.”

Side A:
1. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
2. Nature Boy
3. In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town
4. Cottage for Sale
5. That Lucky Old Sun (Rolls Around Heaven All Day)

Putting the vinyl LP on the turntable, Side A opens on the smoothly languishing In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning and the silky gossamer of Nature Boy and then we get the playfully upbeat In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town, the melodic ballad Cottage for Sale, with the low slung That Lucky Old Sun (Rolls Around Heaven All Day) along next.

Side B:
1. Argument
2. Crazy
3. Bourbon Therapy
4. New Years Song
5. Stars Fell on Alabama

Turning the vinyl LP over and dropping the needle, up next on Side B is the wistful Argument which is in turn backed by a resounding absorbing Crazy, the all-encompassing Bourbon Therapy, the album rounding out on the harmoniously-sculpted New Years Song, closing on the jaunty folk-jazz of Stars Fell on Alabama.

Joining Brunberg on his journey of swan song are 45th Parallel musicians Ron Blessinger, Lisa Lipton, and Kevin Kunkel; Wonderly partner Ben Landsverk; Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas; and daughters Dana and Veronica Sparling. Crooning Through the Apocalypse is due out on August 23rd, 2024, on vinyl and all streaming services.

Official Purchase Link

Oasis’ debut album Definitely Maybe celebrates its 30th anniversary this August. The fastest-ever selling debut in the UK on release, this seminal album marked the point when Oasis became a cultural phenomenon.

Including the classic singles ‘Supersonic’, ‘Live Forever’ and ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’, its songs sound as fresh and relevant as they did in 1994. Having sold over 6.9 million copies globally, it also sits as the 2nd most streamed album of the 90’s (following Oasis’ (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? at #1).

The Limited-Edition Deluxe 2CD / Limited-Edition Deluxe 4LP includes 2014 remastered album plus the previously unreleased and discarded original recording session from Monnow Valley along with outtakes from Sawmills Studios plus a demo of Sad Song featuring Liam’s vocal - all recently mixed for this release by Noel Gallagher and Callum Marinho.

Side A:
A1. Rock ‘n’ Roll Star (Remastered) A2. Shakermaker (Remastered) A3. Live Forever (Remastered)

Side B:
B1. Up In The Sky (Remastered) B2. Columbia (Remastered) B3. Sad Song (Remastered)

Side C:
C1. Supersonic (Remastered) C2. Bring It On Down (Remastered) C3. Cigarettes & Alcohol (Remastered)

Side D:
D1. Digsy’s Dinner (Remastered) D2. Slide Away (Remastered) D3. Married With Children (Remastered)

Including brand new artwork by the original art designer Brian Cannon for Microdot and original sleeve photographer Michael Spencer Jones, plus new sleeve notes, this debut album was a veritable firecracker out of the blocks upon its release.

These days, it’s uncouth for a band to come out of the traps beating their chests about how brilliant they are. Back in 1994, however, Oasis’ braggadocio was refreshing, particularly after the pity-party of grunge. They were an irresistible force kicking lumps out of a seemingly-immovable object: walking the walk, but unafraid to talk the talk, too.

Noel Gallagher has (rightfully) copped a lot of flak for his lyrics over the years, but much of ‘Definitely Maybe’s enduring appeal is in the broad nonsense of the words: in the context of the music itself, all that rain/pain, sky/fly, Elsa/Alka Seltzer gibberish somehow sounds important, inviting the listener to project whatever they want onto the songs.

In truth, and sidestepping for a second, Oasis were never the same after they stopped working with Owen Morris, the producer who was responsible for the swagger and volume of their first three albums. And so the Gallagherian neologism “sheeeeeine” crops up on 11 separate occasions here on the blistering ‘Definitely Maybe’, its usages running the gamut from nouns to esoteric verbs, of course.

It eventually became Oasis’ go-to rhyme for any lyric that needed to end in ‘-ine’, but still, there’s still something impressive about the way Liam wrings every last conceivable sound from a one-syllable word, no?

And if Morris was responsible for shaping Oasis’ sonic palette, art director Brian Cannon and photographer Michael Spencer-Jones played a similar role in shaping their visual one. The Definitely Maybe cover itself has become iconic, but the singles were just as arresting, and were rife with little details and Easter eggs that gave you a sense of the band’s identity.

An album that still stands the test of time today, it is also known as being the only Oasis album to date to be sung entirely by Liam. By ‘Dig Out Your Soul’ in 2008, the brothers were almost co-vocalists, which negated the point of having the best British front man of his generation among their ranks. OK, sure, Noel’s voice is the better of the two nowadays, but he’s no match for Liam overall, in my humble opinion.

As for some of the stand out tracks (which is hard to discern, given how good the whole album truly is), ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ was a brilliantly shameless piece of profligacy on the band’s part. ‘Slide Away’ never quite gets the kudos it deserves, in my opinion, and for a long time, Oasis didn’t even play it live. Though by their final tour it had become a mainstay of the set-list and rightly so: it’s one of Noel Gallagher’s greatest songs.

It’s strange that the pedestrian pseudo-anthem – think ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’, et al – became so associated with Oasis, because there’s not an instance of it on their debut album. Other than the daft ‘Married With Children’, Definitely Maybe is balls-to-the-wall rock ’n’ roll; and the sort of thing they were always promising ‘the next album’ would sound like (but never quite did).

Side E:
E1. Rock ‘n’ Roll Star (Monnow Valley Version) E2. Shakermaker (Monnow Valley Version) E3. Live Forever (Monnow Valley Version) E4. Up In The Sky (Monnow Valley Version)

Side F:
F1. Columbia (Monnow Valley Version) F2. Bring It On Down (Monnow Valley Version) F3. Cigarettes & Alcohol (Monnow Valley Version) F4. Digsy’s Dinner (Monnow Valley Version)

Side G:
G1. Rock ‘n’ Roll Star (Sawmills Outtake) G2. Up In The Sky (Sawmills Outtake) G3. Columbia (Sawmills Outtake) G4. Bring It On Down (Sawmills Outtake)

Side H:
H1. Cigarettes & Alcohol (Sawmills Outtake) H2. Digsy’s Dinner (Sawmills Outtake) H3. Slide Away (Sawmills Outtake) H4. Sad Song (Mauldeth Road West Demo, Nov’ 92)

The first set of demos on this glorious 4LP box-set, is taken from the band’s time in Monnow Valley and features eight tracks. Liam’s youthful sounding vocals shine through a fragile backdrop of watered down guitars that seems to miss any sort of anger or drive that the band where so well known for.

‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,’ for example, paints the Gallagher brothers and band mates as anything but as, for my money, the tracks recorded within this session just feel empty, the drums lethargic, the guitar solos low ebbed, distant, dulled down, and weirdly it feels like Liam’s vocals are a little behind schedule (or so it sonically seems) sometimes.

That said, their early take of ‘Live Forever’ is absolutely sumptuous, softly melodic, and embraces its love song status more here than the finished version came to be.

‘Bring It On Down’ is also lacking here from its released version, but as much as it doesn’t punch you in the nuts like the final cut, it still manages to ebb nicely over you as it gets this latest airing.

The second set of outtakes are taken from the band’s sessions recorded at Sawmills Studios, Cornwall and feature seven tracks. And it is here on these tracks where we most definitely (no pun intended, maybe) get closer to their final album sound. Especially on the boombastic ‘Bring It On Down’ and one of my own personal favorites, the brilliant ‘It’s just Rock n Roll.’

Interestingly, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ from this very same session provides a completely different take on the song, whilst proving its incompletion with missing verses, and yet also features Strokes-esque vocal effects on Liam’s outro line of the aforementioned ‘It’s just Rock n Roll’ (something the band really didn’t really go on to utilize).

Concluding this wondrous box-set is ‘Sad Song’ (Mauldeth Road West Demo, Nov’ 92), which features Noel Gallagher on vocals, surprisingly enough. A mixture of being uplifting, kind of melancholic, always gentle, the underlying message is pretty much positive and thus the track is very pleasing throughout.

Oasis - Definitely Maybe / Deluxe 30th Anniversary Editions Official Video

Elemental Music’s The Motown Collection is a continuing series of long-playing vinyl reissues of crate digger favorites from the Detroit-bred soul music giant Motown Records catalog. All releases will replicate the ‘60s and ‘70s LPs’ bold sound and 12-by-12 full-color packaging. The Motown Sound Collection continues with titles scheduled for release through early 2025.

Elemental will release a total of 22 titles through the end of 2024, including music by such storied Motown stars as Smokey Robinson (and the Miracles), The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye (both solo and with duet partner Mary Wells), The Jackson 5, Eddie Kendricks, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and The Undisputed Truth.

“As a rule of thumb, we always try to reissue the music that we love. That’s our priority. With the Motown Series, we wanted to take a deep dive into the label’s history and to reissue some more obscure titles,” describes Elemental Music Founder and producer of the Motown Sound Collection Jordi Soley.

“For many of the albums we’ll be putting out throughout 2024 and into 2025, it will be their first reissue since their original release. It’s our way of showing some love to Motown’s legacy.”

The collection continues now with three more classics in the form of The Temptations’ Meet the Temptations (Mono edition), Marvin Gaye’s In the Groove and The Supremes’ Love Child.

The eighth studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released on August 26th, 1968 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records, was In The Groove.

It was the first solo studio album Gaye released in two years, after recording duets with female R&B singers Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. In the Groove was reissued and retitled as I Heard It Through the Grapevine after the unexpected success of that tune, which would become Gaye’s biggest-selling and signature single of his career.

For the song, producer Whitfield decided to force Gaye to raise his vocal register higher than what he was used to. The album also marked Gaye’s first attempts at producing himself in the studio with his own self-penned songs, the funky gospel dancer, At Last I Found a Love, and the smoother Change What You Can.

Marvin Gaye - You (Music Video)

SIDE ONE:
1. YOU
2. TEAR IT DOWN
3. CHAINED
4. I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
5. AT LAST (I FOUND LOVE)
6. SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL

SIDE TWO:
7. LOVING YOU IS SWEETER THAN EVER
8. CHANGE WHAT YOU CAN
9. IT’S LOVE I NEED
10. EVERY NOW AND THEN
11. YOU’RE WHAT’S HAPPENING (IN THE WORLD TODAY)
12. THERE GOES MY BABY

With instrumental accompaniment by The Funk Brothers & the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and featuring background vocals by The Andantes, The Originals, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Telma Hopkins, Joyce Vincent Wilson and Pamela Vincent, this album is probably the best of his pre-Tamla albums that I have heard. The first side is mostly heaters through and through, with the highlight being, of course, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, a solidly infectious number with a sinister backbeat, delicious horns and tremendous vocals. I mean, there’s something very magical about those ’60s Motown singles that I’ll never tire of.

Other favorites are You, Chained, Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever and Change What You Can, all that only continue to showcase the fact that each and every track comes complete with the most perfect presentation of soul music with an stirring funk beat.

Meet the Temptations was the debut studio album by The Temptations, released on the Gordy (Motown) label in 1964. It includes most of the group’s early singles, among them the group’s first hit single, The Way You Do the Things You Do.

The line-up on the cover features Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, Otis Williams, and newest Temptation Davis (later David) Ruffin, who actually only appears on the aforementioned hit. The other tracks all feature original Temptation Elbridge Al Bryant, who was fired from the group in December 1963.

SIDE ONE:
1. THE WAY YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DO
2. I WANT A LOVE I CAN SEE
3. DREAM COME TRUE
4. PARADISE
5. MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE
6. ISN’T SHE PRETTY

SIDE TWO:
7. JUST LET ME KNOW
8. YOUR WONDERFUL LOVE
9. THE FURTHER YOU LOOK, THE LESS YOU SEE
10. CHECK YOURSELF
11. SLOW DOWN HEART
12. FAREWELL MY LOVE

Meet the Temptations was originally issued only in monaural sound, and that’s the version presented here. The album compiles all six singles they released between 1961 and 1964, amongst them Check Yourself, Your Wonderful Love, The Way You Do the Things You Do, Just Let Me Know, which was their first hit single. To be honest, and rather surprisingly, apart from the occasional track with lesser sound quality, you would never tell this album has been compiled from different sessions.

The final album released this month is Diana Ross & the Supremes’ Love Child. Their fifteenth studio album released on the Motown label in 1968, was the group’s first studio LP (excepting covers and tribute albums) not to include any songs written or produced by any member of the Holland–Dozier–Holland production team.

Motown CEO Berry Gordy assembled a team to create a hit single for The Supremes. The result was Love Child, which returned the group to the Billboard Hot 100’s number one position. Staff producers such as Smokey Robinson, Harvey Fuqua, and Johnny Bristol also contributed to the album.

SIDE ONE:
1. LOVE CHILD
2. KEEP AN EYE
3. HOW LONG HAS THAT EVENING TRAIN BEEN GONE
4. DOES YOUR MAMA KNOW ABOUT ME
5. HONEY BEE (KEEP ON STINGING ME)
6. SOME THINGS YOU NEVER GET USED TO

SIDE TWO:
7. HE’S MY SONNY BOY
8. YOU’VE BEEN SO WONDERFUL TO ME
9. (DON’T BREAK THESE) CHAINS OF LOVE
10. YOU AIN’T LIVIN’ TILL YOU’RE LOVIN’
11. I’LL SET YOU FREE
12. CAN’T SHAKE IT LOOSE

With backing vocals by The Andantes, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, and instrumental accompaniment by The Funk Brothers & the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the title track itself sure tends to attract all the attention and while it was a classic Supremes tune, the Love Child album (as a whole) had a lot more to offer.

With long-time Supremes producers Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland having left the Motown organization, The Supremes found themselves forced to work with a myriad of Motown songwriters and producers; including Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, Harvey Fuqua, Smokey Robinson, and Frank Wilson.

Virtually every one of the producers brought their A-Game to the sessions, most bringing original material as well. The result was an album that sounded considerably more contemporary than some of their recent releases (1967’s The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart or Diana Ross & the Supremes Sing and Perform Funny Girl), but with so many cooks in the recording studio, well, the collection also had a slightly disjointed feel to it.

Not that such a thing should diminish ones enjoyment of it though, far from it, for the vocals - and just the whole sound of the album - are lovely, with Diana’s vocals (in particular) are seamlessly mixed with the lyrics; and thus make them supremely beautiful.

The overall theme of this album is really pleasant and it’s just an amazing listen from start to finish, such a stunning album with no bad components, and everything was well put together. Such a positive feel good energy radiating off of the album, such a pleasant listening experience.

I mean, Diana’s vocals are absolutely addictive as they are captivating, each song having a different feel to it and thus they’re all amazing. A true classic album worth listening to no matter what kind of music you enjoy.

Official Purchase Link

www.elemental-music.com

For those unaware, “Não Deixe para Amanhã” (Don’t Put Off Until Tomorrow) is Felipe Brito’s debut album. Using a modern jazz language, the project integrates Afro-Brazilian music genres such as samba, bossa nova, maracatu, and alujá.

The album will be released on September 6th, 2024, by the New Your label Outside in Music. Felipe’s original compositions reflect his life in Brazil and The United States.

Felipe followed his growing passion for music by joining every ensemble and performance group he could. His commitment to excellence allowed him to perform in community and symphonic bands, symphonic orchestras, and commercial bands at a variety of events around São Paulo.

After excelling in his educational pursuits at Universidade Estadual de Campinas - UNICAMP under a full scholarship, he gained opportunities to perform with great national and international artists like Raul de Souza, Branford Marsalis, Zé da Velha, and Silvério Pontes. He developed a proficiency in a variety of styles, including Samba, Samba-Rock, Choro, Salsa, Jazz, and commercial bands.

1. Vai
2. Aos Amigos Da Vida
3. Pegada
4. Nao Deixa Cair
5. Chiquita Hermosa
6. Nao Deixe Para Amanha (Don’t Put Off Until Tomorrow)

This beautifully-crafted and expertly elegant new recording opens on the vibrantly upbeat Vai and the Mardi Gras, New Orleans-vibed Aos Amigos Da Vida, and they are in turn followed by the all-embracing Pegada, the soaring Nao Deixa Cair, the album rounding out on the mid-tempo, dance floor swirl of Chiquita Hermosa, closing on the emphatically-charged title track Nao Deixe Para Amanha (Don’t Put Off Until Tomorrow).

Official Website

For those unaware, Anthony “Ant” Davis is a distinguished hip-hop producer, one-half of the renowned duo Atmosphere, and a founding member of independent record label Rhymesayers Entertainment.

His decades-long career of beat-making has also included works for MF DOOM, Brother Ali, Murs, Rav, Sage Francis and a dozen others. Raised in a military family, his nomadic upbringing exposed him to many diverse influences and, coupled with his father’s love for collecting records, laid the groundwork for his deep appreciation for all sorts of music.

Ant’s latest endeavor, Collection of Sounds, is a four-volume series of instrumental works showcasing the breadth and depth of his musical expertise.

The Collection of Sounds series offers a window into Ant’s creative journey, reflecting his evolution as an artist over the years. Drawing from a vast vault of unreleased material, he’s exhumed cross sections of his catalog with surgical precision, organizing songs by sound rather than mere chronology.

Side A:
1. Collection Of Sounds Start 2. Leather Soul 3. Bar One 4. SK15 Fly Strings 5. I Was Always A Collector 6. Lovely Original Sketch 7. My First Koop Session 8. This Happened 9. Only The Junk.

Putting the vinyl album on the turntable, this wonderfully vibrant, and wholly-impassioned new recording opens on the introductory Collection Of Sounds Start, the hip-hop grooved slink of Leather Soul, the risers and open hats that adorn Bar One and then we get the silky smooth SK15 Fly Strings, the informatively shimmering I Was Always A Collector, the cinematically-hued, captivatingly unique Lovely Original Sketch, with the low slung, gangster rap-esque beats of My First Koop Session, the magical This Happened, and the R&B-vibed Only The Junk rounding out the first side.

Side B:
10. Collection Side Two 11. Sun Decides 12. That Old Bongo Joint 13. Every Once In A While 14. Random Beat CD March 2005 15. Fooled You 16. 4-Track Beyond Beat 1996 17. Outernet Sketch For Live Use.

Flipping the vinyl album over, dropping the needle, the first track of the second side is the bookend (albeit filtered with more harmonious, atmospheric background vocals) to the opening track Collection Side Two, the scratchy stank banger Sun Decides, the aptly-titled, jazz/70’s funk and Latin soul of That Old Bongo Joint, and then we are brought forth the hauntingly ethereal, Western-imbued Every Once In A While, the translucent flow within Random Beat CD March 2005, the collection closing on some captured spoken words from the 1950 film Harvey, the minute long Fooled You, the slinking 4-Track Beyond Beat 1996, and finally the dope beats that embody the stellar Outernet Sketch For Live Use.

Many of the beats on Collection of Sounds: Volume 1 have pockets that are practically begging for rappers to explore. When he first pondered releasing an instrumental series, Ant figured he might want to make the songs more intricate than the ones he gave to his rapper collaborators, filling up the space in the mix that would normally be given over to their vocals.

“But then it would be jazz, right?” he says with a loud laugh. “And I’m not that.” Fitting, as Collection of Sounds is not about forgetting who you are — it’s about remembering, reconfiguring, and reimagining, all at once; a testament to Ant’s artistic integrity.

The vinyl packaging includes a 12” matte jacket with die cut custom translucent colored window, custom green colored vinyl, printed record sleeve featuring photograph by ZooDeville and painting by Saber.

www.rhymesayers.com

For those unaware, Do You (Deluxe Edition) is an expanded 2CD edition of Sheena Easton’s 1985 hit collaboration with super producer Nile Rodgers expanded with 21 bonus tracks (14 previously unreleased).

This is the first-ever release of the long-lost original full length versions of album tracks - including the previously unreleased uncut versions of singles ‘Jimmy Mack’ and ‘Magic Of Love’, original alternate ‘Break Mix’ of ‘Do It For Love’ and 7 min+ take on the rock-funk workout ‘Don’t Turn Your Back’ and all remastered from the original master tapes.

Easton had already transitioned to a bonafide stateside superstar with MTV-friendly hits ‘Strut’ and the controversial Prince collaboration ‘Sugar Walls’ on her 1984 platinum- selling set ‘A Private Heaven.’ For ‘Do You’ Easton fully embraced her new upbeat, pop- funk direction on tracks like the top 30 US dance hits ‘Do It For Love’ and classic Motown cover ‘Jimmy Mack’, as well as sensual groove ballads like ‘Magic Of Love’ and ‘When The Lightning Strikes Again’.

Disc One: The Album (1985)
1. Do It For Love
2. Don’t Break My Heart
3. Magic Of Love
4. Don’t Turn Your Back
5. Jimmy Mack
6. Can’t Wait Till Tomorrow
7. Young Lions
8. Kisses
9. Money Back Guarantee
10. When The Lightning Strikes Again
11. Do It For Love (Single Version) [The 7” Edit]
12. Can’t Wait Till Tomorrow (Single Version) [The 7” Edit]
13. Jimmy Mack (Edited Version) [The 7” Edit]
14. Money Back Guarantee (Edited Version) [The 7” Edit]
15. Magic Of Love (Long Edited Version)* [The 7” Edit]
16. Don’t Turn Your Back (TV Mix)* [The TV Mixes]
17. Kisses (TV Mix)* [The TV Mixes]

As is often the case, an artist puts out their best effort to little notice after the fanfare has already moved on. Easton’s prime had essentially wrapped up with A Private Heaven on the heels of Strut only a year earlier, so as a consequence relatively few got exposed to her most sophisticated set of songs when Do You hit the record stores in 1985.

And what they missed along the way was a slew of solid tracks, including the three I would consider as the best of her career: Don’t Break My Heart, Don’t Turn Your Back, and the shimmering Young Lions.

Another prime example of the charts and radio failing to alert the masses (or possibly being unaware on its own accord) to some of an artist’s finest work, to Easton’s credit, Do You showed a maturation beyond her previously slick, but shallower pop tunes into a more creative realm, and yet because it didn’t fit the template of the time, Do You signaled her exile into obscurity. Fashion, that fickle beast that has little patience, in perpetual search of the latest great thing.

As it stands, and in my own humble opinion, about 40% of Easton’s career in terms of quality is contained in this album. I mean, there honestly isn’t a single dud to be found here, even if the cover of Martha Reeves & the Vandella’s Jimmy Mack is somewhat unnecessary.

The single Do You is a hidden gem that, unjustly, wasn’t as well-received as some of Easton’s previous efforts, let alone those of contemporaries like Madonna or Kim Wilde. Still, it’s perhaps her finest (and last) pure pop album. It also paved the way for her 1987 follow-up No Sound But a Heart, which to this day remains a criminally overlooked adult contemporary classic, due to her messy split from EMI at the time.

Disc Two: The Uncut Nile Rodgers Sessions
1. Do It For Love (Break Mix)* 2. Don’t Break My Heart* 3. Magic Of Love* 4. Don’t Turn Your Back* 5. Jimmy Mack* 6. Can’t Wait Till Tomorrow 7. Young Lions* 8. Kisses* 9. Money Back Guarantee* 10. When The Lightning Strikes Again* 11. Do It For Love (Dance Mix - Edited Version) [The 12” Mix]
12. Jimmy Mack (Extended Version) [The 12” Mix]
13. Magic Of Love (TV Mix)* [The TV Mixes]
14. When The Lightning Strikes Again (TV Mix)* [The TV Mixes]

*Previously unreleased

The 24-page booklet includes rare photography and illuminating new interviews with songwriters Junior Giscombe, Adele Bertei, Charlie Midnight and more by ex-Attitude editor Adam Mattera.

As part of Cherry Red’s on-going reissue campaign of the star’s EMI catalogue, this 2CD Deluxe Edition of 1985’s dance-R&B orientated ‘Do You’ finds Sheena Easton hooking up with Nile Rodgers at his imperial super-producer peak - following his mega hit productions for the likes of David Bowie, Madonna and Duran Duran.

Sheena Easton - Do You 2CD Deluxe Edition / Orange Vinyl (Official Trailer)

Official Purchase Link

For those unaware, back in early 80’s Soho, Blue Rondo A La Turk defined cool. Singer/writer Chris Sullivan, guitarist Mark Reilly and vocalist Christos Tolera (with help from myriad talented personnel) married Latin jazz, R&B, Cuban and urban soul with a strong pop sensibility (witty lyrics, catchy melodies).

After singles such as the Top 40 hit ‘Me And Mr. Sanchez’ and the irrepressible ‘Klacto Vee Sedstein’ and debut album ‘Chewing The Fat’ in 1982, the team went their separate ways.

While Mark Reilly and others founded Matt Bianco, a new line-up of the original combo re-emerged in autumn 1983 with shortened name Blue Rondo. Accompanied by new singles ‘Slipping Into Daylight’ (a club favorite at the time) and ‘Masked Moods’ (revealing a mellower vibe than their earlier incarnation), Blue Rondo delivered a wonderful second album entitled ‘Bees Knees And Chicken Elbows’.

The LP landed during the height of what the press labelled ‘New Jazz’, with significant success for contemporaries such as Sade, Carmel and Working Week.

Some four decades on, Bees Knees And Chicken Elbows makes its debut on CD, overseen by Chris & Co. For this much expanded two-CD edition, original non-album tracks and alternative mixes are joined by host of hitherto unheard recordings fresh from the vaults, rescued by Chis from his extensive tape archive.

The package has also been annotated by Chris, who is still very active in London to this day as a writer, DJ, compiler and painter.

Disc One: (1984)
1. Samba No Pé
2. Slipping Into Daylight
3. Manifesto
4. Masked Moods
5. Smoking Dynamite
6. And Then The Rain Came
7. Hot Corner
8. Are You Satisfied
9. The Method [Bonus Track]
10. Heavens Revisited [Bonus Track]
11. Masked Moods [Bonus Track]
12. Hot Corner (Early Version) * [Bonus Track]
13. Samba No Pe – unreleased version [Bonus Track]
14. Slipping Into Daylight (Troglodyte Mix – alias Instrumental) (7” B-side) [Bonus Track]
15. Are You Satisfied (Instrumental) [Bonus Track]

Blue Rondo went through a pretty significant line-up change between Chewing The Fat and this album, so of course it’s going to sound somewhat different. That having been said, this is definitely Blue Rondo. Bees Knees & Chickens Elbows is a very worthy follow-up to Chewing The Fat and contains some very catchy tunes, with Slipping Into Daylight and Manifesto being two personal favorites of mine.

The opening track, Samba No Pe is a pretty solid piece too, and one of the better instrumental tracks I’ve heard on an art pop album. Maybe it doesn’t quite have the depth or diversity of Chewing The Fat, but this isn’t really a bad thing. I mean, Bees Knees is solid enough that it’s worth it for any fan of the first album to check out.

Disc Two:
1. Slipping Into Daylight (12”) 2. Samba No Pé (12” Remix - Geraldo D’Arbilly) 3. Love Let Me Lose You * 4. And Then The Rain Came (12”) 5. Slipping Into Daylight (The Crucial Cut – alias Dance Mix) (12” Bside) 6. Devil Doll * 7. Kool Aid * 8. Let It Go * 9. Let’s Get Real * 10. Mystery & Imagination * 11. This Song * 12. Dirty Games* previously unissued.

Official Purchase Link