Django Bates, a colorful and often humorous British jazz musician who plays piano, keyboards, and Eb horn, won the prestigious Jazzpar Prize in 1997. This CD, which teams him on various tracks with the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra and a large band called Delightful Precipice, was recorded in Denmark when Bates was receiving the prize. With the exception of a witty remaking of "New York, New York," all of the selections are Bates originals, including such colorful titles as "The Loneliness of Being Right," "The Importance of Boiling Water," "Peculiar Terms or Physical Intimacy," and "Nights at the Circus." In addition to Bates, key soloists include Iain Ballamy on alto and soprano, tenor-saxophonist Tomas Franck, and guitarist Chico Lindvall. Well worth checking out.

Hangover Paradise is a neo-prog rock band from Holland formed in 2010. In 2013 they came with the first offer named Mirrors, who gain quite big applause around the world, both from fans and critics as well. Musically speaking the music is on the melodic side of prog, going towards neo with some pop-ish overtones, but very well melted together those two genres. Fans of Saga, Styx, even Eloy in places can take some spins because worth it. Out Of Sight (2017) is their second studio album.

Thirteen songs (plus bonus track for Japan) produced by Phil Ramone and Jean-Jacques Goldman. This album feature a duet with James Taylor ('Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight') & has been one of the best selling French albums worldwide.

Beth Carvalho is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, cavaquinist, and composer whose name is synonymous with samba, particularly the Mangueira school. Though she began recording with Os Gatos in the mid-'60s, her run of solo albums between 1974's Pra Seu Governo and 1988's Alma Do Brasil is almost unparalleled in Brazilian MPB for their consistently high quality. She has recorded the works of now-legendary samba composers such as Nelson Cavaquinho, Guilherme de Brito, and Cartola, supporting them long before the listening public did; she assisted mightily in making them household names in Brazil…

The band Goad was started in Florence, Italy by Gianni Rossi and his brother Maurilio during the late 1970s. The music is a straight forward prog. With various tempo changes, Mellotrons, guitar solos and some flutes and saxes. Just as it should be. Nice sounding prog as was made in the seventies and eighties. Not exceptional but solid and has a fair balance.

As MP3s and the constant rise of the DVD bring into question how relevant traditional albums are, Moby digitizes his loose ends and uses new formats to provide more than anyone can possibly ingest in one sitting. The CD in this set features Moby's leftovers from the 18 album, and they are pretty much what you would expect with the quality notched up a little. A bit less polished than his album tracks, they'll generally remind you of some other Moby tunes, only in demo form. "Soul to Love" sounds just like a more sedate "Go" and "String Electro" sounds like most of Play, only they're both pleasantly naïve and much less ambitious…

John di Martino is a jazz pianist, arranger and producer, based in New York City. He has been described as a "shape-shifter", for his creativity across musical genres. For this tribute to the King of Pop, John and his Romantic Jazz Trio perform some of Michael Jackson's best-loved songs.

Live In Japan 1984 marks an end-point in the first phase of Allan Holdsworth’s touring career as group leader. It’s his first posthumous release approved by his family estate.Herein is the closing live set of Holdsworth’s “I.O.U.” band, featuring live versions of material from his first three studio releases starting with Allan Holdsworth, I.O.U., and followed by the Grammy-nominated Rood Games. With a young, new rhythm section recruited locally after his permanent move to Southern California, Holdsworth continued with the core of this band as a power trio featuring drummer Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Johnson…

"This is Ryan" continues to confirm that trumpeter Ryan Kisor is more than a "young lion, a label he received after winning the Thelonious Monk Competition back in 1990. At the still young age of 32, he is continuing in the tradition of the modal-minded trumpet players who preceded him, sounding like he comes from the direct lineage of the great Woody Shaw. His excellent trumpet technique, especially clear in the upper register, makes possible seamless solo lines. "This is Ryan" features compositions by three major trumpet players from the '50s-60s: Kenny Dorham's "Una Mas, Don Cherry's "Art Deco and Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma"…

"Una Vita Migliore" marks the awaited return, three years after the previous "La notte anche di giorno", of the Genoese band La Coscienza di Zeno, one of the names groups inside the contemporary Italian progressive rock scene; a wait actually first interrupted in February 2018 with the live album “Il giro del cappio”, right after the group’s signing with AMS Records. This opus represents a further step forward in the band’s evolution and, first of all, shows a better and wider teamwork in terms of songwriting, an aspect that makes this work more heterogeneous and solid than the previous ones…

Hotel rarely shows, in any shape or form, traceable inspiration from the new wave and post-punk era Moby advertised as being in full effect. More surprising is that apart from the lovely ambient instrumentals that open and close it, the album is all valley and no peaks, suggesting that the shelving of his sampling device was the worst creative move he could've made. The first half contains simple - as in basic and/or emaciated, so we're talking poor - modern rock songs that tend to be anthemic and soul-searching in nature. Lead single "Beautiful" is one exception, a tongue-in-cheek thing Moby has imagined being sung by vacant celebrity couples…

Korb is the new project from Alec Wood and Jonathan Parkes (previously know as Mutante). The eponymous titled album is the duo's second release on their homegrown record label Dreamlord Recordings. Korb is a fantastic album filled with retro synths, drums, guitars and keyboards. Parkes and Wood certainly know their stuff and take the listener on a trip full of atmospheric synth-lead prog/space-rock grooves. The influences take various nods towards the Krautrock scene, especially the likes of Can, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Neu!, as well as homegrown space cadets Hawkwind. This album is no retro-style homage to these bands though as Korb meld their inspirations into a fresh sounding manifestation of cool sonic-fuelled instrumentals, taking you on an otherworldly journey that feeds the mind as well as your ears.

Beth Carvalho is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, cavaquinist, and composer whose name is synonymous with samba, particularly the Mangueira school. Though she began recording with Os Gatos in the mid-'60s, her run of solo albums between 1974's Pra Seu Governo and 1988's Alma Do Brasil is almost unparalleled in Brazilian MPB for their consistently high quality. She has recorded the works of now-legendary samba composers such as Nelson Cavaquinho, Guilherme de Brito, and Cartola, supporting them long before the listening public did; she assisted mightily in making them household names in Brazil…

GruGrü is a nice instrumental Prog/Jazz Rock/Fusion quartet. GruGrü is a music that oscillates well between genres, leaving a very pleasant impression of permanent surprise. GruGrü is a big rock sound, a free jazz spirit and a furious groove. GruGrü is a concentrate of savagery and delicacy, power and finesse.

Russ Garcia was a popular arranger in the mid-'50s, often working with some of the best jazz artists of the day. On this session for Bethlehem, he conducts an octet with four trombonists (including Maynard Ferguson, Frank Rosolino, Herbie Harper and Tommy Pederson), plus baritone saxophonist Dick Houlgate, pianist Marty Paich, bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Stan Levey. Most of Garcia's cool arrangements are of standards, while his "I'll Never Forget What's Her Name (The Lo-est)" is a barely disguised reworking of the chord changes to "Fine and Dandy." Obviously, the trombonists are the primary focus of the solos, though Paich, Houlgate and Mitchell get a chance to get in a few licks of their own. Garcia's use of a trombone choir is very effective in the warm treatment of "Lush Life" and a cooking "What Is This Thing Called Love."