On this Japanese Venus release, Massimo Faraò's piano trio plays works by Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg, Gounod, Listz, Brahms, Albinoni, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and title track by Smetana. Faraò's passionate style and stoic romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates.

Massimo Faraò, who is from Italy, first visited the United States in 1983 when he played with Red Holloway. In Europe he has since worked with many top performers including Tony Scott, Jesse Davis, Franco Ambrosetti, Nat Adderley, Jack DeJohnette and a notable tour in 2007 with organist Joey DeFrancesco. Even with all of that, it is as the leader of his own trio that he really shines. Farao's passionate style and stoic romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates. For this release his trio join Ernesttico on congas and featuring jazz guitarisr Davide Palladin.

A superb group featuring pianist Dwike Mitchell and bassist/French horn player Willie Ruff, the Mitchell-Ruff Duo has been recorded erratically and rarely reissued on CDs. This 1959 Town Hall concert is a recreation of an earlier performance in Moscow that could not be recorded due to problems with the Soviet regime…

Snazzy Cabaret (or "Snaz Cab") are a group of musicians bonded together in improvisation and groove harmony. Playing the songs of the individuals within the band; the Snaz Cab manifesto is to maintain fluidity in performance, recording by keen listening, with a strong musical communication between one another.

Vladimir Shafranov is a pianist who had a great influence on the popularity of "European piano" in Japan and is characterized by the melancholy melody of Scandinavia. "Moonlight Becomes You" is his second album in the MOON series. This album fascinating famous songs that everyone knows from swinging standards to bossa nova with Shafranov's rhythm section. This set including the title track plus "It Don't Mean A Thing", "Tin Tin Deo", "Favela" and more.

"Border-Free" is a companion piece and a doubling-down on Chucho Valdés’ magnificent Chucho’s Steps album from 2010. Valdés has retained most of his Afro-Cuban Messengers (although the drummer and bassist are new, the percussionist, vocalist/bata player and trumpeter return), pays tribute once again to family members and key historical musicians and cultures, and reprises the previous album’s virtuosic hopping and condensing of genres.

Jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldon's 1959 Blue Note release. "Light-Foot" is his seventh studio album recording as a leader, the album features his Quintet comprised of Herman Foster, Peck Morrison, Jimmy Wormsworth and Ray Barretto. The record features some original compositions by Donaldson along with titles by Ray Charles, Herman Foster and other jazz composers.

"Sunny Side Up" is closer to hard bop than the straight-ahead bop that characterized Lou Donaldson's '50s Blue Note records. There's a bit more soul to the songs here, which pianist Horace Parlan helps emphasize with his lightly swinging grooves.

Recorded in October 1961, A Fickle Sonance is a quintessential hard bop outing by Jackie McLean that also offered just a hint of the avant-garde explorations the alto saxophonist was about to embark on in the years to come with the dissonances of the title track’s intro.

Cue up “Soul Vibrations,” the first track on Verve’s reissue of Dorothy Ashby’s Afro Harping, and revel: a one-note syncopated bass line over a slamming drumbeat that you’re sure you’ve heard sampled somewhere. Enter the double-tracked theremins, followed by swoopy strings. Next, over the relentless beat, an echo-plexed harp solo by Ashby, during which the strings return with 16-notes; then the theremins run the groove into a fade-out. And there you have it: 3’15’’ of pure aural time capsule in all its mod glory.

Ross From Friends levels up with Tread, his keenly anticipated new album on Brainfeeder Records. Melodic, touching, nostalgic but brilliantly modern and original, it runs the full gamut from melancholy to euphoria. It’s also sleeker and arguably more dancefloor-focused than his acclaimed debut album Family Portrait (2018), but his signature personality is ever present.

As Oliver Nelson is known primarily as a big band leader and arranger, he is lesser known as a saxophonist and organizer of small ensembles. Blues And The Abstract Truth is his triumph as a musician for the aspects of not only defining the sound of an era with his all-time classic "Stolen Moments," but on this recording, assembling one of the most potent modern jazz sextets ever.

Ray Charles was best known for his work in the idioms of R&B, rock 'n' roll and even successful forays into country. But he also recorded influential jazz albums, including the groundbreaking Genius + Soul = Jazz originally released in 1961. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, in late 1960, Genius + Soul = Jazz was produced by Creed Taylor and includes arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns.

After an incredible journey as the driving force behind the award-winning jazz group, Jef Neve Trio, acclaimed Belgian pianist Jef Neve has recorded his debut solo album, "One", at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

"New York Dolls" is the debut studio album by the New York Dolls. Released in 1973 on Mercury Records, it was recorded at The Record Plant and produced by Todd Rundgren. Although the album did not chart very well, it became an influential album in the punk rock movement of the 1970s and has since been regarded as one of the greatest rock debut albums, influencing bands such as the Ramones, Kiss, the Sex Pistols, The Damned, and Guns N' Roses.