Reentko Dirks is known for his genre-blending style, incorporating flamenco, jazz, and non-European influences, particularly from Arabian music. He has worked with artists and groups like Cirque du Soleil, Yo-Yo Ma, and Ksenija Sidorova, and has performed at iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall. In 2025, Dirks will release an Album featuring tracks dedicated to his late father, offering a reflective and emotional musical tribute. Dirks is part of the European Guitar Quartet and the ensemble Masaa, which won the German Jazz Prize in 2021.

I’m an avid fan of the TV comedy series Benidorm (like every night), about the adventures of a motley crew of ‘Brits’ on their annual holiday in Europe’s biggest resort town at the 3-Star Solana Hotel and which is on a permanent loop on a retro TV station here.

Bringing together British-Nigerian vocalist and composer Ola Onabulé with Philadelphia’s Hazelrigg Brothers and Austrian drummer Thomas Käfel, this release distills Onabulé’s acclaimed repertoire to its fully acoustic core. Recorded live in Bremen’s iconic Sendesaal, the project pursues fidelity and immediacy, employing hi-resolution and immersive audio formats, capturing the ensemble in real time. The result foregrounds interplay and musical presence, placing Onabulé’s striking vocal range and incisive songwriting in sharp focus.

Baroque giants La Serenissima return with VIVALDI 8 – VOLUME 2, following their previous instalment in February 2025 of Vivaldi 8 Volume 1. Recognised for ‘whipping up a storm with Vivaldi’, La Serenissima is ‘one of Britain’s best-loved chamber orchestras’ (The Telegraph) known for their outstanding performances, championing a host of neglected Italian baroque composers. Uniquely, the group’s entire repertoire is edited from source material by founder and violinist, Adrian Chandler OSI. Praise for Vivaldi recordings by La Serenissima: 5 stars “After being obsessed by the composer and his music world for more than 30 years, Chandler by now is Vivaldi incarnate” – The Times

The Steve Morse Band have announced details of their brand-new album, Triangulation, which will be released on 14 November via Music Theories Recordings (Yngwie Malmsteen, Ayreon, Paul Gilbert, Vandenberg).

Mendelssohn's music contains a fascinating duality: deeply rooted in German Romanticism, inspired by Bach and Beethoven, but at the same time shaped by his Jewish origins and the tension between these two worlds.

Shiraz, the Act debut by Dhafer Youssef, is the most personal album in the career of the world- renowned oud player and singer. In vibrant songs, it tells the story of the most important encounter of his life: meeting his wife, Shiraz Fradi.

Most jazz records are made in studios with perfect acoustics. Ours was made in a French château surrounded by vineyards. And the acoustics were perfect too. The atmosphere was as rich and complex as the region’s finest vintages - a setting unlike any other for a jazz session.

Sharon Bezaly is known not only for her outstanding musical talent, but also for her dedication to her instrument and its repertoire.

"Fairytale"—a word that holds so much more than just a story. It is an entry into another world, a place where fantasy and reality merge, and where time ceases to exist. Music has that same magical power. It carries us to places unknown, into emotions beyond words. When we listen, we open doors to beauty, poetry, and drama—spaces where imagination runs free. On this CD, Yi-jia Yin and I have gathered works that each carry a sense of the fairytale—pieces that invite us into musical storytelling. The title piece, Janáček’s Fairytale, is inspired by the Russian tale of Tsar Berendey. It sings with Janáček’s distinctive melodic turns, unexpected harmonies, and vivid colors, as if whispering an ancient story. The music feels like a conversation, the cello and piano weaving together a scene from a lost world.

Yoko Ono's catalog isn't easy to navigate or even define at times. Even when John Lennon was on board as a collaborator – band member, producer or cheerleader – her music could be willfully difficult and stubbornly uncommercial. She's a singular artist, maybe more so than her late husband and his famous band, which makes any tribute to her vast recorded work an uphill charge not exactly suited for the easily intimidated.

In 2007/08, the Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra made his debut at BIS with a series of albums dedicated to three compatriots: the composers Othmar Schoeck, Arthur Honegger and Frank Martin.

White Moth Black Butterfly are a contemporary pop project with progressive and experimental music at its heart; initially created by Daniel Tompkins as a creative outlet aside from his writing with TesseracT to indulge in his other musical influences ranging from Massive Attack, Enigma, Sigur Ros, David Bowie to Tool, Dredg and Thrice.

The complete recording sessions of In The Wake of Poseidon on 1 CD/1Blu-ray. Blu-ray features completely new mixes of the album* in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 DTS-HD MA Surround & Hi-Res Stereo by Steven Wilson, (except Devil's Triangle*) New Elemental Mixes of four of the tracks in Hi-Res Stereo by David Singleton plus two additional versions of Cadence and Cascade. Complete recording sessions of the album in Hi-Res Stereo. The Original Stereo Master of the album (30th Anniversary edition). Presented in a replica mini-vinyl style packaging with booklet including photos and sleeve-notes from King Crimson biographer Sid Smith. CD contains the complete album in 2025 mix form with Devil's Triangle sourced from the alt mixes as featured originally on the (long unavailable) Sailors' Tales boxed set + the new Elemental Mixes.

The Modern Jazz Quartet—pianist John Lewis, vibraphonist Milt "Bags" Jackson, bassist Percy Heath, and drummer Connie Kay—stood as paragons of elegance in jazz. They created a sonic world where the formalism of European classical music met the soul and swing of bebop. With precision, grace, and quiet innovation, the MJQ carved out a refined chamber-jazz aesthetic that demanded listening not just in smoky clubs, but in concert halls. Their interplay was conversational, their improvisation disciplined, and their style utterly singular. They were, in the truest sense, architects of a sound that balanced intellect with feeling.