Hank Crawford's '60s sides for Atlantic rightfully established him among the preeminent soul-jazz saxophonists. For pure phrasing and feel, Crawford was in a class by himself. When Creed Taylor kicked off CTI in 1970, he brought Crawford on board immediately. This date from 1973 – one of eight cut between 1971 and 1978 – is Crawford's strongest for the label and one of the better records of his career, though jazz purists would never agree. Produced and arranged by Bob James with a smoking cast that includes Joe Beck, Idris Muhammad, Richard Tee, and Bob Cranshaw, as well as a brass section of crack New York studio cats, Wildflower is the album Crawford had been trying to make since 1971. Recorded in two days, the band provides a slick, right, colorful platform for Crawford's melodic improvisation that is rooted in the art of the phrase. One long note held on "Mr. Blues" or a series of carefully articulated verbal feelings, such as on "Corazon," may not step out of the groove, but make it both a deeper blue and as wide as the human heart's complexity. On the title cut, with a vocal chorus in the background, Crawford turns a pop melody into a torrent of raw emotionalism and savvy groove-conscious glory. James' charts are big but never obtrusive; they point in one direction only, to bring that huge soul sound out of Crawford's alto – check out the way the melody line breaks down into the solo in Stevie Wonder's "You've Got It Bad Girl," or the backbeat arpeggio exercises in "Good Morning Heartache." This record is so hot the only soul-jazz it can be compared to in both its contemporary form and funky feel are Grover Washington's Feels So Good and Mister Magic issues. In other words, Crawford's Wildflower is indispensable as a shining example of '70s groove jazz at its best.

Classical Net
Peter Serkin recorded these works over the course of more than three years, between 1994 and 1997. In spite of its long gestation time, and the diversity of composers and compositional styles, this CD holds together very well. From the opening Webern Variations for Piano, a seminal piece of 12-tone writing from 1936, to the explosion of color and light in Lieberson's Piano Fantasy (1974-5), it is hard to believe that one pianist is responsible for all these sounds. Serkin's technique allows him to negotiate dense thickets of notes and impossibly tangled rhythms without audible strain. He is slightly less convincing when he moves to the other extreme and is asked to spellbind the listener with almost imperceptibly small and slow musical changes. What is most impressive about Serkin, however, is his dedication to this repertoire. There are not many pianists who would stick their necks out for music that doesn't receive the sympathy usually reserved for Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, and the like. Prove me wrong and hear this CD.

Expanded version of this great collection first released in early 90's as 1 CD. These are the legendary lost Lansdowne Tapes, in honour of the studio where the band recorded their first 3 albums . Includes alternate versions/mixes, unreleased tracks and the unused recordings of The Spice (the first Uriah Heep incarnation), a curious mix of Hard Rock, Jazz & Psychedelia. Carefully remixed and remastered by Robert Corich, this set has a very well anotated booklet and a better tracklisting (the original release was a mixed bag of Spice & Heep tracks with any logical order).

Having always felt intimate with Bartok's as well as gypsy music of the roma, I've thoroughly enjoyed playing this recording, loud. It helps to have recently read "Bury Me Standing"- comes from the saying, 'Bury me standing, I've been on my knees all my life'.

Born in Milan in 1911 into a family of musicians, Nino Rota was first a student of Orefice and Pizzetti. Then, still a child, he moved to Rome where he completed his studies at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in 1929 with Alfredo Casella. In the meantime, he had become an 'enfant prodige', famous both as a composer and as an orchestra conductor. His first oratorio, L'infanzia di San Giovanni Battista, was performed in Milan and Paris as early as 1923 and his lyrical comedy, Il Principe Porcaro, was composed in 1926.

This excellent recording treats us to a different baroque. Not the extremely elaborate fugues, chorales, and operas most people immediately think of when they hear "baroque". Many of the pieces are dance music, but not the kind of dances you would find in Bach cello, violin or lute suite. This is music someone can actually dance to. Even though the music is definitely baroque, some of these pieces sound like flamenco (like Jacaras por la E), and some other sounds like South American music (La Jota sounds somehow like "pajaro campana").

A discussion of the Alfabeto letters that show up in the titles of the pieces would have been nice; when you see "por la E" or "por la B" Murcia did not mean in the key of E or in the key of B. He was reffering to the names of the main chord in each of the pieces by an old guitar-chord naming system.

London is an American glam metal / hard rock band, based in Hollywood, California. The band is perhaps most notable for featuring members that would go on to play in more famous bands such as Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, W.A.S.P. and Cinderella.

With Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, George Benson, Hank Crawford, Joe Henderson, Bob James, and a large horn section. Some of the arrangements seem, well… arranged, but as soon as Smith kicks in, the groove is established. Even Creed Taylor (producer) can't stop the Hammond B-3.