This very well-recorded album features Ralph Towner playing 12-string and classical guitar on "Nardis," two pieces by John Abercrombie, and four of his own originals. The interpretations are typically sensitive, thoughtful, and often introspective, but also show off Towner's impressive technique.

With over 30 genre-bending years of experience, creator and mentor Michael Wadada expertly carves a new path in the evolution of Dub, drawing for the melodies of classical Indian Raga and countless other ethnic influences and draping them over bass-heavy rhythms and euphoric soundscapes. In an age of incoherent albums designed to be 'cherry picked', this is an engulfing musical journey, rewarding the listener with almost seamless transitions between rich atmospherics and driven, uplifting beats.

It's hard to believe that it's been more than five years since Ralph Towner issued his last solo guitar album, or any album under his own name, for that matter. Anthem was issued in 2000. Time Line is a return to the stark, spacious and lyrical explorations of that set. That's not to say this is any kind of direct replica. Towner's a restless artist, he pushes his boundaries on the classical and 12-string guitars. The set contains 14 new compositions and two fine covers that provide the real reason for Towner's not-so-secret inspiration here: George Gershwin's "My Man's Gone Now," and Harold Arlen's "Come Rain or Come Shine." The muse, of course, is Bill Evans. Evans has been forever associated with the former tune since his 1961 trio performance of it at the Village Vanguard; the latter is a tune he played live fairly often in the '60s and even the '70s.

Ton Koopman is not only one of the great fathers of the Baroque-Renaissance revival in the 1970’s, but a true pioneer of our time. After completing the Bach Cantatas survey, was he awarded the Bach Prize 2014 by the Royal Academy of Music. The prize is awarded to outstanding individuals in the performance and scholarship of Bach’s music and none could be more worthy than Koopman, who has been noted as doing ”remarkable work promoting Bach’s music in the last thirty or so years.”

An international summit meeting, Travel Guide features US guitarist Ralph Towner, Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, and Kazakhstan-born and Australia-raised guitarist Slava Grigoryan. The three musicians first came together in 2005, initially for concerts in Australia, and have since toured widely. A 2009 recording on Muthspiel’s Material Records label documented the group’s early progress. Ralph Towner subsequently brought the project to ECM and the trio recorded this album in Lugano in August 2012, with Manfred Eicher as producer. Towner has been a key ECM recording artist for more than 40 years, while Muthspiel and Grigoryan make label debuts here. Grigoryan is well known as the preeminent Australian classical guitarist of his generation, and Muthspiel’s been an important figure on the transatlantic jazz scene for two decades.

In 1991 the Italian four-piece band released their first official and eponymous full-length work on Musea Records. The structure of the eight compositions (running time ranging from 4.26 to 8.40) is simple but very tasteful, you will be carried away by the warm atmosphere featuring a lush organ sound (lots of Hammond and Farfisa) and pleasant vocals. The guitarplay is subdued but fits perfect to the often romantic and melancholic climates. Some songs are mellow, other contain bombastic eruptions delivering majestic floods of organ, very compelling. If you like the melodic organ-driven progrock in the vein of Procol Harum and Rare Bird, this CD is a delight.

A Closer View is the successor to 1993's Oracle, a record described by Downbeat as "charming and thoughtful, conveying the familiarity and empathy of partners who have worked together for years. Towner and Peacock share a deep interest in Bill Evans' music, which manifests itself in the light touch, intricacy and sensitivity that pervade the session." Oracle was initiated as Peacock's project and featured primarily the bassist's compositions. A Closer View reverses the formula, highlighting Towner's pieces. There are seven new tunes from the guitarist and three off-the-cuff joint compositions in an album completed by one Peacock "classic", the song "Moor".

In 1957, Izumi "Mimi" Kobayashi was born and raised in the seaside city of Funabashi located in Chiba, Japan. Before Izumi launched her musical career she was mostly known as a prodigious piano player. While attending the Tokyo College of Music, Izumi formed a group called Asoca and won Yamaha’s prestigious Grand Prix songwriting contest in 1977, landing on a record contract in doing so. Going under the name Mimie-Chan Super Band, CBS Sony released her first EP (My Summer Samba). Just months later, Izumi would rebrand her group as the Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band and release two wicked funk-influenced albums that showed Izumi’s own interest in latin and soul music…