Catalonian composer Padre Antonio Soler took holy orders to become a monk at the Escorial monastery, near Madrid and became a pupil of master keyboard composer Domenico Scarlatti. Soler may not be as highly regarded as his teacher in many circles, however much of the skill and creativity has undoubtedly rubbed-off. Like his teacher Scarlatti many of these sonatas are characterised for their Spanish flavour of Flamenco song, energetic dance and guitar-like strumming.

Dylan Carlson and Adrienne Davies return Earth to its fundamental state - raw, slow burning and sensually psychedelic - in the “witches garden” of ‘Full Upon Her Burning Lips?’, their 9th studio album marking 30 years since the band’s formation.

In 1694 Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, kapellmeister at the court of Count Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, published a collection of trio sonatas for a typical German ensemble of the period: violin, viola da gamba, and bass continuo. Pairing the violin with the viola da gamba seems to exemplify the fusion of Italian and French musical traditions, and this same fusion is found in the forms of these compositions, with an Italianate sonata followed by a suite of French dances a model that Johann Sebastian Bach would later recall. These sonata-suites are endowed with undeniable charm and an infectious liveliness, and François Joubert-Caillet, with his ensemble L Achéron, give us a particularly seductive interpretation of them.

Lucia Swarts chooses to explore the highest peaks of cello literature after 35 years of professional work. Swarts performs Bach’s Six Suites for Cello Solo on a Baroque cello, but, uniquely, Suite no.5 is played on a Basse de Violon.

These nine ballads were recorded by Stanley Turrentine between 1962 and 1969. Apart from being a genuinely wonderful set of romantic tunes, Music for Lovers showcases a soft side of the great tenor's playing. Turrentine is one of the quintessential soul-jazz saxophonists. His Blue Note recordings from the 1960s with Shirley Scott are generally the works cited, but there is so much other material on offer that a small collection like this is welcome. A pair of ballads with Scott on organ are here, representing that darker groove aspect, but so are tunes with pianists like Sonny Clark, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Horace Parlan, and Cedar Walton…

September grew out of the short-lived super-group project Jugoslovenska Pop Selekcija in September 1975, whose members included Tihomir Pop Asanovic-organ, Janez Boncina-vocals, guitar, Braco Doblekar-percussion, congas and Ratko Divjak- drums. Charley Novak on bass and formally educated musician Pero Ugrin on electric violin and trumpet joined soon for the recording of the first album, ironically titled "Zadnja avantura" (Eng. "The Last Adventure"). The album was recorded in February 1976 in Ljubljana and released shortly afterwards but passed largely unnoticed. This is in fact a pure gem of Yugoslavian jazz fusion that lacked popularity simply because there was no single hit song on it that would draw attention of the wider public…

The well respected London duo Nick Woolfson and Elliot Jones return with a striking new album Binary featuring 9 brand new tracks. Binary marks the 25th anniversary of Sounds From The Ground.

Released for the British market, Hits and Rarities combines a good basic Sheryl Crow hits compilation with a collection of rarities that are either not that rare or interesting. The first disc is the stronger of the two, containing almost all of her big hits, not presented chronologically but presented entertainingly and not leaning too heavily on any particular era. Here, there are a few minor rarities…