All recordings, especially those of improvised music, try to freeze the sound of a present moment, but invariably melt into the past and the future, real and imagined. Listening to this album, I can’t help but think of the classic meeting of Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins, where two titans of the same instrument across different generations displayed mutual love and respect through stylistic contrast and playful jousting. Or I create a fiction, of Django Reinhardt and Freddie Green crossing paths in some distant hotel, staying up late one night and pushing each other to new ideas. (I don’t make that allusion lightly – for the abundance of virtuosic extended technique, don’t miss the profound swing of the articulated lines and the chunky chords.) Taylor Ho Bynum, excerpt from the liner notes.

Colin Marston is an American musician and recording engineer residing in New York City. He runs Menegroth, The Thousand Caves Recording Studio in Queens, New York and has recorded, mixed and mastered artists including Mivos Quartet, Anthony Braxton, Lydia Lunch, Mary Halvorson, Jon Irabagon, Judith Berkson, Oneida/People of the North, Rhys Chatham, Elliott Sharp, Weasel Walter, Peter Evans, John Zorn, Brian Chase, Kid Millions, Mick Barr, M Lamar, Kelly Moran, No Neck Blues Band, Defeated Sanity, Yo La Tengo, Orthrelm, Revenge, Kayo Dot, Jarboe, Origin, Panopticon, Liturgy, Artificial Brain, Pyrrhon, Deiphago and Unearthly Trance as well as his own bands. Marston is a no-less prolific musician and musical innovator. His four most active bands include Behold the Arctopus, Dysrhythmia, Krallice and the 2008 reunion lineup of Gorguts. He is also involved in the more experimental projects Indricothere, Byla, Hathenter, Encenathrakh, Glyptoglossio, Containor, Catatonic Effigy, Mossenek and Overishins.

Journey Around the Truth is a work commissioned from Andy Emler by Radio France for the new organ of the Auditorium of Radio France. This project is the fruit of a long musical friendship between two great jazz musicians: Andy Emler and Dave Liebman. Music ""made to measure"", composed in a year, its convergence of the written and the improvised is magnified by the complicity and virtuosity of the two musicians. Andy Emler, composer, pianist, a catalyst of enthusiasm, initiator of collaborations, arranger, a lover of improvisation, is a man of invention. After taking composition, harmony, counterpoint and fugue courses and Saturday night dances, he embarked on a variety of musical adventures with notable musicians. David Liebman is considered a renaissance man in contemporary music with a career stretching nearly fifty years. He has played with masters including Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, McCoy Tyner and others; authored books and instructional videos which are acknowledged as classics in the jazz field; recorded as a leader in styles ranging from classical to rock to free jazz. He has performed on over 500 recordings with over 200 as a leader/co-leader featuring several hundred original compositions.

Issued as a double CD in a 3-panel digi-sleeve, here is a compilation of all the released recordings that the acclaimed Dutch progressive band made during the years 1987-1991. The Last Detail were one of the few highlights in the Dutch progressive history during the 80's of the last century. Between 1987 and 1991 they released two cassette albums (both on the bonus disc) and one full length CD and various tracks on a couple of compilation albums. To commemorate 35 years 'Freia' the label has decided to remaster all the band's official recordings and re-release the music on one double album in a limited edition of 300 copies.

Crème de la Crème Two: More Philly Soul Classics & Rarities from the Vaults of Atlantic, Atco and Warner Bros. Records 1970-1980 follows on its exemplary predecessor to further document the efforts of a major label conglomerate that throughout the decade rivaled Philadelphia International in terms of quantity and quality – the set digs even deeper than the first volume, assembling deep album cuts and unreleased tracks, but the music is no less impressive. Highlights include Major Harris' "Each Morning I Wake Up," Bettye Swann's "When the Game Is Played on You" and the Tom Moulton remix of Sister Sledge's "Mama Never Told Me."

Crème de la Crème: Philly Soul Classics and Rarities From the Vaults of Atlantic, Atco, & Warner Bros. Records 1972-1976 documents the best Philly soul singles from a label not really associated with its particular time and place, which is not to suggest that this material is remotely subpar – quite to the contrary, some of it ranks alongside the very best of acts like the O'Jays and the Spinners, even though virtually none of it came within miles of reaching the charts. Highlights include the Aristocrats' "Let's Get Together Now," Major Harris' "Loving You Is Mellow," Bettye Swann's "Kiss My Love Goodbye," Vivian Reed's "Save Your Love for Me," and Clyde Brown's "You Call Me Back."

From the beating heart of the capital city Bamako to the rich musical soils of Niafunk , Mali has become synonymous with the raw desert blues sound. Featuring the likes of the legendary Tuareg band Tartit as well as Songhai bluesman Samba Toure (protege of the legendary Ali Farka Toure), this Rough Guide also includes tracks by other unsung heroes, all of whom share the same goal of preserving a culture under serious threat. There are tracks from artists who speak out about the huge social issues present in Malian society. It follows on from the success of other Malian albums in the Rough Guide range