Wisdom and wistfulness are intertwined in “Wisteria”, whose title track, written by Art Farmer, takes us back to the early 60s, when both Steve Kuhn and Steve Swallow sang softly of the blues in the trumpeter-flugelhornist’s band. They’ve shared a lot of history since then. Swallow played on Kuhn’s classic “Trance”; Kuhn played on Swallow’s “Home” and “So There”. Drummer Joey Baron has been heard with Kuhn on ECM discs including “Remembering Tomorrow” and the dazzling tribute disc “Mostly Coltrane”. This new album takes a fresh look at several pieces heard in Kuhn’s orchestral “Promises Kept” collection, but alongside the aching balladry there is also some driving hard bop (on “A Likely Story”) , a brace of Swallow tunes (“Dark Glasses”), Carla Bley’s gospel-tinged “Permanent Wave” and the Brazilian “Romance” by Dori Caymmi.

2020 release by band British Lion led by Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris. The album was recorded, engineered and mixed at Barnyard Studios by Tony Newton and produced by Harris. 'The Burning' is a follow-up to British Lion's 2012's eponymous debut album, Steve's first ever musical venture outside of Iron Maiden which was pronounced both 'brilliant' and 'a big hearted ferocious triumph' by the music press.

Yuval Zorn’s debut album is a truly original and fascinating recital crossing continents from the turbulent revolutionary streets of a violent eastern Europe, to exotic birdsong in the south of France, the tense middle east, the vivid contrasts of Brazil and finally to 1732 Leipzig and the quiet contemplative world of J.S Bach’s famous Chorale Prelude transcribed by Busoni.

My Kingdom was created in December 2019 at Patologian Laboratorio. Al music written and performed by Grim666. Cover art by Hellish Razor. "This is the second gathering of songs to celebrate the musical influences which ultimately lead me on to create Kalmankantaja. The Nostalgia series only exists to worship the old darkness". HVNK KVLT

This popular set matches the brilliant harmonica player Toots Thielemans with such top Brazilian performers as Ivan Lins, Djavan, Oscar Castro-Neves, Dori Caymmi, Ricardo Silveira, Joao Bosco, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Luiz Bonfб, Edu Lobo and Eliane Elias, in addition to bassist Brian Bromberg, keyboardist Michael Lang, trumpeter Mark Isham and Dave Grusin. Thielemans is often in a supportive role behind the many soothing Brazilian singers and performers.

Slowly the camera roams through the narrow streets of Macerata, past the cathedral, the monuments, the library and the university, until it reaches the Arena Sferisterio. In the 1820s this was a competition venue for a handball game popular at that time. At the beginning of the twentieth century the ‘neo-classical monster’, as the stadium is disrespectfully called in the vernacular, was also discovered as an opera venue and a dazzling backdrop for the ‘Macerata Opera Festival’. The stage, which is 14.5 meters deep and 40 meters wide, is sufficiently large for all kinds of events and spectacles to be staged. At the end of July 2002 the time had come again. An audience of 5000 had gathered to listen to the new production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore under the direction Saverio Marconi, conducted by Niels Muus.

”… However, not only is Davis more in sympathy with Arrau's majestic approach, he's got the incomparable Staatskapelle Dresden backing him up. The result is a Fourth Concerto for the ages: just listen to Arrau's silky-toned opening, the soft hush of the violin section's entrance leading up to the thrilling subsequent crescendo. And the slow movement! Words can't do it justice, nor can they capture the finale's wonderful sense of vigor within repose.”

Emil von Sauer's piano works mark the twilight of an era in which the composer pianist was still in fashion. Sauer, Godowsky, Hofmann, Rachmaninoff, Rosenthal, Busoni and Paderewski were just a few of the reigning titans who frequently played their own compositions on the concert stage. The music of most of these composers has unfortunately fallen out of vogue today. However, turn of the century audiences enthusiastically applauded, demanded even, these works, if not during the actual programmed recital then afterwards as encores. Sauer was born in Hamburg. He studied with Nicholas Rubinstein in Moscow and for two years with Liszt in Weimar.

This surprising 1984 effort from John Abercrombie finds the guitarist in conversation with Jan Hammer, Jack DeJohnette, and Mike Brecker. The lack of a bassist on this session is not felt; the spaciousness of the music and the masterful playing of all parties involved keep the focus clearly on the melodies, both scripted and improvised.

Legendary piano master Richter imparts these three sonatas with all the intensity and intellect that made his playing famous. Orchestral solidity of sound makes the first movements immediately impressive. But the true scaling of heights comes in the slow movement of the C major [No. 3] a colossal psychodrama here and, unexpectedly, in the shadowy third movement of the E flat [No. 4]. The Op. 90 Sonata [No. 27] is mellower, never to the point of actually smiling, but unobtrusively responsive to the direction of Beethoven's thought.

Soniq Theater is the solo-project of ex-Rachel's Birthday keyboard-player Alfred Mueller. Musically its a mix of keyboardbased progressive rock, electronica, ambient, fusion and classical music. From 2000 to 2020 Soniq Theater released 20 albums.