2008 five CD box. The Original Album Classics series, courtesy of Sony/BMG, packages together five classic albums from one of the most popular artists on the label's roster, housing them in an attractive slipcase. This set from the Soul icons features five of their albums recorded after they left the comforts of Motown and headed over to Epic with more artistic control over their recordings: The Jacksons (1976), Goin' Places (1977), Destiny (1978), Triumph (1980) and Victory (1984). These albums show how quickly the Jacksons, as a recording unit, were progressing beyond their Pop-oriented Motown recordings and reconnecting with their Soul roots.

Creole, Murray's latest and his second for the Canadian Justin Time label, is a pure joy. It's a high mark in a career sparkling with exceptions and boundary pushing. Recorded in Guadeloupe in early 1998, Creole is a fiery, imaginative musical coalition of Murray's long-time American compatriots, James Newton (flute), D.D. Jackson (piano); Ray Drummond (bass) and Billy Hart (drums) and a group of Caribbean percussionists, vocalists and the outstanding guitar of Gérard Lockel. The near-perfect blend is accomplished with an emphasis on rhythm, something Murray has explored on a part-time basis since at least 1989's Golden Sea (Sound Aspects), with Kahil El'Zabar. Creole is full of surprises - and offers much that's inviting, exciting and worth hearing again… Creole is one of Murray's most accessible recordings to date, one of the easiest to find and one that is superlative among his many 1990s recordings.

Isgaard is crossover pop with classical and mystical influences, very emotional music, interpreted by Isgaard, a female singer, who is often compared with artists like Kate Bush, Enya, Sarah Brightman, Charlotte Church and Nightwish. Secret Gaarden by Isgaard is her exceptional follow-up to The Golden Key. Ther performer's style is hard to classify: Rock Opera? Rob Dougan ("Furious Angels") with an up-tempo (instead of down-tempo) pop beat? Dance and World Music combined into songs that will recycle through your collection many, many times.

Max Roach & Anthony Braxton - One in Two, Two in One (1979) {hat ART CD 6030 rel 1989}
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© 1979, 1989 Hat Hut Records | hat ART CD 6030
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone / Drums

The second of two duet albums by drummer Max Roach and multi-reedist Anthony Braxton was recorded live and released on this two-LP set; this is the more interesting of the two projects since it is a nearly 78-minute continual improvisation. Braxton gets to stretch out on alto, soprano, sopranino, contra bass clarinet (which really gets a monstrous sound), clarinet, and flute. With Roach pushing Braxton, the results are quite adventurous, yet full of joy. Followers of avant-garde jazz can consider this set to be essential.

Richter was always a fan of Schubert's Piano music. He recorded over half of the Sonatas, the Wanderer Fantasie, some of the Impromptus and the Trout Piano Quintet to name a few works. Early in his career he would tear through impromptus, and play the Wander Fantasie with force and power. Fast forward much later at this point when these Sonatas were performed, and Richter was still playing some of the most difficult works in piano repertoire, such as Prokofiev Sonatas, Chopin Etudes and Liszt. In the case of these of composers its hard not to be inclined to be enjoy his earlier recordings more, but that is not the case here with Schubert.

Stephen Vitiello - Bright and Dusty Things (2001) {New Albion Records NA115CD}
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© 2001 New Albion Records | NA 115 CD
Avant-Garde / Electronic / Experimental / Classical / Sound Sculpture / Sound Art

If Ligeti or Stockhausen were computer nerds this might be what they'd make… astounding. In 1999, Stephen Vitiello was given a residency on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center (tower one). Gazing at the lights of New York City, he decided he wanted to translate sights into sound. To do so he simply used a photocell to record the luminosity of various points around him and through the windows. A computer assigned sound parameters to the collected data. This interesting process could have generated arid music if applied to the letter. Luckily, Vitiello had something else in mind. He treated the "Light Readings" (the title of three tracks on this CD) as sound sources.

Ben Monder - Amorphae (2015) {ECM 2421}
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© 2015 ECM Records | ECM 2421 / 471 9555
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Guitar Jazz

Guitarist Ben Monder first recorded for ECM as a member of the Paul Motian Band on “Garden of Eden” in 2004, and Amorphae was originally conceived as a series of duets for Ben and Paul. A first exploratory duo session was recorded in 2010. After Motian’s death the following year it was decided to expand and complete the project with another highly influential and innovative drummer, Andrew Cyrille, adding also Pete Rende on synthesizer on two pieces.

This EMI Angel release Barber & Shostakovich: Violin Concertos places a new package on a time-honored item, the Barber and Dmitry Shostakovich violin concerti as interpreted by violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg with the London Symphony Orchestra led by Maxim Shostakovich. It originally came out in 1992, and the original release, while it was no "Chant," proved a dependable seller. By reducing the price and putting it into a new package, EMI Angel might seem to be hoping to attract buyers who missed it the first time around, but this is a special case in that it is making available again what may have been the finest recording made by Salerno-Sonnenberg under the terms of her EMI contract.

Things that don't fit neatly into pigeonholes have always had a hard time, and so it has been with the saxophone; Hoffnung's string-tuba would have had very big problems. Sax was a tireless inventor: his plans for a monster canon, and a device for playing loud music from Parisian high ground never bore fruit, but the former anticipated Saddam Hussein and the latter, scaled down, is with us as Muzak. Though the saxophone has never found a regular place in the orchestra it has nevertheless captured the interest of a long line of composers; a square peg doesn't need to fit into any orchestral round hole when it is centre-stage.