J R Clark brings it on this Album! Gritty Blues, Silky Soul and Funk! Original lyrics that will make you laugh, cry and think. All the emotions you want when listening to a great album. Enjoy the ride! The first cut on this album jumps right out you full of energy and makes you think of 70's funk and you wonder how a band that is a labeled a blues act can be so versatile. The all star cast that is in the J R Clark Band and their diverse backgrounds enables this act to hit on most any style of music and make it their own. This album has nine original compositions and one cover that would put a smile on Bobby Blue Bland's face. J R Clark penned all nine original compositions on this album and you can see his growth as a musician and songwriter…

Christoph Irniger, a prodigious stylist with a warm sound, presents the third album with his band Pilgrim on Intakt Records. With "Crosswinds" the saxophonist who relishes adventure and surprise delivers a cultivated studio album. Multi-layered, subtle and melodically entangled, the eight pieces radiate a wondrous, atmospheric tranquility. A highly nuanced music with a magical sound. Peter Margasak writes in the liner notes: "Crosswinds this new, gorgeously considered, but luxuriantly open new recording by tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger s Pilgrim is palpably more relaxed on the surface than the quintet s previous albums, yet beneath that veneer of calm is intensely focused and rigorous interplay as well as a level of risk-taking. Irniger and his bandmates have developed a richly contemporary sound that melds ideas from some of the most harmonically advanced thinkers in the US with a distinctly European flavor heard most explicitly.

ODYSSEY started life as The Lopez Singers, a female vocal group from Connecticut, in 1968. The original line up was the three Lopez sisters Carmen, Lillian and Louise, however Carmen left soon after and was replaced by Filipino singer and bassist Tony Reynolds. It was this line-up which went on to have worldwide success with the hit single ‘Native New Yorker’ in 1977, taken from their debut self-titled LP “Odyssey,” which was the first of their albums to be re-issued by BBR. In 1978 Reynolds was replaced by Billy McEachern who gave the group a settled line up which was a springboard for their continued success on both sides of the Atlantic.

During his first years in the service of the Esterházy princes, Joseph Haydn had every opportunity to show what he was capable of accomplishing as both instrumental soloist (on violin or keyboard) and composer; in fact, all his concertos, most of which date from the 1760s, offer a glimpse of a brilliant artist who gradually moved away from the style galant by inventing a new musical dialogue soon to become the Classical style.

Over four nights at Tilburg's 013 venue (scene of the Ayreon Universe series of live shows in 2017) Lucassen, his band and one of modern progressive music's most emphatic of casts celebrated the 20th anniversary of the third Ayreon album in front of thousands of adoring fans who had flown in from around the world. Originally released in 1998, 'Into The Electric Castle' is a classic tale of an epic quest. Set in 'no time and no space', it tells the story of eight individuals who are guided by a mysterious voice and tasked with finding the mysterious Electric Castle and discover what's inside. The entire album was performed live, featuring original album singers and musicians, such as Thijs Van Leer, Fish, Damian Wilson, Edward Reekers, Anneke van Giersbergen, and several special guests including Simone Simons (Epica) and Star Trek's John De Lancie as narrator. The 'Other Tales' are deep cuts from Arjen Lucassen's other projects, such as The Gentle Storm, Ambeon, Stream of Passion, Guilt Machine, Star One, his solo-album Arjen Anthony Lucassen and a very special Marillion cover. Step into the Electric Castle!

Seldom has an album lived up so well to its name. With each track, crafted from a combination of precious elements and featuring a whole host of guest stars, Juan Carmona puts the flamenco music so dear to his heart into the arena with jazz, that musical heavyweight, and world music. At times very outward-looking, at times introspective, with this album, he brings his art to a new level and paints a bold self-portrait underpinned by rich variety, freedom, the pleasure of new discovery and exceptionally high standards. The guitarist truly is an alchemist who has found the philosopher’s stone by focusing on the music alone.

Composed for the coronation of Charles X in Rheims Cathedral, this pièce de circonstance was to remain Rossini's last Italian opera. It contains some of the most inspired and brilliant vocal writing the composer ever produced. Most experts and analysts agree that this is an unconventinal opera, light and ironic, festive and exuberant, with a plot as simple as it is extrvagant, a work full of musical references which almost turn it, very subtly, into a "metaopera," or an "opera about opera."

The new installment in the ongoing series of New York centered recordings, this time with the stellar roster of Chris Speed, Herb Robertson, John Hébert and Tom Rainey, “Plain” is the new brilliant opus in Simon Nabatov’s singular and rich career. With a background in classical piano, with the immediately recognizable Russian feeling, Nabatov gives here plenty of room to his many musical interests, including his passion for the music of Herbie Nichols, heard in the last track “House Party Starting”. As the pieces go by, you feel the presence of history, the history of jazz and the history of classical music, combined with elements of other musical languages, but mixed and blended in such a way that it is impossible to figure out what comes from where.

A key advantage of playing complex instrumental music in a trio or quartet is the luxury of having one player free to keep the ball of melody in play while granting the other instrumentalists the freedom to harmonize, play counterpoint or just cut loose. This was the case for Dusan Jevtovic and Xavi Reijawhen, along with bassist Bernat Hernandez and under Xavi's name, they recorded 2014's MoonJune release 'Resolution'. Prior to that, though with Marko Djordjevic drumming, Dusan offered up 2013's 'Am I Walking Wrong'. Both of these trio releases pointed the way to a style of composition emphasizing melodic interplay and rhythmic complexity while not sacrificing the improvisatory nature that make the music such a thrilling listen.

Ron Carter's offering here is a solid program that has two Spanish-flavored numbers and two traditional jazz compositions that feature five top-caliber musicians at their best. "El Noche Sol" is influenced by Anadalucian folk music, as is the slower, soulful "Sabado Sombrero". Hubert Laws on flute is prominent on all four tracks and a highlight on the CD is the nifty solo work by drummer Billy Cobham on "So What". The final track, "Arkansas", so named for a child's homework project, closes out the album. The CD would have benefitted from the inclusion of a few more numbers but the music is enjoyable and illustrates the group's versatility in interpreting music forms different from what they were accustomed to playing.