This was the first and last time Pepper worked with Jordan, and came about as a result of Pepper's usual pianist, George Cables, being unable to make the dates at Club Montmartre in Copenhagen. To Pepper's dismay, Danmarks Radio decided to record the first gig of the Montmartre series. Pepper need not have worried – the show was a rousing success, with the band tackling a set of standards (and a couple of Pepper originals) with such verve and determination that relatively simple tunes turned into astounding solo workouts (there are several drum and bass solos to be heard on this record), the amazing highlight of which is a shot at "Besame Mucho" that rounds out to twenty-two minutes. Art Pepper was in the process of dying at the time this recording was made, but there's no lack of energy, no loss of vitality. A two-CD live jazz set that's well worth having and should not be overlooked.

This powerhouse set of live recordings from early in Robben Ford's distinguished career boasts solo-laden 10-minute-plus versions of B.B. King's "Sweet Sixteen" and John Lee Hooker's "It's My Own Fault." Ford, who has worked with Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, and George Harrison, plays surprisingly sweet, agile saxophone on Don Raye's jazz ballad "You Don't Know What Love Is." His voice–if still that of a very young man–is throaty and melodic on the King and Hooker cuts. But it's his guitar that takes centerstage. Owing heaps to electric bluesmen B.B., Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Albert King, and Mike Bloomfield, Ford's rich tone, deliberate lines, and tuneful bends were world-class even in 1972.

Bakels draws ravishing sounds from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, notably the strings…A thrilling experience…this is a performance to stimulate the ear.

The standard nonet – consisting of five wind instruments (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon) and four stringed instruments (violin, viola, cello, double bass) – is the mid-size SUV of chamber ensembles: hefty enough to produce pseudo-orchestral horsepower, but still maneuverable enough to accelerate from zero to sixty at a respectable clip. Nowhere are its virtues more evident than in this 1989 album from Ensemble Wien-Berlin (a super-group of principal players from the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, formed earlier in the decade), whose jocular interplay and burnished blend bring shine to two of the finest works written for the nonet, Louis Spohr’s seminal 1813 Nonet in F and Bohuslav Martinu’s zingy, neo-classical Nonetto No. 2.

Qui connait le quintette avec piano de Gabriel Pierné ( 1860-1937 ) , hommage au pays basque comme beaucoup de ses oeuvres ? Oeuvre dense et puissante du niveau des 2 quintettes de Fauré, ce quintette est une magnifique synthèse entre ses maitres Cesar Franck ( le sérieux du premier mouvement et le lyrisme passionné du final ) et Jules Massenet ( la souplesse heureuse du second mouvement ). Sa date de composition ( 1917 ) explique sans doute les nuages noirs qui parsèment l'oeuvre.

MURDER BAY was one of the top unsigned rock bands of the late 80's and early 90's, packing clubs all the way from their hometown in the East Bay (San Francisco) to Los Angeles. With heavy grooves, killer hooks, ass-kicking vocals and screaming guitar work culminating into a high-energy live show, the band wasted no time in developing a large fan base.