This time around we have four complete classic albums presenting Ray as a jazz performer, R&B performer and as an exciting live performer with 'The Great Ray Charles', 'At Newport', 'The Genius of Ray Charles' and 'Ray Charles in Person'.
These is nothing new to be said about the inimitable Ray Charles that hasn't been said many times before, so simply sit back and listen to the genius in person.

The appetite for evolving performance practices in Bach’s St Matthew Passion appears undiminished as we have gradually shifted, over the generations, from larger to smaller ensembles and also towards a greater dramatic understanding of the implications of Bach’s ambitious ‘stereophonic’ double choir and orchestra choreography.

Anyone listening to this admirable set will gain an accurate impression of David Oistrakh’s overall playing style, his poise, composure, interpretative finesse, velvety tone and highly sophisticated musicianship. Various of the works programmed are - or have been - available in alternative Oistrakh recordings (the Tchaikovsky and Brahms concertos in around six versions apiece), but Melodiya’s selections are, in general, judiciously chosen.

Five of the discs on this six-CD set are previously released Naxos recordings of a broad variety of works by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The set offers a generous sampling of works spanning the composer's career, from his polystylistic Collage über BACH (1964) for orchestra to his 2001 Nunc dimittis for a cappella chorus.

While as an interpreter he is remembered most readily as an advocate of the piano music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Artur Schnabel's own favorite among the so-called "Great Masters" was Franz Schubert. Largely, Schnabel was able to record his little sips of Schubert in between great heaping gulps of Beethoven, and over a period of eighteen years managed to amass the 5 CDs worth of music that makes up Music and Arts' magnificent Artur Schnabel: The Complete Schubert Recordings. This set is "complete" in the sense that it includes every disc of Schubert that Schnabel made and approved for commercial release.

This impressive series continues with its incredibly 6-CD sets, this one yielding 100 masterful guitar performances! The heavy emphasis is on classical, from baroque to modern (with two discs devoted to Spanish guitar and another entirely to Rodrigo), but you'll encounter some Beatles along the way, too. Pieces by Bach, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Satie, Britten, Granados, Falla, Rodrigo, Albeniz, Villa-Lobos and others are played by Andres Segovia, Julian Bream, Eliot Fisk, Manuel Barrueco, Christopher Parkening and more!

Living in the Shadows is an apt title for this four-disc box set from Earth Recordings. Its subject, guitarist Bert Jansch, is a certified legend, world-renowned for his groundbreaking early solo records, his membership in Pentangle, and his innovative playing style that stretched the boundaries of various Celtic and European folk musics to embrace improvisational jazz, rock, and Middle Eastern modalism and influenced generations of players.

Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California that evolved out of the group Jefferson Airplane following the departure of bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum selling studio albums, and had nine top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band went through several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name. The band name was retired in 1985, but it was picked up again in the early 1990s by a revival of the group led by Paul Kantner, which has continued following his death in 2016.

The Wingspan compilation features tracks from Paul's hugely successful early solo career, from 1970 to 1984, and many classics performed as Wings. The album features 40 songs and comes in at two-and-a-half hours of McCartney music on a double CD. Wingspan was launched in tandem with a feature-length documentary film of the same name that told the intimate inside story of Wings for the first time.Despite setting themselves the hardest job in rock and roll, in the space of nine years Wings soared to international success with 17 million-seller singles, five US Number 1 albums and eventually a US stadium show that broke The Beatles' attendance record.

George Benson Simply one of the greatest guitarists in jazz history, George Benson is an amazingly versatile musician whose adept skills find him crossing easily between straight-ahead jazz, smooth jazz, and contemporary R&B. Blessed with supreme taste, a beautiful, rounded guitar tone, terrific speed, a marvelous sense of logic in building solos, and, as always, an unquenchable urge to swing, Benson's inspirations may have been Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery, but his style is completely his own. Not only can he play lead brilliantly, he is also one of the best rhythm guitarists around; and works often as a sideman.

Recorded 1967 - 2003 Secrets of the Hive, by Procol Harum, is a 2 CD best-of album that was released in 2007 to mark the 40th anniversary of their first single, A Whiter Shade of Pale. The album contains tracks from previous albums (not including The Long Goodbye), singles and the previously unreleased Into The Flood.

Best known in the U.S. for their hard rock material, Golden Earring have been the most popular homegrown band in the Netherlands since the mid-'60s, when they were primarily a pop group. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist George Kooymans and bassist/vocalist Rinus Gerritsen, then schoolboys, in 1961; several years and personnel shifts later, they had their first Dutch hit, "Please Go," and in 1968 hit the top of the Dutch charts for the first of many times with "Dong-Dong-Di-Ki-Di-Gi-Dong," a song that broadened their European appeal. By 1969, the rest of the lineup had stabilized, with lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Barry Hay and drummer Cesar Zuiderwijk. They experimented with their style for several years before settling on straightforward hard rock initially much like that of the Who, who invited them to open their 1972 European tour. Golden Earring signed to the Who's Track label, which released a compilation of Dutch singles, Hearing Earring, helping the group break through in England. Released in 1974, the Moontan LP spawned the single "Radar Love," a Dutch number one, U.K. Top Ten, and U.S. number 13 hit.

Israel "Cachao" López b. 14 September 1918, Havana, Cuba, d. 22 March 2008, Coral Gables, Florida, USA. The name of revered bass player Cachao (who also arranged, composed and played piano, tres, bongo, trumpet and trombone) was linked with the origins of mambo and was virtually synonymous with descarga, which was defined by pianist/band leader Charlie Palmieri as having ‘… no music written. It’s a soloists freedom of expression, ad-libs, an improvisation of the melody… whatever he (she) feels at the moment…’ (quoted by Latin music historian Max Salazar). Leading Cuban band leader of the 50s, Bebo Valdés said in 1991: ‘… if Cachao and Arsenio Rodríguez had not been born, the Cuban music of the 50s and perhaps the last 30 years, would have sounded like the music of the 30s’.López was born to a musical family and started learning guitar when he was six years of age. When he was about eight he played guitar and bongo with Conjunto Miguel De Seste. This was followed by a stint with Ignacio Villa (who later became popular as Bola De Nieve), whose band provided the music for silent films at a movie house in Guanabacoa, Havana. In 1931, he joined the Havana Symphonic Orchestra and remained a member for over 30 years. Meanwhile, López performed with the dance band of violinist Marcelino González, turning out exciting bass solos that earned him the nickname ‘Cachao’ (derived from ‘cachandeo’, meaning ‘lively with joy’).

Emmylou Harris's groundbreaking album Wrecking Ball was produced by Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Willie Nelson), won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album and was highly praised by critics worldwide. The 2014 three-disc set features the remastered original album, a bonus CD of previously unreleased material, and a DVD of the documentary Building the Wrecking Ball, which includes interviews and studio footage of Harris and Lanois as well as special guests Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Neil Young, Steve Earle, Brian Blade, and others.

Time Was, Wishbone Ash's two CD-live anthology, was assembled by the band and the labels Castle and Sanctuary. Consisting of two previously released live recordings, only half of this is even worth hearing. The first disc, Live: Time Line, sounds like a bunch of geezers on their last legs and features only guitarist Andy Powell and bassist Martin Turner from the original lineup. Poorly recorded, tiredly played and utterly boring, it sounds more like a corner bar Wishbone Ash tribute band than the real thing – which of course it's not. In fact, the only case that ever needs to be made for bands not reuniting is this one. Disc two, originally issued as King Will Come: Live, is prime Ash. Recorded in the U.S. and Canada from 1973 through '76, at the height of their powers, this date showcases a restless, hungry, fully adventurous unit with Powell, Turner, drummer Steve Upton, keyboardist Graham Maitland and guitarist Laurie Wisefield. While the recording itself isn't stellar it's far more than passable and will be a welcome addition to the catalog for punters who didn't get it the first time around. The title track, "Blowin; Free," "The Warrior," "Balled of the Beacon," "Doctor," and "Moonshine" are all here, as well as nine others. This set makes plain the reason they ordered the performances in reverse: if King Will Come: Live had been first, no one would have ever even played Live: Time Line. As it is, folks who encounter Live: Time Line first may feel so ripped off by its horror, they may never stumble upon the treasure that is King Will Come: Live.