One of the more notorious albums in the history of vocal music, What a Diff'rence a Day Makes! is the lush session that bumped up Dinah Washington from the "Queen of the Blues" to a middle-of-the-road vocal wondress - and subsequently disenfranchised quite a few jazz purists. Washington had been praised in the same breath as Holiday and Fitzgerald for more than a decade, but Mercury nevertheless decided to back her with mainstream arrangements (by Belford Hendricks), heavy strings, and wordless vocal choruses similar to the radio hits of the day. Apparently, the mainstream backings didn't faze Washington at all; she proves herself with a voice as individual and evocative as ever. To be honest, the arrangements are quite solid for what they're worth; though it's a bit jarring to hear Washington's voice wrapped in sweet strings, the effect works well more frequently than not…

Marillion surprised the European market by earning Top Ten placings in the U.K. and Holland for its single "You're Gone" in the spring of 2004, but the comeback wasn't hard to figure if you listened to the record, which found the band making like U2, with a martial beat, a sustained, repetitive guitar figure, and Steve Hogarth keening, "You are the light," in his best impression of Bono. Elsewhere, Marbles, the band's 13th studio album in 21 years, for the most part recalled not so much U2 as a more long-standing influence, Pink Floyd. From the album cover and graphics in the CD booklet, which revealed the influence of Hipgnosis, the firm that did the same work for Pink Floyd, to the lengthy closing track, "Neverland," with its echoing vocals, Marillion, a group formed in the shadow of progressive rock progenitors like Genesis and Pink Floyd demonstrated that they had no trouble continuing the tradition…

At the dawn of the 21st century, the Neville Brothers may well be the greatest living institution of New Orleans R&B, but it took a long time for them to achieve such a lofty status, and the talents of Aaron, Art, Charles, and Cyril Neville had been scattered through a number of different groups (and a number of different record labels) over the space of three decades before they began to finally gain the nationwide recognition they richly deserved in the mid-'80s. Treacherous: A History of the Neville Brothers was the first compilation album to paint a reasonably accurate picture of the full scope of the Nevilles' accomplishment, and it still stands as the best introduction to their body of work. While it predates their acclaimed collaborations with producer Daniel Lanois on Yellow Moon and Brother's Keeper, it's a near-flawless representation of the Neville Brothers' earlier period (both as individuals and collectively), blending classic New Orleans R&B, smooth balladry, traditional second-line rhythms, potent Crescent City funk, and plenty of stops in between into a mighty and potent gumbo of joyous groove. Treacherous also cherrypicks the highlights from several unfortunately uneven albums, and flows more comfortably than many of the group's "real" albums. Anyone with even a passing interest in New Orleans music needs to check out the Neville Brothers, and this collection is as good a starter as anyone could hope for.

Neil Young There are not many people who have made such a long journey across eras and styles without their fans' devotion waning at all… Like David Bowie, Neil Young is one of those artists whose talent transcends genres and fashions. From dreamy folk to furious, cataclysmic rock, the Canadian singer-songwriter has mastered his art from end to end. But it is surely his writing that sets him apart as an artist. A real personality on the rock scene, he has been venerated by old hippies, budding punks, and cowboy rebels. Neil Young has found the perfect alloy of rock'n'roll, country, blues and folk.

Rules are there to be broken. Expectations are there to be defied. Glass ceilings are there to be shattered. Having spent the past decade carving out her own unique space in the male-dominated world of blues-rock, Ally Venable's combative sixth album, Money & Power, demands more of both - for herself, for women around the world, and for anyone else who thought they weren't worthy of a seat at the table.

The multi talented musician Jens Buchert from Stuttgart is one the most popular international producers from the German Downbeat, Ambient, Lounge, Chillout scene. He is known for his ambient and electronic music projects Space Night, Café Solaire, Pacha compilation, Ibiza Chillout, Sunset Chill, Savannah Beach Club and last but not least the Café Abstract series. As a musician, graduate of film and media science, video producer, sound engineer and music designer, Jens Buchert can be called a multimedia wizard. For more than 20 years he has been soaring and uniquely creative in his line of business - and there’s no end to his artistic energy. His delicious work wants to continue to shine into the bright future.

Anton Bruckner was born 200 years ago this year. To hear his choral music with fresh ears, we placed his celebrated a cappella motets together with unlikely bedfellows, above all the sacred motets of Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613).

David Bowie, die in 1947 in Londen wordt geboren als David Robert Jones, is buiten kijf een van de meest invloedrijke popartiesten aller tijden. Gedurende zijn lange loopbaan experimenteert hij niet alleen met tal van muzikale stijlen maar meet hij zich ook veelvuldig nieuwe alter-ego's aan zoals Ziggy Stardust en The Thin White Duke. Ook is hij een van de eerste artiesten die nadrukkelijk spelen met ideeën over gender. Bowie breekt in 1969 door met de single "Space Oddity" en zal in de daarop volgende decennia hits blijven scoren zoals "Changes", "Heroes", "Let's Dance" en "Absolute Beginners". David Bowie overlijdt geheel onverwacht op 10 januari 2016 op 69-jarige leeftijd. Zijn afscheidscadeau is het Blackstar dat twee dagen eerder is verschenen.

Having made his mark on the burgeoning Jamaican music industry during the first two years of the 1970s, musician-turned-producer Phil Pratt was determined to consolidate his success with further hits.His keen ear for music allied to a canny business sense enabled him to secure the services of some of the island’s brightest up-and-coming performers, and by 1972, his artists roster boasted numerous future reggae superstars in Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Horace Andy, Dillinger and Al Campbell. All were to enjoy significant success under his direction, as were a handful of slightly more established acts, whose ranks included Delroy Wilson, Big Youth and Max Romeo.

The collection, titled Gilles Peterson Presents Sun Ra And His Arkesta, features music from the cosmic jazz legend's various projects Sun Ra And His Arkestra, Sun Ra Quartet, etc—as well as some solo music. The tracklist is littered with previously unreleased tracks, including a live version of Sun Ra classic "Space Is The Place." The compilation will be available on vinyl and CD formats. Peterson has long been a fan of Sun Ra's iconic brand of jazz in a Playing Favourites feature from 2014 he described it as his "favourite music." For the CD version, Peterson picks personal favourites, classics and unreleased tracks and weaves them into a flowing piece across 2CDs, showcasing the incredible variety of Ra’s work. Alongside the familiar tones of ‘Love In Outer Space’, the modal classic ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and a heavy version of ‘We Travel The Spaceways’, he brings in the off-kilter 1950s doo-wop of ‘Dreaming’, a 45 given to him personally by the late John Peel, alongside an unreleased 1987 bossa take on ‘Astro Black’, the experimental dub ambience of ‘Adventure-Equation’ and the defiant anthem, ‘Blackman’.

"Inspired by Duccio's polyptych, Swiss composer Frank Martin decided to write a work in six ‘tableaux’ based on the Passion of Christ. In ‘Polyptyque’, a concerto for violin and two small orchestras rooted in the music of Bach, Martin sets out to transpose musically the scenes of the Crucifixion.

In 2015, pianist Jonathan Biss initiated the Beethoven/5 commissioning project with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and more than fifteen other orchestras, resulting in a groundbreaking collaboration over nine years. The project yielded five extraordinary new piano works by some of today's most significant composers, responding to Beethoven's own concerti. Volume Three sees Timo Andres’s third piano concerto, which takes its title from “Schubertiana,” by the Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, and envisions a “blind banister that finds its way in the darkness.”

Here, with her usual boundless curiosity, Ophélie Gaillard explores the diversity of the music and culture of Argentina. Tango, chacarera, Piazzolla and his “tango nuevo”, the evocative world of Ginastera, the Pampas and the Andean plateaux, a Carnival dance, a love song… this, and more. Joined by distinguished artists, Juanjo Mosalini and William Sabatier (bandoneons) and Tomás Bordalejo (guitar) – also the arrangers, or re-interpreters of these pieces – and singers Nahuel di Pierro, Inés Cuello and Agnès Jaoui, plus members of the Debussy Quartet, Ophélie Gaillard invites us to savour some of her favourite Argentine gems: the iconic La Cumparsita, the intimate Oblivion, Volver (recalling Carlos Gardel), and poetic treasures such as Pampeana, Puneña, and the delightful Canciónes – al árbol del olvido and a la luna lunanca.

The passage of time has perhaps been unkind to the English composer Maurice Greene. By 1730 he was one of the most senior musicians in England: Organist at St Paul’s Cathedral, Organist and Composer to the Chapel Royal, and Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge. When he was appointed Master of the King’s Music, in 1735, he held every significant appointment in the Kingdom.

Live at Theatre des Champs-Elysees, Paris, France 23rd January 1970. Disc 3: Rebroadcast by French radio station Europa 1 on 30th April 1995.