The unusual Theatre is nearly as much theater and performance art as it is jazz. The music is frequently dramatic, featuring the vocals of Sheila Jordan on two of the four works. "El Chancho" is a showcase for the bandoneon of Dino Saluzzi, while the 25-minute "The Holy Grail of Jazz and Joy" has portrayals of the Knights of the Round Table with short spots for many of the musicians in the all-star group. Slightly more conventional are "In the Tradition of Switzerland" (even if it has a spot for Seppo "Baron" Paakkunainen on a Finnish birch bark flute) and "No One Can Explain It" (though Jordan's vocal is otherworldly). There are solo spots along the way for avant-garde altoist and soprano saxophonist Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, trombonists Dave Bargeron, bass trombonist David Taylor, and trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg.

Stomu Yamashta is a master percussionist who studied Jazz drumming at Berklee School of Jazz. In the 1970’s he recorded a string of innovative albums for Island records fusing his percussion talents with jazz, electronic and classical music. "Freedom Is Frightening" features a fine band, including Soft Machine bass guitarist Hugh Hopper and guitarist Gary Boyle. It was a fine achievement which propelled Yamashta to a wider audience which would eventually lead to his acclaimed Go albums featuring collaborators Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve, Klaus Schulze. Never before released on CD, this Esoteric reissue has been re-mastered from the original master tapes and fully restores the original vinyl artwork and continues Esoteric's series of Yamashta’s work for Island Records.

Rudy Adrian’s second release on the Lotuspike label, Desert Realms, is a beautifully crafted study in deeply serene and contemplative soundscapes, exploring the spectacular stillness and vast landscape of the American Southwest desert. Rudy’s compositions are by themselves both vast and serene, but an additional level of emotion is provided by the poignant and moving flute expressions of Nick Prosser on a few of the tracks. Prosser’s stirring musical statements interact with Rudy’s vast soundscapes, filling the spectacular sonic vista with just the right amount of life and feeling; reminding the listener that although the desert realms may appear at first stark and barren, they are in fact full of life and captivating beauty.

This disc is a perfect example of what a quartet recording, especially of standard repertoire, should do. It is fresh and invigorating and invites us to reexamine the work of a composer whom we think we know very well. In this second volume of its Mendelssohn series, the Eroica quartet simply dazzles–the ensemble's previous foray (which was its debut recording) clearly was no fluke. As far as the Eroica quartet is concerned, Mendelssohn's quartets are the equal of any of his larger-scale works, and these players show that they can generate the muscle and power to match their conception. The first movement of the third quartet is marked "Molto Allegro vivace".