As an eleven-year-old in 1895, Wilhelm Backhaus met and performed for D'Albert, Grieg, Nikisch and Brahms, among others. Here was a pianist who shunned hectoring gestures of the late Romantic era for economy and purposefulness. "His facial expression always remained steady, showing an unceasing concentration on the sounds his hands were coaxing from the instrument with such concentrated energy. Everything lay in the act of playing, just as the preoccupation of a great painter or sculptor would be not with technique as such, but with craftsmanship - that is, skill not as an end in itself, but as a vehicle for the idea - giving pleasure to those who were able to watch and hear how a true master would execute even difficult passages effortlessly," writes Walter Frei. This 2-CD set brings together Backhaus's recordings with Karl Bohm and the Vienna Philharmonic of the two Brahms Piano Concertos.

This Art Farmer studio session from 1971 has a slight contemporary flavor to it, due to the addition of conga player James "Mtume" Forman and percussionist Warren Smith, Jr. to a core group of collaborators including Jimmy Heath, Cedar Walton, Sam Jones, and Billy Higgins. Unfortunately, the additional percussionists are too prominent in the mix, greatly distracting from the driving arrangements of Farmer's "Homecoming" and Kenny Dorham's "Blue Bossa" as well as a peppy bossa nova, "Cascavelo." Far better are the quintet tracks, including the laid-back and mellow interpretation of Leonard Bernstein's ballad "Some Other Time," featuring the leader's matchless flügelhorn and Heath's soprano sax, and an upbeat chart of "Here's That Rainy Day." Another annoying problem is the seemingly out of tune piano, though Walton makes the best of a bad instrument. Not an essential album in the vast Farmer discography, but worth acquiring if found at a reasonable price, though it will be difficult.

Magic Slim is simply the greatest living proponent of the intense, electrified, Mississippi-to-Chicago blues style that spawned much of the music played by modern blues artists and rockers. Featuring Slim’s trademark slash and burn guitar and booming vocals, this definitive, budget-priced collection includes some of the finest moments in his eighteen year relationship with Blind Pig. This is no-frills, unapologetic, straight-no-chaser blues for the ages from a true national treasure. A “must-have” CD for any serious blues fan!

2010 release, the 12th album in an infamous career, Not Music is part of Tim Gane's 2007 science experiment involving improvised chord sequences played on piano or vibraphone, over top of which were placed little drum loops. This was a new way of writing and it yielded a bumper crop of compositions, nearly 70 of which were boiled down into 32 new songs, 14 of which were cherry-picked to form Chemical Chords.

Digitally remastered reissue combines two domestically out-of-print albums together on one CD, 'Make It Happen' (1967) & 'Special Occasion' (1968). Packaged in a full color outer slipcase with original sleeve artwork.

The 1980 recording that not only made the Tallis Scholars a household name, but effectively led the way to today's great wave of exceptional mixed-voice choirs. Alison Stamp is faultless in the exceptionally testing soprano solo - top Cs and all - while, with the choir and solo quartet placed some distance apart, the perfect acoustic of Merton College Chapel is captured to perfection by Gimell.

Although Lawes died relatively young–43–he achieved a mature compositional stature, evidenced in every one of the "sets" on display here. He's particularly good at taking a melody and subjecting it to all manner of variation and imitative treatment, often developing wonderfully complex textures that somehow always maintain an ingratiating tunefulness. The Pavans are especially touching–notably the five-part C minor, inspired by Dowland's famous Lachrimae. The influence of the madrigalian Monteverdi is noticeable everywhere, in dancing rhythms and vividly expressive effects of bow articulation and colorful, sometimes unexpected harmonies. This is an exceptional collection–in rich, full-bodied, perfectly balanced sound that gives realistic presence to the instruments while allowing plenty of breathing room for strings and wood to properly resonate.

Elgar’s Falstaff is a proud, good-humoured, larger-than-life knight, not the amorous figure of fun portrayed by Verdi: Henry IV rather than The Merry Wives of Windsor. This Falstaff needs careful handling, as the composer’s superb 1931 recording makes clear. Jeffrey Tate is remarkably successful in bringing the old fellow to life and, indeed, in putting him to sleep before the Dream Interlude, with its exquisitely nostalgic violin solo. This is a performance full of character and contrast, and it finds the LSO in true virtuoso form: excellent string playing and a suitably gruff bassoon for Falstaff’s protestations.

Compilation by Taylor Swift: Taylor Swift has started her long-awaited ‘Eras Tour’. The singer kicked off the tour in Paris.
Following the release of her album ‘Midnights’ in 2022, Taylor Swift is now releasing her 11th studio album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’. Last year, she already shared the re-recordings (Taylor's version) of her albums ‘Speak Now’ and ‘1989’ with her fans.

This is the most beautiful of Mozart playing, his last piano concerto given here by Emil Gilels with total clarity. This is a classic performance, memorably accompanied by the VPO and Böhm. Suffice it to say that Gilels sees everything and exaggerates nothing, that the performance has an Olympian authority and serenity, and that the Larghetto is one of the glories of the gramophone. He's joined by his daughter Elena in the Double Piano Concerto in E flat, and their physical relationship is mirrored in the quality, and the mutual understanding of the playing: both works receive marvellous interpretations. We think Emil plays first, Elena second, but could be quite wrong. The VPO under Karl Böhm is at its best; and so is the quality of recording, with a good stereo separation of the two solo parts, highly desirable in this work.

Officially released for the first time ever, a previously unknown half-hour from cosmic mythologist and sound scientist Sun Ra's 1971 U.C. Berkeley course "The Black Man in the Cosmos." Ra's soft-spoken intensity is underscored by the sound of chalk on the board as he ambles effortlessly through his potent and prescient ideas. The class session closes with two musical tracks, a piano version of "Love In Outer Space" and a blistering Moog solo.A very cool document of the great Sun Ra – and a set that combines both music and a spoken passage from a class that Ra was teaching at the University of California in the 70s! The spoken work is fascinating – as it really captured Ra as he lived, but in ways that are different than you might expect – still as intellectual as any of his writings, and ideas you might have picked up from other sources – but with a very down-to-earth approach that maybe makes the man seem more human than some of his future-thinking music, or the cosmic garb that he's usually wearing on a record cover! Ra is completely captivating during the 30 minute lecture – which was part of a cours titled The Black Man & The Cosmos – then the set moves into a wonderful five minute solo piano piece, and an extra cool solo Moog performance that runs for over sixteen minutes in length – mindblowing analog electronics that has Ra getting some very noisy sounds from the Moog!

The “Nuggets”of Krautrock?
“Cologne Curiosities” collects, for the first time on vinyl, all the otherwise unpublished/un-reissued material that firstly appeared on the three "Unknown Deutschland - The Krautrock Archive" CDs released on Virgin during 1996. These CD only releases were originally compiled by Trevor Manwaring (Paratactile, Impetus, Virgin, Harmonia Mundi) from tapes supplied to him by Toby Robinson. Toby - aka The Mad Twiddler, aka Genius P. Orridge - is well-known to Krautrock collectors as one of a number of engineers working at Stockhausen’s WDR and Dierks Studio in Cologne in the mid-1970's, where he assisted on recordings by many famous Kraut bands such as Can, Birth Control, Mythos or Dzyan. The recordings included here were made between 1972 and 1976 using studios in and around Cologne, produced by Toby Robinson for his own amusement, just having fun on the studio. Inevitably, bands would come in for practice sessions, to record demo's, and during slack periods impromptu jams would happen. Most of these sessions were recorded by Toby, and they feature Toby himself plus a revolving cast of friends and musicians (some of them apparently big Kraut names under pseudonym).

In the mid-20th century, Louisville gospel music was occasionally recorded when members of the local gospel community pressed 45rpm records and LPs, and released them through grassroots record labels such as Sensational Sounds, Grace, Blessed, and D.J.S. Over the years, a substantial body of work was produced in our city, but those recordings are in danger of being lost forever.The Louisville Story Program has been working with dozens of people in the local gospel music community to locate, digitize, and preserve hundreds of these recordings and to develop a book that documents and honors the legacies of the people and communities that produced them.For decades, the passion, hard work, and support of countless people across dozens of Black church communities in Louisville have nurtured and sustained a rich gospel music ecosystem. This music has served as a central part of people's religious practice and as an expression of Black pride, joy, affirmation, love, dignity, determination, and hope. This legacy continues to this day.

A special full moon edition of moon music is now available as a digital download. Featuring the full moon music album plus 10 ‘blue moons’ bonus tracks, including three stunning new tracks: the karate kid, man in the moon, and a wave.

Andy Grammer Releases New Album MONSTER.Los Angeles, CA (October 4, 2024) – Today, Emmy Award winner and acclaimed multi-platinum singer/songwriter Andy Grammer releases his new ALBUM, MONSTER via S-Curve Records. The release comes on the heels of his performance of “I Do,” featuring Maddie & Tae, on Live With Kelly and Mark.
Out today, Monster sees Grammer elevating the high-energy songwriting that has won him millions of fans around the globe and leaning into acoustic melodies inspired by a novel foray into the mandolin. Across 11 poignant tracks, the project explores themes of family, relationships, happiness and letting go. At its core, Monster is Grammer’s most personal and sonically versatile album to date. Rife with vulnerable lyricism—yet still brimming with his distinctive optimism—the project is layered in dichotomy. It spans from catchy, uplifting anthems like “Still Smiling” and “Monster,” which simultaneously reflect on overcoming darkness and the complicated nature of relationships, to bright, soaring moments in “Magic” and “Friends and Family,” which, in contrast, showcase the beauty and hopefulness in connection. Monster is a testament to Grammer’s prowess as a songwriter and artist, as he explores the human condition in all its complex beauty.