The leaves are turning colors, the leaves are falling, the sounds are getting calmer and more melancholic. "Autumn Breeze Vol. 9: Chill Sounds For Relaxing Moments" brings chill sounds for relaxing moments in autumn. Selected by DJ Michael Maretimo.

After recording Level Headed, an album that mostly forsaked their hard rock leanings for pure pop, longtime lead vocalist Brian Connolly left Sweet for good. The rest of the group decided to press on as a trio, combining their pop/rock sound with a variety of other musical styles in a bid to gain a more progressive image. The result was Cut Above the Rest, a bizarre combination of the hard-rocking pop that dominated classic Sweet singles with progressive flights of fancy in a 10cc/Electric Light Orchestra vein, plus a dash of lounge lizard-ish soft rock balladry thrown in to cover all the pop/rock bases. There's no way an album that tries do so many things at once could succeed at all of them, but Cut Above the Rest is a surprisingly listenable affair…

These two 1975-1976 LPs reunited on 1 CD are to say the least very enjoyable. This is not the usual songbook devoted to the composer. Grappelli manages to play with those Porter tunes and ends up winning in the process to make them sounds his own with his instrument. It's a good example of the way a musician can pay tribute to a composer and let his personnality express his true musicianship, without losing grip of the general focus of the project.

Intervention Records is proud to announce that The Church's 1988 smash Starfish arrives on remastered Hybrid CD/SACD in May 2021.

The Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio's latest album captures the ensemble's dynamic performance in a live studio setting. This recording features a selection of tracks chosen based on listener requests, including classics like 'Misty' and 'Alice in Wonderland,' showcasing Yamamoto's expressive piano interpretations. The album also introduces fresh renditions of pieces such as 'Milestones' and 'All the Things You Are,' highlighting the trio's versatility and deep connection with their audience. This release offers a vibrant listening experience that reflects the trio's commitment to engaging with jazz enthusiasts.

Feelin' Good is a 1972 studio album by Sarah Vaughan, featuring arrangements by Allyn Ferguson, Jack Elliott, Michel Legrand, and Peter Matz.

Although collectors and serious fans will have little use for it, RCA's Collected Roy Hargrove is a nice overview of his RCA recordings for casual fans, containing ten tracks including "Wee," "Ruby My Dear," "Night Watch," and "Milestones."

Nnenna Freelon's voice is a reflection of life, filled with personal stories, deep emotion, and quiet wisdom. Since her 1992 debut on Columbia, the seven-time Grammy® nominee has used her unique perspective to tell familiar stories—from reimagining Billie Holiday to paying tribute to Stevie Wonder. On Beneath the Skin, she goes the extra step, reaching in to create heart-spoken songs, born from curiosity to more closely visit stories inhabiting her own life. With co-arranger and pianist, Alan Pasqua, Nnenna's created her most personal musical statement to date. Freelon's vocal artistry, rooted in tradition but always forward-thinking, has captivated audiences around the world, and Beneath the Skin is sure to do the same.

In 2020, Chick Corea - 27-time GRAMMY winner, National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, and one of the most iconic figures in jazz, hit the road with his powerhouse trio of Christian McBride and Brian Blade, and embarked on what would be his final tour. Candid Records and Chick Corea Productions proudly present the recordings from that tour as Trilogy 3, the third installment from this extraordinary group. This unforgettable double live album showcases their unparalleled chemistry and cements their legacy in contemporary jazz history.

Celebrated trumpeter and vocalist Bria Skonberg forges new foundation with What It Means, a heartfelt and hard-grooving homage to New Orleans, releasing July 26, 2024 via Cellar Music Group.

A surprising step after his earlier work with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra and their juxtaposition of avant-garde soloists in a modern orchestral context, Mantler created a virtual prog rock album, setting Edward Gorey's Freudian/gothic texts to music that owes far more to Henry Cow than Cecil Taylor. Enlisting ex-Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt on vocals and Jan Garbarek alumnus Terje Rypdal for some soaring guitar work, he managed to create a very convincing, enjoyably literary recording with potentially large appeal. The song structures are fairly consistent and the melodies often catchy, alternating from somber dirges (quite appropriate to the text) to up-tempo rockers. Much of the success accrues to Wyatt, whose reedy, intelligent voice gives exactly the right ironic inflection to Gorey's eerie tales…

These recordings, dating between 1927 and 1929, are a unique body of work: work songs, minstrel numbers, rags, and what we now define as the blues, all offered in an unpretentious form that would have been every bit as compelling had Henry Thomas cut them this way 40 years later. Songs such as "Arkansas," "Fox and the Hounds" (featuring the reed pipes that Thomas also excelled at playing), and "Little Red Caboose" represent a brand of upbeat dance music associated with late-19th century entertainment, a tradition already largely lost or becoming lost when Thomas cut these numbers. Yet Thomas, who was already in his 50s when he recorded these tracks, sings and plays them with a beguiling ease and honesty, not to mention a dexterity on the guitar that makes him sound every bit as vital and urgent as Big Bill Broonzy or any of the other up-and-coming blues legends just starting out at the time these sides were laid down…

This super deluxe edition boasts an abundance of material. Disc one features a 2016 remaster (by Andrew Walter at Abbey Road) approved by Charlie Burchill and the second disc gathers 12-inch remixes and instrumentals of the singles, a few of which enjoy their CD debut. Various edits and B-sides can be found on the third CD in the set while disc four features previously unreleased BBC John Peel and Kid Jensen radio sessions, recorded in February and August 1982. All ten tracks on disc five are previously unreleased; made up of alternative mixes and demos.
One of Scotland's finest exports, Simple Minds deliver a strong synth-reared release on New Gold Dream. This album harks the darker side of the band's musicianship, and such material alludes to their forthcoming pop-stadium sound which hurled them into rock mainstream during the latter part of the '80s…

The banning of opera performances during Lent in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Rome meant that composers had to turn their attention to biblical subjects. However there is no sense that either composer or librettist felt at all limited in their subject matter, judging from the extraordinarily inventive oratorios that were produced during this time. Scarlatti’s work tells the dramatic story of David and Goliath. Whilst the biblical account relays the story in a few sentences, the anonymous librettist of Davidis pugna et victoria expands upon these to create an extensive libretto, with the characters fully developed and explored.