John Lewis takes on the music of Gary McFarland - working here in a very cool set of McFarland compositions and arrangements - often with a lot more tone, color, and feeling than usual for a Lewis album! John often punctuates his piano notes, almost as if he's using vibes - and the larger backings have this way of being quite spacious - as in some of McFarland's more modern recordings for Impulse from the same time - very open, and quite revolutionary for the time! Players include Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Eric Dolphy on alto, Phil Woods on clarinet, and Benny Golson on tenor.

One of the foremost Scandinavian progressive rock bands to emerge in the 1970s, Kaipa took root in the Swedish city of Uppsala. Initially the project of keyboardist Hans Lundin and bassist Tomas Eriksson, the band soon grew to include drummer Ingemar Bergman and singer/guitarist Roine Stolt, the latter of whom would eventually go on to form The Flower Kings. While Kaipa's membership would fluctuate wildly in later years, this is the lineup responsible for their 1975 eponymous debut and its follow-up, Inget Nytt Under Solen, which arrived a year later. By 1978, founding member Eriksson had departed and was replaced by the first of two different (and unrelated) bassists named Mats Lindberg. Stolt hung on for 1978's Solo, though he too eventually departed, leaving the vocals to newcomer Mats Löfgren for 1980's Händer…

Mythodea is subtitled "Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey," and it's certainly an epic work. If its aspirations were any higher, it wouldn't even need NASA to break earth's gravity. In essence, it's the focus of Vangelis' symphonic ambitions, utilizing not only an orchestra, but two sopranos and a full choir to go alongside his banks of keyboards. That itself isn't a problem. Epic can certainly be a good thing, and its roccoco grandeur can have its appeal. The problem, and it's certainly one here, comes when things are overblown, and the everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink attitude becomes wearying. After synth space noises, "Movement 1" shows its Mars intentions by borrowing the 5/4 rhythm from Holst's "Mars" (without credit) and overlaying it with symphonic stabs of melody and voices galore…

Vivaldi's first opera, Ottone in Villa (loosely, Ottone's Vacation), is something of an anomaly in the composer's output of largely tragic, heroic works: a pastoral comedy. Written in 1713 when the composer was 35, Ottone demonstrates Vivaldi's instinctive grasp of the operatic form and his gifts for characterization and dramatic development. Naïve continues its admirable series, The Vivaldi Edition, with this outstanding recording of the opera, a real gem. Giovanni Antonini leads Il Giardino Armonico, which plays with gleaming transparency. The performance is wonderfully lively and the opera's dancing energy is conveyed with high spirits and humor. Vivaldi is not a composer usually associated with comedy, so Ottone surprises with its wealth of delightful, sly wit.

Alessandro Scarlatti's oratorio Il Martirio di Santa Teodosia is an exciting drama of life, love and death, set in the fourth-century Roman Empire. St. Theodosia of Tyre died at the age of eighteen, in the year 308. Preferring to devote her life to God, Teodosia rejects the love of Arsenio, the son of the Roman governor, and welcomes death. The dramatic strength and vocal beauty of this work flourishes in the hands Emmanuelle de Negri, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Anthea Pichanick, Renato Dolcini and the orchestra Les Accents led by Thibault Noally.

Behzod Abduraimov joins Alpha for several recordings, starting with this kaleidoscope of miniatures miniatures that are in fact fairly gigantic, and showcase the Uzbek pianists extreme virtuosity and sensitivity. Each movement is in itself a miniature, and taken together they form a kaleidoscope of human emotions and images of all kinds, says Behzod Abduraimov. In his view, the pieces in Debussys Childrens Corner are not intended for young piano students, but for adults, so that they can immerse themselves in the world of children with a little nostalgia and a lot of humor. When it comes to Chopin, each prelude has a different musical essence, creates its own atmosphere.

For the first time with naïve, the counter-tenor Andreas Scholl joins the Accademia Bizantina and Alessandro Tampieri to present a Neapolitan programme, centred on the Virgin Mary.

Time Life Music’s Singers & Songwriters: 1976-1977 collects 24 radio hits over the span of two discs. Despite the title, the compilation doesn’t just favor traditional singer/songwriters like Al Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, and England Dan & John Ford Coley, though they are represented here. Group contributions include Orleans (“Still the One”), Fleetwood Mac (“Say You Love Me”), Chicago (“If You Leave Me Now”), and Bread (“Lost Without Your Love”), but it’s the solo acts that provide the most recognizable hits.

A Progressive/Jazz-Rock band from Denmark, Coma came from the city of Frederikshavn in the northern part of the country and were around since 1971. The main line-up consisted of five members on bass/drums/saxes/double guitars and their debut ''Financial tycoon'' was recorded at Plexus Studios in Ringsted with three guest musicians on vibraphone, trumpet and violin. The album was released in 1977 by Genlyd Grammofon.
A quite daring band not afraid to mix different sights and sounds, Coma travelled from Zappa-esque Jazz-Rock to Psychedelic Heavy Rock and back. The majority of the tracks falls into a Jazz-Rock, often meeting straight Jazz on the way,with huge and interesting sax solos by Jakob Mygind in the style of Out Of Focus and technical playing by the rhythm section blended with obscure vocals with a humurous edge…

To celebrate his 75th birthday, Dave Brubeck recorded one number apiece with quite a variety of top jazz stars, both young and old. Some of the performances (which alternate duets with quartets) work better than others (eight are recent Brubeck compositions) but all of the musicians display mutual respect, and it is obvious that the guests are all fans of the still-masterful pianist. Trumpeter Roy Hargrove plays beautifully on his lyrical feature but Jon Hendricks, who sings "How High the Moon" as a ballad, takes it at such a slow tempo as to be dreary. Tenor-saxophonist Michael Brecker is fine on "Michael Brecker Waltz," although he sounds a bit restrained, the wittily-titled "Here Comes McBride" is a good-humored romp with bassist Christian McBride; Joe Lovano (on tenor) works well with Brubeck, and particularly memorable is the first meeting on record between Brubeck and fellow pianist George Shearing…

Tina Turner was a singer, songwriter, actress and author. Dubbed the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, powerful-raspy voice and electrifying stage presence broke the racial barrier in rock music. She is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with estimated sales of 100 million records.

Tina Turner was a singer, songwriter, actress and author. Dubbed the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, powerful-raspy voice and electrifying stage presence broke the racial barrier in rock music. She is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with estimated sales of 100 million records.