Alchemical Theatre unites Jim Staley (trombones), Ikue Mori (electronics), and John Zorn (alto saxophone) — three longtime collaborators and masters of improvisation — for an unpredictable and electrifying set. Recorded live at Roulette, the legendary New York performance space founded in 1978, the album flows through volatile contrasts, sudden shifts, and moments of shared intuition. Dedicated to the memory of avant-garde theatre visionary Richard Foreman, this session epitomizes the mercurial spirit of Downtown New York creativity: raw, playful, and fiercely imaginative.

Working on a new album with composer Philip Glass is a dream collaboration for Brisbane-based musician Tenzin Choegyal. Choegyal, who came to Australia as a refugee, has made a name for himself as a bit of a world music star. His friendship and collaborations with revered American composer Philip Glass has been a meaningful journey together. Glass, now 88, is a Tibetan Buddhist, like Choegyal, although Glass is more devout and spiritually accomplished, insists Choegyal.

One strange thing about Eric Clapton's '90s success is that it relied almost entirely on covers and new versions of classic hits; he released no albums of new material between 1989's Journeyman and 1998's Pilgrim. In the decade between the two albums, he had two new hits - his moving elegy to his deceased son, "Tears in Heaven," and the slick contemporary soul of the Babyface-written "Change the World" - and Pilgrim tries to reach a middle ground between these two extremes, balancing tortured lyrics with smooth sonic surfaces. Working with producer Simon Climie, his collaborator on the TDF side project, Clapton has created a numbingly calm record that, for all of its lyrical torment, displays no emotion whatsoever…

Cosmic Circus Music from Goettingen in Lower Saxony played some extremely long spacey improvisations in the manner of the early Ash Ra Tempel without, however, trying to copy them. Although it is completely instrumental it never becomes boring. As they didn’t release any records back then - one MC on Andromeda Press had been planned for 1973 which then, however, didn’t appear - they have hardly been known to the public as yet. There has only been one longer report on them, namely in “Sounds” issue 55 from September 1973. The CD at hand is full to the brim and includes a gig taking place in a Wiesbaden hall called Wartburg on July 14th, 1973. The stereo sound is not perfect but acceptable. During the second part of their gig, the band was joined by guest musician Tim Belbe from Xhol (Caravan), playing the transverse flute.

This live 1990 set makes clear that Cassandra Wilson had fully arrived. In the live setting, she calls on greater reserves of vim than mark her predominantly lolling, brooding studio dates. All to great effect. One senses Betty Carter-like showmanship, Peggy Lee-like swagger, and, of course, Nina Simone's otherworldly drone. Just as formative was Wilson's Joni Mitchell-inspired apprenticeship in the coffeehouses of Jackson, Mississippi, and other southern cities. She breathes fresh life into standards like "'Round Midnight." Her anthem of black resilience, "Don't Look Back," receives driving treatment. A telling selection is Wilson's own composition, "My Corner of the Sky," because its lyrics and delivery transport her to a distinctly personal space of the kind she was coming to inhabit so regally.

Less Is More marks a kind of evolutionary milestone for Marillion. They may have emerged in the early ‘80s as the front-runners of the British neo-progressive movement (alongside the likes of Pendragon, IQ, et al.), but these days it's hard to imagine that the prefix "neo" was ever attached to this longstanding band. Four out of five current members have been on board since the second Marillion album, 1984's Fugazi, and singer Steve Hogarth became a 20-year man the year of Less Is More's release. They've come so far from their over the top, Genesis/Van der Graaf Generator-indebted beginnings that it's difficult to believe they're even the same group. Of course, in many ways, they aren't; that's the whole point of Less Is More, which finds Marillion revisiting songs from all across the last 20 years of their discography in new acoustic-based arrangements…

After releasing the complete set of Ennio Morricone’s Cinema Suites for violin and orchestra on two albums (Cinema Suites, A495 and Cinema Rarities, A554), Marco Serino now presents world premiere recordings of the Maestro’s own arrangements for violin and piano. Marco is joined by pianist Leandro Piccioni, who, like Marco, brings over twenty years of experience working closely with Morricone in his favoured orchestra, Roma Sinfonietta. These original arrangements, all from celebrated soundtracks, represent the point of departure for an original anthology in which the two musicians investigate the wider repertoire connected to the cinema.

For this album, multi-instrumentalist Gandalf was on his own again (except for some fleeting wordless vocals by Pippa Armstrong). This album is noteworthy in bringing in many elements of what might be called World-Music and New-Age respectively. This bright and colourful music is mostly soft and dreamy and Gandalf concentrates here on atmospheres and moods more so than on creating melodies, yet he still manages to make varied and pleasant instrumental music.