This debut album of The Danish Piano Trio presents a fascinating string of Romantic trios. From the perfectly balanced world of Danish music's 'godfather' Niels W. Gade over the sensitive and dramatic turn-of-the-century art of P.E. Lange-Müller, the album concludes with the beautiful single-movement Mountain Flowers from 1908 by the hyper-Romantic prodigy Rued Langgaard.

This is the incredible story of the Lost Songs of St Kilda. Nearly a century ago, the last 36 residents were evacuated from the most remote part of the British Isles, St Kilda, an isolated island off the beautiful and rugged western coast of Scotland.

Signorina Biagi is a youthful Italian singer with a deep love for the film songs of the middle of the twentieth century — and her newest CD, FFANCES’ FOLLIES, pays tribute to that ebullient music. Actress, student of theatre history, tap-dancer and fluegelhornist, Francesca has a deep involvement with the music of the Boswell Sisters (from 2003-7, she formed and led the Boop Sisters, a female vocal trio devoted to the music of Connee, Vet, and Martha (with an Italian accent, of course); she has also sung and played with the Bixilander Orchestra, a group whose musical world embraces both Bix and Basie.

This is the second of three sets that document the Eric Dolphy/Booker Little quintet's playing at the Five Spot (the third volume is titled Memorial Album). It features a group made up of pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Ed Blackwell really stretching out during long versions of Little's "Aggression" and the standard "Like Someone in Love."

After having left the ensemble of Charles Mingus and upon working with John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy formed a short-lived but potent quintet with trumpeter Booker Little, who would pass away three months after this recording. Despite all of the obstacles and subsequent tragedy, this quintet became legendary over the years – justifiably so – and developed into a role model for all progressive jazz combos to come. The combined power of Dolphy and Little – exploring overt but in retrospect not excessive dissonance and atonality – made them a target for critics but admired among the burgeoning progressive post-bop scene.

The name of this Jim Black Trio could easily have been ‘Quicksilver’ because the trio epitomises everything unpredictable and swiftly responsive. Embodied in The Constant it also revels in music of the highest quality – and that demands exceptional instrumental skills. Just a few bars into the leading song on this album it becomes that the musicians in this trio have this quality in spades. This ten-part suite brings special attention to the skill that Jim Black brings to the Art of Songwriting. His singular voice is contained in the manner in which he poses altogether different challenges in terms of phrasing, architecture and pacing.

When a musician’s second record is released, one is tempted to say that this is the album of maturity and it’s often true. This time, we have to admit it’s not the case, Baptiste Herbin having passed that stage with his first opus. The young saxophonist from Chartres (France), who started with classical music and switched to jazz studying with Lourau Julien and Jean-Charles Richard, made his mark in 2012 with his first album “Brother Stoon” justifiably prompting a series of rave reviews that emphasized the virtuosity of the young man, fan of Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley.