With these recordings - which mark the launch of the Stradivari collection - discover the unique instruments lovingly preserved at the Philharmonie de Paris’s Museum of Music: the finest examples of the art of instrument-making which, like the iconic harpsichord crafted in 1652 by Ioannes Couchet, are given a new life thanks to the skill and commitment of its keen conservators.

Ensemble Dialoghi makes their harmonia mundi début with this program of quintets for piano and winds. A work of 'maturity,' which the twenty-eight year-old Mozart considered ''among his best,'' is paired with a 'youthful effort' penned by a twenty-six year-old Beethoven. Dating from an auspicious phase in each composer's career, both pieces were met with an enthusiastic reception. Beethoven, it was said, was inspired by Mozart's piece and composed his in tribute. The theatrical character of these works is not lost on the high-spirited virtuosos who make up this period-instrument ensemble.

A French orchestral programme par excellence, marking 100 years since the death of Claude Debussy. The relative absence of the Fantaisie for piano and orchestra from concert halls today is something of a mystery; all the colour, inventiveness, fluidity and pianistic and orchestral verve that characterise Debussy’s music can be heard here, with a central movement which is one of his most expressive pieces of writing. Bizet’s Symphony in C reveals all the clarity, directness, passion and sophistication that would later be associated with the composer of Carmen, while the richly imaginative orchestral textures of Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite plunge listeners into a realm of fairy-tale fantasy. This recording owes much to the virtuosity, enthusiasm and energy of the PKF – Prague Philharmonia and its conductor Emmanuel Villaume, and to the intelligence and poetic sensibilities of pianist Andrew von Oeyen.

Christophe Rousset and his Talens Lyriques release the first world recording of Antonio Salieri’s Les Horaces, which they recreated at Versailles in 2016!

He’s the best-known French-speaking reggae singer, but that doesn’t stop him also expressing himself in the language of his roots, Dioula, as well as the language of Bob Marley, English. A range of spices that colour an art, and especially a message, which is good, as its purpose is to speak to as many people as possible.

I’ve said it before, but Barre Phillips is one of ECM’s brightest stars, though one would never know it by the solemnity of his genius. Glowing with a pale fire that can be drawn only in cosmic pigments, his sound-world on Call me when you get there throbs as if Michael Galasso and David Darling had fused into a collaborative quasar. The opening “Grants Pass” would seem to have been written in the margins of Steve Reich’s Different Trains, and works its gentle magic under the toenails of our foothold. Played on resonant multi-tracked instruments, this track stands as one of Phillips’s finest.

This unusual meeting of minds pits bassists Barre Phillips (who also penned the proceedings), Palle Danielsson, Barry Guy, and J. F. Jenny-Clarke with percussionist Stu Martin in a tactile playoff with mixed results. It’s remarkable to think that four behemoths could sound so open, and so one shouldn’t be surprised to encounter a few tangles in “just 8.” For the most part, however, this introductory track maintains the clarity of separation that characterizes the album’s latter remainder. Either way, it’s a jaunty ride into an unprecedented sound-world. Martin anchors “whoop” with his engaging loops amid a menagerie of pizzicato signifiers.

Long before Twitter was a microblogging phenomenon, it was the name of the first cut on this out-of-print gem from Barre Phillips. Thankfully, there is nothing micro about it. Driven by train-like syncopation from drums and bass clarinet, this attention-grabbing burst of virtuosity introduces us to the bubbling acrobatics of daughter Claudia Phillips, a vocalist whose career as chanteuse found a niche in France in the 80s. Her sometimes-manic instincts are swept down the stream of Aina Kemanis, the voice of Journal Violone II.

Nick Mason is the drummer of Pink Floyd and the only member to have remained in the group for its entire existence. Born Nicholas Berkeley Mason on January 27, 1944, in the Downshire Hills area of Birmingham, England, he met future bandmates Roger Waters and Rick Wright while studying architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic. He began playing with them in Sigma 6 in 1963, then the Screaming Abdabs the following year, and finally in 1965 the Syd Barrett-led blues/R&B outfits that soon became Pink Floyd.

The jazz piano trio, a specialism with its own lineage and admirers, is currently alive and well thanks to the artists here on KALEIDOSCOPE. A keyboard master such as Cyrus Chestnut can imbue this tried-and-true format -whose practitioners range from Jelly Roll Morton to Robert Glasper – with a relevance for today’s listeners and expand its parameters without losing sight of its historic past. For this recording Cyrus has arranged 8 compositions by the classical pianists W.A. Mozart, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Eric Satie, taking the classical themes through a series of rhythmic and harmonic turns and twists and subjecting them to a wildly innovative series of transformations. Through it all Cyrus Chestnut emerges as a multi-faceted artist who, using the venerable jazz piano trio format, can refract the past through his own imagination and create something new which is always fresh and exciting.

My goal on the latest Free Country recording is again to arrange country and Appalachian music for a jazz group in new and unusual ways. I’m conscious of both moving forward and staying true to the elemental soul of the songs, where old stories are told by modern, protean players. Or as a friend once put it, “Downtown meets the heartland.” Whether sung straight, or approached as improvisational vehicles, I find endless currency in this material.

Delgres are a trio hailing from the Leeward Islands, more specifically Guadeloupe and are pleased to announce details of their new album Mo Jodi. Fronted by Pascal Danae and complemented by drummer Baptiste Brondy and sousaphone player Rafgee, they loosely describe themselves as a blues trio. Traversing a myriad of sounds and influences they meld their own route via their cultural, historical and emotional roots - the missing link between French, Caribbean and US musical culture - that arrives amidst Ali Farka, Creole and the Black Keys to create their own exhilarating brand of bluesy, garage-rock.

Pianist Art Hirahara turns his attention above and within and blasts off Sunward Bound for his fourth leader album for Posi-Tone. Reaching steadily towards new realms of expression, Hirahara perseveres steadily along on his musical journey of unfoldment. Sunward Bound displays a clear sense of creative continuity that can be traced back on his previous albums from his joyous first steps along the Noble Path through his trials and tribulations of Libations And Meditations and into his deep explorations of the distant pathways in the Central Line.

Why Don’t We‘s debut album drop is just one day away, and Limelights can hardly contain their excitement. But hey, we definitely don’t blame them! To celebrate “8 Letters,” the boys — Jack Avery, Daniel Seavey, Jonah Marais, Corbyn Besson and Zach Herron

Bloomer is the debut album from Tom Barford, saxophonist, composer and winner of the 2017 Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize. An instrumentalist of supreme talent and creativity, Tom won the attention of judges, lifelong Wheeler collaborator and friend Evan Parker, Edition boss Dave Stapleton and Nick Smart, Head of Jazz at Royal Academy of Music, for his originality and vision. The resulting album, Bloomer, is richly vibrant, energetic and melodic; a recording that will launch the career of this future jazz star. In Evan Parker‘s words: “We are witnessing the birth of a new star in the Jazz firmament.”