A couple of years ago, Jill Sobule was given a vintage charm bracelet as a gift. When she examined the bracelet, she found it unexpectedly compelling. It wasn’t simply a funky piece of costume jewelry: it was instead an archive of events in a person’s life, memorialized by twenty-two tiny, cheap, pewter mementos. But whose life? All Sobule knew for sure about the original owner of the bracelet was the name etched in one of the charms: Dorothy. Sobule soon saw in that charm bracelet the architecture for a musical project, which she set out to realize in an unusual and ambitious way: each of the charms would be the inspiration for a song, and the lyrics for each song would be written by a different writer.

The saxophone quartet has become a major vehicle for this one time maligned instrument in the realm of both classical and contemporary music. Saxophone practitioners have succeeded in placing the instrument into these musical pantheons, making the saxophone quartet the woodwind equivalent of the string quartet. Of course, the horn did find an historic fit in jazz music, so it was only a matter of time before the saxophone quartet emerged as a vehicle for improvisation.

Originally formed around ten years ago in the heart of the Angus Glens, in the childhood home of the legendary Bon Scott, EMERALD SUNDAY started life as a cover band. Driven by prolific songwriter and lead guitarist Alan Hunter, the band started to introduce their own material into their live sets, and things have snowballed from there. Following their short migration from Kirriemuir to Dundee, the band are set to release their fourth album, ‘Willow’, which has been produced by Embrace’s own Richard McNamara, this has been in the making for over two years. It actually started off as an EP, and rapidly grew into the monster that is to be the bands biggest and best production to date.

With The Means of Response, pianist/composer Randy Ingram’s intricate, virtuosic and powerful fourth record, the new father channels his concern over the terrifying racism, xenophobia and injustice that have come to define America today, and offers instead a message of solidarity and hope for his son. Inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s notion that “art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it,” Ingram uses the musical tools at his disposal to channel his feelings and to engage listeners, hopefully inspiring others to action.

Boheme is the second album of the French duo Deep Forest, released in 35 countries. It mainly sampled Eastern European gypsy songs (i.e. the Bohemians, hence the name of the album) with electronic music. Hit singles included "Marta's Song" (featuring Márta Sebestyén) and "Freedom Cry". The album became the duo's most successful one, selling over 4 million copies, receiving Diamond, Platinum and Gold awards in 15 countries and winning the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album .

Deep Forest is the first studio album by the musical group Deep Forest, consisting of French duo Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez. The album mixes New Age electronics with UNESCO field recordings of music from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Solomon Islands, Burundi, Tibesti, and the Sahel. Deep Forest was nominated for the Grammy Award as Best World Music Album in 1994. For Sanchez and Mouquet, the most important purpose of the album was to express their own fascination with the Efe people, and open the world's ears to the exquisite sound of a quickly vanishing culture.

Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.
SHADOWFAX. Nice name for a progressive rock band. At least that's how they started off. Named after Gandalf's a horse in Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings.

I return to the Windham Hill label, today with the Jazz-Fusion pianist Scott Cossu.

Essential: a masterpiece of Fusion music
Nightnoise is the first Windham Hill album to include Celtic music influence, at a time before Celtic music was considered one of the pillars of New Age (along with synthesizer washes and the more folk-inspired music that Windham Hill is best known for.

For his fifth album, Ackerman added new instrumental colors to his guitar work.

These four pieces are arranged for solo guitar along with four duets, featuring cello, English horn, piano by George Winston and violin by Darol Anger.

In 1957 Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong teamed up for their second recording of popular tunes drawn mostly from the "Great American Songbook". Produced by the legendary Norman Granz, this album features an all-star group of musicians including Armstrong on vocals and trumpet, Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass and Louie Bellson on drums.

Originally released in 1966, during what many fans consider to be the peak period of Charles Aznavour's career, this album includes the anti-war statement "Les enfants de la guerre".

This reissue of a 1966 Charles Aznavour album includes the title track, one of his signature songs and biggest international hits, a number one single in France. Another song on this collection, Parce que tu crois, has been translated into several other languages and sampled by such modern day artists as Dr. Dre and Eminem.