Still only in his twenties, the Japanese violinist Fumiaki Miura is an outstanding musical artist. I've had the pleasure of reviewing his three previous recordings, featuring concertos by Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn (review), violin sonatas by Prokofiev (review) and encore pieces (review).

WTF is Modern Soul anyway? Even inside the hallowed halls of the Success Bottling Co., the definition is still a matter of serious debate. It once got physical, when our own Stephen Arndt and Tim Zawada had to be separated during a heated A&R meeting about the track list. This cold war-style feud began in the UK's Northern Soul scene, when late-'70s disco-adjacent 45s were played alongside more traditional sixties fare. Current parlance places the genre firmly in the '80s, with stray synths and drum machines tolerated, if not outright encouraged. An existential question emerged: Can strings and synths co-exist? How much brass is too much brass? Is it legal for the falsetto and guitarist to solo at once? Did that guy just slap his bass? Eccentric Modern Soul answers these burning queries and more, compiling eleven party starters onto a crate-ready single LP. Previously unissued heat from Wee, Ujima, and Wind align with Numeroverse mainstays Universal Togetherness Band, Mind & Matter, Maxx Traxx, and 94 East for a 40-minute sweat session. Everything but the club, so that a night in sounds like a night out.

Zulu Guitar's Pioneering Tricksters But for this compilation of rescued songs masterfully restored from rare 78 rpm shellacs, few could imagine the diversely beautiful roots of Zulu Guitar Music emerging during the period 1950 – 1965. Story-tellers and master musicians appropriate outlaw personae, re-purpose country and western, Hawaiian and other styles, to stretch and challenge our notion of “the Zulu guitar”. Twenty-five songs (18 on vinyl) plunge us into the depths of the migrant experience. Translations in the liner notes offer us glimpses of pugnacity, melancholy and heartache, all coloured by the paternalism that circumscribed the singers’ apartheid-dominated lives.

John McAndrew's new album, Better Side Of Me, is a collaboration with notable producers Denny Seiwell, the co-founder and drummer of Wings, and Fernando Perdomo. Their combined expertise promises to deliver an exceptional listening experience for fans.

Arthur Edward Pepper Jr. (September 1, 1925 – June 15, 1982) was an American jazz musician, most known as an alto saxophonist. He occasionally performed and recorded on tenor saxophone, clarinet (his first instrument) and bass clarinet.

Singer and songwriter Nina Nesbitt's mixture of pop-inspired melodies, part-acoustic instrumentation, and yearning relationship angst saw her cast as the female counterpart to Ed Sheeran when she was invited to open shows for him as a teen.

With this recording, volume 42 of the complete music for solo keyboard by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Miklós Spányi continues his exploration of transcriptions of concertos originally written for keyboard and orchestra, to which he adds some movements from early versions of sonatas (the standard versions of which appear on earlier volumes in this series).

On her Candid Records debut "Reflection of Another Self," trumpeter, flugelhornist and composer Milena Casado delivers one of the most auspicious jazz debuts in recent memory. The album is a deeply personal exploration of identity, trauma, and self-discovery, rendered through an innovative blend of dreamlike electronic textures and outstanding organic performances.

o be sure, the new all-star trio of Béla Fleck, harpist Edmar Castañeda and drummer Antonio Sánchez features instrumentation that might safely be called uncommon.

After stopping off in Cöthen, Benjamin Alard continues his musical journey through the works of J. S. Bach. Here he focuses on the composer’s early years in Leipzig, with the six Trio Sonatas, which he performs on harpsichord and clavichord. The famous ‘little keyboard book’ of Anna Magdalena takes us into the more intimate world of the Kantor’s household.

Felt Better Alive is Peter Doherty’s first solo album in nine years and his most confident collection yet. Sprinkled with radiant playfulness, almost innocence at times, shot through with signature melodic nous, quirky poetic realism and his visual story-telling gifts.

Renowned multi-disciplinary artist Ezra Furman marks a landmark in her career with the announcement her 10th studio album Goodbye Small Head, due out May 16 via Bella Union. Written during a maelstrom of overwhelm, the album title is a nuanced homage to the 1999 Sleater-Kinney single "Get Up".

For Bury Tomorrow, the last two years have been about trying to fill the space where they knew something was missing. From the depths of uncertainty, through line-up changes and COVID-inspired roadblocks, the arrival of guitarist Ed Hartwell and keyboardist/vocalist Tom Prendergast and the creation of 2023's 'The Seventh Sun' has allowed them to lay out a whole new path of possibilities that felt unavailable before. Now, with an invigorated belief and fresh outlook on what the band can encompass, they present 'Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience', their most fantastically visceral offering to date.

Never-issued material from baritone sax genius Gerry Mulligan – recorded live in Rome in the early 90s, and one of the strongest demonstrations of Gerry's power at the time! The format is lean – just piano from Harold Danko, bass from Dean Johnson, and drums from Ron Vincent – and tunes are long, and nearly all original compositions by Mulligan – who pushes all these amazing colors and tones throughout the set – almost painterly in the way he approaches the sound, but always swinging too – at that level he first brought to his music when he wasn't recording with a piano, getting even more bite here with Danko's great work on the keys. The whole thing is wonderful – some of Mulligan's best material from the later years – and titles include "Curtains", "Lonesome Boulevard", "Out Back Of The Barn", "Walkin Shoes", "Sun On Stairs", and "A Gift For Dizzy". © 1996-2025, Dusty Groove, Inc.

Genre-bending duo SOFI TUKKER have announced their new album butter — which is best described as “a labor of love, celebrating Brazilian culture and music, and is the jazz-infused, alter-ego companion to their acclaimed 2024 album BREAD.” The album is due out May 16.