Imagine Earth, somewhat present day. Now imagine our sun, 1 billion years older than the present time. The Red Giant phase will strike without warning and consume Earth, and for generations the collective consciousness has poured into the advancement of interstellar technology that will hurdle humankind off this desolate rock. The Outer Space Heaters is the soundtrack to that effort. Portland/Vancouver’s Outer Space Heaters have been active in the Pacific Northwest since 2011. The band combines sounds of classic surf, prog and shoegaze influences into a modern mix of cinematic, (mostly) instrumental, science-fiction themed surf/space/post-rock songs about dying alone in space.

Reuniting Cotton with his former guitarists Matt Murphy and Luther Tucker, pianist Pinetop Perkins, and Muddy Waters' ex-rhythm section (bassist Calvin Jones and drummer Willie Smith) looks like a great idea on paper, and it worked equally well in the flesh, when this set was cut live at Antone's Night Club in Austin, TX.

Guitarist Rico McFarland gets a lot of help from his friends on this, his debut CD. Otis Clay, Syl Johnson, Teela, and Billy Branch (one of a trio of harmonica players) all chip in. McFarland grooves on "Blues Falling Down Like Rain" and "Tired of Being Alone" (not the Al Green song) and displays his guitar prowess on "Johnny B" while taking it easy on "The Other One"; Teela's alto delivers "You Got What You Wanted" on a silver platter. A unique blues set that lovers of the genre will find little to pout about, its fresh sound is heighten by earnest, heightened performances.

We recorded this album while I was eight months pregnant with our daughter Annabell. As I write this she is two weeks away from her first birthday, and I have enough distance to offer some reflections. Control is something that I have always relished and sought, but the making of this album was a different experience for me. Now I feel as if the process of recording this album was practice for relinquishing control, something I am more adept at now that I am a mother. In the studio, I trusted my bandmates, who are my best friends, our truly gifted producer Neilson Hubbard, and myself. I trusted each person and the process. I believed that we each individually were enough and that together we were more than that. Thank you Josh, Drew, Brian, Neilson, and of course, my partner in all things, Joe, for sharing so much time with me, for allowing me to be myself, and helping me cultivate the best version of it. It’s an honor to make music with you and I’m so happy that we have a record of it.

Guitarist John Scofield's final in a long series of releases for Gramavision finds him looking ahead toward his future directions. His sidemen - organist Don Grolnick, acoustic bassist Anthony Cox, and either Johnny Vidacovich or Terri Lyne Carrington on drums join him for standards including "Secret Love" and "All the Things You Are," some New Orleans R&B grooves (most notably on "Rockin' Pneumonia"), and a variety of Scofield's originals. The funk element heard on most of his earlier recordings is downgraded in favor of swinging in spots, and despite his trademark distorted tone, Scofield plays some solos that are almost boppish.

Switch comes along with great innovations – new band, different approach and original sound. It was recorded in collaboration with Erland Dahlen (drums, metal plate, logdrum, steeldrum, drum machine, Blosson Bells, Xylophone, electric guitar, baritone guitar), Geir Sundstøl (pedal steel guitar, six string bass, national resophonic guitar), Morten Quenild (hyper piano, programming and electronics) and Jon Marius Aareskjold (additional programming).The recording is proving the artist’s ambition of never settling for a specific soundscape. Within this album, Nils Petter Molvaer is bringing the pedal steel guitar as the main novelty of his newest production. The sound of his trumpet blending with the beauty of the steel guitar gives his music a new sound palette.

In July 1835 Donizetti was to have staged the first of the three new operas for which he had signed a contract with the management of the San Carlo theatre; but things, as so often happens in the world of opera, did not work out as the composer had intended. The subject - Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor - had long since been chosen but the direction had not provided for having the libretto written so that it could be read and approved by the censor by the beginning of March, four months before the scheduled date of the première, as the contract stipulated. At the end of May, at the composer’s urgent bidding, the writing of the libretto was entrusted to Salvatore Cammarano, destined to become one of the composer’s favourite working partners: yet the date of the première, inevitably, had to be postponed. After many problems, Lucia di Lammermoor was at last staged on the evening of 26th September 1835.

Eberhard Weber - Encore (2015) {ECM 2439}
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© 2015 ECM Records | ECM 2439
Jazz / Post Bop / Chamber Jazz / Fusion / Bass

Encore is a companion volume to Résumé the widely-praised solo album issued in 2011. Eberhard Weber returns once more to the many live recordings of his tenure with the Jan Garbarek Group, isolating his bass solos and reworking them into new pieces with the addition of his own keyboard parts. “I became what you might call a composer of New Music,” says Weber, “with the proviso that I make use of old things.”This season’s special guest is veteran Dutch flugelhorn player Ack van Rooyen.

Eilen Jewell - Live At The Narrows (2014) [2CD] {Eilen Jewell}
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© 2014 Eilen Jewell - Self-Released
Rock / Country / Country Folk / Roots Rock

After years of requests for a live album, Eilen presents Live at the Narrows - a double album of songs recorded in Fall River, MA in February, 2014. The set list includes many of Eilen's originals as well as select covers and a new song titled Rio Grande. The past year has been one of reflection and incredible output for Eilen. The singer-songwriter gave birth to a beautiful girl named Mavis (after gospel great Mavis Staples). Jewell squeezed in a few tours in 2014 and somehow found time to honor a frequent request from fans to release a live album. The two disc set, titled Live at the Narrows, includes original songs and some of her favorite covers. This special self-release was recorded over two evenings in early 2014 and features artwork hand drawn by her bass player Johnny Sciascia.

“This album is almost all new songs written last year, with just two exceptions,” Townshend said in a statement. “There is no theme, no concept, no story, just a set of songs that I (and my brother Simon) wrote to give Roger Daltrey some inspiration, challenges and scope for his newly revived singing voice.”

Sonny Rollins - Horn Culture (1973) {Milestone-OJC rel 1992}
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© 1973, 1992 Milestone / Fantasy / OJC | 00025218631426
Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

Sonny Rollins must have liked hearing Billy Holiday with two of her absolute classic numbers included and a composition he composed himself which has no familarity with Billy Holiday's classic "Loverman" but the title "Love Man" sandwiched in between the two Billy Holiday numbers does make one think. Anyway recorded in 1973 and this album "Horn Culture" is Sonny's second album after his last absence from the Jazz scene in the late sixties and early seventies doing yoga and the Eastern thing but he sure came back vibrant and as usual he played beautifully with this album being no exception.