Sekou Bunch is a world renowned musician and bassist. Born and raised in New York City, Sekou Bunch was exposed to the arts, virtually from the very beginning. Thirty plus years in the trenches providing the rock solid backbone for some of the brightest stars in the business; Michael Jackson, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, George Benson, Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie, Roger Daltrey and Marc Anthony to name a few has provided Bunch rich opportunity to draw influence from rock, jazz and R&B.

Built around the powerhouse pipes of vocalist Deborah Conway (who would further indulge her fondness for the dramatic on Pete Townshend's 1989 rock opera The Iron Man), nearly everything about The Happiest Place in Town sounds equally large. The bass-drums-guitar trio behind Conway matches her intensity with blasts of funky rock that manage to be both muscular and consistently tuneful, augmented nicely with occasional brass. And Conway tackles big issues, offering perceptive takes on matters of the heart ("Adultery") and bashing the usual musicianly targets (suburban life, racism) to far less effect. A bigger concern is the band's perhaps-inevitable temptation to overdo things; "That Hanging Business," featuring braying blues harp in addition to Conway's most over-the-top performance, is a low point. Yet for all the emphasis on size, the title track, a gorgeously wistful ballad, closes the disc with a perfect demonstration of why bigger isn't always better.

Bachs Passions and other great choral works in performances with the Staatskapelle Dresden under the masterly direction of Peter Schreier who also sings the role of the Evangelist. Schreiers aim in Bach interpretation is to bring new lightness without following the full dictates of authentic performance, and in this he succeeds superbly. The recording is first rate, with the choral forces well separated.

Maiden uniteD is an acoustic project. Musicians from different bands join together to play an all-acoustic tribute to English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The songs are played with new arrangements. When the Dutch Iron Maiden fan club asked Joey Bruers to do a different show; something other than the regular tribute or cover band. Steve Harris was attending the convention, so he had to think of something special. With musicians from several bands he performed a set of rearranged acoustic Maiden songs. The reactions from the crowd were overwhelming. The idea that became a show then became a project. A project to bring all kinds of musicians and fans together to celebrate the music. Maiden uniteD presents classic Iron Maiden songs in a new and exciting light. Acoustic re-arrangements that transform the songs into something that Iron Maiden fans would have never imagined hearing. Maiden uniteD has released 3 albums and an EP'. The new album 'The Barrel House Tapes' was released December 9th.

Domenico Scarlatti's distinguished career included a royal post in Rome where he competed against Handel, the latter being declared the better organist and Scarlatti the better harpsichordist. Written for his pupil the Infanta Maria Bárbara, Scarlattis legacy of hundreds of single-movement keyboard sonatas forms a valuable resource for performers today. This collection includes a wealth of Spanish dances with virtuoso leaps, unusual modulations, flourishes and ornamentation, as well as Scarlattis irrepressible verve and energy.

Written over the course of a quarter-century, these four flute works reflect the individual approaches to the flute sonata taken by their composers. Hindemiths aim was to offer new music of buoyancy and brio, tempered by elegiac moments. Prokofievs famous sonata has Classical formal elegance, while the sonatas of Denisov and Nagovitsyn are single movement works that explore the flutes extreme registers, as well as its dynamic contrasts and virtuosic capacities.

The insatiable demand for sheet music for domestic use in the 19th century meant that popular works were widely disseminated in piano duet form. Robert Schumanns own arrangements of the Spring Symphony (in collaboration with his wife Clara Schumann) and the Fourth Symphony balance playability and fidelity to the original with tremendous skill. Clara considered the Fourth Symphony to be another work from the innermost depths of Roberts soul, a symphony that has become one of the most quintessential of the Romantic era.

Eugene Record is best known as lead singer of The Chi-Lites. He demonstrated skills as a songwriter, arranger and producer for the group and other artists on the Brunswick label in the 60s and 70s In 1977 he moved to Warner Brothers for three albums, the first two of which are presented here. The collection of songs includes what is considered as his best solo work, Overdose Of Joy. It is the defining moment from his time as a solo artist, but the craftsmanship and beauty of the record is further evident on songs across these two albums on other standout moments including Here Comes The Sun and We Belong Together in his melancholic style.

10 CDs mit Passionen, Messen und Motetten passend zur Osterzeit . Neben den beiden berühmten Passionen von Bach - der Johannes- und Matthäuspassion - sind weitere hörenswerte Aufnahmen enthalten. Die Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi von de Rore oder den Lamentationes Jeremiae Prophetae von Zelenka sind hervorragende und selten aufgenommene Werke, interpretiert von herausragenden Künstlern.

There have been numerous attempts at summarizing Phyllis Hyman's career on one disc. Most have been severely flawed, whether it has come down to missing hit singles or poor selection of album cuts. And while Hyman didn't have that many chart hits (at least when compared to several of her contemporaries), there has always been the need for a double-disc compilation that goes deeper – allowing space for all the major singles and album cuts that deserve more attention. The Legacy of Phyllis Hyman fills that void. Although it might be a little too much for the person who just wants the songs heard on the radio, it's the next best thing to having all of her studio albums (all of which are spotty in varying degrees).