Two-time Grammy® Award winner and one of contemporary jazz's leading vocalists, Diane Schuur, has signed with Vanguard Records. She will be releasing her label debut, The Gathering, on June 7th. With a distinguished career that spans nearly three decades, Schuur's new album is unique in both material and style, and features special guests Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Mark Knopfler, Larry Carlton and Kirk Whalum.

Flugelhornist Clark Terry, three weeks shy of his 70th birthday at the time of this live performance, sounds very much at the peak of his powers throughout Live at the Village Gate. Teamed up with old friend Jimmy Heath, who doubles on tenor and soprano, pianist Don Friedman, bassist Marcus McLauren and drummer Kenny Washington (altoist Paquito D'Rivera guests on "Silly Samba"), Terry performs eight little-known originals. The tunes are all fairly basic, but they inspire these talented musicians to some of their best playing. The hard-swinging music, which includes a trumpet-drums duet on "Brushes & Brass" and some singing from the audience on "Hey Mr. Mumbles," is quite enjoyable, and among the most accessible type of jazz.

Jardine’s album was recorded in three glorious weeks in June 1969, at Sounds Aquarian Studios, a stone’s throw from that justifiably famous fashion hub, Carnaby Street. The sessions were fun. Polydor was supposed to release the album. Musicians dropped in to say "hello" and ended up on the record (uncredited) - among them Peter Frampton, Andrew "Andy" Bown (Herd and Status Quo), and Brian Appleyard (drummer from East of Eden). Singer Mickey Cox had been in Robert Plant’s pre-Led Zeppelin group The Band of Joy - it was Cox, in fact, who became their singer when Plant left the band. But suddenly, thanks to band management problems, the LP was shelved. Keith Law, who had written all of the songs, joined Velvett Fogg for their only album, and Jardine was forgotten…

Berlin-based DJs and composers Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer - two of the best-known names in contemporary electronica - share their admiration for music on ECM in a unique double-album of specially-created “sound-structures”. Their project “Re: ECM” will bring the label’s music to a new listenership. It is certain to be one of the most talked-about albums of the season. Using original ECM recordings as a starting point, Villalobos and Loderbauer create new music that bridges several worlds, including ECM’s world of space-conscious improvisation and composition and the worlds of ambient electronics and minimal techno.

IRON SAVIOR – after 10 albums that included chart placements for „Titancraft“ (2016) and „Kill Or Get Killed" (2019), and over 7,5 million streams for the hymn „Heavy Metal Never Dies“ it is quite clear that IRON SAVIOR from Hamburg are a pillar of the Power Metal scene. Two years after the latest output and a few hardships later (such as a global pandemic and bass player Jan suffering from a severe disease, from which he has luckily recovered) comes „Skycrest“ – a very personal album, as you can hear either quite direct during „Ease Your Pain“ when Jan takes over vocal duties, or also more subtle between the lines elsewhere. Power Metal at it‘s best, unbroken joy of playing that even the pandemic can‘t suppress, tight guitar solos, catchy choirs and the exceptional vocals by fronter Piet – all that means that IRON SAVIOR are about to add another classic to their discography!

A storm is brewing. A rebirth is on its way. Prepare for the triumphant arrival of HJELVIK. Formerly known as frontman, lyricist, and co-founder of the Norwegian party-rockers Kvelertak, Erlend Hjelvik parted ways with his bandmates in 2018 and has spent the last two years biding his time and plotting a return to action. Today, he is a rejuvenated and newly inspired metal warrior, primed and ready to launch his own solo band, HJELVIK, and their thunderous and life-affirming debut album, Welcome to Hel.Steeped in the classic sounds of metal, both underground and mainstream, and enshrouded in a mystical fog of Norse mythology, HJELVIK’s first immaculate collection of monstrous anthems is the sound of a modern god of heaviness embracing the spirit of the old school and injecting it with his own, unique, genre-blurring charisma. Recorded at The Hallowed Halls in Portland, Oregon in collaboration with studio guru Justin Phelps, Welcome to Hel is a vivid and vital testament to Erlend Hjelvik’s instinctive metal mastery and a celebration of the music that first inspired the Norwegian to start screaming many years ago.

Asaf Avidan has shared his new album Anagnorisis today, a ten-song collection recorded earlier this year in Italy during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recording in relative isolation, Asaf uses the album's ten songs to tap into the complex, inherently chaotic and ever-changing nature of what it means to live in our current moment. In a career that has seen him hit #1 in 14 countries across Europe, headline the continent's biggest festivals and sell out its biggest concert halls - Anagnorisis marks what is perhaps Avidan's most complete statement as an artist to date. Named after the Greek literary device in which a character experiences a sudden and complete moment of revelation, Anagnorisis comes to the conclusion that nothing is truly that simple or that easy.

Neurogenesis expands the sound of modular analog and digital synthesizers into a bright and dynamic landscape, layered with shimmering kaleidoscopic microtonal patterns, pulsating, vibrating and evolving. Is this the sound of neurons growing?

Afrodisian Orchestra is a 14 pieces Big Band based in Madrid (Spain) that has its own distinct sound and style: the music combines Spanish sounds with latin feel, black music and contemporary jazz orchestrations.

Natural Wonder is a live album by American musician Stevie Wonder, released in 1995 and recorded in Osaka, Japan. It is an edited version of a televised concert Wonder performed with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. It is his fourth live album after Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius (1963), Stevie Wonder Live (1970), and Live at the Talk of the Town (also 1970).

Audio-Visualscapes is an album by Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, featuring Greg Osby, Gary Thomas, Mick Goodrick, and Lonnie Plaxico, recorded in 1988 and released on the MCA/Impulse! label.This single-CD (formerly a double-LP) from Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition contains music that mixes together advanced hard bop, fusion, M-Base funk and avant-garde jazz.

A compilation of two Pacific Jazz LPs (# 9 and 15), recorded in 1953 and 1954. The earlier session features Chet with Jack Montrose (tenor sax) Herb Geller (alto sax) and Bob Gordon (baritone sax), and every tune on the session is a knockout. Especially wonderful are "Bockhanal" (in 2 takes) and "Headline"; both swing like crazy. The later session has Montrose again with Bill Holman (tenor sax) Bob Brookmeyer (trombone) and Bud Shank (baritone sax). Here the standout tracks are "The half dozens," "Stella by starlight," and "Dot's groovy."

The Rolling Stones are the legendary British rock band known for many popular hits, such as Paint it Black, Lady Jane, Ruby Tuesday, and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. Almost everyone who attended their shows is quick to comment on their ability to start you up and shake your hips.

Burnin Red Ivanhoe was formed back in 1967, and that makes them one of the first scandinavian prog bands. Their style was quite original from the start, blending jazz-rock with R&B, blues, psychedelia etc.. Most of Burnin' Red Ivanhoe's albums have that certain scandinavian touch to it, similar to early 70's prog groups such as Wigwam, Culpeper's Orchard and Tasavallan Presidentti. In 1971, the band released the album "W.W.W.", which is probably a good place to start (for proggers), as it contains some of their most progressive and interesting work. The self-titled album they released in 1970 (another gem!), also contains the track "Secret Oyster Service", and quite soon after that, a new, even more jazz-orientated group was formed, called Secret Oyster.

Michael Jones about his new album: "The Fiction Makers was a four month project, which coincided with a global event where finding creative time was no longer an issue; I don’t think anyone who had the opportunity of creating more music in their studios complained too much about restricted movement.
Taking the time to explore soundscapes and utilising some newly acquired equipment, this album follows on some of the themes explored in last year’s album Geometrium, as well as creating new ones. The core of each track was a live studio performance augmented by overdubs where required; the joy of this is in capturing a level of spontaneity without obsessing about perfection, this keeps the music more organic and less clinical. In Modular We Trust…".