A compilation of the first three Ramblings EPs, originally released 2016-2019.

Eric Gale's 1973 Forecast album on the Kudu label is one of his most varied texturally. Produced by Kudu label boss Creed Taylor, the rhythm tracks were arranged by Gale, and the horns and strings by Bob James. Taylor surrounded Gale with the cream-of-the-crop of the current session players: jazz's most soulful drummer, Idris Muhammad, was in the house for most of the album, and Rick Marotta filled out the rest. Saxophonists included Joe Farrell, Pepper Adams, and Jerry Dodgion (an underrated ace who made his name with Curtis Amy on his Pacific jazz sides in the early '60s), and trumpeters included Randy Brecker and Jon Faddis. Hubert Laws and George Marge sat in the flute chairs, and James played piano and synths. Gale, for his part, was blended into a meticulously arranged and gorgeously orchestrated set of mixed tempo originals, and a pair of carefully chosen covers.

The first disc showcases four of Boccherini's six Divertimenti. These works were originally published as Sextets, but the chamber ensemble set-up employed here is an alternative apparently sanctioned by Boccherini, who further allowed that the double bass part be omitted where desired; the flute is, however, obbligato. These works go beyond the divertimenti of Mozart and Haydn: they possess the same depth and spirit of imagination as Boccherini's String Sextets (available on PE469), which were written slightly later. Both usually have four movements, two fast and two slow, with a third-movement minuet.

We can readily imagine with what modest pride the 40-year-old Bach presented his second wife Anna Magdalena with this most delightful of all domestic scrapbooks. Bach himself started it off for her with two of the keyboard Partitas (A minor, BWV827 and E minor, BWV930) which later formed part of the collection published as the composer's Op. 1 in 1731. Thereafter it was up to Anna Magdalena herself to choose and to enter little compositions which made particular appeal. Not all the music by any means is by her husband and there are pieces for example by Couperin, Bohm, Stolzel, Hasse and her stepson Carl Philipp Emanuel as well as several by anonymous composers.

Developing Samantha’s pop-rock sound and broadening her appeal, “Samantha Fox” features five UK hit singles, the irresistible Stock Aitken Waterman classic ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now’ (#8), ‘I Surrender (To The Spirit Of The Night)’ (#25), ‘I Promise You (Get Ready)’, ‘True Devotion’ and ‘Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)’ (#31) – Samantha’s first collaboration with Full Force, which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her most successful single Stateside.

Recorded in the Rome during Prog Exhibition, the festival event that has celebrated the fortieth birthday of the Italian progressive rock, this PFM live has the honor of the presence of an Anglo-Saxon music legend Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. The Magic Flute of Rock has fired up the audience with a superb performance that has amazed audiences giving moments of great intensity…

After the harrowing Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon returned to calmer, more conventional territory with Imagine. While the album had a softer surface, it was only marginally less confessional than its predecessor. Underneath the sweet strings of "Jealous Guy" lies a broken and scared man, the jaunty "Crippled Inside" is a mocking assault at an acquaintance, and "Imagine" is a paean for peace in a world with no gods, possessions, or classes, where everyone is equal…

On this unusual project, vibraphonist Stefon Harris performs three excerpts apiece from Duke Ellington's "New Orleans Suite" and his lesser-known "The Gardner Meditations" plus two pieces from the Duke's "The Queen's Suite." The sensitive "Single Petal of a Rose" is the best known of these selections. Rather than use a big band, Harris is joined by viola, cello, flute, clarinet, trombonist Steve Turre (who is wonderful on "Portrait of Wellman Braud"), and a piano-bass-drums rhythm section. The arrangements are colorful and inventive, with Harris (who doubles on marimba) usually being heard as the lead voice. African Tarantella serves as further proof that Duke Ellington's music, in addition to being enormous in quantity, can be interpreted in an infinite number of colorful ways.

‘Jonas Kaufmann Sings an ‘Otello’ for the Ages’- New York Times. On a sweltering night at London’s Royal Opera House in June 2017, Jonas Kaufmann made his debut performance as Otello - one of the most coveted and challenging roles in the tenor operatic repertoire. The Guardian commented on his performance: “Kaufmann thrills in a dark, expres-sionistic staging”. This new production by director Keith Warner presents a simultaneously modern and abstract approach to one of Verdi’s greatest operas.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer's 1970 eponymous LP was only a rehearsal. It hit hard because of the novelty of the act (allegedly the first supergroup in rock history), but felt more like a collection of individual efforts and ideas than a collective work…

Bootsy Collins has rightfully received accolades as funk's second officer (after George Clinton – and it should be third after James Brown and Clinton). For decades he has been sampled by every rapper from Snoop Dogg to OutKast, and virtually created the bass sound that made the Red Hot Chili Peppers a household name and that created a career for Les Claypool. Yet, his most influential sound emanated not from his tenure with James Brown or P-Funk, but his own Rubber Band, and until now that wooly, wild, and surreal unit has never been properly anthologized. Rhino, in their usual thorough, crazy fashion, have directed the folks at the Warner archives and have created a massive, drop-the-bomb two-disc set that sets the record straight.

Gay Guerrilla and Evil Nigger, both composed in 1979, with a third work, Crazy Nigger, make up what Eastman called The Nigger Series. Some of themost challenging and beautiful works composed for piano during their era, they double as a window into the intricate thought process and contentiousness of their creator. When the composer was asked to perform the series at Northwestern University in 1980, due to protests by African American students, their titles were censored in the event’s program. His response was a flamboyant foreshadowing of the sentiments toward bigoted language which later arose within hip-hop culture – to publicly take back these words, assert ownership of them, and deploy their power for positive change.

Pop music has been a rich resource jazz artists have mined for genera-tions and the music of the 1960s is no exception with many finding inspiration in the songs of The Beatles, the quintessential band of that era.

Hunting Eagles Catching Swans is a historical, honorary album of one of the greatest pipa masters of all time: Lin Shicheng.