The Surprise Symphony was, before the Mozart craze of the early 1990s, the most famous piece of classical music after Beethoven's Fifth, and if it gets into some feature film it could well regain it's former position. It says something for Haydn's ability to write consistently interesting and witty music that the most popular, "named" part in a symphony (this one included) is likely to be the slow movement. In other words, Haydn is often at his most entertaining just when other composers are putting you to sleep. Symphony No. 93 also has a surprise in its slow movement–a highly scatological comment from the bassoon at the very end, followed by what can only be described as orchestral laughter.

Continuing the series 'Bach's Contemporaries', this volume concentrates on the wonderful music of Johann Schelle — a cousin of Kuhnau (another composer featured in this series). This immensely striking sacred music by Schelle (one of Bach's predecessors in the post of Kantor in Leipzig's famous Thomas Church) brings together a top-flight group of soloists and a large and colourful assembly of instrumentalists, and presents remarkable and splendidly varied music which not only stands up proudly in its own musical right, but also greatly enhances our understanding of Bach's own sacred writing.

Improvvisare su ogni tipo di repertorio. Liberarsi dalla gabbia degli accordi per arrivare alla forma libera, alla melodia pura. È la nuova sfida di Danilo Rea, che qui si confronta con i grandi compositori classici: "L'improvvisazione nasce in Europa, loro ne erano maestri. Il jazz ha riscoperto questa attitudine, smarrita da chi oggi interpreta rigidamente le loro partiture". Rea ha scelto il piano solo, per avere massima libertà interpretativa, ma in alcuni brani spicca la voce di sua figlia Oona. "Canta tre brani originali e poi The Man I Love di Gershwin, trait d'union tra la classica e il jazz, nonché doverosa dedica al suo papà". Romantico.

April in Paris, 1950. James Moody is making records with a band led by trumpeter Ernie Royal. While two originals by Royal are based on textbook bop themes, Moody's own "Date With Kate" shows greater depth of invention. "Mean to Me" prances at a healthy clip and "Embraceable You" is presented as a slow-dance delicacy. Jumping to July of 1950, Moody leads his own "Boptet" through four remarkable exercises in modernity. Marshall "Red" Allen, who subsequently worked for decades with Sun Ra, is heard in Moody's band playing alto saxophone. These must be Allen's earliest appearances on record. "Delooney" surges ahead with peculiar chords that do in fact slightly resemble what Ra's Arkestra would be playing by 1957…

By the time Illicit was released in 1992, Scott Henderson & Tribal Tech had been established as one of the premier, if not the premier, experimental fusion outfits on the globe. That's "fusion" as in the fusion of jazz and rock, not the vanilla instrumental musings of artists like Kenny G, which are occasionally mislabled as such. Henderson's dramatic and powerful soloing and his incredibly refined chord work were the greatest causes for the early attention the group received, and Illicit only furthered the guitarist's reputation with its fire and musical vigor.

One of the better albums in Rova's confusingly expansive discography, From the Bureau of Both features some of the quartet's most immediately rewarding moments, as well as a few on the opposite end of the spectrum. Rova can be surprisingly accessible when the group's free explorations are tethered to strong frameworks, and that's the case with much of this album. "Swang" became something of a signature piece for the group, featuring a jaunty, rhythmic opening riff that builds into a more complex main passage with several different parts, followed by some spirited group interaction. "Swapmeet! Swapmeet!!" and "Streak" follow a similar pattern: driving rhythms and catchy themes in the lower register, plus interlocking melodies over the top, all of which gives the group members solid bases from which to take flight in their solos.

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