Compared to the Move's long-gestating 1968 eponymous debut, their 1970 sophomore effort Shazam is unified. It was not culled from sessions from a period of 14 months but instead largely made at one time… but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's any easier to get a handle on the album. The Move changed greatly in the period between their first albums, with original bassist Chris "Ace" Kefford leaving in a cloud of acid in 1968. In his absence, rhythm guitarist Trevor Burton jumped over to bass, beginning an odd period where the group was cutting songs, most penned by Roy Wood but a few written by David Morgan, a fellow Birmingham-based songwriter signed to the publishing company of Move lead singer Carl Wayne…

Captured live at London’s Royal Opera House, this Barbiere, with its unbeatable cast and the directors’ characteristic wit and intelligence, offers a unique dramatic twist: Joyce DiDonato, who had broken her leg on the opening night, went on with the show. As she said: “Being trapped in the wheelchair was a quite literal way of demonstrating Rosina's huge desire to break free.

Uno de los nombres destacados de la nueva generación de guitarristas flamencos, Santiago Lara, jerezano de 32 años, tiene ya prestigiosos premios como el de la Bienal de Sevilla y el 2º Premio Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba (2013). Productor, compositor y director musical, Santiago ha participado en las grabaciones del maestro Manolo Sanlúcar, así como en sus giras con orquesta. También es responsable de la música de la bailaora Mercedes Ruiz, a quien acompaña en sus giras mundiales. Como productor, además de sus primeros dos álbumes, Santiago ha realizado tres discos para cantaores de la nueva generación como son José Lara, Londro y David Lagos. Desde la vibrante versión de 'Minuano', que abre el álbum con la participación de Jorge Pardo o la vertiginosa 'James' con Antonio Serrano, emociona redescubrir un repertorio que ya abarca casi 40 años con un respeto y una creatividad que hacen honor al título.

If there were an international style of conducting Vaughan Williams', Bernard Haitink would be its foremost practitioner. But although there have been international conductors who have taken up Vaughan Williams' very, very English music, virtually all of them took him up with English orchestras. Slatkin, Stokowski, even Rozhdestvensky used English conductors when they led their Vaughan Williams, and Haitink, the most international of international conductors, used the London Philharmonic for his Vaughan Williams. Ultimately, no matter how international Haitink's interpretations may be, his Vaughan Williams performance sounds as English as shepherd's pie.

Jens Søndergaard has always had a large and faithful audience. There is a good reason why he has always had a tightly packed calendar. The audience loves the warm radiance of Søndergaard and the beautiful and melodic play on the saxophone.
Now he has recorded The Brubeck-Desmond songbook, which is a return to the music that has gotten so many into the Jazz. Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond are two of the most iconic composers in the history of Jazz. When you hear Jens Søndergaard interpret their repertoire with his regular quartet, it is difficult not to just sit back and enjoy how simple and elegant it can be done…

In the late 1960s, the American trumpet player and free jazz pioneer Don Cherry and the Swedish visual artist and designer Moki Cherry began a collaboration that imagined an alternative space for creative music, most succinctly expressed in Moki’s aphorism “the stage is home and home is a stage.” By 1972, they had given name to a concept that united Don’s music, Moki’s art, and their family life in rural Tagårp, Sweden into one holistic entity: Organic Music Theatre. Captured here is the historic first Organic Music Theatre performance from the 1972 Festival de jazz de Chateauvallon in the South of France, mastered from tapes recorded during its original live broadcast on public TV. A life-affirming, multicultural patchwork of borrowed tunes suffused with the hallowed aura of Don’s extensive global travels, the performance documents the moment he publicly jettisoned his identity as a jazz musician…

Stefano di Battista (born February 14, 1969 in Rome) is an Italian jazz saxophonist who plays soprano and alto.

Pierrick Pedron is a kind of musical UFO. Each new recording causes surprise because he finds a way to embark you in his very personal universe. This one is no exception to the rule. Unclassifiable compositions with an incredible mix of funk, pop, rock, jazz and whatnot. The saxophonist Pierrick Pedron’s new album, which has been made in association with his fellow partner for some years Vincent Artaud, artistic director, producer and real alter ego to Pedron is a call to the rhythms of the future.

Groundbreaking guitar work of dazzling complexity that never fails to amaze - and this stuff was cut in the 1920s! Lonnie Johnson's astonishingly fluid guitar work was massively influential (Robert Johnson, for one, was greatly swayed by his waxings), and his no-nonsense vocals (frequently laced with threats of violence - "Got the Blues for Murder Only" and "She's Making Whoopee in Hell Tonight" are prime examples on this 19-cut collection) are scarcely less impressive. Johnson's torrid guitar duets with jazzman Eddie Lang retain their sense of legend over nine decades after they were cut.

Bakery is one of the forgotten psychedelic heavy prog bands coming from Australia from early '70's. The bands style is a mix between heavy progressive, jazz and a slight psychedelic feel. The sound is quite rich sometimes including flute, keys, piano and saxophone. The writing is good and the band is trying to go from one idea to the next easily passing through some instrumentals on the way or solos. Mixing between calm acoustic parts and heavier rockier moments. This could have been a great stepping stone for the band to go from, but instead it was their swan song.

Having done a remaster with panache on Sunburst Finish from 1976 (and reviewed so eloquently by Ian Canty here) Cherry Red (or Cheery Red as my computer often prompts) are back on the Be Bop Deluxe trail with Be Bop Deluxe’s legendary 1975 album released on the (legendary, naturally) Harvest label. Legendary maybe because we tend to look back with a rose-tinted glow at a set recorded with the legendary Roy Thomas Baker at the legendary Rockfield Studios by Bill Nelson and his troops…