Ondines releases on Baltic composers continue with a new exciting release featuring recent orchestral compositions by New York-based Lithuanian composer ibuokle Martinaityte (b. 1973) composed within a span of six years performed by Lithuanian orchestras conducted by the young talented Lithuanian conductor Giedre slekyte and pianist Gabrielius Alekna as soloist. Martinaityte was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2020. Among her output are impressive orchestral compositions with evocative titles and beautiful orchestral textures with precision to detail.

Adapted from Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella, Death in Venice was Benjamin Britten’s last opera, the composer insisting on its completion while delaying badly needed heart surgery. The starkly simple narrative of a famous but failing novelist travelling to Venice to seek inspiration only to find unhealthy infatuation and deadly cholera, is given a chamber-like precision and clarity through Britten’s score, becoming a haunting drama filled with musical symbols, disquieting mystery and richly evocative atmospheres of Venice and its strange characters. Willy Decker’s Teatro Real production was described as ‘one of his most brilliant stage works… a remarkable technical feat.’ (bachtrack.com)

Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Little Walter, Elmore James, Albert King, Howlin' Wolf, J.B. Lenoir, Sonny Boy Williamson, Buddy Guy, and Otis Rush.

Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters take to the road in the live double album Flood, recorded and released only in Japan. Contrary to the impression left by his American releases at this time, Hancock was still very much attached to the acoustic piano, as his erudite opening workout on "Maiden Voyage/Actual Proof" with his funk rhythm section makes clear. The electric keyboards, mostly Rhodes piano and clavinet, make their first appearances on side two, where Hancock now becomes more of a funky adjunct to the rhythm section, bumping along with a superb feeling for the groove while Bennie Maupin takes the high road above on a panoply of winds. Except for "Voyage," the tunes come from the Head Hunters, Thrust, and Man-Child albums (another reason why this was not released in the U.S.). "Chameleon" comes with a lengthy outbreak of machine pink noise that attests to Hancock's wide-eyed love of gadgetry. In all, this was a great funk band, not all that danceable because of the rapid complexities of Mike Clark's drumming, and quite often, full of harmonic depth and adventure.

Within these six tracks, Schnauss earns his comparisons to Boards of Canada and other members of the electronica elite with nary a reservation to be found. It's not only the sheer strength of the majority of these tracks that make the record so enjoyable; the closing and ending numbers neatly bundle everything together, giving it the feel of a concept record without any of the pretensions. From the sun-kissed "Knuddelmaus" to the contemplative "Molfsee," it's a quicksilver spin through an expansive terrain of lush melodies, atmospheres, and beats that alternately jab and tickle…

Mike Dixon, of the record label Major League Productions (MLP), by his own admission doesn't know much about jazz, but he does know what he likes. This recording - spanning over 100 minutes of a recorded-for-radio Nucleus concert at Britain's Loughborough University in February 1976, and acquired by MLP as a "saved from the skip" job - is a perfect example of Dixon's excellent acumen. Amazingly, the recording's sound has not been impaired one iota despite the thirty year hiatus. Wisely, MLP decided not to cut any of the original playing time and the album is thus the first double CD to be produced by the company. It's a brave move for a small and relatively new record label which hitherto has specialised in prog-rock. On hearing the CD for the first time, the Nucleus enthusiast's high expectations will be more than realised. This is the mid-period band at the top of their game…

Originally released by the very obscure Jaro label, this excellent session was saved and reissued by Xanadu on a 1975 LP. The talented but underrated tenor saxophonist J.R. Monterose has a rare opportunity to stretch out in a quartet with pianist Tommy Flanagan (who would become a longtime friend), bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Pete La Roca. J.R., whose recording sessions were few and far between during his career, is in top form on five of his offbeat yet logical originals and two standard ballads, sometimes showing a Sonny Rollins influence but mostly sounding fairly distinctive.

The Dark Horse Years 1976–1992 is a box set of albums by English rock musician George Harrison. It was released in 2004 and comprises most of the singer's output on his Dark Horse record label. The set contains Harrison's five studio albums from Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976) to Cloud Nine (1987), with bonus tracks, and his 1992 live album (spread over two discs) Live in Japan…

This somewhat obscure Kenny Dorham LP features the excellent hard bop trumpeter in a quintet with baritonist Charles Davis, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Buddy Enlow. The straight-ahead music includes features for Davis ("When Sunny Gets Blue") and Warren, but Dorham consistently takes honors, particularly on his "Stage West," "I'm an Old Cowhand," "Stella by Starlight," and "Lazy Afternoon."

Gary Burton's Libertango: The Music of Astor Piazzolla continues the vibraphonist's homage to Piazzolla's nuevo tango, which began with 1996's Astor Piazzolla Reuninon: a Tango Excursion. Here, as on that album, Burton collaborates with former Piazzolla players such as pianist Pablo Ziegler, violinist Fernando Suarez-Paz, and guitarist Horacio Malvicino on stylized updates of the composer's best-known tangos. Burton's vibes weave in and out of interpretations of "Escualo," "Fuga Y Misterio," and "Adios Nonino," which dance along on brisk, jazzy rhythms that nevertheless capture the tango's elegant passion. Libertango is another fresh and worthwhile exploration of Piazzolla's music from an artist.

If you could only have two Christmas CDs, Kathleen Battle's "A Christmas Celebration" would definitely be one (and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" would be the other.)While Battle has been known to be a temperamental diva (leading to a quasi-banishment from operatic roles), her pretty, soaring soprano is without peer. So good is her voice that I would consider several of the cuts on this disc to be definitive performances, not only of Battle's repertoire, but of all performances ever of that song. Case in point would be her rendition of Gounod's "Ave Maria". Haunting and stunning at the same time, it's as if the angel itself were singing.