A Canadian artist known for his fusion of blues, rock, and swing, Colin James rose to prominence in 1988 when his eponymous debut effort became the fastest-selling album in his country's history. A scintillating blues guitarist with plenty of rock appeal, James notched further hits like the Juno Award-winning "Just Came Back" before kicking off the '90s swing boom with a series of acclaimed albums leading his Little Big Band. Over the subsequent years, his recording output remained steady with a mix of blues, rock, and acoustic releases, and some touring. Since arriving on the international stage, James has played with an array of musical icons ranging from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Keith Richards to Buddy Guy, Albert King, and Little Feat. He experienced a career resurgence when 2016's Blue Highways topped the Roots Music Report's Blues Chart and he followed it with similarly acclaimed albums like 2018's Miles to Go and 2021's Open Road.

While the Middle Ages Suite is interesting, the real gem on this disk is the Scenes de Ballet. In this score, Glazunov matches the pinnacle of ballet music writing that he reached in his ballet The Seasons. Many listeners will recognize some of the numbers in this piece, because they tend to crop up in various "new" ballet productions that are patched together by choreographers such as Peter Maartens and Mikhail Baryshnikov – plus their occasional inclusion in the figure-skating routines presented by those great Russian and Ukrainian skaters every time the Winter Olympics comes around.

Maurice Ravel composed a number of works which have become classics of the repertoire both for solo piano and for orchestra. On the present disc, all except one work were first conceived for piano, which raises the question how it is possible to transfer such pianistic music to the orchestra without making it sound like a mere ‘colourized’ version. Ravel’s orchestral writing was the result of a long apprenticeship and careful study of orchestration treatises as well as scores, notably of works by Rimsky-Korsakov and Richard Strauss. Although his skills as an orchestrator are much admired today, his ability to coax new sounds out of the orchestra wasn't always appreciated in his own time, however – in 1907 the critic Pierre Lalo complained that ‘in Ravel’s orchestra, no instrument retains its natural sound…’

Il pomo d’oro and Francesco Corti present Handel’s Apollo e Dafne and Armida abbandonata, together with two outstanding vocalists: soprano Kathryn Lewek (Armida & Dafne) and baritone John Chest (Apollo). Handel composed these two cantatas shortly after his Italian sojourn (1706-1709), and they demonstrate his acquaintance with and aptitude for Italian operatic music. Compared to opera, supporting roles are left out of these relatively compact cantatas, increasing the focus on the main characters, and heightening the expressive depth of their music. Il pomo d’oro performs these pieces with historically-informed ears, lively and colourful. The cantatas alternate with several delightful orchestral pieces by Handel, including several movements from his Almira Suite.

Since the mid-1980s, Frank Peter Zimmermann has earned recognition as one of the leading violinists, admired not only for his technical skill and interpretive intelligence, but also for his versatility in a wide-ranging repertoire. His extensive discography spans from Bach concertos and Beethoven sonatas to works by composers such as Ligeti, Magnus Lindberg and Brett Dean. But during the four decades that Zimmermann has been making recordings, he has never previously recorded Bach’s Sei solo, the six sonatas and partitas for solo violin which form an absolute pinnacle in the repertoire for the instrument.

The freshness of works of a young master: this is what we discover on the new GENUIN album presented by the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen under the direction of Johannes Klumpp. In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Divertimenti K. 136-138, we hear a young composer in the process of growing up. The top-class, versatile orchestra performs these sparkling treasures lovingly and with spirit, full of dynamism and effervescent humor!

Decca Classics announces the release of the first in a trilogy of recordings from the internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble Stile Antico to celebrate major anniversaries of three Renaissance masters. The first release, The Golden Renaissance: Josquin des Prez is dedicated to the Franco-Flemish composer to mark the 500th anniversary of his death and features a world premiere recording of Josquin's chanson, Vivrai je tousjours.

Like fine wine, progressive rock bands normally require years of careful fermentation before maturing into a great vintage, so it's shocking, bordering on unbelievable, when a brand new group hits the scene so fully formed as did Britain's Haken. Indeed, Haken's 2010 debut, Aquarius, landed just two years after the sextet's initial creation, and yet the breathtaking scope of its ambitions, stylistic hybridization, and sheer instrumental skill suggest entire decades of accumulated experience between those involved. Just picture Dream Theater dabbling in harsher heavy metal ingredients (death metal vocals, mainly), as well as the fearless excess of poetic ‘70s prog rock originals Genesis and the classically inclined Kansas, and let the music flesh out the resulting mental canvas…

A riddle wrapped in an enigma dressed up in leather and studs, Germany's Mekong Delta perplexed the heavy metal world both by playing an unconventional brand of progressive thrash and by keeping the identities of the bandmembers secret for the first five years of a career starting in 1987…

This 1976 follow-up to the successful Changing All the Time finds Smokie pursuing the same kind of country-flavored pop that made that album a hit. With Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman once again in the producer's chairs, the band produced some notable hits in Europe: "Something's Been Making Me Blue" layers Smokie's trademark harmonies atop a rousing country-rock tune driven by tasty guitar work, and "Wild Wild Angels" is a dramatic power ballad that highlights a strong lead from whiskey-throated vocalist Chris Norman…

A wonderful early album from Victor Assis Brasil - one of Brazil's greatest saxophone players of the 60s and 70s, and an artist with a keen post-Coltrane approach to his work! The album's awash in modally grooving numbers that would have made Coltrane proud - soulfully swinging tunes that bounce along on tight piano, bass, and percussion - as Victor spins out some lean and exploratory lines on alto sax. The album features some nice work by a young Claudio Roditi, and the lineup shifts a bit from track to track - but Brasil's incredible tone and solo work on the alto sax really holds the whole set together, and offers up a new surprise at each track!