Continuing is drummer Tyshawn Sorey’s highly-anticipated follow-up to Mesmerism and The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism, his two critically-acclaimed 2022 release that feature this avowed avant-gardist’s surprising forays into classic, swinging jazz. Those two prior releases were voted #4 and #5 best albums of the year, respectively, in the annual Francis Davis Jazz Poll of over 150 jazz critics. In two 4 ½ Star reviews, Downbeat called Mesmerism “wonderfully simple, yet breathtakingly deep” and Off-Off Broadway (featuring saxophonist Greg Osby) “music robust enough to have you believe the energy generated by the group is its own discrete force.”

This album represents the culmination of what leading British baritone Roderick Williams described as ‘a dream come true’. It features premiere recordings of his orchestrations of songs by Vaughan Williams and other composers associated with him and is released to commemorate those who perished in WWI.

Bakithi Kumalo’s bass playing can be found in the heart and soul of the modern day anthems that have shaped our sense of music and culture as we know it. Ranked among the top 50 bass players in the world by Bass Player Magazine, Bakithi Kumalo is a five-time Grammy Award winning multi-instrumentalist. Born in the Soweto township of Johannesburg, South Africa and surrounded by relatives who loved music and actively performed, Kumalo landed his first job at the age of seven filling in for his uncle's bass player. Kumalo worked as a session musician in South Africa during the 1970s and early 1980s, eventually becoming a top session bassist and accompanying international performers during their South African tours.

The moment the instantly recognizable intertwined guitar passage on the title track to the Eagles' "Hotel California" begins, the record's genius becomes obvious all over again. Ranked the 118th Greatest Album of All Time by Rolling Stone, certified by RIAA as the third best-selling LP in history, and considered the foundation on which the Golden State's mid-‘70s music scene was built, the 1976 landmark is a music staple immune to shifts in trends, eras, and styles. Fearlessly addressing the chaos and consequences of American life, its songs remain strikingly prescient and gain creedence with each passing day.

In the late 60s there was a panic going on at jazz record companies. Records just weren't selling - sure Ella or Miles were shifting units, the big international stars, but new acoustic talent was having a hard time. Soul and funk was what was being danced to in the clubs. There was one ray of hope shining through. Since 1967, when Lou Donaldson had scored a Top 10 R&B album with Alligator Bogaloo his band had developed a hybrid of funky jazz that was selling units and filling the clubs. Donaldson's band, built upon Idris Muhammad's drumming base, played a mixture of originals and covers of hits by artists such as James Brown and Lee Dorsey.

In 1971, after dropping "Fabulous" from their moniker, The Counts delivered their first full-length platter for Westbound Records. What's Up Front That-Counts is indisputably one of the funkiest albums of all time. The conga-led grooves, impassioned vocals and strutting in-the-pocket arrangements are as infectious as they are groovy. The release of this funk classic marks the second installment in Org Music's Westbound Records reissue series, complete with three previously unissued tracks. Working with the original Westbound master tapes at the iconic 54 Sound studio in Detroit, these legendary recordings have been remastered by award winning engineer Dave Gardner with restoration and tape transfers by archival specialist Catherine Vericolli, and additional engineering assistance from in-house 54 Sound engineer Nick King.

Swing-era big-band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader, Glenn Miller (1904-1944) was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best-known big bands, celebrated in both sides of the Atlantic. In just four years, Miller scored 23 number-one hits, more than Elvis Presley (18 No. 1s, 38 top 10s) and The Beatles (20 No. 1s, 33 top 10s) did in their careers.

Hardly any combination of instruments is more appealing than a string quartet and a clarinet; together they make a magical melange. The Hagen Quartet and Jörg Widmann have recorded Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, a “work among friends”, in this irresistible blend. Jörg Widmann, clarinettist and composer in equal measure, picks up on the omnipresent themes of “floating, love, and chant” in Mozart’s notes and creates a weighty counterpart to Mozart’s popular work with his own clarinet quintet, which is available here in a world premiere recording.

Back in the late 50s/early 60s, many R&R/Pop records were notoriously short on playing time, often clocking in at two minutes or less. The shortest UK No.1 was 'What Do You Want, by Adam Faith (in 1959), at one minute thirty-eight seconds. These compilations, inspired by a suggestion from deejay BERNIE 'ROCK'n'ROLL HEAVEN' KEITH, each feature three-and-a-half dozen 'Sub-Two Minute Wonders'; i.e. forty-two killer tracks which get the business done in two minutes or less. You've got a bit of everything here; hits, misses, some that got away, B-sides, odd EP and/or LP tracks - but I'll bet none of you realised some of these were 'quickies', until now! Featured artists include Billy Fury, Cliff Richard, The Shadows, Marty Wilde, Joe Brown, Adam Faith, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Lord Rockingham's XI, Jimmy Justice, The Krew Kats, Helen Shapiro, John Leyton, Emile Ford & The Checkmates, and many more.

The Finnish composer Kalevi Aho and his younger colleague and compatriot Sebastian Fagerlund have both received international recognition for their masterful treatment of large orchestral forces. This they have demonstrated in purely orchestral as well as in concertante works – Aho has written 26 concertos to date (most of them in his monumental project to compose a concerto for each of the main orchestral instruments), and Fagerlund’s concertos for clarinet and for violin have been released by BIS to critical acclaim.

Those used to hearing period instrument ensembles will know that the differences in sound color with modern instruments are not as dramatic with strings and winds as they are with the fortepiano. What they bring to us is a softer-grained string tone, to the point at times of lacking tension and projection, and more vivid and rough-hewn wind tone, especially from natural horn and bassoon (they sound almost kazoo-like here in their little exchange at 12:42 in the first movement). The use of period instrument also tends to go hand-in-hand with a choice of brisker tempos - not systematically, as this is a matter of interpretive choice, and there are plenty of counter-examples in Schubert's Octet itself, but this generalization finds a good example in the present version.

THE FIRST EVER SOLO MORRISSEY SHOW Several months before the Smiths dissolved, Morrissey enlisted Stephen Street as his personal producer and new song-writing partner, with whom he could begin his solo career. By September 1987, he had begun work on his first solo album, Viva Hate, recorded with musicians Vini Reilly and Andrew Paresi. Morrissey's first solo performance took place at Wolverhampton's Civic Hall in December 1988. The event attracted huge crowds, with NME observing that "the excitement and atmosphere inside the hall was like nothing we have ever experienced at any public event". Backing Morrissey were ex-Smiths Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke, as well as the one-time Smith, Craig Gannon, filling in as lead guitarist. The set-list featured a mix of Morrissey songs with Smiths tracks from 1987, so none of it had been performed in front of a live audience before. Admission was free to anyone wearing a Smiths or Morrissey t-shirt. Recorded for live radio broadcast but not previously released on CD, this short but dynamic show is now available here for the first time. Including too, Morrissey s final interview while still a member of The Smiths, the final track includes the full conversation the man had with journalist and presenter Muriel Gray in November 1987.

The music from Vangelis, Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Jan Hammer and others.
Ed Starink is a Dutch composer, arranger, session musician and record producer. Starink's debut album was Cristallin, but his best known releases are his cover versions of other hits, film and television themes, which have been released on his own record label, Star Inc. Towards the end of the 1980s, Starink co-operated with Arcade Records, and released a series of 'Synthesizer' albums, which succeeded mainly in the European market. His album, Synthesizer Gold, made it into the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart in 1993. His previous album, Synthesizer Greatest, peaked at #22 in the UK.

Recorded in 1958 and released the following year on Verve, The Soul of Ben Webster is a superb example of swinging mainstream jazz and bop. Webster is in fine form throughout, as are his fellow musicians including trumpeter Art Farmer, bassist Milt Hinton, pianist Jimmy Jones, and others.
Two complete sessions featuring Webster with pianist Teddy Wilson, as well as a 1954 reading of Billy Strayhorn's wonderful ballad Chelsea Bridge (also included on The Soul of Ben Webster) have been added as a bonus.

This is the CD debut of sole album from powerful but rather forgotten British progressive quintet. Original record was decorated with mysterious Hipgnosis cover and released in September 1973 on Sovereign label - home of Renaissance, Mouse and Flash. Most of the album was filled with varied, imaginative and cleverly-arranged songs definitely influenced by Wishbone Ash and early Yes, but it must be stressed that the band has its own sound as well, with their superb combination of electric twin-guitar leads, intensive & varied keyboards parts and fine harmony vocals against the solid rhythm section. Unfortunately, in 1975 the band changed its name to The Movies and began to play much less progressive musiс.