Recorded in 1971, shortly after he departed Cadet where he served as a house sideman-playing on dozens of records and a prefferred guitarist for Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler, Phil Upchurch headed for the West Coast and Blue Thumb Records. Produced by Tommy LiPuma, Upchurch's Darkness, Darkness is his quintessential (double) album, full of laid-back funky grooves, elegant, mind-blowing guitar work, elegant string and horn arrangements, and fine Fender Rhodes work from Donny Hathaway with legendary session bassist Chuck Rainey and smooth jazz piano great Joe Sample in the house. Upchurch effortlessly walks the line where jazz, blues, rock, soul, and funk fold into one another, yet he never gives quarter in the process.

Leon Russell's CD "Snapshot" comes unheralded. There are no musicians listed, no writers' credits for the songs. But the music has delightful gems. The double-entendre titled "Come for You" bounces joyfully with romantic bliss as the background singers, stinging electric guitar and Russell's growl-sing make the track shine. "Honey & Eli" is another of my favorites with Russell's signature piano – his fingers seem to bounce along the keyboards – and soul horns to create an intoxicating mix, "I see sweet love there in your eyes; true love cannot be denied." Another gem that should not be confused with the Hank Williams' classic by the same title is the religious but not preachy "I See the Light." Russell is in reflective mood here on the Almighty and the afterlife with a slower beat and his vocals soulful and passionate, "I see a place there in the distance now, a sweet delight, his precious love abounds, I hear his words and then I feel alright; I speak his name; I see the Light." The rest of the CD is a mix with some predictable melodies, but also some joyful surprises. "Lost Inside the Blues" is a strong track. The CD concludes with a Russell instrumental "Friendly Fire." "Snapshot" is a strong set, well worth exploration by fans of Russell and heartfelt roots music. Enjoy!

Conductor Dalia Stasevka who received the BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Personality of the Year’ Award in 2023 and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra present three works by the Finnish composer Helvi Leiviskä, who was Finland’s first major female composer. Initially inspired by the language of late Romanticism – she mentioned Brahms as her favourite composer – Leiviskä developed an original, modern style that eschewed all schools, convinced that it was more important to tread one’s own path than to follow fashionable styles. While her output may seem small in terms of quantity, it more than makes up for it in the quality of the works, especially her symphonies, a genre she considered ‘the highest manifestation of music’.

This CD presents a complete recital given by the master violinist Joseph Szigeti in the Hancock Auditorium at the University of Southern California on 13 January 1957. This concert originally formed the last of a series of three concerts featuring works by 20th-century composers entitled ‘Eleven Masterpieces of the Twentieth Century’, which Szigeti performed at numerous college campuses throughout the United States in the late 1950s. He described this three-part series was ‘an incentive to break with the “one-programme-each-season” type of concertizing that the organized audience movement demands.’

The Opale Concerto for accordion and string orchestra was composed in 1994. Richard Galliano dedicated it to his teacher, Joe Rossi. Just like the titular gemstone Opal, the concerto symbolizes a variety of colors and the interplay of styles.

Ivory keys worn by two centuries of passionate musicians tell a story of musical evolution on SCARLATTI SONATAS, an album of previously unrecorded solo harpsichord sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, Antonio Soler, and an unidentified composer. Performed today by pianist Charles Metz, these works were first adapted for performance on the pianoforte in 1791 by Muzio Clementi, who breathed new life into Scarlatti’s timeless work with marked dynamics, articulations, and more. While Metz’s choice of repertoire holds ample historical significance, so does the instrument he employs to perform them — an 1806 square piano built by Clementi himself.

This new release too features five exclusive 7-inches, housing a total of 10 seriously rare tunes. All previously unreleased in physical format, the tracks have been carefully selected from the soundtracks of five obscure Italian films from the late ‘70s – sexy flicks that flirted with the line between erotic and explicit, and which are now largely forgotten, having been out of circulation for decades.

This is the live recording at "19th Acid Mothers Temple Festival" in Nagoya 2020. Also it was Taigen Kawabe's first show to replace Wolf as bassist. The original CD was released by Acid Mothers Temple in 2021. (Limited to 300 hand-numbered copies.)

White Knight Records are proud to release the new album from Tiger Moth Tales entitled ‘Story Tellers Part Two’. Although Pete Jones has dedicated a large portion of 2018 to being the vocalist, keyboard player and saxophonist with progressive rock legends Camel, he has also been very busy creating another stunning Tiger Moth Tales collection of songs. After the phenomenal reaction to ‘The Depths of Winter’ Pete decided to return to the Story Tellers concept of composing songs based on stories some of his favourite childhood authors, this time including Hans Christian Andersen and A.A. Milne.

As a quartet, Polish act Riverside produced some of the most characteristic and captivating albums in modern progressive rock/metal. Sadly, the untimely passing of founding guitarist Piotr Grudziński in early 2016 sent fans and the remaining members—vocalist/bassist/lead songwriter Mariusz Duda, drummer Piotr Kozieradzki, and keyboardist Michał Łapaj—into a painful world of uncertainty about if, when, and how they should continue. After all, Grudziński’s distinctive style was a major part of their treasured formula, so adequately replacing him seemed both impossible and potentially impolite.