A large number of saxophone concertos have been written, but only a handful are regularly performed. With these premiere recordings Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo showcases five works that, had circumstances been different, might easily have established themselves as repertoire pieces.

When we refer to the "Bach Double," most classical music aficionados know what's being discussed: Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for two violins in D minor, BWV 1043. Apart from reconstructions, it's his only double concerto for two violins. With Antonio Vivaldi, such an abbreviated designation is impossible, as he has 27 – count 'em – 27 double concertos for two violins.

This CD is a total revelation. Some of the songs are arranged so brilliantly that they actually surpass the original version. "Help!" for example and "A Hard Day's Night", which becomes a groovy jazz number. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" sounds like a medieval singing while "Can't Buy me Love" is a fully-fledged madrigal. The singing is absolutely blindingly brilliant. This album is never less than good and a good two-thirds of it is excellent or totally revelatory.
Comprising an ever-changing cast of six members - two countertenors, a tenor, a bass, and two baritones - The King's Singers are a long-running British vocal ensemble that tours the world singing a variety of repertory. Since their inception in the '60s and into the new millennium, the group has continued to perform, frequently to sold-out audiences.

If imitation is the best form of flattery then the legendary Judy Garland has a lot to smile about from wherever she is watching. Broadway's Linda Eder has been wowing crowds since her big break in 1990 with The Broadway production of Jekyll & Hyde which showcased what is now being called "The Voice". Having broken all the records in 1988's Star Search, this Brainerd, Minn. born gal is not intimated by a musical challenge.

The Doors released its third studio album, Waiting for the Sun, in July 1968. It was the band’s third platinum album in less than two years, and the first to top the album chart. Since its debut, the album has sold more than nine million copies and contributed to the Doors’ legendary canon with classics like “The Unknown Soldier,” “Five To One” and the #1 smash, “Hello, I Love You.”
Rhino will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the album with Waiting For The Sun: 50th 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. This two-CD collection features a new version of the album’s original stereo mix on both CD which has been remastered - for the first time in 30 years - by Bruce Botnick, the Doors’ longtime engineer and producer. The set also includes a second disc of 14 unreleased recordings of the Doors in the studio and on stage.

Released in 2001, There You'll Be: The Best of Faith Hill was a collection designed for international markets, intending to introduce the American superstar to the world. As such, it presents her as a pop star, including remixes of "Breathe" and "The Way You Love Me" (that are nevertheless also present in their original versions), as well as her biggest crossover hits from Breathe, Faith, and It Matters to Me.

Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic is a percussionist from the former Yugoslavia, as well as a prolific composer for percussion. He has written two concertos for marimba and various other pieces, mainly for marimba, but also for assortments of unpitched percussion. Zivkovic (his name is pronounced Ne-boy-sha Yovan Zhiv-ko-vich) is the soloist in nine of his compositions and the only performer on seven of those pieces.

Singer Lily Frost is a hard one to pin down. She’s studied modern jazz and is influenced by 1960s music and pop culture, yet Frost also has a background in ‘20s jazz and pop as well as '50s retro swing. LILY SWINGS is a tribute to two legends, jazz vocal icon Billie Holiday and the late Canadian underground retro-wizard Ray Condo.

Gee, another year, another great album by French-Canadian chanteuse Lily Frost. Situation is perhaps not the career high point that 2006's Ciné-Magique proved to be, but that's only because now Frost's fans expect such strengths from her.

Smokin' Joe Kubek and Bnois King have been slinging out no-nonsense, bar band-approved Texas blues-boogie since 1991. Between nonstop touring and about a dozen similar-sounding albums, little has changed for the duo besides the label affiliation. Bullseye Blues, Blind Pig, and now Alligator have helped put their music in front of a wider audience, but since the discs are pretty much interchangeable, it's little wonder their audience hasn't expanded beyond a core of hardcore fans. That's something of a badge of honor in the business they are in, though, and the very fact that King and Kubek have survived nearly two decades in the blues trenches without altering their basic approach is impressive. As you'd expect, that holds true on the duo's Alligator debut…

Charly's live John Coltrane recordings from '61, '63, and '65 reveal just how much the tenor and soprano saxophonist's playing changed in the first half of the decade: a sonic shift from aggressive tonality to unfettered exploration. While the 1965 disc, Live In Paris, does find Coltrane covering familiar song territory with "Naima," "Impressions," and "Afro Blue," it also shows him dismissing solo structure in favor of volcanic flights. The record features the saxophonist's classic quartet of pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and bassist Jimmy Garrison recorded at the Antibes festival and the Selel Pleyel in Paris; these concerts were not only part of Coltrane's last European tour, but would also mark the beginning of the end for the group (Tyner and Jones, traditionalists at heart, would soon depart in the face of their boss' increasing need for freedom, being replaced by Alice Coltrane and Rahsied Ali respectively)…

By the late '70s, Ayers was faced not only with the problem of increasingly redundant material, but also with the fact that the audience for his brand of weirdo progressive rock was shrinking precipitously, making him sound not just repetitious, but dated. There are still some good moments on this album - the chamber music arrangement of "Strange Song," the brief burst of singalong nonsense called "Hat Song." But it's one of his more faceless efforts, with anonymously laidback arrangements that are more prone to swirling keyboards than much of his previous output. And a song like "Beware of the Dog" is so meandering in its attempt to be likably weird that it's virtually meaningless.

The remarkable thing about this volume is not that it's the 13th installment in the extremely popular Cafe Del Mar series but that they've managed to maintain the quality control and this is just as good as any of the first 12! Cafe del Mar is the perfect scenery to enjoy an exclusive fusion of light, water and sound; the primary icon of the cult of sunset, without any doubts, one of the most wonderful and incredible existing in the planet. With the first Volume, thirteen years ago, Cafe del Mar began to put music to sunset. Cafe del Mar's spirit has reached all the corners of the world.