Although not initially released until 1992, 25 years after composer Billy Strayhorn's death, this is his definitive CD. Strayhorn is heard singing "Lush Life" while backed by the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1964 (his voice is not strong but his phrasing is quite sincere), jamming on piano with flügelhornist Clark Terry and Bob Wilbur (on clarinet and soprano) in a quintet, backing singer Ozzie Bailey, and taking a pair of piano solos ("Love Came" and "Baby Clementine"). These are very valuable and intriguing recordings, shedding some new light on a nearly invisible genius.

George Philipp Telemann's Wassermusik (commonly known as 'Hamburger Ebb und Fluth' – an oblique reference to the local method of sewage disposal!) was composed for a grand celebration of seafaring life during 1723. The music was noted at the time for being 'uncommonly well-suited to the occasion', and not least for its subject-matter: Telemann guides his audience through a pageant of aquatic folklore and meteorology.

Guillaume Dufay is one of the key representatives of the French musical genius. His masterful work is a comprehensive and brilliant apotheosis of the middle ages. During his long career, the master from Cambrai gave us not only an impressive series of motets and masses, but also more than 80 profane songs, jems of melodic, rhythmic and poetic creativity. These small masterpieces show extreme refinement and an extraordinary command of counterpoint. Whatever the form, ballad, rondeau, bergerette or motet-song, the expression remains surprisingly natural and exquisitely simple. Most of these songs hail lightness of mind, joy, optimism, modestly restrained amorous pleasure, though some are melancholic or dwell on more austere feelings.

Chailly's Mahler Tenth has certainly withstood the test of time since its original release in 1988. Simon Rattle's new Berlin recording offers perhaps a more highly inflected, characterful performance, but Chailly has both the better playing and sound, and this pays particular dividends in the dark, rich string textures of the opening and closing movements. Both Rattle and Chailly use Deryck Cooke's revised performing version (Chailly sticks to it more literally than does Rattle), and this remains the edition of choice. Recent releases of other completion attempts, including a pretty ghastly one by Remo Mazzetti, only confirm the excellence of Cooke's work.

Flying the flag for British rock throughout the Seventies and well into the next decade, Climax Blues Band were at the forefront of high quality, entertaining music, performed with equal success ‘live’ and on record. This ten track selection was first released in 1980, a time of change and conflicting influences. But whatever the moods affecting the musicians, they always played with maximum passion and expertise, as is revealed on ‘Flying The Flag’. The opening number ‘Gotta Have More Love’ is closer to disco pop than the blues that first inspired the group, but whatever style they espoused, Climax always delivered songs with cool expertise. And the core feeling for the rockin’ blues can always be found in performances like Peter Haycock’s outstanding ‘So Good After Midnight’ and the aggressive ‘Blackjack And Me’, that are among the highlights of a vibrant high flying album.

Two years after 2013's The Beast in Its Tracks, the good news is Josh Ritter is feeling better about things. While The Beast in Its Tracks documented Ritter's often unsettled state of mind after the collapse of his marriage, 2015's Sermon on the Rocks is the sound of a man on the rebound, and while the album is hardly sunshine and cold beer throughout, these songs clearly reflect Ritter's tenacity and spirit rather than the damaged emotions that were front and center two years earlier. "Getting Ready to Get Down" finds Ritter offering a small-town girl some advice to forget Bible college and see a bit of the big bad world, and the tale is told with the swagger of a guy who wouldn't mind showing her a few things himself.

The minor San Francisco group Lamb tend to be remembered only for their appearance on the Fillmore: The Last Days concert album, where they were one of several non-star artists on a set dominated by bigger names like the Grateful Dead, Santana, and Boz Scaggs. The band did actually put out three albums in the early '70s, however, and were quite an interesting group. Not only were they not readily comparable to other acts on the San Francisco rock circuit, but it's debatable whether they could be fairly categorized as a rock band at all. Their music blended jazz, folk, singer/songwriter pop, gospel, and even some classical and avant-garde influences. Certainly the dominant figure was singer Barbara Mauritz, whose bluesy and earthy vocals had considerable resonance, but which could also traverse the band's frequently mystical, poetic lyrics with much delicacy and nuance…

Sonny Boy Williamson was, in many ways, the ultimate blues legend. By the time of his death in 1965, he had been around long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at the start of his career and Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Robbie Robertson at the end of it. In between, he drank a lot of whiskey, hobo'ed around the country, had a successful radio show for 15 years, toured Europe to great acclaim, and simply wrote, played, and sang some of the greatest blues ever etched into Black phonograph records. His delivery was sly, evil and world-weary, while his harp-playing was full of short, rhythmic bursts one minute and powerful, impassioned blowing the next. His songs were chock-full of mordant wit, with largely autobiographical lyrics that hold up to the scrutiny of the printed page. Though he took his name from another well-known harmonica player, no one really sounded like him.

Jarrett’s solo concert tradition continues with two highly creative performances of recent vintage - from Paris’s Salle Pleyel on November 26, 2008, followed by London’s Royal Festival Hall on December 1. The English date was Jarrett’s first London solo concert in many years and, in the words of one reviewer, “triggered the sort of ecstasy that might greet a returning prophet”. As with “Radiance” and “The Carnegie Hall Concert”, the music covers a wide arc of expression, as “that old Jarrett magic forges majestically on” (The Guardian).

The Greatest Show on Earth - Horizons (1970). The Greatest Show on Earth were one of the more stylistically original signings to EMI’s legendary Progressive label Harvest. The band was formed in 1968 and featured brothers Garth and Norman Watt-Roy (who played guitar and bass respectively), along with American vocalist Ozzie Lane, Mick Deacon on Organ, a horn section of Dick Hanson, Tex Philpotts and Ian Aitcheson and drummer Ron Prudence. Initially beginning life as a Soul outfit, the band’s musical direction changed when vocalist Lane returned home to New Orleans in early 1969. Replaced by Colin Horton-Jennings (who also played guitar and flute), the band began to take on board more "progressive” influences, incorporating rock, jazz and acoustic music into their sound…

Handel's stay in Italy between the years 1706 and 1710 resulted in a time of intense creative activity, and he quite naturally gravitated towards the cantata.