Amidst their pop/rock, blues, and folk-rock, Manfred Mann peppered their early recordings with jazzy instrumentals that faintly suggested a jazz-rock direction. Soul of Mann, never issued in the U.S., is a compilation of most of these early instrumental efforts, which originally appeared on various singles, EPs, and LPs between 1963 and 1966 (though one song, "L.S.D.," and is actually a blues-rocker with a Paul Jones vocal). Instrumentals were not the band's forte, but this collection is more interesting than you might think. No one would put Manfred Mann on the level of a jazz artist like Oscar Peterson, but these cuts are executed with a surprising amount of style and wit.

Pianist and singer Patricia Barber's second album (and major-label debut) is a consistently interesting, but not always completely rewarding, array of original instrumentals, vocal standards, and surprise cover versions. The arrangement of "Summertime" that opens the program is eerie almost to the point of creepiness, and all the more effective for it: after a long instrumental prelude, Barber sings the lyrics over the most minimal bass-and-piano unison pedal point, her voice goosed with reverb and wailing softly like a ghost. "Subway Station #5," the original composition that follows, is nervous, jumpy, barely tonal, and moves niftily from a contrapuntal and polyrhythmic introduction into a straight swing section…

Eddy Clearwater has had a tough time shaking his "Chuck Berry imitator" label, and he includes Berry-tinged numbers at the halfway point and end of this nice, if thoroughly derivative, urban blues set recorded in 1989 for Black and Blue with the familiar country boogie shuffle and tinkling licks. Clearwater could not do a set without the signature "Lay My Guitar Down," and this rendition is surging and enjoyable although inferior to the definitive one. Otherwise, it is a pile-driving and urgently performed date; Clearwater and Will Crosby swap slashing lines, crackling phrases, and answering fills. Clearwater's session contains several robust, entertaining passages, even if there is absolutely nothing you have not heard before.

Symphonia is a live album of the music project Schiller, created by the German electronic musician Christopher von Deylen. The album was released on October 17, 2014. The album is a live recording of the "Schiller meets Classic" open air concert with the Berlin Symphonic Pop Orchestra at the Classic Open Air 2014 event on the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin. The orchestra consisted of 60 musicians. On this album Schiller has collaborated with the singers Midge Ure, Jaël Malli, Eva Mali and Der Graf from Unheilig. The album reached in its first week number 4 of the German albums chart.

Inspired by the legendary violinists whose dazzling showpieces and heart-melting melodies Garrett fell in love with as a child, Iconic includes more than twenty tracks and is set for release in all formats on 4 November 2022. Music by Bach, Dvořák, Gluck, Kreisler, Mendelssohn and Schumann, among many others, is presented in new arrangements for violin, guitar and orchestra (by Franck van der Heijden and David Garrett). David Garrett is accompanied by his guitarist Franck van der Heijden – who also conducts the players of Orchestra The Prezent – as well as being joined in duet arrangements by his former teacher Itzhak Perlman, star tenor Andrea Bocelli, flautist Cocomi and trumpeter Till Brönner.