Veteran pianist Don Friedman has recently released several piano trio albums from the Japanese label Eighty-Eight's, and this one is arguably the best of them. Recommended for fans of straight-ahead piano trio music. DSD Recording.

Bassist Lonnie Plaxico is perhaps best known for his associations with Greg Osby & M-Base, & for being the long-time bassist for Cassandra Wilson. He was the leader of several recordings made for the now static Muse label in the '80s & '90s. On January 29, 2003, Plaxico was leading an energetically funky sextet at New York City's Jazz Standard.

Mischa Maisky (cello), Lars Anders Tomter (viola) and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy performs Richard Strauss' "Don Quixote (Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character)" & "Symphonic Poem "Death and Transfiguration" on this Japanese SACD. A pure DSD recording.

Whether they called him "Satchmo" or simply the "man with the silver trumpet", millions of people, from Mongolia to Munich, Milano and Mozambique, recognized the cherubic countenance, gravel voice, and high, rhythmic notes that bought thousands to greet him and hear him wherever he went - the magnetism was, at times, as awesome as his music could be. Louis Armstrong was one of the greatest musicians jazz ever produced, perhaps - and few, if any, will argue against this - the greatest.

When ‘Willie’ Rice Miller, aka Sonny Boy Williamson, made these intimate, casual recordings in 1963, he was already (probably) 66 years old. Most of his long career was over; only two years later he would die in his little apartment in Helena, Arkansas. He was recognized as a giant throughout the blues world as a harmonica player, vocalist, songwriter, prolific recording artist, live performer and wildly colorful personality. Starting in 1951 and continuing into the ‘60s, Sonny Boy made some of the most influential blues records of all time.

The Hamilton Music Award winner Chantal Chamberland releases her ‘Best of’ compilation album, "Autobiography". Her trademark smoky, sultry jazz vocal is perfectly expressed in a wonderful diversity of genres, moving from sultry and soulful to bluesy and brassy with graceful ease.

Live to 2 track, contemporary electric/acoustic rock! Recorded with an almost jazz approach with lots of room for experimentation & improvisation. Featuring great instrumental solos & awesome sonics, Sajko’s “Page” deserves a listen! Fans of classic rock like Zappa, Cream, John Hiatt & King Crimson will dig this one.

One of the UKs finest baroque ensembles give their unique take on the Brandenburg Concertos. Regular performances in some of the worlds most prestigious venues have confirmed Florilegiums status as one of Britains most outstanding period instrument ensembles. Since their formation in 1991 they have established a reputation for stylish and exciting interpretations, from intimate chamber works to large-scale orchestral and choral repertoire. Florilegium regularly collaborate with some of the world's finest musicians including Dame Emma Kirkby, Robin Blaze and Elin Manahan Thomas. Florilegium have many champions in the UK press, so reviews expected in Times, Guardian, Telegraph, BBC CD Review, Gramophone, IRR and BBC Music.

Buddy Tate was one of the most relaxed, humorous and amenable of musicians, with a personal style that was glowingly reflected in the supple and occasionally gently mocking elegance of his saxophone playing. Like many of the lyrical and romantic jazz performers of his era, Tate could perform miniature miracles with minimal materials. Shuffling a handful of soft, buttery notes and mingling them with a textural repertoire of intimately whispering intonations, was one of the most agreeable experiences in postwar jazz. But Tate could also be an exciting, hard-swinging player too, and his control of the horn in its upper register predated many of the technical advances in saxophone playing that were made by the modernists in hard bop and the avantgarde.

The new Italian ensemble a.k.a. I Solisti Filarmonici Italiani is a long-established ensemble that was predecessor of the Italian ensemble, known as an expert in baroque music along with I Musici, inspired by the “Roma ensemble” that prevailed in the 1970s. This is a super ensemble that includes the masters of the Italian violin world, Federico Guglielmo, and the heavyweights that support the Italian music world both in name and reality. The sound of the golden strings and the flowing ensemble give us a blissful time.

Over the past decade, new talents such as Cassandra Wilson, Patricia Barber and Holly Cole have redefined the world of female jazz vocals. Cole's "Temptation", a 1995 Blue Note release, is her musical tribute to the writings of Tom Waits.

Alexander Vedernikov leads the orchestra, soloists and chorus of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on this first volume of Highlights From Russian Operas, including works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Glinka and others.

Alexander Vedernikov and soloists, chorus and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow follow up their acclaimed first volume of highlights from Russian operas with this second volume, released in 2009. This album from PentaTone Classics is an excellent "highlight reel" of Russian opera hits of the Romantic era. This volume features the works of Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky. Snippets of Mussorgsky's "Khovanschina" and "Borid Godunov", a portion of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Legend of the invisable city of Kitezh" and the second act of "Sadko", and a part of Tchaikovsky's opera derived from classic Russian literature "Eugene Onegin".

This double album opens with a then-new Bob Dylan song, "The Times They Are A' Changin'", and closes with the best-known song ever written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes, "If I Had a Hammer". That seems to sum up Peter, Paul & Mary, but In Concert offers a lot more than that.

Philip's Wish is a very unique SACD featuring a mixture Flamenco grooves , Jazz improvisation and Brazilian and World music feel.