Diana Panton has quietly become one of the brightest lights on the jazz scene today. Her work is consistently praised by listeners and music critics alike for her ethereal vocals, exceptional song selection and emotional intensity. Her sophomore album "If The Moon Turns Green" features accompaniment by Don Thompson on bass and piano, as well as Reg Schwager on guitar, and was nominated for Jazz Album of the Year in 2009 at the National Jazz Awards.

Swing tenor saxophone player Ben Webster earned the nickname “The Brute and the Beautiful” in jazz circles where his musical versatility was well-known. Webster's signature tough, raspy and gruff tone softened on ballads, which he played with warmth and sentiment. On this Storyville release he caresses seven timeless melodies in a variety of settings including trios with either Teddy Wilson, Ole Kock Hansen or Kenny Drew on piano, backing by The Danish Radio Big Band (on "Cry Me a River") or a version of "Greensleeves" with a string orchestra. Although largely forgotten in the United States (he had moved to Europe in 1965), Ben Webster was still in fine form this late in his career.

Phoebe Snow died at the age of 60, but her art will live forever. Her debut album witnesses a masterful nine-track lineup. Most of the songs were written by a 23-year old Phoebe Snow, including her best-known smash hit "Poetry Man". Snow was renowned for her elastic contralto and jazz scat vocals; this album became as legendary as her career, which spanned decades.

Marlena Shaw is a jazz singer who just never gets her commercial rewards. Her delivery is musically unique, emotionally engaging and quite oftne humorous. Recorded for Japanese Eighty-Eight's label, Lookin' For Love selections features a tasty gems with an R&B flavor that's enhanced each time David Hazeltine hits the Fender Rhodes. Shaw sings with the ease of absolute mastery, and each feeling she expresses rings true: she's been there, and more than once.

This live recording of J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion features the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and the group Concensus Vocalis under the baton of Jan Willem de Vriend. It’s a performance that took place at the Muziekcentrum Enschede in April 2014.

This recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 won a Supersonic Award from Luxembourg magazine Pizzicato in 2006 in a review that praised this "masterful interpretation" of a "moving symphony." Part of a Shostakovich cycle from the Russian National Orchestra led by different conductors, this volume is helmed by Paavo Berglund.

Multi-talented, critically acclaimed British jazz/blues singer/songwriter Polly Gibbons who earned a prestigious BBC Jazz Award Nomination in 2006, has been a staple of the UK Jazz Scene since the mid-2000s. Following sold-out tours in the U.K. opening for George Benson and Gladys Knight, including two acclaimed performances at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall, singer/songwriter Polly Gibbons offers us a new, 12-track collection which fully embraces the inspiring, expansive array of American jazz, soul and blues.

The renowned guitarist Joe Beck together with premier jazz flutist Ali Ryerson have teamed to create a remarkably accessible new sound by pairing alto flute & a unique new guitar approach with compelling arrangements that emphasize beauty & melody. Percussionist Steve Davis joins Beck & Ryerson on half of the pop, jazz, & folk standards. Alto is the 1st commercial recording captured with Sony & Philip's Direct Stream Digital (DSD) technology!

Joe Beck and Ali Ryerson have been working as a team for more than four years, playing concerts and other gigs under the name Duo. This is their second album, and, with the name Django, one would assume it is in honor of guitarist Django Reinhardt. Instead, the set is dedicated to the members of the Modern Jazz Quartet, who pioneered chamber jazz, the style that dominates this session with flautist Ryerson.

Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields present these highly acclaimed world premiere recordings of orchestral works by Gordon Getty. Although most of Getty’s output is vocal music, he has also written for orchestra, chamber ensembles and solo piano and this programme showcases six orchestral pieces, including the overture from his first opera, "Plump Jack".

It has been said that instrumentalist Bruce Katz has one foot in jazz and the other foot in the blues, but those aren't the only styles that interest the organist/pianist; rock, soul, and gospel are also part of what he does.

Robert Len has a varied and impressive track record. A veteran of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, he has also played Montreal's Olympic Stadium with Orchestre Métropolitain and the Toronto Jazz Festival with the Denny Christianson Big Band. Over the years Len has developed a passion for multi-ethnic instruments, particularly flutes and percussion. The music he creates on "Fragile", in which passion, fieriness, freedom and zen spirit become entangled, is especially appealing.

iLenKa is an ensemble of varying dimensions, from two to six musicians, playing the music of composer and multi-instrumentalist Robert Len united with screenings and scenarios created by violinist Carole Meneghel.

Sven-David Sandström has acknowledged that it was thanks to Ingmar Månsson he began composing for choir. All the pieces are simply wonderful choral writing and the sound of this release is terrific. This is very demanding music and the level of vocal virtuosity that Peter Dijkstra elicits from the singers, collectively, is breathtaking.

Following on the success of their Nordic Sounds release, Peter Dijkstra and the Swedish Radio Choir return with a second volume of music in the series, this time focusing on the use of traditional Swedish folk songs in contemporary choral music. The disc's repertoire ranges from Jan Sandstrom's arrangements of improvised folk songs of the Sami people - whose singing is among the earliest continuing vocal traditions of Europe - to recent works such as the sixteen-part Kosijat by Jaakko Mantyjarvi, one of the best-known contemporary composers in Finland. The disc concludes with Anders Hillborg's twelve-minute Muoayiayaoum which explores a phonetic sequence of vowels that open and close. The level of vocal virtuosity that Dijkstra elicits from his singers is breathtaking and the choir's performances are a lesson in vocal precision.