One of the most popular jazz musicians in Japan today, Nicki Parrott's 2011's release from Venus Records is a gorgeous collection of romantic standards. The star-studded band includes her frequent collaborators–Harry Allen on tenor sax, her sister Lisa on alto sax, John Di Martino on piano–and, this time, Chuck Redd on vibraphone who adds a distinctive tonal color to the collective sound.

Philadelphia-native composer, arranger and pianist John di Martino is a versatile musician who is equally comfortable in the straight ahead jazz, Latin jazz and world music scenes. Di Martino has released a lot well-received leader albums for the Japanese Venus Records, with different rhythm sections, under the moniker "Romantic Jazz Trio". For this tribute to the King of Pop, John and his Romantic Jazz Trio perform some of Michael Jackson's best-loved songs.

Multiple Grammy nominee John Di Martino–composer, arranger, pianist–has recorded many albums for Venus Records with his Romantic Jazz Trio. Noted for his versatility, John has performed and recorded with such notables as Kenny Burrell, James Moody, Joe Lovano, David "Fat Head" Newman, Pat Martino, Paquito D'Rivera and Houston Person. John has been described as a "shape-shifter", for his creativity across musical genres. Here the trio devotes an entire album to jazzing up music by the classical composer W.A. Mozart.

Bob Kindred is a great tenor sax player who is consistently underrated and underexposed. Aside from some CDs released by a small audiophile label Mapleshade, it is not easy to find his leader albums in the market. Venus Records wanted to correct this situation and signed Kindred a few years ago and released this label debut album, Blue Moon.

Bob Kindred is a great tenor sax player who is consistently underrated and underexposed. Aside from some albums released by the Mapleshade label, it is not easy to find his leader albums on the market. For this second release from Venus, Kindred and co. decided to do a collection of Latin music, mostly boleros. The brawny and sexy sound of Kindred's tenor is a perfect match for the mysterious and romantic music. The music transports the listener to a steamy bar in a subtropical country in Latin America. One can almost feel the hot and humid air.

This is the third album in vocalist and bassist Nicki Parrott's four-part seasonal series. "Autumn Leaves" follows the spring-themed "Sakura Sakura" and "Summertime". Similar to those two albums, an excellent group of musicians support Parrott on the album. John Di Martino is featured on piano and Nicki's sister Lisa shines on the baritone sax. Harry Allen on tenor saxophone is an added bonus. These well-known autumn themed songs are refined and cleverly arranged with determined sensibilities and performed with loving lyricism.

Coming after the Spring-themed "Sakura Sakura", "Summertime" is the second in bassist-vocalist's Nicki Parrott's seasonal series of albums. An all-star group of New York-based musicians supports the immensely gifted Parrott on this release. Her sister Lisa is noticeably featured on alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, and bass clarinet. The addition of the marvelous young trumpeter Dominick Farinacci is a great delight.

John di Martino is a jazz pianist, arranger and producer, based in New York City. He has been described as a "shape-shifter", for his creativity across musical genres. For this tribute to Lady Gaga, John and his Romantic Jazz Trio perform some of Gaga's biggest hits, including "Americano", "Paparazzi", "Born This Way", "Poker Face", "Telephone" and "Alejandro".

Sometimes it takes extremely talented and worthy musicians a long time before releasing an album in which they lead. Some of the musicians never do. Luckily, Aaron Heick got together with the Japanese label Venus Records to release his first album under his own moniker. Easily one of the best modern alto saxophonists in the United States, Heick has performed and recorded with stars such as Chaka Khan, Barbra Streisand, Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Richard Bona. In this one-horn quartet setting with the extraordinary John di Martino and his Romantic Jazz Trio, Heick shows his phenomenal technique, solid sound, and emotionally charged soulfulness.

John di Martino is a jazz pianist, arranger and producer, based in New York City. He has been described as a "shape-shifter" for his creativity across musical genres. For this tribute to the one and only Madonna, John and his Romantic Jazz Trio perform some of The Queen of Pop's best-loved songs, including "La Isla Bonita", "Frozen", "Take A Bow", "Like A Virgin", "Borderline" and a di Martino original titled "Madonna's Prayer".

Australian bassist and singer Nicki Parrott has released numerous albums from the Japanese label Venus Records over the years, covering many different materials and musical styles. "The Last Time I Saw Paris" is focused on French music, including chanson standards, several songs written by Michel Legrand and the beautiful title track by Jerome Kern.

Grady Tate has been one of the world's most versatile, frequently-recorded musicians for more than 40 years. He is often featured as a distinctive drummer, but in fact, he is also one of the best vocalists in the world. For this album, Grady Tate selects everything from standards to '50s musical hits number to his own composition, but the common theme is "love". That is the very message Tate, who celebrated his 70th birthday during the recording date, wanted to remind people of. Grady's voice swings gently and sometimes longingly together with the finest trio.

Acclaimed bassist & vocalist Nicki Parrott is joined by pianist John di Martino and a host of other accompanying musicians for this album.

Acclaimed bassist & vocalist Nicki Parrott is joined by sax player Houston Person, pianist John di Martino along with a host of competent musicians for this album dedicated to songs of the Winter season including several Christmas tunes. You'll find such songs as "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Blue Christmas", "June In January", "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", and of course, "Winter Wonderland".

Multiple Grammy nominee John Di Martino — composer, arranger, pianist — has recorded many albums for Venus Records with his Romantic Jazz Trio. Noted for his versatility, John has performed and recorded with such notables as Kenny Burrell, James Moody, Joe Lovano, David "Fat Head" Newman, Pat Martino, Paquito D'Rivera and Houston Person. On this album John Di Martino and his Romantic Jazz Trio turns Beatles' pop songs into jazz tunes. Featured songs include "Penny Lane", "Yesterday", "Let It Be" and many more.