Johann Sebastian Bach arrived in Leipzig on May 22, 1723. Just eight days later, on May 30, Bach presented his first cantata. On every Sunday and feast day outside the periods of Advent and Lent preceding Christmas and Easter respectively, it was the task of the Thomaskantor to direct such pieces in the churches. Bach composed the cantatas himself. This was not one of his duties. It testifies all the more to the passion and the enthusiasm with which he went about his new assignment. Of the cantatas performed up to Trinity Sunday, 1724, some sixety have survived: the completely new works are supplemented by pieces from earlier stages in Bach's career, notably at Mühlhausen and Weimar.

The popular 15th-century tune L'homme armé became the basis of at least 31 Masses over two centuries. Josquin wrote two Mass settings using the melody as a cantus firmus (sung in long note-values in one voice, usually the tenor). Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales begins the tune a tone higher in each succeeding movement; its texture is dense, with the four voices' ranges constantly overlapping. Missa L'homme armé sexti toni is more transparent, with the four voices' ranges spaced widely and sections for reduced voices numerous; its extraordinary final Agnus Dei à 6 plays two paired canons in the four upper parts against the cantus firmus in the lower voices–one singing it forwards, one backwards. The magical effect is often compared to the music of Philip Glass.

A repackaging of 1993's Midnight Mover: The Bobby Womack Collection, Anthology – released by Capitol's The Right Stuff subsidiary in 2003 – is an excellent overview (cheapo identikit design aside) that features just about every significant moment of Womack's most productive years. All his biggest hits, including "Lookin' for a Love," "Woman's Gotta Have It," "Nobody Wants You When You're Down and Out," "Daylight," and "Across 110th Street" are featured here, along with some album cuts that most casual fans will have no trouble appreciating. Short of picking up all the albums released during this era, you could not do any better.

"1st Avenue" Minneapolis 1994. Complete version of the live at 1st Avenue Club, Minneapolis, 5th December 1994 concert. Secret show played under “The O. D. Jubilee Band”.

Another Day is an impressive testimony to the extraordinary artistry of Oscar Peterson on piano, accompanied by the outstanding musicality of Jiri Mraz on bass and Ray Price on drums. The Peterson-Mraz-Price trio lasted for about a year, recording both Another Day and Walking The Line during November 10-13, 1970. The performances on Another Day show that this overlooked version of the Oscar Peterson Trio could hold its own with its more famous predecessors. The album captures the trio’s extraordinary synergy and enchants audiences with its timeless compositions and captivating improvisation. It includes interpretations of well-known titles such as ‘Greensleeves’, ‘Too Close For Comfort’ and ‘All The Things You Are’, one of the most popular Peterson titles, as well as lesser-known numbers and the original composition ‘Blues For Martha’. Remastered with the highest precision and using purely analogue techniques by the renowned, Grammy-nominated mastering engineer Christoph Stickel, this release marks the long-awaited revival of a jazz classic. Recorded in 1970 in the studio of MPS founder Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, this reissue gives Another Day the attention that this brilliant album certainly deserves.

Since making his debut as a leader with 2001's At Last, Marcus Strickland has established a reputation as a composer of remarkable depth and breadth. On Nihil Novi, his first Blue Note offering, Strickland showcases a new band – trumpeter Keyon Harrold, keyboardists Mitch Henry and Masayuki Hirano, bassist Kyle Miles, and drummer Charles Haynes. His new tunes offer an even greater array of styles, harmonic textures, and dynamics, and reveal his preoccupation with hip-hop beatmaking. (This isn't a jazz/hip-hop fusion record.) Nihil Novi was expertly and empathetically produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, who also guests on bass. Strickland also brings in some old friends and allies, including Robert Glasper, Chris Dave, Pino Palladino, and Chris Bruce.

The 2006 release of The Essential Gloria Estefan satisfied a long unmet need for a career-spanning English-language retrospective, one that includes the singer's popular hits with Miami Sound Machine in the mid-'80s as well as her subsequent solo recordings. For years, Estefan fans had few best-of choices to choose from – the Spanish-language Exitos de Gloria Estefan (1990), the two-volume Greatest Hits series (1992, 2001), and the latter-day Amor y Suerte: Exitos Romanticos collection (2004) – with no alternatives, not even budget-line knockoffs. The long-overdue release of The Essential Gloria Estefan thankfully resolved this gripe, for it includes the highlights from all aspects of Estefan's varied output, spread generously across two jam-packed discs.

Aphex Twin Confirms New Compilation ‘Music From The Merch Desk’. Aphex Twin will release a new compilation tomorrow (December 17th). The seminal electronic producer recently re-issued his deeply influential album ‘Selected Ambient Works II’, with label Warp Records hosting a listening event at the Tate Modern in London. The 21st century has seen Aphex Twin favour unconventional release methods, including a lengthy spell when the producer would place new material on SoundCloud without warning. The past decade has found a series of mysterious vinyl drops landing on his merch desk at live shows and DJ commitments, presenting an ultra-exclusive alternative catalogue. Now it seems that these releases will be collated for a full digital release. ‘Music From The Merch Desk (2016-2023)‘ covers a lengthy period of creativity, and for many fans this will be the first opportunity to hear the music in pristine condition – or at all.

Sweden based heavy rockers Lucifer return with their magnificent fifth album "Lucifer V" which blends influences from Blue Öyster Cult and Black Sabbath with the melodic and enticing voice of singer Johanna Sadonis. After hundreds of shows, including select dates with Ghost in '23, here comes one of 2024's finest pieces of hard rock!
Combining elements of all their previous albums into one monumental mass of electrifying heavy rock and roll. Eerie landscapes shaped by soaring guitar riffs, the thunderous pounding of bass and drums from some sort of groovy inferno, haunted melodies to weep into your drink to, the screeching tires of a 1971 Cadillac hearse, the humorous morbidity and tragic wit of Johanna’s lyrics.

During a period of his career that would feature some notable collaborations with luminaries such as Paul Bley, Bill Frisell, Elvin Jones, and Barre Phillips, John Surman also produced Road to Saint Ives, a gentle, introspective, yet adventurous solo work. The entire album is a one-man effort, from the composition to all of the instrumentation, with Surman building strata of sound over keyboard and percussion structures using bass clarinet and the soprano and bass saxophones he is known for. The resulting work communicates a unique vision and mood, unsullied by the conflicting interpretations of other performers.
The album centers around a portrait of the landscape and spirit of Cornwall, taking more than a few bits of inspiration from British folk music, but remaining firmly perched in the jazz tradition…

Johann Ludwig Bach’s Funeral Music for the Duke of Sachsen-Meiningen is a delightful discovery. JS Bach clearly regarded his distant cousin’s music highly, performing 18 of his cantatas in Leipzig during a single year. The Funeral Music, setting in part the Duke’s own text, is magnificent in scoring – for two choirs, soloists and large orchestra including trumpets and drums – and in scale. Like a Baroque Dream of Gerontius, the soul begins fettered in human bonds on earth, then ascends to the heavenly gates, with Part 3 a brilliant celebration of celestial joy. Bach’s descriptions are graphic – ‘bonds’ create staggering dissonances, resolved to momentary silence when ‘torn asunder’.

A disc of music by the two most talented composers of seventeenth-century Austria and Bohemia is welcome and doubly so when the performances are as lively as these. Philip Pickett and his New London Consort have chosen a varied programme of pieces by Austrian Schmelzer and Bohemian Biber and while I would not advise anyone to listen uninterrupted to the entire disc, taken in sensible doses it should afford pleasure. Schmelzer was born in the 1620s, eventually attaining a position of the highest importance at the Vienna court. Biber was born in 1644 and in 1670 entered the service of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, with whom he remained until his death in 1704. The programme assembled here is culled from various collections and publications and reflects an assortment of stylistic influences and range of colours and sonorities.

With more than a million copies sold, the soundtrack of Gérard Corbiau's film 'Farinelli' contributed considerably to the international renown of Les Talens Lyriques, in 1994. Back then the voice of the castrato Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli (1705-1782), was created using a computer to mix the voices of countertenor Derek Lee Ragin and soprano Ewa Mallas-Godlewska. On stage, in 2011, rather than a falsettist, world-renowned mezzo Ann Hallenberg, was chosen by Christophe Rousset to portray the first rock star in the history of music.

Rita Reys was long ago billed as "Europe's First Lady of Jazz." A legend overseas, Reys was one of the top jazz singers in Europe from the mid-'50s to the turn of the millennium. In 1986, Rita recorded the Christmas album Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas with the Pim Jacobs Trio and the Metropole Orchestra conducted by Rogier van Otterloo.

Recorded live at the Monterey International Pop Festival June 16, 17 & 18th, 1967 at Monterey, California, USA.