Assisted by John Abercrombie (guitars), Danny Gottlieb (drums), Mark Egan (electric bass), and Marc Johnson (bass), pianist Andy LaVerne pays tribute to keyboardist/composer Chick Corea. A beautifully executed album, one track features Laverne and Corea playing piano together.

Mugen is a legendary band of the Eighties Progressive rock scene, along with Outer Limits, Gerard or Pageant. Reissued by the Musea label, "Sinfonia Della Luna" (1984) offers a refined, precious and majestuous symphonic music. It's based upon themes with sophisticated melodies and classic movements which are developped by Katsuhiko Hayashi's keyboards (Notably the fabulous Mellotron). This masterpiece can remind symphonic works from Italian groups such as Banco del Mutuo Soccorso or Premiata Forneria Marconi.

Lemongrassmusic present "Salt Water" - the 8th longplayer album by Dutch musician and producer Marc Hartman. A wonderful summer Chillout album that is dedicated to the element that the majority of our planet surface consists of and which is one of the most unexplored and mysterious areas on Earth. Within these 16 tracks Marc Hartman once again gives a good account of his composition music producing skills - all tracks are chiselled and well balanced and grant a relaxing listening experience. Dive deep into the music or surf ride on it - you will certainly find yourself in a cheerful mood.

Faithfull was still known primarily as a pop singer when she put out North Country Maid, but this is in fact very close to a pure folk album, with a bit of influence from pop, rock, blues, and jazz. Largely overlooked even by Faithfull fans, it's actually a quite respectable effort, and probably her best LP (other than greatest-hits compilations) from the time when her voice was still on the high side. Ably backed by sessionmen including guitarists Jon Mark and Jim Sullivan, she interprets mostly traditional material on this record, including "She Moved Through the Fair," "Wild Mountain Thyme," "Sally Free and Easy," and "Scarborough Fair"…

This 1984 studio session finally appeared commercially on the Cymekob label in 1995, featuring violinist Stéphane Grappelli in a rare meeting with harmonica player Toots Thielemans; the rest of the group included guitarists Martin Taylor and Marc Fosset with bassist Brian Torff. Though producer Andy Kulberg claims in his notes that neither musician had recorded any of the songs, this is a bit of a stretch. Things get off to a good start with a swinging "Bye Bye Blackbird" and are only weighed down slightly by the tedious "Just the Two of Us" and Paul Simon's lightweight "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover." The rich ballad "Georgia on My Mind" rekindles the fire within the session and "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" is highlighted by Thielemans' matchless whistling. While this release could have been stronger with better chosen songs, it will be an essential acquisition for fans of either Grappelli or Thielemans.

After a life-threatening car accident forced him to take an extended break, guitarist extraordinaire Jeff Beck re-emerged in 1971 with a new band, a new album (Rough and Ready), and an attempt to merge a soulful Memphis sound with hard rock. 1972's Jeff Beck Group shows that Beck was already moving beyond his soul-rock hybrid and sowing the seeds for his exceptional mid-'70s jazz/rock fusion work. Jeff Beck Group also served as a precursor to Beck's next project, the blues-soul-rock trio Beck, Bogart & Appice. Produced by Booker T. & the M.G.'s guitarist Steve Cropper, Jeff Beck Group contains "Going Down," one of Beck's best-known tracks and a perennial concert favorite, as well as the album-opening highlight "Ice Cream Cakes." An important, transitional album in the career of this stylistically adventurous guitarist.

This CD, singer Renee Manning's second for the obscure Ken label, gives one a cross-section of her talents. The 13 selections were recorded at four different sessions during 1986, 1989 and 1991 and range from double-entendre blues to ballads, a semi-riotous "Auld Lang Syne (New Orleans Style)" to "Evil Gal Blues" and "In a Sentimental Mood." In general, Manning comes as off as a singer capable of switching from swinging jazz to R&B a la Ernestine Anderson, performing all of the material with enthusiasm. On four of the songs she is accompanied by the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra; trumpeter Lester Bowie helps out on "Auld Lang Syne"; other numbers feature an octet generally arranged by bass trombonist Earl McIntyre. A fine all-around showcase for Renee Manning.

Illegal was released in 1981, hardly a year associated with good prog music. Maybe Grobschnitt were living in their own world but they came back with a rather pleasant album , not a sure guarantee back then. Of course, the sound has been updated on some tracks as Lupo the guitarist is not afraid now to play some good hard rock guitar here and there.

Maretimo Records present Ibiza House Opening 2019. Come to a groovy house journey to the most popular island Ibiza, selected by DJ Michael Maretimo.

Bassist, composer, and bandleader Graham Collier may have gotten the short shrift early in his career for not taking the same iconoclastic position Evan Parker and Derek Bailey did: "Forget American jazz, let's forge something uniquely British" (their pretensions were European though they weren't). His contributions to the jazz canon are finally being seen in light of what they actually are: very forward-looking works that extend the jazz boundary into new chromatic and harmonic regions and have an identity that is distinctly non-American. Collier's modalism is so far outside the norms as to speak an entirely different architectural language. Songs for My Father featured a Collier septet with Harry Beckett on trumpet, pianist John Taylor, saxophonists Alan Wakeman and Bob Sydor, and drummer John Webb…

Timelines is the 18th solo album from veteran Norwegian ambient/electronic artist Erik Wøllo. It’s a warm, epic and shimmering cycle of memorable electronic music. Layers of acoustic guitar loops and pulsation-patterns create the foundation on which Wøllo’s distinct melodic piano themes are played. The pieces bring emotional synth lines and powerful deep basses together with delicate percussion arrangements. As a natural and important counterpoint to the expressive piano themes, Wøllo’s electric guitar ebow solos are both intense and haunting.

Veteran Chicago drummer Sam Lay is a famous behind-the-scenes blues and rock character - he played with the great Howlin' Wolf in the '60s, backed Bob Dylan when he "went electric" at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and was an early member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. He isn't famous for singing, however, and that's the main problem with the latest of his many collaborations with guitarist Fred James. The band's rhythm section is as strong as you'd expect, with Lay and acoustic bassist Bob Kommersmith locking into confident, slightly laid-back grooves on "Baby How Long" and the closing instrumental "Midnight Drag." But despite Lay's deep, funny charisma on "I Like Women" and "I Got Two Women," he was better at backing the Wolf than he is replacing him.

One of the things that hardcore jazz collectors love to do is fantasize about all of the live recordings by major artists that have gone unreleased but may surface eventually - performances that were taped and ended up in the private collection of an artist, promoter, club owner, manager, or soundboard person. Collectors are always hoping that a previously unreleased soundboard recording of a John Coltrane, Bud Powell, or Thelonious Monk gig will turn up somewhere, and in some cases, recordings that have gone unreleased for decades will see the light of day at some point. Take Concerts in the Sun, for example. This 2002 disc contains previously unreleased Cal Tjader performances from 1960 - live recordings that stayed in the can for 42 years…

This is an astonishingly lively and exciting collection, coming from a band that scarcely sold any records in their own time and are known today for their name and their lineup, but not their music. The stuff here is as crunchy and grinding as the early Who material, and if the band's own songwriting isn't as distinctive, the style of the performing is more appealing. The songs range from some hot Ron Wood originals ("You're on My Mind," "Next in Line," "That's All I Need") to covers of obscure Motown songs and Pete Townshend material. Think of the Kinks from "Long Tall Sally," the Yardbirds from "A Certain Girl," or the Who from "The Good's Gone" and that's the dominant sound here - curiously, their cover of Townshend's "Run Run Run" starts out as though it's going to turn into "My Generation"…

Steven Spielberg's extraterrestrial-themed follow-up to the Jaws phenomena cemented his reputation as a cinematic wunderkind capable of shameless emotional manipulation and continued blockbuster ticket sales. But Close Encounters also displayed Spielberg's wise confidence in at least one of his collaborators. Composer John Williams, fresh from the Wagnerian success of Star Wars, was allowed the unusual luxury of composing much of the Close Encounters score before principal photography began. Thus Spielberg was able (as had Sergio Leone with Morricone's Once Upon a Time in the West) to stage much of his action to the Williams music playing on the set in a rare way. The entire special-effects finale was in fact edited to match the composer's rhythms…