There are relationships that always remain fruitful. Maybe it is because the discourse never lags or there is unflagging affection. Vocalist Jay Clayton and percussionist Jerry Granelli have been making music together for forty years and their musical connection continues to surprise as their affinity deepens. Their new recording, Alone Together, shows how the spark of creativity has only brightened over the duo’s long affiliation.

What Marla Glen, the singer with a voice of driest sand and rawest iron, that singer who rather likes to be called 'Sir Glen' or 'The Glen' offers us with his seventh full-length-release, truly bursts with variety and is beyond prediction like never before - what we could simply call 'soul' at first sight seems to come from every part of the body and every part of the world. Uncompromising and supported by exciting arrangements and sheer virtuosity, Marla Glen fires gem after gem at the audience on this new record.

'He's at the highest level of our music you can t get any higher than him.' So says Wynton Marsalis of the legendary saxophonist, composer, and band leader Wayne Shorter. With a legendary career spanning over 60 years, the 11-time GRAMMY award winner (including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy) has released countless classic records and amassed a canon of lyrical, introspective music that stands up to the greatest jazz composers. In 2015, the formidable 81-year-old joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis onstage for three unforgettable nights; the result is The Music of Wayne Shorter, out Jan. 31 on CD and digital formats.

Tim Allhoff is no stranger. In recent years he has established himself as one of the most important pianists on the German jazz scene. With his trio, the Augsburg native has already won two Echo Jazz Awards. Besides his career in jazz, he has also made a name for himself as a modern classical composer. In 2019 he was nominated for the German Music Author's Prize alongside Hauschka and other greats of the genre, and Allhoff has even made it to Hollywood with his work on the soundtrack for the film "Sleepless" with Jamie Foxx

"In recent years, the whole world of recorded music, in the way that such music is conceived, perceived, recorded, released and distributed, has been atomized. I tried holding my breath, waiting for the storm to pass, but this storm is here to stay and its devastation is our new landscape. What else is a person to do except what he knows and feels, which for me is making records built out of songs intended for the intimate listening experiences of wonderful strangers who share something spiritually and musically? I started working on these songs thinking that there was no way I was going to finish them and record and release them. This was a constructive frame-of-mind that protected the songs until this frightening moment when we let go of them and give them to you."

These recordings that celebrate those 20 years are aptly called The Independent Years. They are a collection of rare and unreleased recordings from live concerts and TV shows and demonstrate what it takes to be a successful musician and songwriter. Real talent is much rarer than people imagine. And in Paul Carrack that talent is here to be heard in all its raw emotion. Each Paul Carrack show is different, he sings how he feels, with the ability to channel those emotions to his many fans.

Essential: a masterpiece of prog rock music
Second album from this English brass rock band, that was a bit the answer to Chicago Transit authority mixed with some Caravan and some Dutch/Holland Solution. Actually it is interesting to note that England had The Greatest Show On Earth, If and Warm Dust (and to a lesser extent Colosseum) to answer to American’s giants of brass rock (which automatically induced a jazz feel without being the typical jazz-rock): Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Electric Flag and The Flock.

"Dire Straits" is the debut studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits released on 7 October 1978 by Vertigo Records internationally and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album produced the hit single "Sultans of Swing", which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 8 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached #1 on album charts in Germany, Australia and France, #2 in the United States and #5 in the United Kingdom. "Dire Straits" was later certified double-platinum in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Communiqué is the second studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits released on 15 June 1979 by Vertigo Records internationally and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album produced the single "Lady Writer", which reached #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #51 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached #1 on album charts in Germany, New Zealand, and Sweden, #11 in the United States and #5 in the United Kingdom. Communiqué was later certified gold in the United States, platinum in the United Kingdom and double-platinum in France.

Making Movies is the third studio album by the British rock band Dire Straits released on 17 October 1980 by Vertigo Records internationally and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album produced the single "Romeo and Juliet", which reached #8 on the UK Singles Chart. The album reached #1 on album charts in Italy and Norway, #19 in the United States and #4 in the United Kingdom. Making Movies was later certified platinum in the United States and double-platinum in the United Kingdom.

Love over Gold is the fourth studio album by British rock band Dire Straits, released on 20 September 1982 by Vertigo Records internationally and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album featured two singles: "Private Investigations", which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, and "Industrial Disease", which reached No. 9 on Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the United States. Its main highlight, however, was the 14-minute-long opus "Telegraph Road", which became a staple of the band's setlists and Mark Knopfler's once he became a solo artist, as well as becoming an FM radio staple around the world. Love over Gold was later certified gold in the United States, platinum in France and Germany and double-platinum in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.
I always read terrible reviews about this album something with I don't agree, of course is not one of their masterpieces, but the quality of the music and the selection of songs is outstanding.

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music.
'Focus III' is IMHO Focus' top achievement. Not only do these guys deliver some of their most inspired playing, but also manage to work as a unit with a level of compenetration that hides the ongoing rivality between van Leer and Akkerman (sometimes, a not so healthy one).

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music
I remembered way back as a kid hearing "Hocus Pocus" on the radio, this must be around 1979 or 1980, on the FM dial. Around 1989, I heard this song again and found out it was "Hocus Pocus" and the group was called FOCUS.

Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.
It's amazing and fascinating to know how FOCUS were (and still are) popular in Brazil. They are good and really deserved that distinction but I also realize that their first output came in a moment that part of the younger generation was eager to some new sounds, experiences and perspectives - a new focus, indeed.