Released in 1981, the debut of the legendary keyboardist from Eberhard Weber’s Colours band and later the Jan Garbarek Group, Freigeweht presented Rainer Brüninghaus as a highly original and idiosyncratic sound sculptor in his own right, accompanied by ECM stalwarts Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn and drummer Jon Christensen as well as oboist Brynjar Hoff. In a review of the album from the year of its release, the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung traced Rainer’s influences and minimalist designs back to Steve Reich, calling Brüninghaus “the most imaginative musician to employ minimal art in the realm of jazz. (…) Though he neither uses minimal art as ideology nor as replacement for a rhythm section, but in a more playfully constructive way, as an element that can undergo change.” Jon Christensen adds uncompromising propulsion to Brüninghaus’s lyrical themes, which are evocatively fleshed out by Wheeler and Hoff’s contemplative tones.

The radical discovery by Amir Abdullah of 5 two-track master tapes in the care of Hermine Brooks ­– widow of innovative Detroit drummer Roy Brooks – of the Charles Mingus Quintet recorded live in Detroit at Strata Concert Gallery is cause for some serious celebration.

Recorded in Oslo in September 1970, Afric Pepperbird was released on New Year’s Day in 1971. Half a century later, it still conveys the freshness and excitement of discoveries being made. The album signalled the arrival of four Norwegian improvisers – Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen – at the fledgling ECM label. It was the start of a lifelong association with each of the musicians, whose influence was soon to reach far beyond the borders of their homeland. In extended passages on Afric Pepperbird, with Christensen and Andersen stretching out, it’s quite often Rypdal effectively holding the centre with taut chords. Everybody is roaring here, with Garbarek deep into his free jazz vocabulary. “Garbarek should be heard,” wrote reviewer Joe Klee in DownBeat. “I would venture that not since Django Reinhardt has there been a European jazz musician so original and forward-looking as this young Norwegian.”

Mysterious, dramatic and alluring, Luminessence comes from a peak period in the creative association between Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek, recorded in 1974, immediately after their vibrant Belonging album. Here, Jarrett creates shimmering orchestral frameworks to spur Garbarek to some of his most concentrated, impassioned and expressive playing. “The melodies that Jarrett writes sound like Garbarek improvisations, so great is the rapport between the two men,” wrote Ian Carr in his Keith Jarrett biography, while DownBeat, in a 5-star review, observed that “probing deep into his own personal musical cosmos, Jarrett has brought back a chilling and singular achievement that promises to stand as a landmark in the musical landscape of the 70s”.

Garbarek's second album for ECM found him conducting further explorations in two separate directions. On the one hand, his playing and, to some extent, his composing were becoming increasingly avant-garde, a path which would culminate in the ensuing Tryptikon disc. His stark cries clearly owed something to the then burgeoning AACM movement as well as to European musicians like Peter Brotzmann. At the same time, pieces like the title track here nodded toward the contemporary jazz-rock experiments of Miles Davis. "Sart"'s descending five-note theme and the space it leaves in its wake are reminiscent of one of Davis' approaches on records like Bitches Brew. Garbarek utilizes this structure to good dramatic effect, generating mini-climax after mini-climax, only to recede at the end.

In June 2026, the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music opened its doors in Long Branch, NJ and became a must-visit for any fan. Hundreds of fascinating artifacts (e.g., the radically different alternate cover mock-up for Nebraska) and curated displays tracing the roots of American music up through the present day appear, and in the James F. Allen In Concert Gallery, you can watch videos of live performances. One particularly striking clip captures Springsteen at Max’s Kansas City in 1972 performing “Lost In The Flood” on piano.

"Bach: Three for Two" is a classical music album by flute player Thierry Cazals and organist/harpsichordist Vincent Grappy, featuring works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Released on October 2, 2026, under the Disques Triton label, the album includes interpretations of classic Bach pieces such as the Flute Sonata in G minor, BWV 1020 and the Flute Sonata in G major, BWV 1027.

The second chapter in Gong’s legendary Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy, Angel’s Egg takes the story deeper into the surreal, otherworldly universe first introduced on Flying Teapot. Originally released in 1973, the album follows the continuing adventures of Zero the Hero and the Pot Head Pixies, expanding Daevid Allen’s visionary mythology into an even more ambitious world of flying teapots, cosmic transmissions, spiritual awakening, and playful rebellion.

Many composers who wrote primarily for the English cathedral tradition have not received the recognition they deserve outside that cloistered world. Tony Hewitt-Jones (1926–89) is one such composer. Although the choral and organ works heard on this album naturally respond to the requirements of the performers for whom he was writing, they possess a freshness, energy, and individuality that transcend their origins, with a sound world overlapping that of some of his close contemporaries, including John Gardner, Kenneth Leighton, and William Mathias.

This album brings together Louis Vierne's complete works for solo voice and organ for the first time, with AEOLUS securing the services of Wurzburg soprano Franziska Bobe and Wurzburg Cathedral organist Stefan Schmidt. In addition, Stefan Schmidt plays rarely heard pieces from the composer's early creative period as well as little-known late works. Another highlight is the complete 6th Organ Symphony from 1930. The large French symphonic instrument at St. Peter's in Dusseldorf, built by the Karl Gockel workshop, was inaugurated 25 years ago and attracted a great deal of attention from experts at the time. In combination with the cathedral acoustics of the large neo-Gothic sanctuary, it is ideally suited to Vierne's music.

The Grateful Dead's March 12, 1985 performance at the Berkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley, CA, was the third night of an exclusive four-night benefit run for the Rex Foundation. This specific performance is notable for its raw, mid-80s energy, Bob Weir's sound-effects experimentation, a guest appearance by Matthew Kelly on harmonica, and a deeply exploratory second-set jam.

Rex regum - An Imperial Christmas recreates one of the most remarkable Christmas celebrations of the Renaissance: the festive Mass celebrated in 's-Hertogenbosch on Christmas Day 1545, attended by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V during an unexpected stay in the city. Centered around Jheronimus Vinders' magnificent Missa Fit porta Christi pervia, the programme weaves together plainsong, Renaissance polyphony, traditional Dutch Christmas songs and organ music to evoke the rich soundscape of a sixteenth-century Christmas liturgy.

The album marked something of a change in direction for the British band, with one half experimenting with new styles and the other embracing the progressive rock they were most closely associated with. The line-up featured the same personnel that had recorded 1976’s In’terview, that is Derek Shulman, Ray Shulman, Kerry Minnear, Gary Green and John ‘Pugwash’ Weathers.

Mike Oldfield’s 1974 album Hergest Ridge – his follow up to Tubular Bells – will be issued on SDE exclusive blu-ray audio in June. Released in August ’74, the album topped the UK charts for three weeks and like its predecessor, has two long instrumental movements: ‘Part One’ and ‘Part Two’. Hergest Ridge was demo’d in 1974, then recorded and released in the same year. It was then remixed in Quad for the 1976 ‘Boxed’ set and in 2010 remixed again by Mike Oldfield in both 5.1 surround sound and stereo. David Kosten has recently completed new mixes in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo. Incredibly, all EIGHT of these versions of the album are included on the SDE exclusive blu-ray, with the Atmos Mix available additionally as a ‘Binaural’ version for headphones-only (compatible with all headphones).

New Order‘s Singles compilation from 2005 was beset by problems including a highly compressed ‘remastering’ and incorrect versions of some tracks. Warners have fixed these issues and released a new and improved version of this compilation on 2CD and 4LP vinyl in September 2016.