As the Manhattan Transfer went on, so did the legacy of the jazz vocal ensemble. In that regard, though the competition was scarce, this group did elevate the art form to a higher level without much compromise. This two-CD, 39-track compilation represents many of the high points of the group. If anything is missing, some of the vocalese influenced by Eddie Jefferson should have been included. Still most fans will recognize "Ray's Rockhouse," "Route 66," "Four Brothers," "Tuxedo Junction," "That Cat Is High," "(Sing) Joy Spring," and their immortal take of the Jon Hendricks lyric to "Birdland." Unless it is a complete collection, you'd be hard pressed to find a better grouping of the Manhattan Transfer's prime body of works.

The newest release presents the Piano Concerti op. 21 and op. 11, performed by a laureate of the 9th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition – Dina Yoffe. The pianist plays the following pianos: an 1848 Pleyel (Piano Concerto in F minor op. 21) and an 1838 Erard (Piano Concerto op. 11).

Toby Keith jumped from Mercury to DreamWorks after his fourth album, Dream Walkin' and How Do You Like Me Now?!, his first effort for his new album, finds the singer/songwriter revived and refreshed, shaking loose some of the sleepiness of his two albums for Mercury. Not that he's given up slower tunes – he still has a keen ear for sensitive love songs and heartbreak sagas, manifesting in both the light, sweet "Heart to Heart (Stelen's Song)" and power ballads like "When Love Fades" – but there is a bit of a showy defiance here, best heard on the hit title track, "Die with Your Boots On" and the rocking "Country Comes to Town."

L'Office de la supplication en l'honneur de la Sainte Mère de Dieu, dit office de la Paraclisis, est l'un des plus beaux que compte la liturgie byzantine, au même titre que l'hymne acathiste. Chanté en arabe et en grec, il est ici interprété dans la plus pure tradition orientale d'Alep en Syrie.

The baroque ensemble I Fiori Musicali has chosen Urania Records for their newest production, a collection dedicated to Boismortier. The name of this composer comes after the decline of the great explosion of French artists of the golden age of Louis XIV. He is not comparable to Lully, Couperin or Rameau, but he expresses a whole part of the early French Englightenment and he fights against the school by Rousseau. This album brings available some of the lesser-known but more refined works of the French composer. The ensemble plays on period instruments and follows the proper timeline of Boismortier's compositions.

The six keyboard sonatas selected for this CD are taken from Haydn’s middle period, all written between 1773-1776 when he was loyally at the service of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy (and to whom three of the sonatas are dedicated). Even in the context of the vast development and change in his style in 60 years of composition – moving from the early Classical period and Style Galant, through the Empfindsamkeit and C.P.E Bach’s influence, to establishing and refining what is now the essence of “The Classical Style”- Haydn displays in a short period of 3 years an astonishing diversity of compositional techniques, modes of expression, style and characters.

Hailing from Wiltshire, and formed in 1982, Tokyo Blade was initially considered part of the NWOBHM scene but quickly outgrew the tag, enduring over the course of 13 studio albums and five EPs. Producing genuine early classics such as their self- titled debut and follow up ‘Night of the Blade’, the band went through multiple line-up changes over the years and yet continued to enjoy the support of the metal community and diehard fans across the globe.
Initially joining forces with Dissonance for 2020’s ‘Dark Revolution’ and the 2022’s ‘Fury’, the new album sees band leader Andy Boulton leading the charge with 14 new tracks of aggressive melodic metal, coupled with the anthemic vocals of Alan Marsh. ‘Time Is The Fire’ will be supported by a full promotion campaign with multiple singles and features in all major metal and rock media.

Esoteric Recordings are proud to announce the release of a newly re-mastered and expanded edition of the classic 1969 album A Salty Dog by Procol Harum. Released in June 1969, the record followed on from the huge international success of the band's debut single A Whiter Shade of Pale and the follow up single Homburg and the superb albums Procol Harum and Shine On Brightly. One of the finest releases of the era A Salty Dog saw the exquisite song writing of Gary Brooker and Keith Reid honed to perfection on highlights such as the album's title track, The Devil Came From Kansas, Wreck of the Hesperus, The Milk of Human Kindness and more. Recorded at Abbey Road studios, the album captured the excellence of the musicians in the group, namely Gary Brooker (voice, piano), Robin Trower (lead guitar), David Knights (bass guitar), B.J. Wilson (drums) and Matthew Fisher (Hammond organ)…

In 1977, Neil Young was stockpiling enough amazing songs to last for decades to come. Multiple albums' worth of material put to tape but never officially released around that time have gradually surfaced over the years, and Oceanside Countryside is another strong chapter in Young’s ongoing crawl through the vaults. Divided into two distinct halves, the first five songs here (the “Oceanside”) are Neil solo, playing most of the instruments and backing himself up on overdubbed vocal harmonies. More produced, re-recorded, or slightly altered versions of most of these tunes made it to official records sooner or later, making Oceanside Countryside feel less like a wholly lost album and more like a demo recording.

Drummer Kenny Clarke became a fixture on the Paris jazz scene after moving there in 1956. One of his best records from his early days abroad, originally released by Phillips, is finally available on CD as a part of Verve's Jazz in Paris reissue series. With superb arrangements by Andre Hodeir, and a rotating cast of musicians over three separate recording sessions, the drummer sticks to providing brushwork behind the scenes. "Bemsha Swing," jointly written by Clarke with Thelonious Monk, centers around Martial Solal's playful solo, while the brass and reeds seem to be coming at each other from all angles in Monk's "Eronel." Hodeir's composition "Oblique" sounds like something that would have fit in perfectly as part of the repertoire of the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool sessions, a period which Hodeir explores with his chart of Gerry Mulligan's "Jeru," in which the improvisations are actually written out…

Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969) was internationally recognized and celebrated as an outstanding authority for classical-romantic piano music. Just how well deserved this admiration is, can especially be heard in the Beethoven-concerts and the Diabelli-variations, which are included in this 10-CD-Box and regarded as "trend setting" by critics until today. Early on, Backhaus had become a German pianist of world renown. As a sixteen-year-old he gave his first concert in London

The Flower Kings enjoyed a rather long break following 2007's The Sum of No Evil album and the tour that ensued, with individual members undertaking solo projects or simply laying low, recharging their creative batteries after years of grueling, non-stop work. Naturally, however, this hiatus only heightened fan expectations leading into the band's next progressive rock challenge, 2012's Banks of Eden, which inevitably found the lovable Swedish egg-heads both reveling in and wrestling the characteristic excess, majesty, and hubris of their chosen art form, as expected. Indeed, cynics could easily allege that the album's opening, 25-minute-long "Numbers" is pretty much what happens when a prog rock band starts jamming and simply doesn't bother stopping (nerds armed with instruments gone wild!?)…

Phase 3 is a live collaboration from Ron Boots, Ian Boddy and Harold van der Heijden. This trio has contributed much to the European ambient electronica scene through their Groove Records associations in the 1990's. Ian and Ron are legitimate superstars. Harold is a master ambient percussionist. This album has it all! The music ranges from dark and lush atmospheric ambient minimalism to up-tempo rhythmic ambience. The superstar and master tags are not wasted here. Ian, Ron and Harold perform to the nth degree. The album encompasses all that live ambience should be - introspective, challenging and diverse.