It’s no secret that ‘Rapture of the Deep’ isn’t the first album that comes to mind when listing Deep Purple’s classics – and while it was met with interest at the time, it gradually faded from view. Despite solid sales, the album arrived during a period when there was little spotlight on the world of classic rock, and over the years, ‘Rapture of the Deep’ developed into an overlooked chapter in Deep Purple’s rich discography.

From all accounts, George Butler was indeed a "wild child." But he found time between the youthful shenanigans that inspired his mom to bestow his descriptive nickname to learn some harp basics at age 12.
George remained active throughout the 60's and from 1966 he performed mainly in Houston and New Orleans. He worked extensively with the late Cousin Joe Pleasant and Roosevelt Sykes in New Orleans and the great Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins in Houston. George appears as a sideman on a number of sides with Lightnin' Hopkins, the best known of which being the album on the Jewel label entitled "Talking Some Sense". He was next signed to a contract by the Mercury label; in fact George observes, "The record companies always wanted me to sign an exclusive contract, and their people always met me with a paper their hand"…

George Coleman's resume is the stuff of legend. He cut his jazz teeth alongside some giants of the art form, joining Max Roach's ensemble in the 1950s, the Miles Davis Quintet, along with the bands of Herbie Hancock, Chet Baker and Elvin Jones. Mention must also be made of his work as a leader, which has inspired literally generations of saxophonists. Even with such an all-inclusive career, Coleman is still full of surprises and here on his new recording he gives his audience something they've never heard from him before - his first recording backed by a string orchestra. If you're into jazz history, you know this kind of project has some serious roots. Think Charlie Parker's "With Strings," or Stan Getz's "Focus"-albums where sax players let their lyrical side shine through lush orchestral arrangements. Coleman Hawkins did it. Ben Webster, too.

Time Life Music’s Singers & Songwriters: Troubadours offers up 34 rock, folk, and pop cuts from the '60s and '70s. The two-disc set, which is part of Time Life’s Singers & Songwriters series, hits mostly high notes, covering everything from soft rock (Dan Fogelberg's “Longer”) to hippie folk (Scott McKenzie's “San Francisco [Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair]”) to classic rock radio staples (Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way").

This contains straight-up reissues of two of T-Bone's Imperial albums, themselves merely collections of the original 78s. Everything on these 24 sides was recorded between 1950 and 1954 – not as trailblazing a period as the one from 1946 to 1947 on Black and White, but still prime T-Bone by any yardstick. The majority of these sides were cut in Los Angeles, with the exception of the New Orleans-recorded "I'm Still in Love With You" and the Windy City cut of "Bye Bye Baby." Loads of great T-Bone guitar and a cool West Coast sound to most everything on here make this an important addition to anyone's blues collection.

Lute music in Germany is closely associated with the name Silvius Leopold Weiss who influenced generations of lutenists with his outstanding compositions and was the cornerstone of German lute music. As his oeuvre has already enjoyed a wide distribution and substantial appreciation, this anthology only touches on a few individual works as reference points and places a greater focus on Weiss’s musical environment and legacy. A particular focus is given to Bayreuth which developed into a regional cultural centre for the lute thanks to the encouragement of the Margravine Wilhelmine, the sister of Frederick the Great.

If you love medieval vocal music, you'll be fascinated by this unusual collection of mass movements written by two Italian composers– Matteo and Zaccara–that are juxtaposed and organized both to contrast their styles and to make programmatic sense. There's lots of fancy ornamentation and there are many dramatic moments, as well as sections of sweet, gentle lyricism–listen to Matteo's "Gloria," sung with heart- rending tenderness by soprano Jill Feldman. The singers are alternately accompanied by recorder, harp, fiddle, bells, and organ.

Schubert set the poetry of over 115 writers to music. He selected poems from classical Greece, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from eighteenth-century German authors, early Romantics, Biedermeier poets, and Heine. The Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition presents all Schubert’s Lieder, over 700 songs, grouped according to the poets who inspired him. Thanks to the Bärenreiter’s Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (New Schubert Edition), Tübingen, which uses primary sources, the performers have been able to benefit from the most recent research of the editorial team.