Guillaume Tell was the composer’s last and longest opera. I do not think I would go on to say that it was also necessarily his best, but it is certainly an amazing work full of life. It is, in many ways, both a summation of his operatic genius and a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been had he continued to write for the stage. Like his other last operas it was written for Paris and in its scale and mixture of public and private events is a clear forerunner of such works as Les Huguenots and Don Carlos. At the same time it can be regarded as essentially classical, but with that style subtly transfigured into one that is just as essentially romantic. It represents a turning point in the history of opera, so that the obvious question arises as to why it is so seldom encountered on the stage, and why many music-lovers know it solely by its undoubtedly magnificent overture.

A double anthology from the celebrated Welsh opera and concert singer Bryn Terfel. At His Very Best takes in recordings from his recent duet album with tenor Rhys Meirion, several of Bryn's earlier albums on Wales's Saydisc label and a recording of a newly commissioned work performed together with the Rhuthun Choir.

Fretwork here unveils some obscure but engaging works from the golden age of English consort music by the little-known but accomplished composers Martin Peerson and John Milton, father of the celebrated poet. The programme combines scholarship, performance and recording technology to bring to light some two-dozen forgotten works, from dancing almaines to brooding intricate fantasias.

Classic Sonny Stitt for Verve – one of those masterful albums he cut for the label in the 50s – all in a format that's misleadingly simple on paper, but surprisingly complex in execution! Stitt's backed by a trio that includes Lou Levy on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, and Mel Lewis on drums – but all players seem to hit a more deeply soulful groove than usual – just the right sound to match Sonny's sharper-edge groove, and near-perfect execution of his solos. Stitt's tone is right out front in the mix – beautifully recorded by Norman Granz, with as much respect to his sound as Sonny brings to his own renditions of the tunes.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream are among the first groups that come to mind when discussing classic power trios. Ireland's Taste, led by guitarist Rory Gallagher, were also there at the beginning. They were raw, rocked hard, and were more devoted to the blues. Gallagher kept the trio format long after going solo, and became a fine songwriter as well. Crow Black Chicken are his countrymen. Christy O'Hanlon (vocals, guitar), Stephen McGrath (bass), and Gev Barrett (drums, backing vocals) have soaked up his and his contemporaries' influences, as well other loud and proud trios: ZZ Top, Mountain, Gov't Mule, etc. Electric Soup is their debut long-player. It's an excellent showcase for CBC's stunning playing and excellent songwriting – the latter is something many of their contemporaries never learned. These are not mere riff-heavy stoner rock jams, but songs. While they keep things basic, CBC understand the place of melody and dynamics; they've soaked up their share of folk and country in addition to blues and guitar rock.

Jimmy Smith brought the Hammond organ into hard bop and jazz in the 1950s, and his piano-fast solo runs on the instrument have never been equaled. This warm set from Blue Note Records, the label where Smith built most of his impressive legacy, selects eight of his performances for the label, including a 20-minute (and ten second) version of "The Sermon," the bouncing "Back at the Chicken Shack," and a fun romp through "See See Rider," among other delights, making this a quick introduction to the peak creative era of this one-of-a-kind jazz artist's long career.

Two tenor sax colossuses - Paul Gonsalves and Tubby Hayes - join forces on 'Just Friends', a rare EMI album recorded in 1965, which here makes its first appearance on CD. Apart from one standard number (the title track), the music comes from the pens of several premier British jazzers including Ian Hamer, Stan Tracey, Jimmy Deuchar and Hayes himself. In the band are such luminaries as Jackie Sharpe (baritone sax), Les Condon (trumpet), Stan Tracey (piano), Lennie Bush (bass) and Ronnie Stephenson (drums).

Willie Mitchell really was the Memphis music everything man, a record executive and producer, a studio manager and a band leader. This collection pulls together some of his best 1960's Hi releases, split between originals and contemporary 60's soul hits. Every musician is putting in a full shift, and the quality of these tracks never drops, the music really cooks. Mostly instrumentals but with one or two chanted vocals, the compilation includes the mighty 'The Champion' which must be a contender for the greatest ever Northern Soul instrumental stomper. The majority of the tracks are pure 1960's Memphis R&B and I suppose the nearest comparison band wise is with Booker T & the MG's but the horns on these Willie Mitchell tracks gives them a dimension that the MG's records don't have. Sound quality on all the tracks is excellent; unlike some budget complilatons time has been spent mastering these tracks properly.

Jon Hopkins is the creator and curator of sonic witchcraft. A musician skilled enough to create melodies that evoke images in the mind’s eye is a rare thing indeed, but to fully transport a listener’s consciousness into a dark, mystical dimension of other is nothing short of genius; borderline black magic. The audio warlock who conjures up these tangible fabrics of parallel lands brings forth his Midas touch in the score for independent low budget feature length horror Monsters. And if the film, for some, smacks somewhat of cheese, Hopkins’ soundtrack does not. Instead it draws listeners (and viewers) in as it does into an enhanced and lucid existence, opening portals into alternate worlds, stirring hearts and very souls…

Concord Music Group releases three new titles in its Original Jazz Classics Remasters series. Enhanced with 24-bit remastering by Joe Tarantino, bonus tracks on each release (some previously unissued), and new liner notes to provide historical context to the originally released material, the series showcases pivotal recordings of the past several decades by artists whose influence on the jazz tradition continues to reverberate among jazz musicians and audiences well into the 21st Century.

This double album, initially released as two single CDs back in the first half of the 1990’s, were the first on the Lejazzetal label and are now almost thought of as collectable iconic recordings. Viewed by many as the best Gypsy jazz albums since the last recorded releases of Quintet of the Hot Club of France they were recorded with a single ribbon microphone from circa 1938 and featured without doubt the most famous European Gypsy musician since the death of Django Reinhardt.

…Featuring Norah Jones is a compilation album by American singer Norah Jones that was released on November 16, 2010, by Blue Note Records. The album includes songs by other artists on which Jones is featured, including songs by her side bands The Little Willies and El Madmo. The album includes "Here We Go Again", a duet with Ray Charles, which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 2005. The song "Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John" by Belle & Sebastian had only been released one month prior to the release of this album on the group's October 2010 album Belle and Sebastian Write About Love.

The closely affiliated Black Saint and Soul Note labels were established in the 1970s by Italian jazz lover Giacomo Pellicciotti, and together they released some of the most forward-thinking jazz recordings on the market during their four decades of independent existence (both labels were acquired by another company in 2008). In 2011, the labels' new owner began releasing a series of budget-priced box sets documenting the complete output of particular artists, each individual disc housed in an LP-style cardboard sleeve. This one features four albums by reedman and noted avant-cool composer Jimmy Giuffre. The box offers three albums (Dragonfly, Quasar, and Liquid Dancers) by the Jimmy Giuffre 4, which included keyboardist Pete Levin, bassist Bob Nieske, and drummer Randy Kaye.

Charles Roman, the only singer, songwriter and author of Cosmos Dream, develops his own idea of what ambient Progressive rock should be. After a first album out in 2008, which was exploring the theme of hope in the totalitarian regime painted by Georges Orwell in his famous novel "1984" ("Hope Of Dream"), the son of Jacques Roman (Pulsar's keyboardist) introduces his second masterpiece, "How To Reach Infinity". Here's a double-album published in the year 2012 by the Musea Parallèle label, a philosophical quest about the human civilization, the place of Man and the transcendence. The thematic evolution finds its reflection in the musical evolution of the album, which moves slowly from Progressive rock inspired by Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and Pulsar to ambient music in a style cherished by Brian Eno, Jon Hopkins or Vangelis.

In a 2007 live review in the New York Times, Jon Pareles described the band: "Melding sustained organ chords with slow fingerpicked guitar, the Papercuts’ music merged Velvet Underground ballads with touches of the Byrds, while Jason Quever sang in a high, diffident voice about elusive love." A PopMatters review described Papercuts as "a marching band on Quaaludes" and "part atmospheric, part dream pop rock, always melodic, and never boring". A Houston Press review of Can't Go Back described the album as having a "warm, sunny sound, recalling northern California circa 1968", going on to describe the band as "a lo-fi version of The Byrds".