A brand new live album, 63 minutes of music, including 6 new tracks recorded during Tennis Music Festival in Poland. Lebowski is a Polish group founded in 2002, playing a wide spectrum of Progressive Music with sound landscapes. Lebowski is formed by Marcin Grzegorczyk (guitars), Marcin Łuczaj (keyboards), Marek Żak (bass) and Krzysztof Pakuła (drums).

“Infectious, captivating, powerful blues….Intense Chicago-style harp playing, witty songs and tough-as-nails grooves” –Living Blues Wildly fun, musically fearless and bursting with bravado, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats have created one of the blues’ most instantly recognizable sounds and no-holds-barred styles.

Sublime early work from Stan Getz — a lyrical genius even at this early point in his career ! There's a subtle brilliance here that's undeniable — a tenor sound that draws from Lester Young and Ben Webster, but which pushes into fresh new territory for the 50s — lean, but still very soulful at the core — a blend that none of Stan's contemporaries could ever match this well ! The album features a group that includes a very young Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone, plus rhythm by Teddy Kotick, John Williams, and Frank Isola. Tracks are longish and easily swinging — and Getz's tone, as always, makes the whole thing come together like magic!

For twenty years the Berliner Philharmoniker has celebrated its 1882 founding with a concert at a major European venue, and the 2011 event takes place at the magnificent Teatro Real in Madrid. The renowned orchestra, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, performs Joaquín Rodrigo’s beloved Concierto de Aranjuez, Emmanuel Chabrier’s exuberant España, and Sergey Rachmaninov’s dramatic Second Symphony. It is joined for the Concierto by the famous flamenco guitarist Cañizares, whose virtuosity and sensitivity are given full opportunity to shine in this multi-faceted and subtle work.

'The Other River' is a personal and striking collection of original songs written, arranged and sung by veteran US guitarist and singer/songwriter Joel Harrison, and follows his acclaimed quintet release on Whirlwind - 'Spirit House'. Whilst it bears some of Harrison's trademark compositional moves, this album - his eighteenth - may come as something of a surprise to his many, established jazz followers. The project's focus is very much its lyrical, unfettered storytelling conveyed through stripped-down music - unabashed Americana modelled on the work of Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, and Robert Hunter - which reaches out to the heart in candidly dealing with mortality and loss, redemption and forgiveness. "I came to this music because I had to", says Harrison. "There were things I was going through that made me yearn for a new level of honesty and bare-bones truth-telling. Words seemed to be the way forward. Instrumental music couldn't pierce these regions in the same way". Joel Harrison's core ensemble all share a love of jazz, country, R&B and gospel, which can be heard in the stylistic multiplicity of their approach to these eleven numbers.

No one, but no one, painted a picture in song of despair and desolation like the Thin Man from the West Plains, Porter Wagoner. Forget the Nudie suit and the pompadour; Waylon Jennings once said that Wagoner couldn’t go pop with a mouthful of firecrackers, and these 40 songs prove it. Sure, the hits—27 of ‘em in all and every Top Ten solo smash—are here, like “A Satisfied Mind,” “Misery Loves Company,” “Skid Row Joe,” “The Cold Hard Facts of Life,” and “The Carroll County Incident,” but what elevates this collection above a mere best-of are the tracks lifted from Wagoner’s starkly compelling concept albums (complete with their amazing album art, some of which we’ve included here) like Confessions of a Broken Man, Soul of a Convict and Other Great Prison Songs, and The Bottom of the Bottle. Grammy-winning writer Colin Escott contributes notes to the package, which is newly remastered by Vic Anesini at Battery Studios in New York. Country music never got harder than this…this ain’t cry-in-your-beer country, it’s more like punch-in-the-gut poetry. Essential!

Two years after his latest trio album with David Reinhardt and Jean-Baptiste Laya, Christian Escoudé is back in the beginning of 2010 with a rich and varied album, recorded with the cream of jazz musicians: David Reinhardt and Jean-Baptiste Laya on guitars, Anne Paceo on drums, Darryl Hall on acoustic bass, Thomas Savy on clarinets and whiz kid Fiona Monbet on violin. A high-level rhythm section, clarinets' solos worthy of a classical soloist, a violin filled with emotion, meticulous arrangements, a beautiful production, a splendid acoustic sound accompanying Christian Escoudé's very inspired guitars, giving this album a very special flavour. The spiritual father of the whole new generation of guitarists, Christian offers here a light and yet very intense album, reminding us he is one of Django's most worthy representative. Long live the young at heart!

Review Summary: An artist at another crossroads proves that he still has some ideas to offer and builds an inconsistent album around them. Christian Fitness is the (sort-of-) solo project by Future of the Left’s eccentric frontman, Andy Falkous. Love Letters in the Age of Steam treads ground that should be familiar enough for fans of Andy that are aware of his past works, but it’s also got a couple of natural evolutions that have been a long time coming. The album has a somewhat unfortunate tendency that is common for artist’s of Falkous’s caliber in that it exists in a state of simultaneous progression and regression.

This fascinating date features pianist Ahmad Jamal at the beginning of his recording career. With guitarist Ray Crawford and either Eddie Calhoun or Israel Crosby on bass, Jamal showcases a style that would be a major influence on Miles Davis' music. Jamal's use of space and dynamics was very different than the style of any other jazz pianist of the era. His versions of "Old Devil Moon," "Will You Still Be Mine?," "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top," and "A Gal in Calico" inspired Miles to record the songs in a similar fashion, and his "Billy Boy" became the basis of a performance by the Red Garland Trio. Most fascinating is Jamal's inventive interpretation of "Pavanne," for it has a section very reminiscent of "So What" (which was not "composed" by Davis until over two years later) and a melody statement that is exactly the same as John Coltrane's "Impressions."

The year 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of Extreme's "Pornograffitti" album, which has both gone platinum many times over and been nominated for a Grammy, includes a worldwide hit with the single "More Than Words". To honour this anniversary, now comes "Pornograffitti Live 25 / Metal Meltdown", the concert recording from the "Metal Meltdown" series. In this concert, the band presents the album "Pornograffitti" in its entirety, which DVD/BD also contains archive material and a documentary report which takes fans through the band’s history. "Pornograffitti" continues to be the biggest success in the band's history, reaching 10th place in the Top 200 Billboard Charts when it came out.

“To call themselves VERY COOL PEOPLE they got to have good sense of humour or huge self confidence – almost verging on arrogance. After listening to the band you are happily entitle to say they are rightful to call themselves VERY COOL PEOPLE even if they meant it seriously.”

Saudades de Rock (which roughly translates from Portuguese as "Nostalgic Yearnings of Rock") is Extreme's fifth studio album, released on August 12, 2008. It was the band's first album of new material since 1995's Waiting for the Punchline, and also their first release with new drummer Kevin Figueiredo. Heavier and more confrontational than anything the band has ever done, Saudades de Rock finds the group in peak performance after a decade-plus hiatus, their last album the 1995 A&M swan song Waiting for the Punchline.