Accordionist Richard Galliano did for European folk – specifically, the early 20th century French ballroom dance form known as musette – what his mentor Astor Piazzolla did for the Argentinian tango. Galliano reimagined and revitalized a musical tradition, expanding its emotional range to reflect modern sensibilities, opening it up to improvisation learned through American jazz. In fact, Galliano was more of a jazz musician than a folk one, although he blurred the lines so much that distinctions were often difficult to make.

Cuban alto saxophonist Yosvany Terry Cabrera's recording debut as a leader is an impressive affair. A young man already well in command of his main instrument, Cabrera's stunning palette of colors in his original compositions is wide-ranging. One of the many highlights is the lively, often humorous "El Burlón" (The Joker), which even tosses in a tongue-in-cheek quote from Thelonious Monk. The tension within the insistent "This Is It" features compelling solos by Cabrera and trumpeter Avishai Cohen. Bassist Yunior Terry Cabrera (the leader's brother) contributed "The Crying" and introduces it with a moody bass solo that sets the tone for his haunting ballad. The rhythmically complex "Subversive" showcases guitarist Mike Moreno, while the leader works a bit of Charlie Parker into his solo…

Over the last decade, Cleveland wunderkind Dylan Baldi’s Cloud Nothings project has evolved from a ramshackle, home-recorded indie-pop concern to a full-blown punk-pop outfit combining melodic sweetness, pummeling arrangements, and throat-searing vocals. Their previous album, 2017’s Life Without Sound, found Baldi and co. dialing back their characteristic aggression a bit. But on Cloud Nothings’ fifth album, Baldi’s coruscated bark is back in action, along with the hook-laden intensity that’s been present since 2012’s breakthrough Attack on Memory. The band’s penchant for epic song structures has also returned (see: the ebb and flow of the 11-minute “Dissolution”), as Last Building Burning represents Cloud Nothings doing what they do best with zero frills and plenty of passion to spare.

MTV Unplugged: Live at Roundhouse, London is the third live album and second video by Scottish alternative rock band Biffy Clyro. Recorded at the band's one-off acoustic show on 8 November 2017 at the Roundhouse in London as part of MTV Unplugged, it was released on 25 May 2018 by 14th Floor and Warner Bros. Records.

2018 three CD collection. Leo Sayer, in a career spanning 45 years, has sold more than 80 million records worldwide. The Gold Collection, which Leo personally compiled and sequenced, is a 54-track set. It delves into Leo's deep and rich catalog, delivering all of his UK Top 30 hits, including 11 Top 10s and his two UK #1's 'When I Need You' and 'Thunder In My Heart Again', the latter with Meck and the US #1 (UK #2) hit 'You Make Me Feel Like Dancing'. The Gold Collection also includes many key album tracks from the early part of his career, many of which were written/composed by other major artists of the time, as well as a number of recordings written for him by other international singer/songwriters. All in all, this is a fantastic collection of his classic recordings that will remind everyone that Leo Sayer is one of the UK's great singer/songwriters of all time.

The 20th Anniversary of the Wentus Blues Band from Finland was celebrated in Helsinki at the Alexander Theatre, originally built by Russian Czar Alexander II. The show, sweetened by various special guests, surely satisfied the Blues needs of performers and audience alike. The whole atmosphere was reminiscent of Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz” – a film that studied the giant concert given by The Band and superstar guests in San Francisco in 1976. The show featured an impressive line-up of rock and blues legends, such as Eddie Kirkland, Louisiana Red and Lazy Lester, ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, Kim Wilson from the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Omar Dykes from Omar & The Howlers, Barrence Whitfield – a real rocker in the savage style of Little Richard, Sven Zetterberg and Clas Yngstrom from Sweden and the great Eric Bibb. All of the above-mentioned guests have a long history with the Wentus Blues Band.

French accordion maestro Galliano brings this band to the London jazz festival on 17 November and the mix is certainly tempting – Nino Rota's timeless movie themes interpreted by an elite international jazz quintet featuring Dave Douglas on trumpet, John Surman on reeds, Boris Kozlov on bass and Clarence Penn on drums. Listeners attracted more by the lineup than the material should note that the jazz shades and subtly skews the compositions rather than taking them over, and that Surman in particular isn't much heard outside of his ensemble role.

Richard Galliano has recorded several tristesse fests in his time, but at his best he's a creative composer and improviser who has a gift for non-generic orchestration and who is at home with a variety of atmospheres and emotions, including the happy and the optimistic. Luz Negra, recorded with his Tangaria Quartet and his first studio album since 2001's Face To Face (Dreyfus Jazz), presents Galliano at his very best, and anyone with an aversion to accordion music would do well to check it out.

In collaboration with Litto Enterprises Inc., Music Box Records is very proud to present one of its most ambitious releases yet - a classic Bernard Herrmann score from one of his last efforts and an important milestone in his immense career for Brian De Palma´s classic melodrama Obsession (1976) written by Paul Schrader and starring Geneviève Bujold, Cliff Robertson and John Lithgow. In a career often spent paying tribute to Alfred Hitchcock with the likes of Dressed to Kill, Blow Out and Body Double, Obsession even today stands as De Palma’s ultimate fever dream homage to the director who’d made Bernard Herrmann a household name as the romantic master of musical suspense during an eight film collaboration, no more so than with 1958s Vertigo. Yet Obsession’s reincarnation of that masterpiece showed just how devious De Palma always was in his admiration, cloaking a truly seditious plot twist that would’ve given even Hitchcock pause within sleek, star-filtered visuals. Obsession remains his most fervently romantic, and dare one say innocent attempt to recreate the studio gloss of a time when outright violence and sex were left to the mind’s eye, its rage and sensuality truly made explicit in its music. It’s a powerful, stylistic subtlety that increasingly made Obsession into the filmmaker’s most discerning cult film.

Norman Connors delivered some of the finest jazz fusion of the 1970s, often integrated with vocalists and soloists he would discover and send on their way to significant solo success. After touring as drummer with Pharaoh Sanders and featuring on five of his albums, Norman landed at Buddah Records in 1972 then after the acquisition of Buddah by Arista in the late 70s he arrived at the main Arista imprint in 1980 and delivered these two classic albums Take It To The Limit and Mr.C, the pinnacle of his work as a musician, co-ordinator, and producer of live music pre the dawn of programmed drumming and keyboard replicaters.

Recorded in 1965 and 1966, these 15 tracks are divided between solo piano performances and pieces with a full band, with support from guitarist Johnny Young and members of the Muddy Waters Band. The variation in approach means that this isn't the most consistent Spann album, and the material and performances don't rank among his best either, although they're reasonably solid. Includes some of the rare tracks on which Spann played organ rather than piano.