Trilok Gurtu's percussion work has powered a number of great albums that effectively fuse world music with jazz, allowing for both tight performance and free improvisation. This collection is therefore a gem, selecting ten cuts from six albums. Both an excellent overview and a wonderful place to begin acquainting yourself with Gurtu's music, and thus an essential addition to any jazz or world music collection.

One of John Barry's best efforts, with a particularly striking title song belted out by Shirley Bassey between blasting brass fills, Goldfinger was also the first James Bond soundtrack to hit the number one spot on the U.S. charts (ironically, displacing another United Artists soundtrack, A Hard Day's Night), even as Bassey's performance hit number eight as a single. While Barry effectively expanded his collection of Bond themes with Thunderball (underwater themes) and You Only Live Twice (space themes), Goldfinger was a prime opportunity to lock in some of the action themes that would recur over the next 35 years. Of particular note is the track compiling Barry's cues for the robbery of Fort Knox ("Dawn Raid on Fort Knox"), which provides a slow build so wonderfully agonizing that the remainder of the album, including "The Arrival of the Bomb and Count Down," with its pounding drums and roaring brass, actually serves as stress relief. In February of 2003, Goldfinger was issued in a remastered edition that featured not only significantly improved sound but also added an extra nine minutes of music, contained in four sections of the soundtrack that originally appeared only on the British LP edition.

Second album from this Roman group (unchanged line-up), released on the same RCA label, and coming with a fascinating artwork, ruined by an unlikely title. The group is still solidly run by bassist Tomasso, but unlike in Azimut, he allows the others (keyboardist D'Andrea mostly) some space for their own material, but he's still by far the most prolific writer in the group. Actually for years and from the opening track of both albums, every time I put either this album or its predecessor I always had to take a look to indeed confirm which one I am listening to. I must say that between Azimut's Posto Di Non So Dove and this album's Non C'e Tempo Da Pedere (no time to lose), both are strikingly similar, from Tomasso's great vocals to the use of a bowed bass and Sidney's Hackettian guitar, and D'Andrea's great piano (first acoustic, than electric).

Dave Holland - The Razor's Edge (1987) {ECM 1353}
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© 1987 ECM Records | ECM 1353
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Bass

Dave Holland's mid-1980s band played inventive music that was between post-bop and the avant-garde. The group acted as a launching pad for altoist Steve Coleman, gave publicity to the always-underrated trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, and in 1987 also featured trombonist Robin Eubanks and drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith. The group's three ECM releases are well worth exploring, and this set gives listeners a strong example of their work.

Genealogia (1974) is their third record and follows the classic Abbiamo Tutti un Blues da Piangere (1973). The 1974 album sounds to me more varied but unfortunately the band leaves behind any vocalising. On the other hand, fortunately, they manage to create an unique atmosphere with the addition of acoustic guitars and saxophones. The most interesting track is the fantastic self titled opener which sounds a lot like a medieval dance, somehow unusual in the jazz rock genre. Other highlights are the explosive Polaris with its light crescendo and excellent work on electric piano and the strong (In) Vino Veritas (the longest track of the album being over 6:40 mns) where they give you a taste of their electric guitar playing. Pretty good the harder sound of this intrument and the slightly dissonant arrengements. The most proggy performance here.

Elmo Hope - Meditations (1955) {Prestige OJCCD-1751-2 rel 1990}
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© 1955, 1990 Prestige Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-1751-2
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Piano

Although Elmo Hope was one of the more interesting jazz composers of the 1950s, the emphasis on his trio set with bassist John Ore and drummer Willie Jones is on Hope's piano playing. Influenced greatly by Bud Powell (his contemporary), Hope performs standards (such as "All the Things You Are" and "Falling in Love with Love") along with some originals, most of which are based on the chord changes of earlier songs. Fans of bop piano and Bud Powell will want this enjoyable CD reissue.

David 'Fathead' Newman - Diamondhead (2008) {HighNote HCD 7179}
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© 2008 HighNote Records | HCD 7179
Jazz / Bop / Jazz Blues / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

Diamondhead is the ninth of David "Fathead" Newman's HighNote recordings (not the seventh, as the disc's notes state) and it's a typically enjoyable outing of soulful bop with no surprises but some exceedingly fine playing that holds up well after multiple listens. It was issued a few weeks short of his 75th birthday with his longtime collaborator and friend Houston Person as co-producer. The band assembled for this date is made up of longtime associates of the reedman; most of whom have actually appeared on his High Note releases. Fellow Texas native Cedar Walton is in the piano chair (virtually the same age, the pair attended the same high school but didn't play together until the '60s), and legendary trombonist Curtis Fuller is on the other horn – he has known Newman and played with him since the '80s, as has bassist Peter Washington.

Cecil Taylor - The Tree Of Life (1991) {FMP CD 98 rel 1998}
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© 1991, 1998 Free Music Production | FMP CD 98
Jazz / Modern Creative / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

This "thank you" concert to the city of Berlin at the end of Cecil Taylor's six-month stay there in 1990 is a lovely, vibrant affair. In trademark fashion, "The Tree of Life" is one work, broken up into five "periods" or movements. The invocation in period one doesn't even feature a piano, just empty space and Taylor's voice creating a kind of spirit ground for him to play from. "Period 2" is where things actually begin. Taylor begins in ballad form; long eighths and ninths are extended into minor-key formations and distillations of mode and harmonic interval. There is a kind of distended harmony at work, with left and right hands playing opposite each other in perfect formation and rhythm: One idea, or theme, cancels out the previous one and sets up a new paradigm for consideration over the course of a 12 or 13 measures.

Having started as a traditional jazz ensemble in the late 60s, with the turn of a new decade Perigeo tuned in for the prog rock wave and expanded their style as they began their recording career. Not that they became less jazzy, but definitely they became more sensitive and receptive towards the jazz fusion influence of Return to Forever and Weather Report, post-Wyatt Soft Machine, and even some occasional colours of "Caravanserai"-era Santana latin jazz and a bit of prog-oriented psychedelic sounds. By the time they recorded this, their album no. 4, Perigeo was a well known act in the avant- garde jazz circuits of Italy. The catchy opening track is a perfect example of the band's ability to write attractive musical ideas and technical proficiency (perhaps this is the Perigeo album to start with).

Sound Effect Records presents "Natt o Dag", Me and My Kites brand new studio album! Out on March 16th, on limited edition vinyl, CD and Digital download,"Natt o Dag" is possibly the Swedish collective's best so far. Darker, moodier and filled with some irresistible pop-hooks, "Nat o Dag" is destined to become a modern psychedelic classic. Natt o Dag is a flower common in the Swedish forests. Its purple and yellow flowers represent night and day and the idea of this two sided record took place in a huge patch of these flowers on a lonesome bike trip on remote paths some two Summers ago.

Beautiful collection of 13 tracks by Tunisian composer Anouar Brahem. The album spotlights Brahem's solo oud pieces, which range from the meditative ("Sadir") to the propulsive ("Ronda"). This solo work is nicely augmented by stellar contributions from violinist Bechir Selmi and percussionist Lassad Hosni; Selmi is featured on the transcendent "Barzakh," while Hosni figures prominently on "Souga" and "Bou Naouara." The three musicians come together for the joyous dance number "Parfum de Gitane." Throughout Barzakh, Brahem and the others forge an appealing mix of Middle Eastern sonorities and jazz phrasing, an intimate sound perfectly suited to the clean and spacious ECM recording style. This is a great title for fans of both international music and jazz.

Napalm Death are a British extreme metal band formed in Meriden, West Midlands, England, in 1981.[1] While none of its original members remain in the group since December 1986, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent of the band's career since 1992's Utopia Banished, although, from 1989 to 2004, Napalm Death were a five-piece band after they added Jesse Pintado as the replacement of one-time guitarist Bill Steer; following Pintado's departure, the band reverted to a four-piece rather than replace him…

The final instalment in a celebrated three-part series by Contrapunctus, directed by Owen Rees, exploring the music of the Baldwin Partbooks, a remarkable treasure-house of Tudor sacred polyphony, some of which is not found anywhere else.