A renowned poet has a new album out Friday titled “The Gospel According To Nikki Giovanni.” In addition to publishing dozens of poetry works, Nikki Giovanni has recorded several spoken word albums over the course of 50 years. But this time, she’s doing something a little different. The new album, a collaboration with saxophonist Javon Jackson, is a collection of gospel hymns and spirituals set to jazz. Growing up in the Baptist church, Giovanni says gospel music was instrumental to understanding herself as a poet. “The spirituals had a message,” she says. “They weren't just some people woke up one morning or came from working in the evening and said, ‘Oh, let's sit down and sing.’ They were sharing information with each other.”

Recorded "live" in concert at the culmination of the trio's first tour since the lockdown began, this set reflects the exhilaration found in playing before a hungry audience in a beautiful concert hall. Featuring eight originals and 2 standards, this audiophile-quality album is destined to become a go-to in your music library. Good pasta, great acoustics, a wonderful piano with equally-great drums and bass to play on. "Live In Italy," the Erskine Trio at it's best.

King Crimson’s 1973 album Larks’ Tongues in Aspic is to be reissued for its 50th anniversary in an all encompassing four-disc set that includes brand new Steven Wilson Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo mixes and “the complete recordings of every session recorded for the album”.

Alt-country trio Puss N Boots was formed by superstar Norah Jones with jazz singer Sasha Dobson and session musician Catherine Popper in 2008; it took them six years to get around to making this debut. Recorded in Brooklyn, "No Fools, No Fun" includes five original songs, two each from Dobson and Popper and one from Jones who plays guitar here, not piano. There are also seven spirited cover tunes, all culled from the trio's live repertoire. The studio tracks were recorded in three days while three live songs come from a performance in June 2013 at a small club in Brooklyn called The Bell House.

Ram Jam was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1977. "Ram Jam" is the band's debut LP, released in 1977 via Epic Records. The first track on the album, the single "Black Betty", is Ram Jam's best known song. It went to #7 on the UK singles chart in September 1977. The album reached #34 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart in the United States. The band was re-christened "American Ram Jam" for the UK market to avoid confusion with a UK band with the same name.

The 16th album from Scotlands legendary electronic rock pioneers Simple Minds, and their first album of new material since 2009. The band hit #1 worldwide and in the US in the 80s & 90s with albums including Sparkle in the Rain and New Gold Dream. They have returned with Big Music, a swaggering collection that reiterates their world-class credentials, it is the culmination of a decade of stealthy rediscovery. Made with an array of collaborators old and new including co-writer Iain Cook (of Glasgow band Chvrches) and producers Steve Osborne, Andy Wright and Steve Hillage (who worked on 1981's Sons And Fascination / Sister Feelings Call) Big Music is an irresistible mix of artistry and accessibility.

"Glitter And Doom: Live" is a live album by Tom Waits recorded during the Glitter and Doom Tour of the USA and Europe in the summer of 2008. Disc One is designed to sound like one evening's performance, even though the 17 tracks are selected from 10 cities, from Paris to Birmingham; Tulsa to Milan; and Atlanta to Dublin. Sonically the album is superb and has been beautifully recorded and meticulously mastered. Disc Two is a bonus compendium called TOM TALES, which is a selection of the comic bromides, strange musings, and unusual facts that Tom traditionally shares with his audience during the piano set. Waits' topics range from the ritual of insects to the last dying breath of Henry Ford.

The piano of today, nearly unrecognizable from its earliest keyboard predecessors, is a nearly perfect instrument. After hundreds of years of technological advances, the modern keyboard is resilient, producing a beautifully resonant, uniform sound. My work for ZOFO, Altromondo (Italian for “other world” or “another world”) is a piece that works with this “ideal” sounding instrument, and adds a number of other sounds that the piano can make but does not commonly get the opportunity to produce on purpose. These sounds extend from and merge into the additional items that the pianists are required to play.

The 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower was in 2020. My task as a composer was to write a substantial choral/orchestral work to celebrate this event and the challenges that the Pilgrims faced in the New World. My librettist wrote an imaginative piece that incorporated both a narrative and a reflection on the wider implications the story contained. Human attributes and frailties, moral, religious and political questions are touched upon. The resulting Oratorio, Mayflower on the Sea of Time, is in 4 parts."

Session Victim’s 5th studio album ‘low key, low pressure’ feels like an anathema to today’s fast-paced, industry-driven musical landscape – and for all the right reasons. Having released two intense, dancefloor-focused 12“s on Rhythm Section and Delusions Of Grandeur over the past year, their return to NIGHT TIME STORIES brings out their trippy, headsy side once again.

The latest release from Louth Contemporary Music Society, Ireland’s most dynamic promoter of new music, features a recording of the world premiere of In C Irish, a new version of Terry Riley’s In C for an ensemble of traditional Irish musicians.

Flutes, viola, clarinets – three musicians, three instruments and three voices – just one found composition for this line-up – written under the pseudonym “Mr. Montelli.” Three women who took up this name as a trio and draw inspiration from the diverse sound of this line-up, their diverse musical experiences and the narrative threads of music history to tell their own stories.

Superbly crafted choral music and a rare recording of a neglected masterwork! "The inspiration for Hugo Distler’s gem of a Christmas narrative can be found in the German-language protestant sacred music of the early baroque era, especially the music of Heinrich Schütz. Drawing on Schütz’s example, Distler composed his Christmas story exclusively for vocalists – soloists and a 4-8-voiced ensemble – in what is, in Distler’s own words, described as an “Oratorium mit kammermusika- lishem Charakter”.

After playing principal flute with the prestigious Los Angeles Philharmonic, Julien Beaudiment takes us to sunny California. From Stravinsky to Lalaland, via Rachmaninov and John Williams, discover the rich and exotic mix that has made Los Angeles such an artistic Babylon.

Born in Missouri, pianist and composer Steve Million has made his home in Chicago since 1988, spearheading a multitude of projects including the sextet BakerzMillion, a two piano Thelonious Monk tribute, and Jazz Words, a showcase for his lyrics and arrangements with singer Sarah Marie Young. Perfectly Spaced is the latest vessel for Million’s prolific creativity and introduces a top-flight quartet with old friends Eric Hochberg (bass) and Bob Rummage (drums) alongside violin virtuoso Mark Feldman, a more recent addition to the Chicago scene.