An unimpeachable classic considered to be the pinnacle of Rastafarian inspired music. Master drummer Count Ossie's band, including the incomparable tenor saxophonist Cedric 'I'm' Brooks, recreate a Rasta grounation, or gathering, playing and chanting a sublime supplication, including Bible readings, in praise of Emperor Haile Selassie I.

Jacintha is a Singaporean jazz singer/torch singer and stage actress who has been well-known in parts of the Asia-Pacific region since the '80s and has been increasing her exposure in North America since the late '90s. On "The Girl From Bossa Nova" picks up the tempo on her first bossa nova session. Featuring a program of some of the most well known classics of the genre, including several Jobim favorites like "So Nice", "Desafinado" and "Corcovado", as well as less familiar tunes like "O Ganso and So Danco Samba". And yes, there are a couple of classic Jacintha ballads done bossa style: "This Masquerade" and "Dindi". With superb work from tenor Harry Allen and guitarist John Pisano (ex-Diana Krall), the album's supreme finishing is the magical playing of legendary Brazilian master percussionist Paulinho Da Costa, who blesses the entire album with an authentic bossa nova vibe. This release is "a must" for Jacintha fans and all bossa nova lovers.

When Billy Childs was 11 years old, his older sister introduced him to the work of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Laura Nyro. Her blend of Broadway inspired melodies, jazz improvisation and socially conscious lyrics have stayed with him. Now Billy has returned to his early source of inspiration, conceiving and orchestrating the new album, "Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro", which features an incredible range of musicians who join him in interpreting her narratives.

When Charlie Parker died, people who never had done anything in recognition of his great talent, suddenly rushed to the mourner’s bench and delivered eulogies. This record is by musicians who knew him intimately, appreciated him tremendously during his lifetime and felt his loss far more acutely than any of the self-styled sufferers. This is a simple tribute in the form of a medley composed of seven tunes that were recorded and, for the most part, played often by Parker.

Nina Simone (English Nina Simone, real name Eunice Kathleen Waymon, English Eunice Kathleen Waymon, February 21, 1933 — April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, composer, arranger. She adhered to the jazz tradition, but used a variety of performed material, combined jazz, soul, pop, gospel and blues, recorded songs with a large orchestra.

HEP Records presents a collection of works from the great Count Basie and His Orchestra entitled Listen…

It’s springtime in old Russia, and as the fair-goers jostle and laugh, a puppeteer retells a tale of love, jealousy … and murder.

Life’s a gig “Life’s a gig, it don’t pay much but it costs a lot.” I said that at a party one evening, whispered it imitating Miles Davis. We all laughed. Truth is, life has offered me a lot.

Fury in the Slaughterhouse is a rock band from Hannover, Germany, founded in 1987 and disbanded in 2008, before reforming in 2013 and again in 2016. The Color Fury is the band's ninth studio album.

For his second album on the SWR label Robert Neumann chose two works that are easily paired and are close to the pianist’s heart. Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana depicts a character featured in several tales by E.T.A. Hoffmann, while Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition describes the contemplation of art works by the painter Viktor Hartmann. Both are examples of programme music with somewhat comparable ideas but, as Neumann puts it, ‘One idea deals with a real character, the other one doesn’t… And I think both show in an exemplary manner how flawlessly and in different ways a great Romantic cycle can be structured.’

Ludwig van Beethoven is beloved around the world for both the grandeur of his musical vision and the intimacy of his emotional journey. His music speaks straight to the heart and makes a direct connection with listeners of all ages.

Ingrid Marsoner dedicates her new recording to Franz Schubert's late piano works and juxtaposes the concert version "Vier Impromptus D 899" with the more intimate and much less frequently played "Three Piano Pieces D 946". The Impromptus D 899 was written in 1827, about a year before Schubert's death and close in time to "Winterreise" D 911. The composer was in a particularly dark mood at the time and certainly did not choose it by chance, and in keeping with the eerie, touching beauty of it Works in such distant keys as G flat major for the third piece.

The Salzburg violinist Benjamin Schmid's preoccupation with the violin works of W.A. Mozart has now lasted for more than four decades, was initially influenced by the then Mozarteum professors Sandor Vegh and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and received nume-rous awards as his style of interpretation became increasingly personalised.

We all know that Mozart had an impish sense of humour. Now we know it is shared by the gifted German pianist Andreas Staier, who permits himself authentically Amadean fun with his decorative conceits in these three inter-linked sonatas, especially in the celebrated 'Ronda alla Turca' from the most distinctive, K.331. But he also accords the composer due respect, bringing as much grace and poise to the contemplative slow movements as sprightly mischief to the pyrotechnical passages. In few hands can the fortepiano sound so expressive; at times, it is tempting to wonder if this is much how Mozart played his own works.

"Moon Beams" is a pivotal recording from the newly reformed and influential jazz ensemble, The Bill Evans Trio. Following the death of long-time band member Scott LaFaro, Bill Evans enlisted bassist Chuck Israels to perform on this soothing tapestry of jazz ballads. The subtle, yet mind-blowing set, included the haunting Evans' original, "Re: Person I Knew", a jazz rendition of "Stairway to the Stars" and the sublime, "Polka Dots and Moonbeams".