What an apt name The Blessing is for David Newman's final recording before his death ended a long career last January (2009). He played for more than a decade with Ray Charles and alongside Herbie Mann, Aretha Franklin and Roy Ayers, among many others. For this last studio session he was in fine form. A Milt Jackson gem, "SKJ," is the set's opener, Steve Nelson's vibes providing glowing cascades before Newman swings in with a solo as brief in its measured warmth as it is satisfying. Here too and throughout the set Peter Bernstein's guitar is vigorous in a style that is direct as it mixes blues and bebop.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was a multi-platinum double album produced by George Martin, featuring covers of songs by The Beatles and was released in July 1978, as the soundtrack to the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It starred the Bee Gees, Peter Frampton and Steve Martin. The project was managed by The Robert Stigwood Organisation.

Tromba Triumphans: Chamber Music with Baroque Trumpet
Poglietti - Schmelzer - Bertali - Pater F. G. - Clamer
Finger - Vejvanovsky - Biber - Reinhardt
Classical, Baroque | 1 CD | EAC | FLAC, CUE, LOG | Scans | 354 MB | RS
Recorded: 10-13 May 1998, Praemonstratenserabtei, Schlägl, Austria
Released: 1998 | Label: Winter & Winter 250-910-036-2 | TT: 71:40
Paul Plunkett - trumpet | Bell'Arte Salzburg, Annegret Siedel

Plunkett is one of the few artists on the natural trumpet who understand the concept of uneven articulation, so necessary to the performance of music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. [His] style and articulation are the most elegant and artistic this reviewer has heard. (International Trumpet Guild Journal, 24: 4, June 2000)

This release combines the elegant swing of nine-time Grammy-winner Kenny Barron with the first-call Brazilian rhythm section of Trio da Paz, an inspired cross fertilization that enhances both jazz and tropical elements. This is an exceptionally well-paced, melodic, spirit-lifting CD. Recommended

'Caught In The Light' is a very keyboard based album, giving the music a light, airy and dare I say 'cosmic' feel to the entire affair much like the Rodney Matthews art that graces the cover. In keeping with the BJH tradition you will not find songs about sex, fast cars and faster women, but more themes based on relationships as on 'The Great Unknown' and 'Silver Wings' to current events important at the time the album was recorded with 'Cold War' to history with 'Copii Romania' and 'Forever Yesterday'. Musical references can be drawn to Alan Parsons Project, Keats and late period Al Stewart, but really Barclay James Harvest had a sound all their own creating sound pictures for the mind and food for the soul.

"111 Classic Tracks is the ultimate compilation of artists and recordings from Deutsche Grammophon's huge catalogue, ranging from an aria sung by Enrico Caruso in 1907 to a Richard Strauss song recorded by Measha Brueggergosman in 2009 (and not previously released). It features 111 artists, from Claudio Abbado to Krystian Zimerman, who have contributed to the label's glorious history."