Frank Vignola is another well-known straight-ahead electric guitarist who's aware that an instrumental cover of a well-known hit is only as good as its arrangement is. Vignola does a stylistic 180 and goes the smooth jazz/light funk route on Deja Vu, a spirited homage to instantly recognizable pop gems of the 70's and 80s. While a few of the tunes are given pretty much the easy listening treatment (a laid-back take on Carole King's "It's Too Late" is saved only by lightning improvisations at the end, for instance), Vignola finds wildly creative ways to tackle songs that were actually more mundane in their original incarnations…

Diane Schuur is that rare songbird who is equally competent as a jazz singer and a pops entertainer. While some vocalists go with more lucrative popular music and some take the road of the jazz artist in the pure sense, Schuur is able to straddle the two careers. Frank Sinatra and Nat "King" Cole had a superb grasp of the jazz idiom, but they made the decisive choice to become entertainers. By contrast, Chris Connor, Betty Carter, and Johnny Hartman all had shots at the klieglights and hit parade but took the route of the jazz scene…

Abandoned as a baby and raised in a brothel, Piaf was dicovered singing in the streets of Paris by a club owner, who started her 30-year career during which time she became France's best-loved and best-known songstress, with major hits from beginning to end. At times singing in front of the band with no microphone, her powerful voice and emotional delivery was a striking contrast to her diminutive size. Nicknamed "the Little Sparrow," Piaf was plagued by controversy…

2Alto finds the guitarist in the familiar company of drummer Roberto Dani, who also played on Orchestrology. The new faces this time are the alto saxophonists Loren Stillman and John O'Gallagher. Salamon wrote new music, specifically with these master stylists in mind, and the result is a true feast of contrapuntal playing that revives the legacy of saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh.

The second PASSPORT album continues building upon the solid foundations of the debut. "Mandragora" is a nice melodic opener with prominent use of electric piano/clavinet and of course Doldinger's wild sax. More aggressive "Nexus" is interesting for a short bass pedal works (wah-wah). "Fairy Tale" is a slower tempo, gentle theme with very good bass lines although sax gets sometimes too improvised. "Get Yourself a Second Passport" contains some nice unison bass and electric piano parts.

Not often does it happen that a “holy grail version” of a tape that you’ve been listening to forever gets laid down right in front of you, from out of nowhere.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Complete Piano Concertos Vol. 2
English Chamber Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim, Piano & Direction
4xCD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 1,04 GB | Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: EMI "DRM" # CZS 7 62825 2 | Country/Year: Germany 1989
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School, Piano

In the 1960s, while still in his twenties, Daniel Barenboim joined forces with the English Chamber Orchestra to record a groundbreaking set of the complete Mozart Piano Concertos, conducting from the keyboard. Later, he recorded them again with the Berlin Philharmonic, but the English Chamber Orchestra version still has the edge for its bite and beauty, operatic mellifluousness offset by apparently boundless energy and an atmosphere of inspired and intimate music-making from start to finish. Barenboim brings us Mozart in all his many guises, from enfant terrible to founding father and, ultimately, avatar in the term’s original sense.