Jimmy Raney was the definitive cool jazz guitarist, a fluid bop soloist with a quiet sound who had a great deal of inner fire. He worked with local groups in Chicago before spending nine months with Woody Herman in 1948. From then on he was in the major leagues, having associations with Al Haig, Buddy DeFranco, Artie Shaw, and Terry Gibbs. His work with Stan Getz (1951-1952) was historic, as the pair made for a classic musical partnership. Raney was also very much at home in the Red Norvo Trio (1953-1954) before spending six years primarily working in a supper club with pianist Jimmy Lyon (1954-1960). After playing with Getz during 1962-1963, he returned to Louisville and was outside of music until resurfacing in the early '70s. During the 1970s, Raney recorded often for Xanadu. He worked frequently…

The posthumously released all-star Jeff Golub benefit album, The Vault, brings together reworked and previously unreleased versions of songs the guitarist recorded prior to being diagnosed with the rare brain disease progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in 2014. A debilitating condition, PSP robbed Golub of his eyesight and left the adept, genre-bending blues and jazz musician unable to play his guitar. Tragically, complications from the disease also led to his death in January 2015. Prior to his passing, however, several of Golub's longtime friends and collaborators, including trumpeter Rick Braun, music executive Bud Harner, and producer/engineer Steven Miller, assisted Golub in compiling these tracks.

A touch of nostalgia as I glanced at the sleeve - "Joshua Breakstone uses Ernie Ball strings exclusively". If I'd had a lousy dime for every set of Ernie Ball Super Slinky's I'd sold during my 30 year incarceration in Newcastle's Central Arcade I'd be worth a bob or two (well maybe one bob). I don't suppose Joshua Breakstone ever bought any Super Slinkys from me, him being 3000 miles away, which is a pity because, if he had done, I'd have been able to claim to have had some involvement in one of the most listenable guitar albums I've heard since Charlie Christian showed the way. This is guitar playing as cool as Stan on tenor or Chet on trumpet, music that makes you want to lay back and luxuriate in the sounds with maybe a G & T to hand. We've also got a cello in the mix which is great. I've long advocated the cello - not as a double bass substitute - but as a frontline horn which is what we get here…

A Blowin' Session is an album by jazz saxophonist Johnny Griffin, recorded and released in 1957 on Blue Note Records. It was remastered and reissued in 1999, featuring an alternate take of "Smoke Stack". A Blowin' Session is one of the greatest hard bop jam sessions ever recorded; it is filled with infectious passion and camaraderie. It's also the only time tenor saxophonists Johnny Griffin and John Coltrane would play together on record.

The Karajan Official Remastered Edition comprises 13 box sets containing official remasterings of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 and 1984, which are now a jewel of the Warner Classics catalog. This 6-CD box presents Karajan's first recording of the complete Beethoven Symphonies, made in the early 1950s with London's recently-founded Philharmonia Orchestra. The recording of the 9th Symphony is available here in stereo for the very first time, taken from original unreleased tapes.

Coast to Coast is the fifth studio album by guitarist Steve Morse, released on June 9, 1992 through MCA Records. The album reached No. 30 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.

The story of Cressida is in many ways a frustrating one. Formed in 1968 the band was active for a mere two years before they broke up in late 1970 prior to the release of their second album, Asylum. Despite being short-lived the band would later be recognised as pioneers of symphonic prog, a form of progressive rock which, as its title suggests, incorporates elements of classical and orchestral music.