The great tenor saxophonist and flutist Lew Tabackin is joined by pianist Hank Jones, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Victor Lewis on this well-rounded program. The Concord CD has many highlights, including "Hot House," Duke Ellington's "Serenade to Sweden," Tabackin's "A Bit Byas'd," and "You Leave Me Breathless"; the leader's tenor in particular is in top form. Highly recommended to fans of straight-ahead jazz, this release gives one a strong sampling of Lew Tabackin's talents.

Extra Soul Perception is hardly an album that would stand out to more casual listeners, with the album’s greatest strengths being more on the subtle side of things. There’s not a solo or individual track that truly stands out as something special, but the album carries itself well through its various experimental tendencies as well as its more conventional moments. It’s not an album for everyone, and that’s probably why it’s not a true ‘classic’, but Extra Soul Perception is a wonderful journey that’s there for anyone looking to travel through the heart of what makes jazz special.

The three very moving Leçons de Ténèbresby Michel De Lalande, published in 1730, are sung by the soprano Isabelle Desrochers, and this recording also includes four ‘tombeaux’, instrumental pieces commemorating a dead person. Two of them are by Marin Marais: Tombeau de Sainte-Colombeand Tombeau pour Monsieur de Lully.

Guitarist Pete McCann is sometimes compared to both John Scofield and Pat Metheny, and you'll hear more than a shade of the latter in his buttery tone and lush use of reverb on several of this album's tracks. But on McCann's sophomore effort there's also quite a bit of Bill Frisell in his approach to melody – listen to the slow-footed "Knew Blues" and the ringing open chords and skewed phrasing on "You Remind Me of Someone." On "Ornery," a brilliant tribute to free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, McCann pays homage not just to Coleman's notorious disregard for the chord progression during solos, but also to the man's amazing ability to write delightful, sometimes downright hooky melodies. McCann also chooses his few covers well, delivering a thoughtful rendition of Cole Porter's "I Love You" and a slightly Latin-tinged interpretation of the Steve Swallow composition "Falling Grace."

With a lineup of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Doug Watkins, pianist Kenny Drew, and drummer Pete La Roca, McLean laid down a hard blowing session of six tunes based completely on blues motifs. Many critics - as well as jazz fans - hold to the opinion that Bluesnik may be McLean's most accessible session for the label. That said, not all of these tunes are blues numbers strictly speaking. They use blues forms, but don't all fall into the conventional 12-bar structure, and therefore even move hard bop paradigms a bit. The title track opening the set is a prime example of this given that it quotes the theme in 12-bar but moves through a knotty ten-bar sequence before roaring into a furious but fluid cut time structure that allows for a maximum "stretching" of the changes by Drew…

In Glyndebourne’s first-ever staging of a opera by Rameau, director Jonathan Kent presents a production which, in his own words, ‘strives to appeal to every sense and show audiences how engrossing and musically ravishing French Baroque opera can be’. Rameau’s inventive take on Racine’s great tragedy Phèdre is brought to life by Paul Brown’s colourful and elegant designs and Ashley Page’s playful choreography. Ed Lyon and Christiane Karg give captivating performances as the titular young lovers, while Sarah Connolly, making a welcome return to Glyndebourne, ‘invests Phaedra with both grandeur and a desperately human vulnerability’ (The Independent). Leading exponent of early music William Christie ‘sets an exhilarating pace, galvanising the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment to playing of tremendous panache’ (The DailyTelegraph).