In this second album in his French series, pianist Mark Bebbington is joined by baritone Roderick Williams and flautist Emer McDonough alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Jan Latham-Koening in a further program of music by Francis Poulenc. Featuring some of Poulenc’s most characteristic works, the program begins with his 1929 piano concerto Aubade originally written with a choreographed ballet element for a private fancy-dress party. The following year saw the composer set Surrealist poems by his friend Max Jacob in his work Le Bal Masqué, which Poulenc described as a ‘secular cantata’. Written in 1956 the Flute Sonata was described by the composer himself as being ‘simple but subtle’, while completing the album is the 1931 Sextet for piano and wind quintet.

CONCERTO FOR COOTIE: SELECTED RECORDINGS 1928-62

Big Joe Williams - Baby Please Don't Go: The Collection 1935-62 / Big Joe Williams was a Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist famous for the distinctive sound of his unique nine-string guitar, as well as for recording classic songs like "Baby Please Don't Go" and "Crawling King Snake". His career was remarkable for the fact that he recorded through every decade from the mid-1930s into the'70s, although his periods of active recording were somewhat erratic, while he maintained a constant round of 'live' performing. This great-value 115-track 5-CD set comprises most of the A & B sides of his releases on the Bluebird, Columbia, Bullet, Trumpet & VeeJay labels from 1935 to 1957, plus EP titles and the titles from his albums "Piney Woods Blues", "A Man Sings The Blues, "Tough Times", "Blues On Highway 69", "Nine-String Guitar Blues" and "Mississippi's Big Joe Williams & his Nine-String Guitar" from 1957 through to 1962. It includes recordings where he is accompanied by noted contemporaries like Sonny Boy Williamson, Ransom Knowling, Robert Lee McCoy, Judge Riley and others. He was one of the most impressive blues performers of his era who inspired many artists of later years like Bob Dylan, and this substantial collection offers an entertaining showcase for a highly original and influential artist.

Vinyl LP pressing. John Williams - famed composer of Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Jaws and winner of five Oscars, four Golden Globes, seven BAFTAs and 25 Grammys - first made his mark through his jazz recordings captured in 1957 on Bethlehem Records. BMG is proud to reissue the long-out-print album World on a String on vinyl, which sees the young Williams perform arrangements from the Harold Arlen songbook - including favorites such as "Over the Rainbow," "Come Rain or Come Shine," and "Stormy Weather."

I'M AS BLUE AS A MAN CAN BE 1

LIVE AT J'S 2

GOING BACK TO CRAWFORD

LIVE AT J'S 1

POOR BOB'S BLUES is a 2-CD set featuring 19 previously unreleased tracks. "... The most avant-garde blues performer ever recorded. No punk rock band has ever matched the jagged acerbic fury of the riffs Williams played 35 years ago. No rapper has approached his ability to evoke the torment of life in prison or bend language to cast an eerie spell over a chance encounter with a seductive woman - the New York Times"

SHAKE YOUR BOOGIE

Tom Williams Quintet w. Tom Williams-tpt & fluegelhorn, Gary Thomas-ts & ss, Kevin Hayes-pno, Peter Washington-bs, Kenny Washington-dms. (Previously deleted 5/1/08. Original release date: 10/11/94)

This never before released session from 1972 (produced by John Bentley) features the Deep South guitarist Big Joe Williams in a solo setting with only his mighty voice & his 9-string guitar, performing songs like "Highway 99," "Cadillac Blues," "Church Bells Ringin'," "Pea Vine Whistle" & others.

Robert Pete Williams on guitar and vocals recorded in 1971, except three tracks are from 1950. Tracks: Broken-Hearted Man, May Rise Out of My Tomb, Lord, Help Poor Me, No One to Care for Me, Sick And Lonesome, Ramblin' Man, Tippin' in on Me, Straighten Up, When I Lay My Burden Down, Whiskey Head Man, Your Troubles Gonna Be Like Mine.

Alto saxophonist is joined by his friend Russell Gunn on his latest hard-bop album, produced by drummer Cecil Brooks III; Bruce shows versatility with tunes like the bluesy "Elijah's Blues," the swinging Parker-esque "Three Crows On Guard" & the unique take on "You Are So Beautiful"

Vinyl LP pressing. Original soundtrack to the 1975 motion picture. John Williams composed the film's score, which earned him an Academy Award and was later ranked the sixth greatest score by the American Film Institute. The main "shark" theme, a simple alternating pattern of two notes became a classic piece of suspense music, synonymous with approaching danger. Williams described the theme as "grinding away at you, just as a shark would do, instinctual, relentless, unstoppable." the piece was performed by tuba player Tommy Johnson. When asked by Johnson why the melody was written in such a high register and not played by the more appropriate French horn, Williams responded that he wanted it to sound "a little more threatening".

This double set brings together thirty-five sides recorded by Mary Lou Williams for Moses Asch between 1944 and 1947. Twenty-eight of these songs were previously only released on 78 rpm, and this collection includes solo and trio performances, as well as small-group and big band recordings.

On this album, Mary Lou Williams presents a history of jazz in speech and in music, from meditations on learning ragtime and blues as a child to performances of her own compositions, including "Night Life," which was captured on her first recording in 1930 and became a Kansas City classic.

So versatile that she was able to sustain a professional career for more than thirty years, jazz pianist, composer and arranger Mary Lou Williams ran the gamut from Dixieland to swing, bop and avant-garde. This album is among her 1960s avant-garde works, with intimate piano combos and vocal jazz choruses; it includes her well-known cantata, The Black Christ of the Andes (also available remastered and reissued on SFW40816 as a CD, complete with extensive liner notes and historic photos).

After rediscovering a tin box full of acetate recordings of jazz rehearsal sessions, Folkways founder Moe Asch pieced together a sequence that shows the on-the-spot creative energy musicians produce in the studio. This disc features Mary Lou Williams and her hand-picked group of session musicians, all innovators from the clubs of New York.

Celebrated violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter introduces a new concerto by her friend and frequent collaborator John Williams, with the legendary composer himself conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Composed especially for Anne-Sophie Mutter, John Williams's Violin Concerto No. 2 is the culmination of several years of collaboration and friendship between two of the world's most celebrated musical artists. John Williams & Anne-Sophie Mutter reunite for World Premiere Recording of the composer's Violin Concerto No. 2 - written especially for Mutter. Alongside three film themes in special new arrangements by Williams. New Single and Video of "Rounds" (from the Concerto) out 11 March. Album released on Deutsche Grammophon on 3 June 2022. "I can only think of this piece as being about Anne-Sophie. I took my inspiration and energy directly from this great artist herself" - John Williams. "It has been a lifelong dream of mine to have John Williams compose a concerto for me." - Anne-Sophie Mutter

BLUES ON HIGHWAY 49

Nine-string guitarist's first full album of classic country blues from 1958, feat. J.D. Short-gtr/harmonica on 4 songs.

1958

This is country blues at it's best from the master of the nine string guitar. It's also the first new Big Joe album on Delmark in 30 years, and it features recordings made in St. Louis from 1958 which also gave US "Piney Woods Blues" (DMK #602) and "Stavin' Chain Blues" (DMK #609), as well as from recordings made in Chicago from 1961 which also gave US "Blues on Highway 49" (DMK #604) and "Nine String Guitar Blues" (DMK #627). Bassist Ransom Knowling accompanies on three songs and their studio banter is priceless! More blues tales from one of the greatest story-tellers of all time.

Vinyl LP pressing. Celebrated violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter introduces a new concerto by her friend and frequent collaborator John Williams, with the legendary composer himself conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Composed especially for Anne-Sophie Mutter, John Williams's Violin Concerto No. 2 is the culmination of several years of collaboration and friendship between two of the world's most celebrated musical artists.