Vinyl LP pressing. Contradictory accounts of Miles Davis' creation of the soundtrack to Louis Malle's film noir Ascenseur pour l'�chafaud have all become part of it's legend. Rarely has a soundtrack been so decisive. Nearly 70 years on, beyond the myth, this taut, feverish recording, imbued with extreme dramatic tension, remains one of the Miles' finest records. This beautiful re-issue of the original recording is pressed on 180g vinyl at GZ, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with Boris Vian's original liner notes and Jean-Pierre Leloir's iconic studio photo of Miles and Jeanne Moreau, and an essay on the circumstances that led to this out-of-the ordinary music by Franck Bergerot.

Released to celebrate the 70th anniversary of these sessions and the 75th anniversary of Prestige Records, "Miles '54" brings together 20 tracks recorded by the trumpet legend in 1954. Including cuts from albums released that year, it features Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk and more. Included are new liner notes by GRAMMY Award-winning music historian Ashley Kahn and session notes by Dan Morgenstern, with mastering by Paul Blakemore. 2 CD set.

Released to celebrate the 70th anniversary of these sessions and the 75th anniversary of Prestige Records, "Miles '54" brings together 20 tracks recorded by the trumpet legend in 1954. Including cuts from albums released that year, it features Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk and more. Included are new liner notes by GRAMMY Award-winning music historian Ashley Kahn and session notes by Dan Morgenstern, with mastering by Paul Blakemore. 4 LP set on 180g black vinyl.

Miles In France 1963 & 64- The Miles Davis Quintet: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 / MILES IN FRANCE is the eighth installment in the celebrated Miles Davis Bootleg Series and this edition focuses on the birth of the Second Great Quintet in 1963 and 1964. The music heard here represents the sound of an end and a beginning coming through at once. The set contains 5 separate performances of the Miles Davis Quintet spread over 6 CDs and the energy and depth of feeling in the transcendent playing hint at the special relationship Miles and the group had with the French nation that embraced them in a way their homeland would not. It contains over 4 hours of revelatory, unreleased live music featuring Miles backed by George Coleman (on the 1963 recordings), Wayne Shorter (on the 1964 recordings), Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. This set expands on the 1964 live album MILES IN EUROPE which documented the Miles Davis Quintet's performance at the Festival Mondial du Jazz in Antibes in July 1963. While that album included a single edited set across 2LPs, this will include all three very distinct performances from Antibes along with two never-before-released concerts from October 1964 in Paris, by which time Wayne Shorter had joined the band, so you could hear the Second Great Quintet come together before your ears. The audio has been lovingly mixed and mastered in the highest quality possible and the CDs are packaged in 3 gatefold mini-jackets housed in a luxe slipcase box with a die-cut O-card and a 32 page book that includes dozens of unseen photos, ephemera and extensive liner notes by noted journalist Marcus J. Moore.

Miles Davis' first classic quintet (with the leader on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums) was formed in 1955 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest combos in jazz history. Relaxin' was the second in a series of four albums featuring the group recorded between May and October of 1956. It contains Miles' first version of "If I Were a Bell" from the play Guys and Dolls, a tune he would include in his concert repertoire until 1965. 180-GRAM COLORED BLUE VINYL - THE COMPLETE ALBUM + 2 BONUS TRACKS - Contains new specially prepared liner notes by Penguin Guide to Jazz's writer BRIAN MORTON and by Paris' prestigious JAZZ MAGAZINE. LIMITED EDITION

In 1955 Miles Davis played an all-star jam session at the Newport Jazz Festival with Thelonious Monk on piano, Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax and Zoot Sims on tenor sax. This performance immediately drew the attention of Columbia Records' George Avakian, who was so impressed that he immediately offered Davis a contract if he could form a regular band. The group he then assembled would go down in history as Davis' so-called "First Great Quintet", consisting of John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Philly Joe Jones on drums, Paul Chambers on bass and of course Miles himself on trumpet. 'Round Midnight is Miles Davis' first record for Columbia and also the first studio recording of the First Great Quintet. The recording sessions began on October 26 1955 but the album wasn't released until 1957 as Davis was still under contract at Prestige at the time. These respective sessions yielded Steamin', Workin', Cookin' and Relaxin'; albums that would go down in history as quintessential blueprints of late 1950s hard bop. The record is made up of a collection of standards and one traditional song ("Dear Old Stockholm", from the 19th century). Notably, it features what may be considered the most well-known versions of Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight" and "Bye Bye Blackbird". That Avakian made a golden signing was sufficiently clear from the start, but no one could foresee that it would be this quintet on Columbia that would go on to change the course of modern jazz forever with Kind of Blue. 'Round Midnight is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl.

Vinyl LP pressing. The Best Of Miles Davis is a new compilation released to celebrate the legendary jazz trumpeter's centennial in 2026. Designed as an introduction to this influential artist, it covers his prime years between 1956 and 1961, during which time he recorded albums including Workin', Cookin', Steamin' and Relaxin'. The 8 cuts included feature "'Round Midnight," "My Funny Valentine," "Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me)" and more.

Recording of the Month

When it comes to the music of Robert Schumann the dramatic works have always seemed to be the poor relations when compared to the rest of his music. This is mainly due to the writing of Eduard Hanslick, who at best damned the works with faint praise. The so-called "War of the Romantics" did not help: Schumann was seen as part of the conservative side by the followers of the modernists who included Liszt and Wagner. Either way his dramatic output and especially his opera, Genoveva, a work I enjoy, suffered as a consequence. Scenes from Goethe's Faust did not fare much better, which is a real shame as I have always regarded it as one of his greatest pieces, and not just of his late period, the music of which Hanslick all but dismisses. A convincing argument for the Scenes as a major work is made in the excellent accompanying book.

One of the perceived problems is that it is difficult to describe. It is not an opera but it's hardly an oratorio either. Perhaps a new genre needs to be developed to describe it. Until then perhaps we can call it an opera-oratorio, a description that highlights the best that the work has to offer in both worlds.

Scenes from Goethe's Faust had a prolonged gestation period of some nine years (1844-1853), with the third section having originally been conceived as a standalone work. The first two sections - Schumann was the first composer to set part two of Goethe's text to music - were added later. This led to the criticism that it was unbalanced with the best music being found in the final section, while the rest, which was composed during the period of Schumann's final illness said to lack the spark of inspiration. This is far from the truth. The work has to be seen as a whole or the scenes do not work together. These sections are used to highlight specific aspects of the 'Faust' myth and not the story as a whole.

If the third part could be said to be the most inspired, this is due to Goethe's text. The second part is the most dramatic and lends itself to a more dramatic interpretation through music. The result is a work which deserves more recognition. I would love to hear it performed live but whilst I can't see that happening anytime soon, this is the second new recording to have appeared in the last few years; Wit's Naxos version is the other. Perhaps people are coming to recognise this for what it is: one of Schumann's most important pieces as well as a seminal work in Romantic musical literature.

When it comes to performances the classic recording by Benjamin Britten has always been seen as the one to beat, although I must say that I have always had a soft spot for Abbado's star-studded live Sony recording from Berlin in 1994. I have always enjoyed Abbado's Schumann recordings. Is it any coincidence therefore that Daniel Harding, who became the assistant to Abbado in Berlin the following year, should choose to perform and ultimately record the work as well. This is an excellent performance, a true case of the apprentice learning well from the master. Christian Gerhaher is every bit as convincing as Bryn Terfel in the title role, while Christiane Karg, a soprano to watch, brings out a little more vulnerability to the role of Gretchen than Karita Mattila. That said there is very little to choose between the two, with all performers, soloists, chorus and orchestra, being on top form. Where the present recording wins hands down is on recording quality. There have obviously been a great many improvements in miking live performances over the last nineteen years, as this new recorded sound is a great deal brighter and more natural than that enjoyed by Abbado. This helps to bring out every nuance of the music and gives the listener new insights, especially when it comes to orchestration.

The booklet essay is excellent. It places the work in its true place of prominence. Added to this we find an interview with Christian Gerhaher in which he discusses the piece and a kind of glossary in which the characters are explained. This is all packaged in an attractive hardback book format.

– Stuart Sillitoe, MusicWeb International

Leonard Bernstein was certainly not surrounded by an aura of aloofness. He enjoyed his immense popularity, although he never consciously attempted to be “everybody’s darling” and to be hailed as “Lenny” by everyone on the street. His parents had officially named him Louis, but tended to call him Leonard. Serge Koussevitsky, his teacher and elder friend- with whom he not only shared an outstanding musical talent but also an Eastern European Jewish family background- called him Lenyusha. This release is being presented in honor of Bernstein’s 100th birthday. A high caliber artist roster led by Wayne Marshall is playing most of Bernstein’s Piano and chamber music which is not at all known to most connoisseurs of his music. A great part of these short pieces have until now only been available on vintage albums, making this release even more special.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

English-speaking audiences have always found Die Meistersinger to be a life-enhancing celebration of wisdom, art and song. So it proves in David McVicar's production – the first at Glyndebourne – which is updated to the early-19th century of Wagner's childhood. At the centre of a true ensemble cast is Gerald Finley, a 'gleamingly sung', 'eminently believable' Sachs (The Independent on Sunday), supported by the dynamic conducting of Vladimir Jurowski which, like McVicar's production, uses Glyndebourne's special intimacy to bring sharp focus to bear on the subtlety of Wagner's musical and dramatic counterpoint.

McVicar has put on a great show with style, intelligence and insight. -- The Telegraph

Musically, it was judged faultlessly for the scale of the theatre by Vladimir Jurowski, who conjured playing of mercurial clarity not the first words one would normally choose for this gargantuan score from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, sustained with unfailing vigilance and concentration. -- The Guardian

Richard Wagner
DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG
(Blu-ray Disc Version)

Walther von Stolzing – Marco Jentzsch
Eva – Anna Gabler
Magdalene – Michaela Selinger
David – Topi Lehtipuu
Veit Pogner – Alastair Miles
Sixtus Beckmesser – Johannes Martin Kränzle
Hans Sachs – Gerald Finley
Kunz Vogelgesang – Colin Judson

The Glyndebourne Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor

David McVicar, stage director

Recorded live at Glyndebourne, Lewes, July 2011

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German
Running time: 300 mins
No. of Discs: 1 (Blu-ray)

R E V I E W:

WAGNER Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg • Vladimir Jurowski, cond; Anna Gabler ( Eva ); Michaela Selinger ( Magdalene ); Marco Jentzsch ( Walther von Stolzing ); Topi Lehtipuu ( David ); Gerald Finley ( Hans Sachs ); Johannes Martin Kränzle ( Sixtus Beckmesser ); Alastair Miles ( Veit Pogner ); Glyndebourne Festival Ch; London PO • OPUS ARTE OA 1085 D (2 DVDs: 300:00) OA BD7108 (Blu-ray) Live: Glyndebourne 6/2011


John Christie, Glyndebourne’s founder, was Wagner-obsessed and would have dearly loved to present one of the composer’s operas early-on in the Festival’s history. But such an undertaking was not a reasonable possibility in Glyndebourne’s original 300-seat theater. As John Christie’s grandson recounts in one of this Blu-ray’s “extras,” an early Glyndebourne conductor commented “if you put on Wagner, you’ll need to put the audience on the stage and the stage in the auditorium.” Glyndebourne got a new opera house in the 1990s, seating 1,250, and Wagner finally came to East Sussex in 2003 with a production of Tristan und Isolde. This David McVicar-directed Meistersinger represents Glyndebourne’s second Wagner staging, and it’s something special.


Die Meistersinger , at one level, is about intergenerational conflict and being able to cast younger singers as the quartet of lovers is a real plus. (The recent PentaTone Meistersinger on SACD succeeds, in part, because those singers at least sound youthful.) At Glyndebourne, McVicar notes, he could “cast singers that are appropriate to the ages of their characters and are physically convincing.” Marco Jentzsch, the strapping Walther, has got to be 6’3” or 6’4”—a far cry from the all-too-common fireplug Stolzings, whose boots come up most of the way to their protuberant abdomens. If Jentzsch can’t belt out the Prize Song as powerfully as a Ben Heppner or Peter Seifert, he’s fully up to the lyrical requirements of the role and his voice has a pleasant timbre. The Finnish tenor Topi Lehtipuu handles the part of David very effectively, both his character’s palpable horniness and, more critically, the act I exegesis on song writing. Anna Gabler is a complex and passionate Eva, as confused as Nuremberg’s shoemaker about the possibility of a future as Mrs. Hans Sachs. Michaela Selinger, the Magdalena, is perky and vocally appealing.


Alistair Miles portrays a Pogner that is Sach’s equal in intelligence and integrity, despite his fat-cat status; Johannes Martin Kränzle’s Beckmesser executes the requisite physical comedy and manages just the correct amount of pedantry and pride to define the town clerk’s obvious short-comings while leaving him a sympathetic character. Beckmesser, here, is a victim of his own personality failings rather than a fundamentally bad person. Any Meistersinger, of course, depends on its Sachs to keep our interest up for five hours, and Gerald Finley is a superb one. He happens to be the best singer here, but his acting is what makes this production so compelling. Finley’s character, we know from the outset, is thoroughly engaged with the dual goals of achieving artistic progress and promoting Stolzing’s romantic efforts—but is also a very conflicted human being. When the curtain goes up for act III, it’s clear that Sachs has been drinking all night and he kicks some furniture around. He uncovers a portrait of his late wife. And just before Walther enters to compose his song, we see Sachs pick up a pen to write something—presumably a contest song to compete for Eva himself. The Knight comes into the workshop and Sachs backs away from the abyss.


It’s that sort of theatrical detail that makes this production exceptional. The size of the stage and hall is still small by Metropolitan Opera or Covent Garden standards and allows for a high level of intimacy. As McVicar tells us “Everyone on stage is a character and has a story.” Watch the Masters as they congregate in acts I and III, especially the guy with the ear trumpet. That’s “Ulrich Eisslinger,” not exactly a major role—he has one line in the act I roll call. The part is positively savored by Adrian Thomson, who responds to every event on stage with facial expressions and body language that are alone practically worth the price of admission. And look at the Masters’ faces when Walther’s final version of the Prize Song takes an unexpected harmonic turn. These guys—the singers and their characters—are really listening deeply.


McVicar moves the action from the 16th century to the early 19th, the era into which the composer was born. In a second extra feature, Die Meistersinger —An Opera with Baggage, the director reminds us that the 1820s and 1830s were a time before Unification when Germans “could point to their culture as an expression of their national identity.” By considering Meistersinger in the context of this time frame, McVicar doesn’t need to directly address the future commandeering of this work for the vilest of nationalistic purposes. I like any Meistersinger where Beckmesser stays on stage after his humiliation. He’s not the “other”—he’s still part of a community.


The production is sumptuously lit and filmed, in the same league as the Met’s venerable Otto Schenk version—and the meadow scene is a real eyeful. The sound is richly detailed with excellent vocal/orchestral balances. (In multichannel, the “auf den theater” brass fanfares are definitely coming from afar.) Subtitles are offered in English, French, and German. Glyndebourne’s Meistersinger goes straight to the top of the heap among the eight video versions in my collection. It registers here, to use David McVicar’s words, as “a profoundly human, wise, warm, loving work.”


FANFARE: Andrew Quint

Classical Music

The Miles Davis Story is a two-hour film directed by acclaimed filmmaker Mike Dibb. The film features classic performances from all eras of Miles' career, and insightful interviews with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Clark Terry, Joe Zawinul and many others. Eleven years after his death in 1991, legendary trumpeter Miles Davis remains the best known and most influential jazz musician of the last 50 years. This program showcases many of Davis' most influential and timeless recordings.

Miles Davis and Gil Evans' Porgy and Bess Is a Landmark of Arrangement, Performance, and Emotion: 1959 Adaptation of George Gershwin Opera Advances Jazz Idioms and Modal Playing Mastered from the Original Master Tapes, Mobile Fidelity Reissues Play with Reference-Level Tonality, Depth, and Openness: Strictly Limited to 3,000 Numbered Copies on Hybrid SACD Davis' First Great Quintet Delivers Soul, Sweetness, Spirituality, and Intensity: Unsurpassed Jazz Dance Includes the Eternal 'Summertime' and Harmonic 'Prayer' If a more significant, influential, and lasting result of a creative musical partnership exists than that of Miles Davis and Gil Evans' Porgy and Bess, society hasn't seen it. It's impossible to overstate the importance of the pair's collaboration on the landmark 1959 update of George Gershwin's opera. Transcending genre, time, and place, the profound statement finds Evans and Davis implementing modal approaches in a mainstream context and advancing jazz idioms that would become the foundation of the form's still-classic era. Davis and Evans' adaptation of Porgy and Bess remains of a piece, an American touchstone that immediately separated itself from the multiple other versions released during the same period. And that's saying nothing of the soulful playing-legendary performances by Davis' first great quintet that can now be heard in pristine detail courtesy of these definitive editions. Mastered from the original tapes and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies on hybrid SACD, Porgy and Bess attains previously unheard degrees of clarity, openness, immediacy, and depth on Mobile Fidelity's meticulous reissues. Here, the arrangements unfold amidst practically limitless soundstages and burst with multi-dimensional images. Davis' iconic solo passages take on borderline-surreal qualities of realism and shape. The magisterial scope of the Evansconducted orchestra emerges with room-filling bloom, color, and dynamics. At once sweet and spiritual, sure and steady, graceful and exuberant, happy and sad, Porgy and Bess is a phenomenal jazz dance that has never been equaled. You can't afford not to hear it in the finest-possible fidelity.

The first recording in our cpo SYMPHONIC JAZZ SERIES with the WDR Radio Orchestra of Cologne is entitled American Connection. Concertos for jazz clarinet by Jorge Calandrelli, Daniel Freiberg, and Jeff Beal are heard in performances with the world-famous clarinetist Andy Miles. Andy Miles is one of the youngest representatives of a guild whose members received posts as solo clarinetists in German orchestras (in his case with the Hamburg Philharmonic). Later he made his way to Cologne as the principal clarinetist of the WDR Radio Orchestra. Thanks to his "wild past" as a saxophonist in rock bands, a tin whistler in folk bands, and a clarinetist in jazz bands, Miles is able to exercise his activity in many musical fields. He numbers among the few genuine crossover musicians who succeed in mediating between classical and jazz music because they feel at home in both of them. The press has called him »the Marco Polo of the Clarinet.« It should also be mentioned that the famous Alan Silverman was in charge of an additional mastering of our recording in the United States. Alan has worked for artists like Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, The Rings, Dolly Parton, and Keith Richards and received more than fifty Grammy Awards. His Art! Mastering, one of the largest and best-equipped mastering studios in New York City, offers first-class analogue and digital outboard equipment and an excellent monitoring system.

Classical Music

Trumpeter Miles Davis was without doubt one of the most important and influential jazz musicians of the post-war era, not only as a pioneer of the bebop movement but through being at the forefront of many stylistic and musical innovations over the years. His landmark debut album for Capitol The Birth Of The Cool, recorded during 1949 and 1950, became regarded as seminal in the history of cool jazz, exploring unusual harmonies and textures. This excellent-value 49-track 2-CD set comprises his studio recordings in small ensembles, in which he is the only trumpeter, from his studio debut in 1945 through to the end of 1948, just weeks before the first of the Birth Of The Cool sessions in January 1949. As a bonus, it concludes with a 'live' recording with Charlie Parker's All Stars in December 1948. It features performances with Charlie Parker's Reeboppers, the Charlie Parker Septet, Charlie Parker All Stars, Coleman Hawkins All Stars, Miles Davis All Stars, Charlie Parker Quintet & Charlie Parker Sextet from eleven different recording sessions during these years. Charlie Parker was his primary collaborator on these sessions, but among the musicians featured in the various line-ups were Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Kai Winding, Coleman Hawkins, Lucky Thompson, Hank Jones, John Lewis, Max Roach, J.J. Johnson, Al Haig, Curly Russell and others. It's a fascinating insight into the development of his music during these key formative years.

WORKIN WITH THE MILES DAVIS QUINTET (ORIGINAL JAZZ CLASSICS SERIES) Undeniably one of the most iconic smaIl bands in the history of jazz, the Miles Davis Quintet of the mid-1950s featured an all-star line-up of Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Philly Joe Jones (drums). This new edition of "Workin'" is released as part of the Original Jazz Classics Series and features remastered audio from the original master tapes. Available on 192/24 hi resolution digital.

At the end of April 1791, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart applied for the position of second Kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, hoping to inherit the position from Leopold Hofmann, the incumbent Kapellmeister, the City Council of Vienna accepted Mozart’s petition in a strongly worded decree as a basis for the text in the vocal passages of his Sieben Klangräume Accompanying the Unfinished Fragments of Mozart’s Requiem KV 626. All of the parts of the Requiem composed by Mozart himself exist in a complete four-part vocal score with organ bass - only the first movement is fully orchestrated - and contain virtually all of the key musical aspects: theme, harmony, melody, dynamics and modulation. According to Haas, “Mozart sketched out the main musical voices for the whole piece, producing almost a skeleton to the work” – in other words, fragments of sound. This was the approach used by Haas for his Klangräume (Sound Spaces): “ In between these fragments of sound, I was able to add a different sound world - one in the style of the early 21st century.” Haas responds powerfully to the nature of the fragments. Haas regarded the Requiem fragment as “sacrosanct”. The only aspect that Haas adopted from Mozart was his orchestration: mixed choir, mostly with four voices, but also extended to include as many as 16 voices for the spoken passages, but no vocal soloists. Haas does not use any musical material written by Mozart. He only uses the key signature of D minor on which he builds a series of harmonics for his composition. However, Haas responds powerfully to the nature of the fragments. The choir does not sing any of the words from the Requiem. Haas used the letter from the City Council of Vienna answering Mozart’s petition for the Position of assistant to the Kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. “Although Mozart is offered the position, he is granted it with such administrative brutality, which shows a total lack of understanding of everything related to art.” Haas uses the orchestral instruments to echo and foretell the moods in Mozart’s fragments, adding intricate tonal contrasts to the polyphonic richness of Mozart’s music. He adopts completely different compositional methods to establish connections to Mozart’s composition.

PORGY & BESS MILES DAVIS - VINYL LP - Porgy and Bess is a studio album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in March 1959 on Columbia Records. The album features arrangements by Davis and collaborator Gil Evans from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. The album was recorded in four sessions on July 22, July 29, August 4, and August 18, 1958 at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City. It is the second collaboration between Davis and Evans and has garnered much critical acclaim since it's release, being acknowledged by music critics as the best of their collaborations. Jazz critics have regarded the album as historic.. 180 gram vinyl in MONO, orig tracks, numbered.

Jason Miles's newest release for his Kind of New Band "Black Magic", his first on the Ropeadope label, he is exploring the possibilities of the small electric ensemble based on the same band of superb musicians he recently toured Europe with Reggie Washington on Bass, Gene Lake, Drums, Jay Rodriguez, Sax and Bass Clarinet and Philip Dizack on Trumpet. It is a combination of live tracks recorded at NewBlu in NYC and 4 new studio tracks that were influenced by a recent concert and encounter with Herbie Hancock. Jason recently said "seeing Herbie perform just made me realize how deep you have to go to get the most from your creative soul. I re-evaluated the new music I had and realized I hadn't explored my musical soul deep enough. I locked myself in my studio and came up with 4 new tracks that I couldn't be happier with and decided to call it Black Magic.There was some other vibes going on for sure"

Robin Ticciat's deserved reputation as one fo the great Berliozian's of our age is evident on this recording, his second, with the award-winning Swedish Radio Symphony. Romeo et Juliette was considered a pinnacle of French Romanticism and a brilliant example of Berlioz's orchestral mastery. The piece is one of the most original conceptions of the 19th century - deftly poised between symphony and stage drama. Robin Ticciati fully communicates the range of Berlioz's imagination; he brings an innate understanding of the romanticism of the music and succeeds in delivering a performance that is brimming with color.

-----

REVIEW:

The sound pictures are precise and subtle. Katija Dragojevic is a gorgeously warm mezzo, and Alastair Miles a stentorian bass in the final Serment de réconciliation.

– Guardian (UK)

The most requested Miles Davis reissue arrives for his centennial in spectacular style. What began as a holiday residency at Chicago's Plugged Nickel Caf� became the crucible where the Second Great Quintet forged it's identity. Miles, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams delivered a masterclass in risk and invention, dismantling familiar tunes and rebuilding them on the fly. Producer Teo Macero captured every note across seven sets on December 22 and 23, 1965. Portions trickled out in the '70s and '80s, but only in the early '90s did Legacy reveal the full scope across seven and half hours of revelatory music-instantly hailed as one of the greatest live jazz recordings ever and earning the Penguin Jazz Guide's coveted "Crown." Now, 30 years later and six decades after the shows themselves, veteran fans finally get the reissue they've demanded, and new fans get a chance to own one of the most mythologized live engagements in jazz history. This new 8CD edition mirrors the original sequence. Each CD comes in it's own newly designed mini-gatefold jacket, housed in a gold foil-embossed slipcase box. The 44-page perfect bound book includes rare Plugged Nickel photos and extensive new liner notes and track-by-track commentary by Syd Schwartz alongside Bob Blumenthal's original essay.

Reissue of drummer Butch Miles and his sextet swing album recorded in 1977.

W. four different bands in the early & mid 50's incl.. Johnny Wiggs-cornet, Raymond Burke-cl, Avery Howard-tpt, George Lewis-cl, Fred Neumann-pno+, includes previously unissued material, 18 tracks.

The Sky Below is guitarist Miles Okazaki's sequel to his critically-acclaimed Trickster (Pi 2017), which the New York Times labeled "tenacious futurism" and Pitchfork called "obviously complex, the work of virtuosi." The album received critics' picks in both Downbeat and JazzTimes, acclaimed as "an intellectually hefty album that feels weightless" and "a real breakthrough." The Sky Below continues the story of Trickster, this time following the classical arc of an oceanic voyage, where the character travels across a boundary ("Rise and Shine"), enters the unknown ("Dog Star"), visits magical islands ("Anthemoessa" and "Seven Sisters"), is caught in a storm ("Monstropolous"), abandoned ("The Castaway"), and finds a way home ("The Lighthouse"). For these songs, Okazaki took each of the compositions from Trickster, reduced them to their basic components, and rewrote new compositions from this genetic material to maintain their symbolic and sonic continuity. The Trickster band is comprised of Okazaki on guitar, Anthony Tidd on electric bass, Sean Rickman on drums, with the addition of Matt Mitchell on piano. A first-call musician on the cutting edge of jazz, Mitchell also prominently features Okazaki on his latest release, Phalanx Ambassadors (Pi 2019). The team of Tidd and Rickman, whom Okazaki first played with as the rhythm section of saxophonist Steve Coleman's Five Elements, form a seamless rhythmic foundation for the band. Together, they demonstrate the ability that they have honed for decades of negotiating abstract musical information while maintaining an unstoppable rhythmic drive. With it's narrative structure and Okazaki's judicious use of studio effects, The Sky Below evokes the fathomless depths of the sea, both familiar and strange.