Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Dayna Stephens, one of the most interesting saxophonists of his generation, stars on A Week Ago Today, together with bandmates Andr� Sumelius, George Kontrafouris and Teemu Viinikainen.Drummer and producer Andr� Sumelius, who befriended Stephens while doing concerts and recordings together in San Francisco and, later on, NYC, and wanted to bring Dayna to Finland to record, envisioned the project from the start. Dayna Stephens' melodic compositions make up the majority of the album's music, but a few of Sumelius' compositions and one from Kontrafouris round out the production.

One of the musical and audiophile highlights of jazz recording history is available in unsurpassed SACD sound. A celebration of the 30th anniversary of the recordings, the analogue masters have been transferred using improved technology to SACD. For the first time, the complete recordings are collected with full documentation and photos. Some of the tracks, previously only available in limited editions, are all present in this collection. The set also includes a previously unreleased DVD, in which Lars Erstrand (vibes) and Georg Riedel (bass) recall these wonderful concerts.

The original music on this album is in the traditional jazz style with influences from singers like Blossom Dearie, Monica Zetterlund, and Karin Krog.

Taken from Lars Danielsson: Per, Lars, and Henrik are the core of the original version of Funk Unit (with Nils Landgren) where they together created a raw, wild, and unpredictable framework to their a little bit different view of the genre Funk/Jazz. Albums such as Redhorn and Live in Stockholm with Maceo Parker are examples of some of the influences that they have "marinated" in their long-standing collaboration with Michael Ruff, Randy Brecker, Brenda Russell, etc. Studio Tan emerged out of the desire to continue building on common experiences and create a collective musical frame on a platform where they could meet and create musical moments for themselves and their audience.

MARK ISAACS QUINTET: Closer

GORDON BRISKER QUINTET: My Son John

Saxophonist, clarinettist, composer and visual artist Marcel Barta entered the Czech jazz and improvisation scene while still a student and has since become one of it's core members. He is a founding member of the electro-jazz quintet MUFF, the cult jazz sextet Vertigo and the duo DoMa Ensemble. Besides collaborating with many foremost artists from different genres on the home and international scene, he has been dedicating himself to composition, writing scenic music for the theatre company Farma v jeskyni (Farm in the Cave), among otherprojects. He is the recipient of multiple Czech Music Academy Awards in the jazz category, having also been nominated for the same award on a number of occasions. While Episodes from the Spinning Ball is the first recording to feature Barta's work exclusively, the eponymous composition is his first piece for a large ensemble. As composer and arranger he has taken part in dozens of projects and recordings, many of which were released by the label Animal Music. The new album brings a recording of a concert performance featuring the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, which took place as part of the jazz-symphonic crossover series New Horizons in February 2025 in the DOX+Multifunction Hall in Prague. Composed on a commission from the orchestra, the work formally resembles a suite in three parts. It is performed, however, as a continuous flow of music. In the author's own words, the piece "is an attempt to evoke a story that reflects my own planetary experience. The rotating ball in the title is a geoid, the shape of our own planet." Combining composed music with improvisation, the piece bears traces of Barta's original style, known for example from his work for Vertigo or Muff. It is rooted in jazz and contemporary classical music and unfolds like an elaborate story in which densely composed soundscapes interweave with delicate melodies and fine-grained instrumentation and whereorder coexists with improvisation and melancholy passages alternate with psychedelia and humour. The jazz band in the recording features, alongside Marcel Barta himself, trombonist stepan Janousek, keyboardist and synth player Vojtech Prochazka, double bassist Milos Klapsteand drummer Jan Chalupa. The whole jazz-symphonic ensemble is conducted by Bastien Stil who has had ample experience leading crossover projects.

With a career spanning more than six decades, Danish saxophonist Karsten Vogel is one of the true veterans of Scandinavian music. On his new album Late Night Ballads, recorded with pianist Mads Sondergaard, bassist Peter Hansen and drummer Klaus Menzer, Vogel turns his focus inward, returning to the core of his jazz roots with a deeply reflective and intimate recording. The album is slated for release on Storyville Records on February 20. On Late Night Ballads, Vogel interprets seven classic ballads from the American songbook alongside one original composition. Late Night Ballads unfolds in the quieter hours, offering music that is atmospheric, lyrical, and deeply contemplative. It can serve as a gentle soundtrack to an evening gathering, but it also rewards close listening, revealing subtle musical details and a beautifully balanced sound. With Sondergaard, Hansen, and Menzer providing understated yet highly assured accompaniment, the performances unfold with elegance and restraint. Vogel's playing is marked by maturity and introspection, qualities that have always been present in his music, but which here come fully into focus. Karsten Vogel has left an indelible mark on Danish music as a musician, composer, and bandleader. His unmistakably personal alto saxophone sound has been heard across rock, jazz, and jazz-related genres on more than 75 releases, and his career has taken him far beyond Denmark's borders, with concerts across Europe, the USA, Japan, and India. He is widely known as a founding member of legendary jazz-rock bands Burnin Red Ivanhoe and Secret Oyster, and today stands as one of the few active musicians remaining from the early 1960s Danish music scene. In addition, his long-running work in radio has brought him a broad and devoted audience. Renowned British jazz critic Richard Williams once wrote in Melody Maker: "There aren't many alto saxophonists to whom I'd rather be listening. He has a lovely tone - slender, fibrous and very human - and a shallow vibrato: a highly distinctive combination." Late Night Ballads is firmly rooted in straight-ahead jazz, both in repertoire and instrumentation. It is a quiet but powerful statement from an artist whose long journey through jazz, rock, and fusion now culminates in a recording of remarkable warmth, depth, and clarity.

On June 19, Storyville Records releases Between Then and Now, a new trio album by acclaimed American pianist Christian Sands, joined by Danish bassist Thomas Fonnesb�k and Swedish drummer Rasmus Kihlberg. An international collaboration that captures contemporary jazz at the intersection of American tradition and Nordic musical sensibility. The album features nine tracks, balancing original compositions by Sands and Fonnesb�k with inspired reinterpretations of jazz standards and classic repertoire by Bobby Timmons, Richard Rodgers, Luiz Bonf�, and John Coltrane. Recorded in the spirit of Copenhagen's jazz tradition, it presents jazz as both a living art form of the present and a dialogue with it's past-hence the title Between Then and Now. The collaboration grew from Sands' relationship with the Copenhagen jazz scene, initiated when former Montmartre musical director Christian Brorsen discovered him online and invited him to Denmark. Like earlier generations of American jazz musicians, including Ben Webster and Dexter Gordon, Sands quickly became a compelling presence in Copenhagen, where attentive listening and subtle interplay guide every performance. Over the years he has been a frequent guest in Denmark and loved by the audience there. Together, the trio represents a truly international jazz language. Sands is celebrated for his virtuosic piano playing, rich harmonic imagination, and improvisational energy. Fonnesb�k, one of Europe's leading bassists, offers melodic clarity and technical brilliance shaped by the Danish jazz tradition, while Kihlberg contributes a refined rhythmic approach marked by elegance, precision, and responsiveness. Together they create a compelling sound of openness, yet you always feel the classic American jazz tradition in the music. This is modern American/Scandinavian music, not just jazz. Listen to Sands' inventive arrangement of "Giant Leaves," which merges John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" with Joseph Kosma's "Autumn Leaves," served as a tribute to legendary Danish drummer Alex Riel, who influenced both Sands and generations of jazz musicians in Europe. Original compositions such as Sands' "Where Children Still Play" and "Where the Light Settles," and Fonnesb�k's "Searching in Sahara" reveal the trio's lyrical and exploratory approach. The Nordic hymn "Til ungdommen (To the Youth / Kringsatt av Fiender)" is another beautiful example of how this trio sounds together. Enjoy this contemporary recording with three of the most interesting musicians on the Scandinavian and American jazz scenes right now.

Armenian piano virtuoso Tigran Hamasyan returns with Manifeste, out February 6, 2025-a powerful fusion of jazz, progressive rock, and Armenian folk. Recorded across five countries, the album blends rhythmic complexity, cinematic depth, and spiritual intensity, featuring longtime collaborators and the Yerevan State Chamber Choir. Manifeste is a bold declaration where the human, digital, and sacred unite in sound. Following The Bird of a Thousand Voices, Hamasyan continues his artistic exploration with Manifeste (2025)-a bold, multi-dimensional statement recorded between 2023 and 2025 across studios in Yerevan, Athens, Moscow, Los Angeles, and beyond. Entirely composed and produced by Hamasyan, Manifeste fuses his signature rhythmic complexity and spiritual depth with a more cinematic soundscape, where Armenian folk roots, progressive rock intensity, and choral mysticism intertwine. The album unfolds like a ritual sequence-from the meditative "Prelude for All Seekers" to the powerful "National Repentance Anthem. " Collaborators include longtime partners Marc Karapetian (bass) and drummers Arthur Hnatek, Arman Mnatsakanyan, Matt Garstka, and Nate Wood, alongside contributions from cellist Artyom Manukyan, trumpeter Daniel Melkonyan, guitarist Nick Llerandi, and the Yerevan State Chamber Choir conducted by Kristina Voskanyan. Each piece radiates Hamasyan's fascination with transcendence and transformation, whether through the fiery rhythmic drive of "Dardahan" and "Ultradance, " the haunting choral layers of "One Body, One Blood, " or the intimate dedications "Years Passing (For Akram)" and "A Window from One Heart to Another (For Rumi). " In Manifeste, Hamasyan brings together the human, digital, and sacred-a declaration of unity through sound, where modern technology meets ancient resonance. In addition to awards and critical acclaim, Hamasyan has built a dedicated following worldwide, as well as praise from Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, and the late Chick Corea. "With startling combinations of jazz, minimalist, electronic, folk, and songwriterly elements. Hamasyan and his collaborators travel musical expanses marked with heavy grooves, ethereal voices, pristine piano playing and ancient melodies. You'll hear nothing else like this. " (NPR)

Saxophonist, clarinettist, composer and visual artist Marcel Barta entered the Czech jazz and improvisation scene while still a student and has since become one of it's core members. He is a founding member of the electro-jazz quintet MUFF, the cult jazz sextet Vertigo and the duo DoMa Ensemble. Besides collaborating with many foremost artists from different genres on the home and international scene, he has been dedicating himself to composition, writing scenic music for the theatre company Farma v jeskyni (Farm in the Cave), among otherprojects. He is the recipient of multiple Czech Music Academy Awards in the jazz category, having also been nominated for the same award on a number of occasions. While Episodes from the Spinning Ball is the first recording to feature Barta's work exclusively, the eponymous composition is his first piece for a large ensemble. As composer and arranger he has taken part in dozens of projects and recordings, many of which were released by the label Animal Music. The new album brings a recording of a concert performance featuring the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, which took place as part of the jazz-symphonic crossover series New Horizons in February 2025 in the DOX+Multifunction Hall in Prague. Composed on a commission from the orchestra, the work formally resembles a suite in three parts. It is performed, however, as a continuous flow of music. In the author's own words, the piece "is an attempt to evoke a story that reflects my own planetary experience. The rotating ball in the title is a geoid, the shape of our own planet." Combining composed music with improvisation, the piece bears traces of Barta's original style, known for example from his work for Vertigo or Muff. It is rooted in jazz and contemporary classical music and unfolds like an elaborate story in which densely composed soundscapes interweave with delicate melodies and fine-grained instrumentation and whereorder coexists with improvisation and melancholy passages alternate with psychedelia and humour. The jazz band in the recording features, alongside Marcel Barta himself, trombonist stepan Janousek, keyboardist and synth player Vojtech Prochazka, double bassist Milos Klapsteand drummer Jan Chalupa. The whole jazz-symphonic ensemble is conducted by Bastien Stil who has had ample experience leading crossover projects.

Armenian piano virtuoso Tigran Hamasyan returns with Manifeste, out February 6, 2026-a powerful fusion of jazz, progressive rock, and Armenian folk. Recorded across five countries, the album blends rhythmic complexity, cinematic depth, and spiritual intensity, featuring longtime collaborators and the Yerevan State Chamber Choir. Manifeste is a bold declaration where the human, digital, and sacred unite in sound. Following The Bird of a Thousand Voices, Hamasyan continues his artistic exploration with Manifeste (2025)-a bold, multi-dimensional statement recorded between 2023 and 2025 across studios in Yerevan, Athens, Moscow, Los Angeles, and beyond. Entirely composed and produced by Hamasyan, Manifeste fuses his signature rhythmic complexity and spiritual depth with a more cinematic soundscape, where Armenian folk roots, progressive rock intensity, and choral mysticism intertwine. The album unfolds like a ritual sequence-from the meditative "Prelude for All Seekers" to the powerful "National Repentance Anthem. " Collaborators include longtime partners Marc Karapetian (bass) and drummers Arthur Hnatek, Arman Mnatsakanyan, Matt Garstka, and Nate Wood, alongside contributions from cellist Artyom Manukyan, trumpeter Daniel Melkonyan, guitarist Nick Llerandi, and the Yerevan State Chamber Choir conducted by Kristina Voskanyan. Each piece radiates Hamasyan's fascination with transcendence and transformation, whether through the fiery rhythmic drive of "Dardahan" and "Ultradance, " the haunting choral layers of "One Body, One Blood, " or the intimate dedications "Years Passing (For Akram)" and "A Window from One Heart to Another (For Rumi). " In Manifeste, Hamasyan brings together the human, digital, and sacred-a declaration of unity through sound, where modern technology meets ancient resonance. In addition to awards and critical acclaim, Hamasyan has built a dedicated following worldwide, as well as praise from Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, and the late Chick Corea. "With startling combinations of jazz, minimalist, electronic, folk and songwriterly elements. Hamasyan and his collaborators travel musical expanses marked with heavy grooves, ethereal voices, pristine piano playing and ancient melodies. You'll hear nothing else like this. " (NPR)

Recorded on a cold January night in 2013 in Copenhagen, Into the Storm brings together renowned Danish pianist Carsten Dahl with one of the most formidable rhythm sections in modern jazz, American bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. Across nine tracks consisting of a mix of, the trio delivers a masterclass in trust, shared pulse and fearless improvisation. Into the Storm will be released on Storyville Records on March 6, 2026. The concert was part of a series of one-off encounters pairing leading American jazz musicians with Danish artists, an approach rooted in Copenhagen's unique jazz history. From 1959 onward, the legendary Jazzhus Montmartre became a second home to figures such as Dexter Gordon, Kenny Drew, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Oscar Pettiford, and Johnny Griffin. Their presence helped shape generations of Danish jazz musicians and forged a lasting bond between American jazz and Copenhagen. Carsten Dahl stands as one of the most significant figures of the post-Montmartre generation. A central voice in Danish and European jazz, Dahl combines profound respect for the tradition with a restless, exploratory spirit. His playing is marked by a highly dynamic touch, sudden shifts in density, and a willingness to let form emerge in the moment. Dahl's musical upbringing under drummer Ed Thigpen, who settled in Copenhagen in 1972 and mentored many young Danish musicians, gave him deep roots in swing, form, and interaction. Jazz history is defined by great rhythm teams, Ray Brown & Ed Thigpen, Ron Carter & Tony Williams, NH�P & Alex Riel among them. In our time, Reuben Rogers and Gregory Hutchinson stand firmly in that lineage. Rogers' sound draws deeply from the Oscar Pettiford school: grounded, resonant and melodically rich. Hutchinson's musical DNA was shaped through his work with Betty Carter and in Ray Brown's trio. Together, they share a rare, almost telepathic connection and an elastic sense of time that lifts everything around them. On Into the Storm, their interplay doesn't simply support the piano, it actively shapes the music's direction. Dahl moves constantly between control and abandon, shaping the music in real time with hard swing giving way to lyrical ballads, spontaneous structures and daring transitions. Throughout, his close musical dialogue with Rogers and Hutchinson reinforces the sense of discovery. The rhythm section's deep groove and unshakeable internal time keep the music grounded, even at it's most adventurous. Captured in a single winter night in Copenhagen, Into the Storm displays Carsten Dahl's unpredictable swing meeting the drive and authority of Rogers and Hutchinson. A perfect example of jazz as a living art form: rooted in tradition, shaped by risk, and realized through the rare trust shared between three musicians listening as deeply as they play.

Classical Music

Bill Plays Bud

LOS ANGELES JAZZ QUARTET: Conversation Piece

Live, in Los Angeles, California

HUNGARIAN JAZZ HISTORY, VOL. 17: Jazz Dance from Hungary

NUEVAS RELACIONES: Anochecer

Classical Music

“The music on this CD is an artistic statement of Thomas Fonnesbæk’s bass playing and composing. Even though the members are the same as in Lars Jansson Trio this is Thomas’ work of art. Fonnesbæk’s music has a lot of strong grooves, exciting compositions, nice chords to “blow” on and some beautiful melodies.” –Lars Jansson