Part of Rashied Ali's artistic strength involved turning improbable sound combinations into unchallenged masterpieces. After the pattern established by Interstellar Space and Duo Exchange, Ali stepped into a rather unlikely duet with violinist Leroy Jenkins for Swift are the Winds of Life. Five years with the Revolutionary Ensemble had helped establish Jenkins as a composer already; he designed all the pieces played in the 1975 studio duets with Ali. That record is issued on vinyl here for the first time in almost a half century. It's augmented by an informal phantom session in which Ali and Jenkins explore thoroughly other territories-standards, Coltrane's music, and two untitled, unbridled improvisations. Survival Records SR-512 is a deluxe 2-LP set in an old-school tip-on gatefold jacket that includes Stanley Crouch's original essay along with new liner notes and excerpts from an interview with Jenkins. From 1972 until his death in 2009, Rashied Ali operated Survival Records as the primary record label for his work as a leader and other projects. Through that time, Ali documented every phase of his career as a musician.  Under the custodianship of the Ali family, Survival Records was revived in 2019 as a platform for improved, definitive reissues of the original LP releases as well as additional, hitherto unreleased performances from Ali's archive.  Survival releases have been optimized through the practices of Grammy-nominated veteran mastering engineer Joe Lizzi, the musical acuity of drummer George Schuller, and historical input from researcher Ben Young-overseen by the Estate of Rashied Ali.

Two LPs housed in a clamshell box with a full booklet. Rufus Wainwright's Dream Requiem is an extremely prestigious project, the result of a commission from major cultural institutions in the US, UK, and Europe. This world premiere recording features a new composition by the legendary, Grammy-nominated musician, who has collaborated with the who's who of the pop music world. With narration by Meryl Streep, the project will be followed by a worldwide tour starting in January 2025. Written during the pandemic, it's a requiem "for the people we have lost in this crisis, for the past from which we are cut off and for the future to which we do not yet know how to connect, a Requiem for human contact, solidarity and the human voice that have all become dangerous and contagious"; It's also a reflection on environmental collapse and the increase in the number of natural disasters. The text of Dream Requiem weaves together words from the Latin Mass for the Dead - as used by his hero Verdi - with Lord Byron's apocalyptic poem 'Darkness', written after the volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 and which brought about "the year without summer".

From Serenade Grotesque to Le Tombeau de Couperin, Maurice Ravel's piano works span nearly a quarter of a century of creative endeavour. To listen to this recording of all of them is to go on a journey, to immerse oneself in the heart of the magical world of the composer of Bolero. Each piece is a unique gem, a curious mixture of discipline and delight which seems to sketch out a portrait of the composer and alchemist embodied in Ravel.