Jamey Haddad met saxophone player Billy Drewes when both were music students in Boston. Nearly 45 years later, the longtime friends have made their first recording together: a collection of nine tunes written by Drewes and performed by Under One Sun, eight musicians who represent five countries and whose ages span five decades. “As my musical journey led me from one continent to another, and as I experienced a planet crying out for understanding, this team of players cosmically came forward,” says Haddad, a longtime professor of advanced improvisation and percussion at Oberlin Conservatory. “The sheer joy of every member experiencing their bandmates’ artistry truly exemplifies the human capacity to celebrate what makes us unique.” Joining Haddad and Drewes are Michael Ward-Bergeman, Luisito Quintero, Roberto Occhipinti, Leo Blanco, Ali Paris, and Salar Nader. Also included are performances by fellow Oberlin faculty trombonists Jay Ashby and Lee Allen, Oberlin Conservatory brass students, and Hadra des Femmes de Taroudant, an all-female vocal ensemble from Morocco.

Allusions to Seasons and Weather is a suite of four works based on experiences of time and place in the woods, water, mountains and magical far north of Norway, where Composer Peter V. Swendsen lived for a year as a Fulbright Fellow. + The suite itself, as well as the three additional pieces that accompany it on this CD, combine field recordings and electronics with the invention and artistry of exceptionally imaginative performers.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Late bassist Milt Hinton is celebrated for a stage and studio career that intersected with countless legendary musicians - from Dizzy Gillespie and Cab Calloway to Barbra Streisand and Willie Nelson - for an incredible seven decades. Groove Dreams, a new recording by versatile bassist Peter Dominguez, honors Hinton's legacy with solo bass tunes from artists as varied as Duke Ellington, Stevi Wonder, Bill Evans, and Chick Corea. Performed on the 18th-century Italian bass Hinton played throughout his career, each song explores the nuances and deep colors of the instrument - qualities not always discernible in ensemble playing. A renowned bassist and educator in his own right, Dominguez met Hinton in 1981 and won the inaugural Milton J. Hinton Scholarship Competition that same year. More than three decades later, Dominguez was instrumental in forging a relationship between the Hinton estate and Oberlin Conservatory, where he is a professor of jazz studies and double bass. Oberlin's relationship with the Hinton estate has grown to include a scholarship fund; an extensive collection of papers, films, and personal artifacts amassed by the Hintons; a biennial summer Institute for Studio Bass; photographs taken by Hinton throughout his career; and four basses formerly owned by Hinton that continue to be played by Oberlin facutly, students and visiting artists. ''Words are not adequate to express the experience of playing Milt Hinton's bass,'' says Dominguez. ''We are ever mindful of its provenance and Milt's enduring spirit that thrives within it.''

Classical Music

After performing the complete set of Mozart Sonatas for pianoforte and violin together, pianist James Howsmon and violinist Marilyn McDonald longed to relive three lesser-known gems. Perhaps smaller in scope but not in creativity, the sonatas that make up Mozart Among Friends wonderfully reveal the full range of Mozart's genius. The recording opens with the tempestuous Sonata in G major, K. 379, with its turbulent minor-key Allegro movement bookended by a florid Adagio in G major and a set of variations on a cheerful theme. It is followed by the Sonata in F major, K. 377, in which Mozart revived an old tradition from his youth: incorporating a minuet as finale, signaling a release of tension as the piece progresses from its energetic opening movements to its elegant conclusion. Completing the program is the Sonata in A major, K. 526, which reveals the ''emancipation'' of the violin from the piano, a device employed by Haydn at the time and incorporated into Mozart's string quartets and his three Viennese sonatas, of which this was the third. It depicts what many believe to be Mozart at his finest, from his unerring sense of texture to his seemingly endless font of melody. As the artists' notes explain, the title is a sort of double entendre: ''Mozart Among Friends'' refers to the customd uring Mozart's time of hosting home performances for loved ones; it also honors the friendship of the two longtime collaborators, Oberlin Conservatory faculty members Howsmon and McDonald, as well as their late friend, painter Leslie Miller, whose artwork graces the cover of the recording.

Poetry and lost love serve as the common threads of inspiration for Wordless Verses, a collection of atmospheric chamber music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the uncommon scoring of oboe, viola, and piano. Available together for the first time, these evocative pieces make up the debut recording of the Jackson Trio, whose members are longtime colleagues and active performers and educators in university and festival settings across America.

Founded in 1982 by distinguished faculty members at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Oberlin Trio has performed to enthusiastic acclaim throughout the world for more than 30 years. Since 2008, the tradition has been carried forward by pianist Haewon Song, violinist David Bowlin, and cellist Amir Eldan. Together, they have presented recitals and master classes across the United States, Korea, and China. In keeping with the ensemble's commitment to educating young artists, members of the Oberlin Trio enjoy teaching at top music schools in the U.S. and abroad.

Tenor Salvatore Champagne became fascinated by the work of Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco through his longtime pianist and collaborator, Howard Lubin. The introduction led to 15 years of research by Champagne, during which he uncovered the influential composer's unpublished Shakespeare Sonnets as well as a song cycle setting Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. In them Champagne found music of profound beauty and intimacy-and he became intent on sharing these treasures through his singing and in his work with students. The discoveries led to this premiere recording and the 66-page book that accompanies it: a fascinating exploration of Castelnuovo-Tedesco's life, work, and influence among a generation of U.S. composers and musicians. In addition, the book features rarely seen personal photographs and other artifacts that capture the essence of Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

American soprano Kendra Colton is an imaginative and virtuosic singer adept at a wide range of repertoire, from baroque opera and oratorio to contemporary music. on the reckless heart, she joins forces with longtime collaborator kayo Iwama on an eclectic set of songs created for Colton by welsh composer Andy Vores. the songs are presented here with master works by composers whose creations share Vores' British isle roots: Samuel barber's hermit songs and Benjamin Britten's the Salley gardens and on this island. also included is a less-familiar cycle, Ivor gurney's five Elizabethan songs.

Hailed as "one of the best new music performers around" (American Record Guide), pianist Thomas Rosenkranz enjoys a musical life as a soloist, chamber musician and artist teacher. His repertoire extends from the works of J.S. Bach to premieres of works written exclusively for him, and he often includes improvisation in his performances. Toward The Curve celebrates the richness and expanse of new music created by the alumni of the Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) department at Oberlin Conservatory, Mr. Rosenkranz's artistry and the collaborative power between them.

Literature is a frequent source of inspiration for Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, whose extended song cycle Songtree is based on poetry by William Shakespeare and Mexican author Ra�l Aceves. Zohn-Muldoon's compositional voice is also shaped by a steady collaboration with the particular group of musicians for whom he writes, including soprano Tony Arnold, flutist Molly Barth, percussionists Stuart Gerber and Paul Vaillancourt, guitarist Dieter Hennings, violinist Hanna Hurwitz, pianist and composer Daniel Pesca, and conductor Timothy Weiss, among others. This artistic affinity brought many of these musicians together to co- found the Zohn Collective in 2017. On Songtree: Music of Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, members and friends of that collective join forces with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME), under the direction of Weiss.

"• Though hailing from different eras, postwar Italian experimentalist Luciano Berio and contemporary composer Huang Ruo are united here in their exploration of identical • pieces of violin music played solo and with ensemble accompaniment. Acclaimed violinist David Bowlin reveals how two seemingly identical paths can be marked by endless contrasts. • Features the Oberlin Conservatory's award-winning Contemporary Music Ensemble under the direction of Timothy Weiss."