2017 release. Plainspoken but poetic, timely and timeless, poignant yet pointed: the American folk song tradition has a long history of confronting specific injustices while embracing a universal humanity. On the starkly moving Town and Country, vocalist Dominique Eade and pianist Ran Blake take the long view of our own tumultuous moment in history with a wide-ranging collection of folk tunes that examine the travails of Americans from Main Street to the mountains. With the varied repertoire on Town and Country, Eade and Blake - long-time colleagues both on the stage and as educators at Boston's New England Conservatory - present a broad notion of folk song that's as diverse as the nation itself. There are the expected classic tunes and country ballads, the ill-fated coalminers, the tragic romantics grasping out their last breaths, the cries of faith and determination sent heavenward. But in the agile imaginations of these two inventive artists, who share a love for skewing the traditional through a modernist lens, the folk idea is broad enough to include film noir laments and TV-scaled road songs, moonlit love and Third Stream austerity.

Classical Music

2017 release. Barber's work utilizes his dual affinities for classical music and jazz. Having come from a strict classical guitar background, Barber's jazz playing has really blossomed since moving to New York. His composing bears witness to passions, as he writes in a classical style with jazz elements, creating a poetic blend of highly composed lyrical pieces that open up for the expressionism of jazz improvisation. For One Minute Later, Barber recruited an incredible rhythm section in bassist Ben Williams and drummer Eric Harland. Both musicians are incredible technicians and fantastic accompanists. Harland has made a name for himself as one of the most exciting and expressive drummers in jazz, while Williams has become a force because of his ultra clean tone and incredible groove. It was Barber's discovery of wunderkind percussionist Alejandro Coello that drove Barber to make this recording. Barber was introduced to Coello by friend and virtuoso classical guitarist Ricardo Gall�n. Barber was astounded by the proficiency of the 25 year old from Salamanca, who had just begun to teach at Hochschule f�r Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, Germany (the youngest person to have done so).

2017 release. Singer-songwriter Jesse Harris has made a career out of crafting stunning songs that are impactful no matter how they are expressed. The most effective vehicle for his compositions has been with his own voice and with the duo, Star Rover. For Music for Chameleons, Harris expands the ensemble and creative input to create a collection of songs that are broad in scope and powerful in performance. The New York based Harris is well known for his tremendous songwriting and for his collaborations with other celebrated musicians, including Norah Jones, Petra Haden, Kandace Springs and Melody Gardot. Music for Chameleons (the title taken from a book of Truman Capote short works) is another advance in his collaborative endeavors, allowing the music to blossom with the help of some brilliant musical minds, not only the members of Star Rover, guitarist Will Graefe and drummer Jeremy Gustin, but also keyboard/guitarist Jesse Carmichael (Maroon 5), bassist/producer Jason Lader (Rick Rubin, Frank Ocean, Maroon 5, Jenny Lewis and Julian Casablancas) and string arranger Maycon Ananias (Maria Gadu).

2016 album from the jazz fusion outfit. With Steppin' Out, the group's collaboration with the WDR Big Band of Cologne, Mainieri is able to realize some classic Steps Ahead compositions in new surroundings, courtesy of the WDR's Brooklyn-born conductor and arranger Michael Abene. Abene's musical contributions can be heard on the new intros and interludes along with the subtle reharmonizations, rich voicings and savvy bits of counterpoint he creates on classic Steps Ahead pieces like Don Grolnick's 'Pools' (from 1983's Steps Ahead), Mainieri's urgently swinging 'Steppish' (from 1992's Yin-Yang) and 'Blue Montreux' (title track of a live 1979 album by the Arista All-Stars featuring Mainieri recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival). But Abene's crowning achievement as arranger on Steppin' Out just might be his gorgeous writing for Mainieri's poignant and lyrical 'Self Portrait' (from 1983's Modern Times). The band of all-stars featured with Mainieri on this stellar encounter with the WDR Big Band includes tenor saxophonist and former Miles Davis sideman Bill Evans, drummer Steve Smith, guitarist Chuck Loeb and bassist Tom Kennedy.

Through the act of improvisation, the jazz musician is continually composing. When it comes to formal composing of pieces for a jazz ensemble, the jazz musician must be able to not only write a good melody but also to provide a "springboard" for the ensemble to communicate and improvise. Pianist Glenn Zaleski's second recording for Sunnyside, Fellowship, reconvenes his trio, featuring bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Craig Weinrib, to play a program of original compositions and a couple of insightfully arranged standards.

CD reissue. Norma Winstone is one of the most recognizable vocalists from the United Kingdom. During her nearly 50-year career, she has performed in many varieties of situations, from the improvisatory world of avant-garde to the classic tastefulness of the jazz songbook. It was in the effort of getting permission to write lyrics to The Peacocks that Winstone made the acquaintance of the great pianist/composer Jimmy Rowles, who had made a name for himself as the expert accompanist to Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. When asked who would play the piece with her, she subtly asked if Rowles himself would. The subsequent recording Well Kept Secret was the product of their one meeting in Los Angeles in October 1993 and features bassist George Mraz, drummer Joe La Barbara and a guest appearance by Stacy Rowles on flugelhorn playing inspired takes on standards.

CD reissue. Norma Winstone is one of the most recognizable vocalists from the United Kingdom. During her nearly 50-year career, she has performed in many varieties of situations, from the improvisatory world of avant-garde to the classic tastefulness of the jazz songbook. There are some musical relationships that are just sublime. Winstone has had innumerable musical partnerships over her nearly 50-year career but none have lasted as long or have been as fruitful as the one with pianist John Taylor. The duo's recording Like Song, Like Weather from 1996 found them reunited performing standards and recreations of tunes by their contemporaries, including Steve Swallow, Paul Bley and Kenny Wheeler, with lyrics written by Winstone herself.

CD reissue. Norma Winstone is one of the most recognizable vocalists from the United Kingdom. During her nearly 50-year career, she has performed in many varieties of situations, from the improvisatory world of avant-garde to the classic tastefulness of the jazz songbook. Recorded in 1997, Winstone's Manhattan In The Rain found her alongside some longtime companions, pianist Steve Gray (of Sky fame), bassist Chris Laurence and woodwind master Tony Coe performing a wonderful collection of jazz standards, all arranged by Gray.

UNKNOWN

Digitally remastered edition of this 1990 album from the jazz pianist. "This is the first album I've done with a working band," Fred begins. "There was the album, Horizons, with Marc Johnson and Joey Baron. But though we had played together with Toots Thielemans and in other rhythm section contexts, we never played as a trio. Michael Formanek and Jeff Hirshfield are contemporaries, which is a very important thing to me because we grew up listening to the same music. We've been in New York about the same amount of time. We've done all the sideman gigs, some of them together: Michael has played with people like Freddie Hubbard, Eddie Henderson, Tony Williams, Herbie Mann. Attila Zoller and Dave Liebman. Jeff also has played with a lot of people including Jim Hall, Randy Brecker and Eliane Elias, Penny Wallace and numerous big bands. We've been jazz mercenaries', as Jeff calls it. But, now this trio project is something that we're doing for us!"

2017 release. Jazz music is very much a living art. The music's best practitioners are elite heard in live performance. The energy of an audience brings something special to a performer, especially in a solo setting. Spanish pianist Chano Dominguez proves this on his extraordinary live recording Over The Rainbow, a wonderfully nuanced and diverse collection of music spanning many of Dominguez's own musical interests, including flamenco music, Latin American folk music and the classic jazz composition. The recording was made during a live performance from February 24, 2012 at the Palau Falguera in Barcelona, Spain. Pieces were recorded before and during the concert. The selections being released were pared down from two hours worth of material that stylistically covers pieces by two outstanding jazz composers, Latin American folk and popular music writers, a couple of original songs and one hallmark of the American songbook.

2017 release. "I first heard Dan Tepfer when he performed in a duo concert with Lee Konitz in Berlin, Germany. I was introduced to Lee when I arrived in New York in the late 70's by my improvisation teacher, saxophonist Warne Marsh, and we eventually performed and recorded together. Lee often invites me to join him onstage when I'm in the audience at his concerts, which is always exciting. He's a master of simultaneous improvisation, where musicians react to each other spontaneously without either losing their grip on the form or falling into the traditional roles of accompanist and soloist. I joined them for a song and the interplay was magical.//In the Spring of 2012, Dan was back in Berlin, perfecting his Tango dancing and playing with various musicians. We met and rehearsed at the Jazz Institut Berlin, jamming on some songs we knew. Once I was back in New York, I invited Dan to spend a day recording at Acoustic Sound in Brooklyn. This recording is the result, not a typical vocalist-pianist duo, but two musicians interpreting and improvising in a relaxed, collaborative session."

2017 release. Pianist-composer Randy Ingram has put himself in a position to reveal more about his musical identity by scaling down to record The Wandering, a sophisticated, personal and enlightening duo album with bassist Drew Gress. For Ingram's debut performance at Mezzrow, bassist Drew Gress was his ideal duo partner. Ingram soon decided to record a duo album with Gress. They performed additional gigs and lined up a date at Brooklyn Recording with engineer Michael Perez Cisneros.

JANUS