This album is a collection of classic melodies from the repertoire of Ben Webster’s famous employer of many years, Duke Ellington. The album is comprised of three live radio sessions with the Danish Radio Big Band in 1969 and 1971, plus live concert sessions with two different backing trios (Finland in 1967 and Denmark in 1969). Aside from one tune, all the performances with the Danish Radio Big Band are based on Ellington’s original scores. The quartet sessions are also great - one with Ben’s boss from the early 1930’s, Teddy Wilson, and the other with Kenny Drew. That Ben Webster was one of the undisputed jazz greats on the tenor saxophone - both in a big band and small group context - is amply illustrated on this fine album.

Increasingly, Shostakovich's music is captivating people all over the world and appealing to their deepest emotions. Almost like no other, it bears witness to a traumatic political epoch while remaining a timeless expression of existential human feeling and experience. For me personally, said conductor Mariss Jansons, who died two years ago, "Shostakovich is one of the most serious and sincere composers of them all." Shostakovich's (first) piano concerto features impressive pianistic virtuosity, bold experimentation, satire, and caricatures of different musical styles. The composer wrote it in the summer of 1933, only a few weeks after the completion of his opera " Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk". He himself called it a "mocking challenge to the conservative-serious character of the classical concert attitude". This concerto in particular demonstrates the immense versatility and magnificent talent of the still carefree 26-year-old Shostakovich. He blends a wealth of musical thoughts and ideas into a colorful and fascinating kaleidoscope. Despite the wealth of different stimuli, the concerto does not seem chaotic or overloaded: the young composer effortlessly maintains the balance.

Shostakovich performed a similar balancing act between creative work and conformity to the state in his Ninth Symphony, which premiered on November 3, 1945. Instead of the expected heroic, regime-conformist orchestral thunder along the lines of his Seventh Symphony, the "Leningrad”, the music heard here was playful, without pathos, somewhat witty, full of allusions – yet something did not seem quite right. This musical conundrum, full of ironic refractions and caricatures of melodramatic and triumphant music, was recognized by the censors as a masquerade, yet one that was not easily decipherable. Shostakovich had mocked Stalin without the latter noticing.

A few years after the success of her album crossing Baroque music with folk, Love I Obey (ALPHA538), the Franco-American singer Rosemary Standley visits Schubert, this time with the complicity of the ensemble Contraste: ‘We all have a few notes of Schubert buried deep inside us’ say the artists, who have got together around his music and brought to it an original sound texture, the result of their varied influences – classical, pop, jazz, folk. They have picked some of the best-known lieder (Ständchen, selections from Winterreise, etc.) and universally loved instrumental pieces, incorporating in them rhythms from other countries and instruments unusual in this repertory: the jazz trumpet of Airelle Besson, the guitar of Kevin Seddiki, the percussion of Jean-Luc Di Fraja join forces with the piano, violin, viola and cello of Contraste – not forgetting the exceptional participation of the soprano Sandrine Piau, who joins Rosemary Standley for several duets. The arrangements are by Johan Farjot.

Caprice presents the luxurious double vinyl re-release of Jazz Furniture's classic debut album from 1994. Jazz Furniture was the name of a jazz group that spoke for themselves. They did this by, among other means, winning the 1994 Jazz i Sverige (Jazz in Sweden) award, which included a recording on Caprice Records. Jazz Furniture included: Magnus Broo, trumpet; Per ”Texas” Johansson and Fredrik Ljungkvist, saxophones; Esbjörn Svensson, piano; Dan Berglund bass; and Magnus Öström drums. Originating with the ambitious project, ”Swedish Jazz Future,” the group took the playful name, Jazz Furniture. The cover art shows what it is all about – Jazz Furniture crushes the old jazz furnishings, with great respect and finesse. With roots in the 1950s and 1960s, they set their very personal stamp on the music through their expressive playing style – reminiscent of the feeling one finds in rock music. Using rock’s terminology, it can be said that Jazz Furniture played a kind of ”trash jazz.”

A journey into the heart of the Danish soul. Kim Larsen (1945-2018)-the much-loved Danish rock musician and multifaceted artist-captures in music and words the Danish soul. With his 500 recorded songs and 40 albums he is known by all Danes of all ages. Guitarist, and head of guitar department at The Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen, Jesper Sivebæk, had 2 heroes in his youth: Andrés Segovia and Kim Larsen and they have followed him ever since. For more than 10 years Jesper Sivebæk has worked on the pieces on this album. With his great experience he uses the possibilities of the guitar to the utmost, and follows the classical tradition of making instrumental versions of folk songs as in Miguel Llobets arrangements of Catalan folksongs, Benjamin Brittens English and Chinese folksongs arrangements, and Bela Bartoks Hungarian folk songs. Sivebæk is true both to the beauty and the simplicity of Kim Larsens songs, and to his instrument the classical Spanish guitar. In these arrangements classical guitar players around the globe now have 12 new pieces to discover and put on their concert programs.

Listening to this album takes you back to the atmosphere and sound of Jazzhus Montmartre on a random night in the 1960s, engulfing you in Dexter Gordons enormous aura. Dexters arrival in Copenhagen had a tremendous impact that left a lasting impression on the Danish jazz scene. He was handsome and well-dressed. His playing was superb, with a giant sound; his introductions and showmanship were unique and captivating. In addition, Dexter felt the Danish mentality was well-suited for playing and enjoying jazz. It was always there, Alex Riel remembers It wasnt a case of going to work, even though we played every, single night in June, July and August during the summer of 1964. Dexter and Tete were there solely for the music, and so were Niels-Henning and I. It is so obvious when I hear the music today. Dexter loved being in Montmartre. He often stayed and jammed with the night shift when it took over, playing on till early morning And Dexter ended up owning Copenhagen!

After all is said and done, after 30 years, after a pandemic which shattered the world, after thousands of kilometers travelled and many more thousands of notes played and sung, what remains ? A deep love and respect for great music and the greatness in music, a deep love for the humanity that is brought to life by it, a deep appreciation for the gift of friendship and for the power and resonance that brought and kept us together all these years, and for that curiosity and passion, that meticulous quest to unveil the deepest mysteries of music, that drives us always onwards. Finally, we’ve given it a name: Afterallogy

The second complete show to be issued from Keith Jarrett's 2016 European tour, following the acclaimed Munich 2016 concert. This double album documents the pianist's solo performance at Budapest's Bela Bart¢k National Concert Hall. Jarrett, whose roots go back to Hungary, saw it as a homecoming; the context inspired much creative improvisation. His later concerts are comprised of independent movements, each a marvel of spontaneous resourcefulness and creative energy.

When pianist Carsten Dahl went into the studio with his perennial fellow musicians, the bassist Niels Bo Davidsen and the drummer Stefan Pasborg, it was with a special dogma: Not to say a word throughout the recording. The album was created in a continuous sequence of first takes and everything was improvised without previous agreements or ideas except 'Falling Down' and 'How I Hear Beauty' based on some chords Dahl scratched down on a piece of paper in the studio. There is a natural, fluent and electric feeling in the music. The trio creates a series of intense pieces most of them no longer than 3-4 minutes, but together they constitute a suite-like process with stimulating variation in form and expression. 'To me Mirrors Within is the picture of the collective and the universal', Dahl says. 'In the music we mirror ourselves in one another. But the mirror can also break and behind it is black'. Hereby he insinuate the both bright and dark sides of his own artist life. He has spoken in public about trauma, therapy and medicine. Music, painting and poetry are his creative responses. Mirrors Within points in the direction of the inner landscapes of music, those places in the mind where music can become 'sound that bleeds, infect and flourish', as written in the Brøndums Encyklopædi. Dahl, Davidsen & Pasborg have developed a special musical dialect together. We are way beyond instrumental skills, which are top class, but it is about much more than that. The best way perhaps to summarize the activities is with the word: empathy. Not as a feeling, but as an ability to participate in a mutual human action which otherwise could not be realized.

'Pieces' is the meeting of two generations - The experienced and mature: the trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and the guitarist Bjarne Roupé and the two young and ready: Anton Langebæk on bass and the percussionist Benjamin Barfod. Bjarne Roupé Trio had been with Langebæk and Barfod for a while, and when Palle Mikkelborg was set to play a concert for Jazz Grooves at JB10 in Næstved, it was obvious that the four musicians worked together this evening. It became a success and the musicians took the initiative to use the recordings for this release. Here it is: 'Pieces: Generations at Sunrise' - five well-chosen compositions with Roupé's overview and broad sounds, Langebæk's pulsating bass, Barfod's distinctive percussion and Mikkelborg's trumpet and flugelhorn on top. We get extremely personal renditions of John Coltrane's "Naima" and the Abez classic "Nature Boy". A Swedish folk melody, "Saudi", with a beautiful guitar intro and more of the same sonorous element in the opening track "Witchi-tai-to", which is carried on by Barfod's gubal. The fine little theme is presented only at the end. Coltrane's great ballad "Naima" is performed for the first time in the history of music with sansula. In the collectively composed and arranged "Pieces", there are fanfares with electronics underneath, and Langebæk rounds off with a very solid bass solo. "Nature boy" gets new and very beautiful life with Mikkelborg's horn followed by a very well-playing Roupé.

For its eighth volume, Haydn2032 invites us on a musical journey that takes the Balkan route. Of all the ‘Viennese Classical School’, Joseph Haydn is certainly the composer closest to folk music, first because he spent his early years in the countryside and also because, unlike his colleagues who worked in the urban centers of the Habsburg monarchy, Haydn was in contact with Croats, Roma and Hungarians throughout his life. These influences were omnipresent in his music, to the delight of Prince Nikolaus I Esterházy and his guests, but by some accounts were not to the taste of many music theorists in Germany. Haydn gave his Symphony no.63 in C major the title of ‘La Roxolana’, from the famous sixteenth-century sultana who was the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent after having been his slave. As usual, Giovanni Antonini, who is reunited here with Il Giardino Armonico, juxtaposes Haydn’s music with that of another composer. The natural choice here was Béla Bartók, who is represented by his Romanian Folk Dances, composed in 1917.

On the occasion of his 50th anniversary, Avishaï Cohen offers a sumptuous present: 50 titles selected by his fans in a luxurious box set including 6 golden 180g vinyls. Deluxe edition limited and numbered to 2.000 copies worldwide! Each title has been commented by Avisaï Cohen in a beautiful 32-page hardcover book. Avishai Cohen, born in Kabri, Israel on April 20th, 1970, grew up in a multicultural family whose roots were found in Spain, Greece and Poland. At home, music was always in the air, with his mother Ora, an artistic influence, listening to both classical and traditional music. Avishais musical journey began when he was nine years old, when he began playing the piano. After moving to St. Louis, Missouri with his family at age fourteen, he continued to study the piano and began to play the bass guitar. The electric bass put a spell on him when his teacher introduced him to the music of luminary bassist Jaco Pastorius. Back in Israel, Avishai joined the Music and Arts Academy in Jerusalem to further explore the bass universe.