Joe Locke recorded this album in 1991, when his name as a new vibraphonist was gaining serious momentum on the NY scene. Following his highly acclaimed debut album “Present Tense” (SCCD 31257) and the ensuing “Longing” (SCCD 31281) from SteepleChase this third album showcases Locke’s lyricism in a ballad collection accompanied by the master Kenny Barron. “if your mood of the moment is to surround yourself with something soft and lovely, Locke and Barron will make things beautiful.” (Cadence) 180g Audiophile Vinyl

Now on vinyl! The accordion is an instrument that is deeply rooted in Lithuanian folk music. Today, the accordion is also recognized as a versatile instrument of classical music, a change in perception that has largely been promoted by Martynas Levickis, one of the most internationally sought-after musicians in his field. With its lightness and melancholy, Astor Piazzolla’s music has fascinated the young accordionist from an early age, and so it goes without saying that he is dedicating himself to this exceptional composer in his anniversary year. Together with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra he recorded "Aconcagua" live in concert. For conductor Modestas Pitrenas, Piazzolla's concerto - named posthumously after the highest mountain in the Americas - "conveys the climb to the roof of the earth in all its facets and symbolism: freedom, longing, loneliness, pain, transfiguration, peace." Levickis has a long and close collaboration with the chamber orchestra "Mikroórkestra". Together they present their interpretation of "Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas," Piazzolla's timeless masterpieces of many styles that capture in music the four seasons in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires.

When the first bars of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony reached the recording equipment in March of 2018, it wasn’t merely the musicians’ “daily grind” but rather the birth of an ensemble: the chamber orchestra Klangkollektiv Wien. The mission of the Klangkollektiv Wien is to perform the music of the Viennese Classical era with care and love, beyond more routine. This is why we - musicians from all of Vienna’s orchestras - came together for the first time. This music, which was at the onset of the development of the modern orchestra - with which we handle a diverse program of works from all different eras every day - becomes ever more an oasis of tranquility through its clear form and inner beauty, the epicenter of our lives as musicians. Our goal is to give these works the attention they deserve, to communicate their message to listeners. This first document of our common passion came about in collaboration with the conductor Remy Ballot and the record label Gramola, who were involved in this project’s development from the very beginning.

With 22 symphonies, 17 string quartets, 9 concertos, and 7 operas, the composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg left behind an extensive oeuvre. Musically, one can hear the composer's close friendship with Dmitri Shostakovich, although Weinberg's music is more lyrical and romantic in nature. Nevertheless, the composer was long forgotten and his music has only been rediscovered in the last ten years. Gidon Kremer has dedicated himself to the rediscovery and cultivation of Weinberg's music.

There is hardly a better way to approach Ludwig van Beethoven than through his piano concertos. Beethoven’s own instrument was the piano, and in his improvisations – which made him the darling of the Viennese salons – he merged virtuosity and unbridled expression. The piano concertos give a clear idea of these performances. At the same time, they are prime examples of Beethoven’s ability to create large orchestral works with seemingly endless arcs of tension. One of the most revered artists of our time, Mitsuko Uchida is known as a peerless interpreter of the works of Mozart, Schubert, R. Schumann and Beethoven, as well for being a devotee of the piano music of Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and György Kurtág.

All For The King' was formed in 2016 by Erik Tilling and Ricard Hulteke who found each other by way of forums and discussions on Facebook where they expressed similar views on issues regarding God, the Bible, faith, the church and Christianity in general. They spoke about this and decided to meet and it was during this meeting that Erik presented some musical ideas to Ricard, who's jaw dropped when he heard the riffs that Erik had created. Ricard added melody and they decided on lyrics and recorded the three first songs; Rules of love, The old man and Never back down. After that Erik and Ricard contacted bass virtuoso extraordinaire Johan Tjernstr�m who added the depth and heavy bass that was needed. Olof Gardestrand contributed on the first three songs with open, heavy rhythms but never decided to be in the band. In January of 2017, heavy rock drummer Richard Tonyson took over the drum throne. This is the group's second album.

Johnny Mbizo Dyani (bassist/composer) was born in East London, South Africa November 30, 1945 to grow up to be one of the most internationally acknowledged musicians. Since his arrival in England in 1965 as a member of South African jazz group called The Blue Notes Dyani had chosen Scandinavia as his home base and had built an active career until a rare disease shortened his life all too soon. He died in Berlin, Germany in 1986. This album recorded in the summer of 1978 with the powerful front line-up of Don Cherry and Dudu Pukwana. The album was dedicated to the martyred South African activist against apartheid Steve Biko (1946-1977) with whom Dyani shared a cultural and linguistic heritage of Xhosa. “Dyani wrote all of the material for this record and it proves to be a vital factor in the success of the date. Both Cherry and Pukwana react favourably, while bringing their own personalities strongly to bear... this fine record can be recommended without reservation.” (Barry McRae, Jazz Journal International July 1979) “...there are possibly a handful of albums every year which are worth living with. This is one of them.” (Brian Case, Melody Maker June 1979) 180g Audiophile Vinyl

Danish composer, pianist and producer Asger Baden has made a name for himself as a film and TV series composer with his atmospheric music featured in world-acclaimed productions such as “Breaking Bad” and “The Wolfpack”. After having worked on several collaborative projects and composing with the bands “The Crooked Spoke” and “Cours Lapin”, Baden now releases his debut album of solo material, “If the music stops, they’ll eat him up” via Berlin-based label Neue Meister. It invokes through its nine tracks a sense of mysterious and highly visual storytelling. As is expected of a composer who has worked with cinema extensively, the music unfolds much like a motion picture, conjuring images that are rich and textured. It’s as if Baden was painting a wide and vast musical room where the listener is invited to explore its every nook and cranny, from soft percussive footsteps in the background, to the whispering rumbles of synthesizers just in front or the frail conversation of strings happening to the side. There’s an overwhelming sense of openness and atmosphere to every sound, with a churchy echo delineating the space that surrounds them. There’s definitely a lot of space for fantasy within “If the music stops, they’ll eat him up”, and much is left to the imagination of the listener. The album’s title in itself begs a frightening question – “who’ll eat who up?”. The accompanying cover art imagery, by Danish illustrator John Kenn Mortensen, with depictions of creatures that – depending on the beholder – might be viewed as friendly or menacing, only amplifies the sense of reverie. Like all good pieces of art, it incites more questions than formulates answers.

Avant-garde British composer and multi-disciplinary artist Klein presents her first PENTATONE album Harmattan, described by Fred Moten as "a soundtrack of epic revolt against beginnings and ends", which expands our notions of what classical music means today. Harmattan is a personal journey from childhood to now, titled after the West African season. Starting with jazz-inspired piano improvisations, the album gradually gains in ambient breadth, transforming classical musical inspirations into Klein's unique sound universe. Based in South London, Klein's work has been described as "grainy pop collages" (FACT) utilizing elements like manipulated audio samples, R&B inspired vocals, metallic drones, and pitch shifting effects.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) was a genius. Naturally he was most widely known and rewarded as one of the founding composers of Hollywood film music, but he is not a particularly well-known composer in the classical music world. His three string quartets are surely masterpieces and can be seen as modern tone poems imbued with beautiful melancholy and Viennese charm. A child prodigy, Korngold wrote some of the most heart-wrenching melodies, which are sure to leave any listener longing for more. His String Quartet No. 2, Op. 26 (1933) was written just before Korngold moved to Hollywood and is full of musical imagery of Vienna, with gestures towards the waltzes of Johan Strauss II as well as the intricate lyricism of Richard Strauss. A fierce anti-serialist, Korngold was determined that it was still possible to stretch the boundaries of tonality without adapting to the 12-tone technique. The String Quartet No. 3, Op. 34 (1945) is full of themes that he used in his film scores and was written when Korngold was suffering from deep depression. The quartet is much darker. Why did we choose to tackle Korngold’s music for this unique project of a direct-to-disc recording on vinyl? The music resonates deeply with us, as it represents the epitome of late romanticism and lyrical expression. We all have a profound love for romantic music and after listening to some recordings of his quartets we knew instantly these were the perfect fit for us. It was definitely a challenge to understand the idiom in Korngold’s writing. Our individual personalities as well as the Alma sound is clearly audible.

One of Germany's most prominent pianists, Alexander Krichel from Hamburg, has brought together a couple of heavyweights for his first album with Berlin Classics. He combines the "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Modest Mussorgsky, a central work of the piano literature, with a rarely heard gem by the Romanian composer George Enescu. Enescu's Second Piano Suite enhances the formal language of the Baroque with Romantic and Impressionist timbres, and entrances the listener with a rich palette of tone colors. To round off the program, Alexander Krichel plays another work by a composer from Russia's "mighty handful", the Nocturne from the Petite Suite by Alexander Borodin. There's no denying it: born in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg, Krichel feels himself strongly drawn to the Russian repertoire. He studied with two of the greatest Russian pianists of modern times. "I've long had Modest Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' in my repertoire, but now, this piano suite is exactly right with it's strong sense of dedication," says Krichel. "It would be hard to find another piano cycle that has such variety and places such comprehensive demands. Mussorgsky captures a whole cosmos in his 'Pictures'. That links him with George Enescu, who in writing his Second Suite actually composed a tribute as well. ECHO Klassik prizewinner Alexander Krichel also made his presence felt on the music scene with unusual activities during the long Corona lockdown. In May 2020, he initiated the first drive-in concert, which was broadcast by WDR. Soon after that, his audience was following him on a video diary from a Hong Kong hotel suite, in which he had to observe a 14-day period of quarantine before a concert. All the greater, then, the relief felt by Alexander Krichel that like other artists, he can again communicate live with his audience.

Leave your thoughts here is Mr Mibbler's third album following The Long Journey released in January 2021. Mr Mibbler is musicians and producers Thom Hell, J�rn Raknes and Vidar Ersfjord, and this time they have invited an incredible number of first-class Norwegian musicians to play around in their musical world. The guest musicians have been the starting point for the tracks and Mr Mibbler has built the songs around their contributions. Among the guest artists we find very exciting names such as Knut Reiersrud, Lindstr�m, Andreas Ulvo, Mathias Eick, Jan Bang, Bj�rn Klakegg, J�rgen Munkeby, Sigmund Groven and Nils Petter Molv�r, all experienced and acclaimed within their genres in Norway and internationally. This makes Leave your thoughts here a musical journey of different moods, exciting instrumentation and a wonderful mix of genres. You will hear folk, jazz, ambient and electronica performed by the very best musicians in Norway.

Sir Charles Mackerras’s accounts of Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 are torrentially vivid, as performed by the superb Prague Symphony Orchestra under his baton.

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

Coming under the form of a beautiful antique pink and dark green 3-shutters digipack and two-LPs Gatefold, 'Two Roses' is by Avishai's words "a once in a lifetime project". Associating his core trio (Mark Guiliana, Elchin Shirinov) with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Avishai Cohen offers a very cinematic project between Jazz, Mediterranean Folklore and Classical music, reexploring a part of his musical journey. Not only proposing new orchestrations of his most successful works, 'Two Roses' is also strongly supported by 'When I'm Falling', an original composition showing how far the sound of Avishai Cohen has developed. The vinyl edition features 2 exclusive tracks in addition to the 12 songs already listed on the digital and CD editions; including a Symphonic version of Seven Seas which is one of Avishai's most beloved compositions.

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.

Onute Grazinyte and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under Modestas Pitrenas play P�rt's music - especially the main work Lamentate - very expressively and communicatively. It is a pure distillate of music that echoes and has an effect long after the last sounds have been heard" wrote pizzicato about the album that was released in September 2020 in honor of Arvo P�rt's 85th birthday and awarded it the "Supersonic." The Gramophone Magazine stated "This is a wondrously thought-provoking anthology of P�rt's work. [...] You cannot buy that kind of innocent beauty but you can, and should, buy this disc." The acclaimed recording of P�rt's "Lamentate" with which Onute Grazinyte marked her recording debut will now be released on vinyl in a limited and numbered 180g edition of 1.000 copies. It will supplemented with Grazinyte's wonderful interpretation of P�rt's piano works "Pari intervallo" and "F�r Anna Maria - Nachdenklich". About her playing, pizzicato added in their review: "The longer you listen to the pianist, the more you feel how well and safely she moves in P�rt's musical universe.

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.

In a deeply impressive and magnificent synthesis of gospel, jazz and contemporary music, Uri Caine tells the moving story of Octavius Catto, born in 1839 in South Carolina to free African-American parents. Catto's family moved to Philadelphia in 1844, where he studied, became an educator, humanities scholar, top cricket and baseball player, and civil rights activist. Together with his fellow campaigners, he achieved the abolition of slavery and discrimination in elections based on race, color, or former serfdom, as well as the creation of educational institutions for African-Americans. Catto was murdered by Frank Kelly during riots on election day in 1871. Octavius Catto: "We shall never rest at ease, but will agitate and work, by our means and by our influence, in court and out of court, asking aid of the press, calling upon Christians to vindicate their Christianity, and the members of the law to assert the principles of the profession by granting us justice and right, until these invidious and unjust usages shall have ceased."