Sebastian Cruz possesses one of the most distinctive voices in the flamenco world today. He started out earning a living as a slaughterman, but has always had a deep-rooted connection to music and to the natural world of his native Andalusia. His life was changed when, a few years ago, he came across the film "Tous les matins du monde", starring Gerard Depardieu as Marin Marais, with it's soundtrack of works by Marin Marais and Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe performed by Jordi Savall. From that moment onwards, the music of these pioneering Baroque composers, which had touched him with such unique intensity, filled his mind as he spent time in the Huelva countryside with his beloved greyhounds and horses. On this album, Cruz explores a century and more of flamenco history, venturing into a new soundworld and creating musical poems that express his innermost being. Open to an array of influences, he pushes the strict boundaries of flamenco tradition with incomparable vocal passion and emotional depth. Sebastian Cruz sees flamenco with his heart and, together with kindred spirit Ra�l Cantizano, his friend and musical director, forges breathtaking music that speaks to both body and soul. (Translation: Susannah Howe) Sebastian Cruz, born in 1977 in Beas, lives in Niebla, both villages are located near Huelva, close to the Gulf of Cadiz. He is deeply attached to his homeland, loves the country life, likes to spend time with his horse, takes care of his donkey and breeds greyhounds. Since his early youth he has sung flamenco at fiestas, pe�as and festivals. His love for flamenco led him to the Fundaci�n Cristina Heeren in 2002, where he studied with Jose de la Tomasa, Calixto Sanchez, Paco Taranto and Esperanza Fernandez, among others, until 2006. Since the completion of his studies, he has dedicated his life exclusively to flamenco. In addition to being a solo cantor, he also worked as a cantor with Jose Antonio Rodr�guez's group, accompanied Jose Luis Postigo and Manolo Franco in concerts, was guest cantor of the Ballet Nacional de Espa�a from 2006 to 2019, and was part of the cast of the Ballet Flamenco de Andaluc�a from 2017 to 2022. In 2007, he gave his first solo concert at the Sala Clamores in Madrid and since then he has collaborated with many high profile artists in various productions. Among others, with Juan Manuel Ca�izares, Juan Jose Amador, Chano Dom�nguez, Alejandro Granados, Antonio Canales, Merche Esmeralda, Pepa Montes, Lola Greco, Choni, Ra�l Cantizano and Fernando Romero. His first album was released in 2012 by Karonte Records under the title "Temple de junco". He participated in the recording of the audio film "El Triangulo del Flamenco" by Winter & Winter, an acoustic travelogue through Andalusia, and in 2017 he recorded the album "Fandangos de Huelva" as a tribute to his homeland. In 2023, Sebastian Cruz, together with his musical director Ra�l Cantizano and outstanding flamenco musicians such as guitarists Rafael Riqueni and Alfredo Lagos, records the album "Zarabanda" for Winter & Winter. The feature film "Tous les matins du monde" was the inspiration for this project. Inspired by the baroque music of Marin Marais and other musicians of the time, he created new cantes that became a unique body of work. Producer Stefan Winter has come to know Sebastian Cruz as a cosmopolitan person: "Today we are in a time in which we are exposed to the most diverse influences, which we must process artistically. This is what Sebastian Cruz's album "Zarabanda" symbolizes. My best friend, the painter Thom Argauer, once said that for him there are three important musical currents: Jazz by Coltrane, Baroque music by Bach and Flamenco by Camar�n de la Isla. Sebastian Cruz has now used these three basic colors and forms like Picasso, mixing new tones... Sebastan loves not only flamenco, but music without borders, is open, listens without bias, gets inspired, has never lost his curiosity since childhood. I think Sebastian Cruz, without knowing it, has been waiting for the discovery of breathtaking baroque music. However, the album "Zarabanda" is not a melange of baroque and flamenco, but the realization of the music that has long lain dormant in his innermost being and has now finally been kissed awake by the film "Tous les matins du monde". Sebastian's openness and willingness to listen to his inner self made this album possible. Sometimes it just takes a spark to light the fire." The Spanish lyrics, written by Lope de Vega [1562-1635], Ram�n Andres, after Edgar Allan Poe [1809-1849] and by Sebastian Cruz, as well as traditional lyrics are also published in English and German translation together with the CD/LP. All these texts were selected and compiled by Sebastian Cruz. The compositions are by Sebastian Cruz in collaboration with performing musicians. Sebastian Cruz was inspired by works of baroque music. He combines these sound worlds in a very natural way with his very own music. To name just a few examples, compositions and melodies by Marin Marais are behind "Te quiero con el alma", by Monsieur de Sainte Colombe behind "De mis soledades vengo", by Georg Friedrich Handel behind "Arroyos sonoros" and also behind "Pa�s del sue�o" as well as by Jean Baptiste Lully behind "Siendo cenizas". Before the actual recording of the album, which took place in Seville, there was only a working title. The album title "Zarabanda" was created only during the production. The sarabande is a courtly, mostly instrumental dance form of baroque music since the middle of the 17th century. This dance inspired several composers to write expressive compositions and later became a standard movement of the Baroque suite... but the once frivolous dance became popular in non-courtly circles in the Spanish colonies much earlier, before it made it's way back across the Atlantic to Spain. Although the dance was banned in Spain in 1583 for it's obscenity, it has been frequently cited in the literature of the time [e.g. in works by Lope de Vega, who penned some of the lyrics selected for this album]. With incomparable depth and voice, Sebastian Cruz breaks with the strict flamenco tradition and, together with his congenial partner Ra�l Cantizano, transcends musical boundaries that have been firmly drawn for over a hundred years. He is assisted by the exceptional guitarists Rafael Riqueni and Alfredo Lagos, as well as bassist Marco Serrato, who, like Ra�l Cantizano, enriches this work with very special timbres.

Featuring reinterpretations of famous jazz standards by artists like Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden, and his daughter Petra Haden on vocals, Paul Motian creates an audio film about scenes in New York City for closed eyes.

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."

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."

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Fumio Yasuda briefly describes his motivation as the attempt to invent something new, as he feels neither exclusively connected to classical music nor to the world of improvisation. He cites the late Romantic compositions of Franz Schmidt as decisive influences, but also John Cage's border crossings. Yasuda, born in 1953, is the poet among contemporary composers. He learned to play the classical piano in his childhood and studied composition at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo. At 20, he joins the avant-garde jazz group "Angry Waves" led by Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi. His debut album "Kakyoku" on Winter & Winter "conquers... through the art of transforming the familiar into the own, of mirroring the model until something new has emerged in tiny mutations, possibly even blurs of vision." (Andreas Obst, F.A.Z.). Recordings are made with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the European Art Orchestra, a soloist ensemble with musicians from the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra conducted by Bernd Ruf, vocalist Theo Bleckmann, the Spanish baroque ensemble Forma Antiqva conducted by Aar�n Zapico and the clarinettist Joachim Badenhorst together with Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and the singer Akimuse ("Forest"), in addition to piano solo productions and audio films (cinema for closed eyes) such as "Charmed with Verdi" and "On the Path of Death and Life".

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music