JEFF IS BACK!! And as ever, he's bringing even more friends along for the ride! Night Blooms follows the 2025 album, Still Blooming, and contains 6 new tracks with features from Charlie Puth, Melody Gardot, Cynthia Erivo and Dodie. The album also contains new 'Late Night Sessions' of tracks from Still Blooming alongside "Tattoo" and "Lover" previously released with Haley Reinhart.

JEFF IS BACK!! And as ever, he's bringing even more friends along for the ride! Night Blooms follows the 2025 album, Still Blooming, and contains 6 new tracks with features from Charlie Puth, Melody Gardot, Cynthia Erivo and Dodie. The album also contains new 'Late Night Sessions' of tracks from Still Blooming alongside "Tattoo" and "Lover" previously released with Haley Reinhart.

The first artistical cooperation and joined album release of Spanish violinist Francisco Fullana and German pianist Matthias Kirschnereit. They perform masterpieces of the Violin sonata repertoire by Claude Debussy, Ignacy Jan Paderewski (Sonata dedicated to Sarasate) and Leos Janacek. Francisco Fullana, winner of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, performed with Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Alondra de la Parra and many more. Matthias Kirschnereit is the grand seigneur of German pianists, who still has recorded more than 50 albums in his 35-year career.

Mezzo-soprano Ester Pavlu has chosen four of the two dozen individual songs and song cycles that the world-famous Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) wrote during his lifetime. Ester Pavlu's magnificent voice as well as her and her convincing stage presence make her one of the most promising mezzo-sopranos of the current generation, who wins the admiration of audience and critics both on domestic stages and abroad. Charles Spencer is one of the most sought-after piano accompanists worldwide who regularly collaborates with many of the world's most renowned singers.

Charlie Parker's music has been recorded, studied, debated, and canonized for more than seventy years. Which is precisely why paying tribute to Bird still takes a lot of nerve. There is no safe middle ground. You either bring something new to the conversation, or you risk being drowned out by history. On Another Kind of Bird, Richard Baratta does not tiptoe around this dilemma. Joined by arranger and pianist Bill O'Connell, Baratta revisits Parker's music with a clear sense of purpose and a refusal to play it safe, delivering bold reimaginings propelled by a powerhouse ensemble. Baratta anchors the session with his working band, then raises the stakes. On select tracks, saxophonists Eric Alexander, Abraham Burton, and Craig Handy join regular altoist Vincent Herring to form a dynamic horn section that adds muscle and urgency to the music. Parker emerges here not as relic, but as catalyst: energized, expanded, and unmistakably alive.

In 2005, Fr�d�ric Galliano, founder of the Frikyiwa label, decided to put it on hold for a few years. In his archives, many albums recorded during his years of travels in Africa remain unreleased. In the context of the reactivation of the Frikyiwa label, the album Lionel and St�phane Belmondo feat. K�ba K�b� Diolas Orchestra: "Calypso Diola" is therefore being released today. It was in the heart of Casamance, in the village of Bignona, that this album was recorded, in a house typical of the region, built of earth, with thick walls producing a warm acoustic open to the outside world. Fr�d�ric Galliano's idea was to bring together the Belmondo brothers with Diola culture, renowned for it's distinctive percussion combining wood and struck metal, as well as singular instruments such as the ekontine (a four-string guitar) or Diola flutes. The vocal melodies typical of Casamance are also strong markers of this album, recorded over a few days, live and in an improvisational approach inherent to jazz. Often composed as duos, with the exception of "Osoforal," recalling a certain 1960s jazz, the tracks of the album are marked by an artistic direction that presents the Belmondo brothers in a more stripped-down light than usual. Composed of duos or slow tempos, these tracks and their particular recording approach give this album an original colour in which each part expresses it's own specificity of improvised jazz and Diola culture. Sometimes tinged with humour (Bach to Casamance or Calypso Diola) or with greater softness (Casa Sport), what we are given here is a truly original and creative recording. It is also important to place this album in it's context: recorded in 2002, it was at the time quite unprecedented to have this kind of in situ encounter between European and African musicians. It should therefore be listened to in this specific light. It nonetheless remains both contemporary and timeless.

Bay Area guitarist George Cotsirilos returns to the intimate language of solo nylon-string guitar on "In the Wee Hours," illuminating beloved standards and two original compositions with patience and depth. Recorded largely in unedited first takes over several years, his seventh recording on OA2 unfolds with the quiet authority and refined lyricism that have defined Cotsirilos's career-from his celebrated quartet release Refuge to earlier trio and solo recordings praised for their fluidity and swing. Here, classics such as "Come Sunday," "Haunted Heart," and the title ballad are rendered with a meticulous touch and subtle dynamic shadings that reveal the hidden architecture of each melody. Alternating between exquisite instruments by Jos' Ram�rez and Alberto Morales, Cotsirilos draws out warm, singing tones that blur the line between jazz phrasing and classical resonance. "- an impeccable sense of timing especially in revealing the hidden rhythms of complex melodies. His approach to harmony is whimsical, but patently beautiful at all times." - All About Jazz " - an unerring sense of swing and melody. His solos, while displaying accuracy and technique, are filled with soul." Vintage Guitar Magazine

Just Friends is a 1998 jazz album by French pianist Martial Solal, featuring bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian. The trio is highly regarded for it's blend of high-energy, straight-ahead swing and avant-garde improvisational complexity. The album features a mix of jazz standards and original compositions by Solal. Critics have noted the trio's remarkable technical facility, harmonic imagination, and ability to navigate both aggressive, complex avant-garde passages and traditional swing.

Includes vesper(s) by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Ensemble: Le Concert spirituel. Conductor: Hervé Niquet.

Following his recent acclaimed recordings of Haydn and Beethoven Sonatas, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet turns from the Classical to the Romantic era, and the works of Schumann. The programme is built around the Grand Sonata (no.3). This impressive, large-scale work was originally composed in 1834, later revised in 1853 and eventually premiered (6 years after the composer's death) by Schumann's young prot�g� Johannes Brahms. Jean-Efflam first discovered the work though a recording by Vladimir Horovitz in the 1980s, and got to play it to and discuss the work with Horowitz in Paris in 1985. Like Horovitz before him, Jean-Efflam combines elements from both the original and revised versions of the work on this recording. Bavouzet has chosen to couple this with another early work - the "Faschinsschwank aus Wein" - and then the much later work the "Drei Fantasiest�cke". He closes with the "Gesange der Fr�he" which were among the last compositions that Schumann wrote before his attempted suicide and incarceration in February 1854. As always with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's albums, the booklet features an insightful personal note by the performer.

In 1995 Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan began the monumental task of recording J.S. Bach’s extant church cantatas – an adventure that was brought to a close 18 years later. But Bach also composed a number of cantatas for secular occasions of which some twenty works have survived intact. Released on individual discs between 2004 and 2018, Masaaki Suzuki’s recordings of these works have now been gathered in a box set, available as a limited edition. The secular cantatas were written (both the texts and the music) for special events in the family, social, academic or political calendar – a wedding, a birthday celebration, an academic ceremony or a tribute to a prince. Although they were normally only performed once in their original form, Bach was keen to reuse material from them, if the opportunity arose. The best-known examples of using secular arias and choruses with new sacred texts are found in the Christmas Oratorio, for which Bach drew extensively on three festive cantatas written for the Prince-Elector of Saxony and his family. Included in the release is a 156-page booklet with an introduction by Bach specialist Dr Klaus Hofmann (in English, German and French) and the texts of the cantatas with English translations. ----- Excerpts of reviews from previously released volumes included in this set: Bach: Secular Cantatas, Vol. 10 - Cantatas of Contentment: We celebrate here, as always, many of Suzuki’s finest qualities of expressive lucidity, unforced coherence, and the quiet nobility of one serving the music as the most natural of reflexes. – Gramophone Bach: Secular Cantatas, Vol. 8 - Celebratory Cantatas: Schleicht, spielende Wellen (‘Flow, playful waves and murmur’) follows the dramma per musica template of allegory – this time with four competing rivers yearning for the primacy of the monarch’s affections. However ludicrous, Bach constructs a very significant work which Suzuki treats as an undertaking of serious critical engagement. After 22 years of intensive Bach recording, Suzuki and his forces just seem to get better. – Gramophone Bach Secular Cantatas, Vol. 5 - Birthday Cantatas: Lithe choral singing, balletic rhythms, and a detailed yet transparent sound. Joanne Lunn is agile and fleet as the goddess of War…Robin Blaze is lyrical as the goddess Pallas…Makoto Sakurada's lucid tenor is particularly effective in the rhetorical and declamatory recitatives, while bass Dominik Wörner paints the words to vivid effect. – BBC Music Magazine

Disc 5 of this set is a bonus disc titled "Serebrier on Stokowski." Reviews of the original recordings which make up this set. "Stokowski's Bach transcriptions have received a great deal of attention on disc lately, but this is one of the very few recordings that has the genuine flavor that Stoki himself brought to them. The obvious first question is: How do these versions compare to the "originals"? Can they be as good? The answer, quite simply, is "Yes, they can." Serebrier doesn't try to duplicate every gesture that Stokowski made. That would be impossible in any case, given the wide range of tempos and other variations among his own numerous recordings of these pieces...Aside from Bach, Serebrier includes Stokowski's own Two Ancient Liturgical Melodies, a sexy conflation of Veni Creator Spiritus and Veni Emmanuel, as well as the Handel and Purcell items. Dido's Lament sounds particularly dark and tragic in this performance. It's clear that the Bournemouth Symphony is having a great time reproducing these ultra-rich, Golden Age sonorities. The engineering supports the interpretations particularly well, giving the strings the necessary sheen and allowing the climaxes to expand hugely. This new release is an unqualified triumph." -- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com “José Serebrier brings to his recordings of Stokowski transcriptions the same voluptuous orchestral sheen that the old wizard himself managed on his own numerous recordings of this repertoire. However, Serebrier also has the advantage of superb modern sonics to back him up, making these productions eloquent tributes to a beloved friend and mentor, as well as perfectly valid and compelling interpretations in their own right.” -- David Hurwitz, Classics Online "It would be hard to imagine a more sumptuous disc. Stokowski, in these 'symphonic syntheses,' enhances Wagner's already opulent orchestration with shrewdly added instrumental lines and with the vocal parts usually given to the strings. Then at times he thins the orchestration down for more transparent textures. José Serebrier conducts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in thrilling performances, passionate in a genuinely Stokowskian manner and treated to orchestral sound of demonstration quality." -- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone "José Serebrier deploys an imaginative mix of the great man himself with other early masters. Outstanding items among the latter include Palestrina's Adoramus Te, Byrd's Pavane and Galliard, and a really yummy (but never too droopy) Boccherini Minuet. Stokowski was not really a brilliant orchestrator in terms of timbral variety, but he was a very characteristic one. Key to any successful new recording of his arrangements is string sonority, that special, luminous sheen, especially in soft passages. Serebrier understands this, as others who worked with Stokowski do not." -- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com "Further icing on the cake: the two lovely Tchaikovsky transcriptions (the Humoresque will be familiar to knowledgeable listeners from its use in Stravinsky's The Fairy's Kiss), and Stokowski's own Traditional Slavic Christmas Music, a setting where once again Serebrier shows himself able to conjure a truly authentic "Stokowski sound". Mind you, these aren't mere imitations. Serebrier's flexible approach to tempo and willingness to inject a jolt of extra electricity make something quite special out of the climaxes in A Night on Bare Mountain, and it's very clear that the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is having as much fun playing this music as you will have listening to it. The engineering stands among the best from this source as well. Spectacular, sensational, skirting the boundaries of "good taste"--this is the real deal." -- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com