愛·歌姬 飞儿乐团 F.i.r.

' This is one of the great albums of all time, and is by far the most coherent, interesting and powerful album that James Brown was involved with. With Maceo Parker back on board to work with Fred Wesley and the gang at the height of their creativity, the album comes together as a coherent whole, exploring a number of funk and jazz themes. The album gives extended solo time to the horn players, while the guitar and bass players set up rock-solid foundations. The drumming and percussion are all superb. Even the mellow numbers on this album don't succumb to dullness, kept crisp by the sharpness of the band. The longer songs also challenge funk conventions, particularly since most of them don't even have vocals. This is a crucial album that every funk fan should have.' Rob.Clough@duke.edu

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and ZZ Top frontman, Billy F Gibbons wants to take you on a desert trip. Hardware is Billy's third release as a solo artist. He compiled a group of a-listers including Matt Sorum (dr), Austin Hanks (gtr) and headed into the California desert to record in Pioneertown. Hardware features the guitar prowess and vocals that have made Billy a legend but it also shows Billy stretching his music landscape past the place where the road ends.

Visitors to Venice had borne witness to Vivaldi’s prowess as a violinist, although some found his performance more remarkable than pleasurable. He certainly explored the full possibilities of the instrument, while perfecting the newly developing form of the Italian solo concerto. He left nearly five hundred concertos. Many of these were for the violin, but there were others for a variety of solo instruments or for groups of instruments, including a score of such works for solo flute or recorder, with strings and harpsichord. He claimed to be able to compose a new work quicker than a copyist could write it out, and he clearly coupled immense facility with a remarkable capacity for variety within the confines of the three-movement form, with its faster outer movements framing a central slow movement.

Arriving in New York in 1945, on his first day in town Ray Brown met and played with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Bud Powell. He was hired by Gillespie for his small groups and his big band; "One Bass Hit" and "Two Bass Hit" were early features, and he can be seen with Dizzy Gillespie in the 1947 film Jiving in Bebop. Although not a soloist on the level of an Oscar Pettiford, Brown's quick reflexes and ability to accompany soloists in a swinging fashion put him near the top of his field. After playing with Jazz at the Philharmonic, he married Ella Fitzgerald (their marriage only lasted during 1948-1952), and for a time led his own trio to back the singer.,.