African Parrot

From two noted experts–the first in-depth book on teaching your bird to talkTeaching a bird to talk isn’t as difficult as it may seem. In this easy-to-follow guide, avian experts Diane Grindol and Tom Roudybush reveal how you ccommunicate with your parrot far beyond "hello" and, in turn, understand what your bird is trying to communicate to you.

The works of the eight composers on QUADRANTS 3 display both the broad scope of styles and energies that the string quartet can produce, while also highlighting the individual talents of each artist. The resident ensemble for QUADRANTS 3, Altius Quartet, who take their name from the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger), handles each piece with skill and flair. The album begins with Bruce Babcock s The Present Moment. Richly harmonic, the piece is filled with themes that develop and recur like memories changing over time. Nora Morrow presents her uplifting, motivic Rose Moon, sonically emulating the image of a rose blooming with a touch of sentimentality.

"When I listen to these records now… when I listen to the Pershing, it's phenomenal, I must say. What they were doing, phenomenal, the lines and the purity. It's so pure … It was sheer joy working with these two individuals. Master musicians," writes pianist/bandleader Ahmad Jamal in the liner notes to this collection. If there ever was a subject worthy of a Mosaic box set, Jamal is it. For six decades, he has been, for several reasons, one of the most enduring and identifiable artists in jazz, or, as he prefers to describe it, "American classic music." First, there is his sound: a breathtaking amalgam of Erroll Garner's pithy touch, Nat "King" Cole's intricate horn-like, pre-bop lines, and Art Tatum's Mephistophelean technique.

On Elephantine, his new Northern Spy/Sub Rosa album, Cairo-based Maurice Louca guides a 12-piece ensemble through a panoramic 38-minute odyssey, which he describes as his most ambitious project yet.