Alexander Bensch

This disc has everything going for it. First, the repertoire is attractive and challenging. Second, the performance is evocative and virtuosic. Third, the recording is vivid and immediate. What more could a listener want?

Heartcore Records is proud to present Introducing Cecil Alexander, Alexander’s debut album as a bandleader, featuring Will Gorman on organ and Steven Crammer on drums. Alexander’s playing is steeped in the rich history of the guitarists that have come before him, and he carries this torch into the future, breathing new life and passion into guitar-based jazz.

David Alexander was a Welsh singer and entertainer. He made his debut at a local social club where he worked and toured much of the United Kingdom, also working as an entertainer at Pontins. He released his first album So Many Ways on his own label in 1975. Initial pressings were on the North West Gramophone label but later pressings and a string of other albums, singles and EPs throughout the late 70's, 80's and early 90's were released on his ACE Recordings label. In 1980, Alexander again recorded for EMI with a single "Come Home Rhondda Boy" on Columbia and a self titled album on their budget One-Up label. An updated version of that album was released on ACE.

Two well-known tenor greats go on a special journey of discovery: René Kollo and Jay Alexander sing evening songs by Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann. The famous songs from the Romantic era have all been rearranged for string orchestra and have been produced in this form in the studio for the first time. The unique album, which will be released on February 11, 2022, combines two well-known voices that complement each other perfectly in their differences. The two singers can be heard as a duet and as a soloist, creating a completely new listening experience for these songs.

Julius Röntgen was born on 9 May 1855 in Leipzig, the son of Dutch violinist Engelbert Röntgen, leader of the Gewandhausorchester there, and German pianist Pauline Klengel. He started composing at an early age and took the stage with his own works in Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Leipzig as a child prodigy. At the age of fifteen he was introduced to Franz Liszt, who invited him to one of his famous soirees after he played two of his own compositions to him.

Mozart’s string quintets represent "some of his most sophisticated musical thinking … wonderful music, exhilarating to hear” (from the liner notes by Eric Bromberger). With this three album set, the Alexander String Quartet and Paul Yarbrough complete their Mozart compendium.

There is a long tradition of "saxophone battles" in jazz with duos such as Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray or Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane performing together in a kind of sporting joust of abilities, a gentleman's contest for who is the better player. On the 2012 concert album Friendly Fire: Live at Smoke, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander and alto saxophonist Vincent Herring join in this tradition with a swinging, passionate set of standards recorded live at the respected N.Y.C. venue. The album is actually a re-pairing of the duo, who first sparred on 2005's Battle: Live at Smoke. This time around they spar over such numbers as Hank Mobley's "Pat 'N' Chat," McCoy Tyner's "Inception," the standard "You've Changed," as well as Herring's own "Timothy," among others. Backing the saxophonists here are pianist Mike LeDonne, bassist John Webber, and drummer Carl Allen. This is a lively and exciting session of adventurous and old-school straight-ahead jazz.