Angela Cameron – Blane

Pianist, composer and vocalist Cameron Graves calls the music he’s architected for his new Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Music Group release thrash-jazz, though that only begins to tell the story. Yes, upon an initial listen, the juggernaut metal force and hardcore precision of Seven can knock you back. After all, Graves grew up in metal-rich Los Angeles, headbanging to Living Colour as a kid and, after immersing himself in jazz and classical studies for years, reigniting his love for hard rock through records by Pantera, Slipknot and his most profound metal influence, Swedish titans Meshuggah.

Emmanuel Chabrier's piano music has everything going for it: charm, wit, imagination, unexpected harmonic twists, and more than a few technical challenges. So why do pianists habitually ignore it? Hopefully Angela Hewitt's freshly minted, sharply honed interpretations will inspire recitalists to dust off these unsung treasures. Her keen ear for detail always arises from the music's character and never draws attention to itself. The Schumann-esque Ronde champêtre boasts remarkable rhythmic spring, while Bourrée fantasque's busy contrapuntal lines resonate with the clarity of Hewitt's best Bach playing, yet without sacrificing one iota of scintillation. There have been lighter, crisper renditions of the (relatively) well-known Scherzo-valse, but Hewitt's telling left-hand inflections keep things airborne. In fact, the nine other Pièces pittoresques benefit from Hewitt's ability to give each one its own timbral voice. On paper, for example, Mauresque's steady accompanimental chords don't look like anything special. However, in Hewitt's hands they come to animated life.

Angela Bofill's 1983 albums, both released while the singer was with Arista, are combined on this reissue from David Nathan's soulmusic.com label. Too Tough, a number six Billboard R&B hit produced with Narada Michael Walden, is one of her best albums. It contains two of her bigger hits: the upbeat pop-funk title track and the quiet storm favorite "Tonight I Give In." Walden's once again prominent on Teaser, which wasn't nearly as major. Although it reached number 20 on the R&B chart, the material let her down. The most notable number is the ballad "I'm on Your Side."

Isola echoes the jazz futurism of the 1970s. Ralph Towner and Eberhard Weber’s excursions for ECM, Brian Eno’s self-generating experiments, the fourth world mysticism of Jon Hassell, as well as Pike’s own recent forays into spiritual improvisation and electronics as both a solo artist and as part of the UK’s Szun Waves (with modular synth master Luke Abbott).

Diva is an entertaining and attractively packaged compilation of Angela Gheorghiu's EMI recordings made between 1996 and 2002. All of the selections have appeared on previous releases, but some of them only in the context of complete operas. As a one-disc snapshot of Gheorghiu's career so far, Diva does pretty well, and it would make a good first choice for anyone looking to get to know her work.