Audacity 2.1

The first new recording led by legendary jazz bassist Buster Williams since 2004, the 2018 album, "Audacity", was conceived as Buster celebrated the milestone of his 75th birthday. The result is a mission statement for an artist turning a new corner with the experience of three-quarters of a century behind him. "Audacity" also features Buster’s long-running, all-star quartet Something More with saxophonist Steve Wilson, pianist George Colligan, and drummer Lenny White. There are few jazz groups working today with the creative skill and brilliance of Something More and Audacity captures all four musicians at their very best. They cover a lot of ground musically with six new compositions from Buster and one each from Steve, George and Lenny. Recorded live at New York City's Sear Sound Studio C.

When considering the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, there are few bands that embraced it and lived it more fully than Royal Trux. The origins of the band track back to the late 1980s in Washington, D.C., where the duo of Neil Michael Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema established their musical identity and released their self-titled debut in 1988. Royal Trux was rock 'n' roll in its purest form, and it appeared to settle the vision of the duo, but soon enough Hagerty and Herrema started experimenting with additional elements. The band's double record Twin Infinities, released in 1990 saw the realization of their true vision, incorporating noise rock qualities and featuring an experimental approach that was verging on the avant-garde.

Lowell Liebermann was born in New York City in 1961 and has swiftly risen to become one of the most prolific and performed American composers of his generation. Many awards and prizes have accompanied him through the first thirty-six years of life and his first fifty-six completed works, and he has written for virtually every instrument and in most forms.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet returns for the second volume of his survey of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. The project, set to conclude with Vol. 3 in 2014, runs alongside his complete recording of Haydn’s Piano Sonatas. Vol. 1 of the Beethoven series was critically acclaimed, BBC Music calling the performances ‘distinguished and virtuosic’ and Fanfare remarking that ‘his readings will withstand the test of time’. In this release Bavouzet performs the sonatas published between 1800 and 1804.