Blow. Away 1993

Tenor John Mark Ainsley with Timothy Roberts on harpsichord, spinet & chamber organ and Paula Chateauneuf on theorbo and baroque guitar, in an award-winning recording of eighteen songs and keyboard works by John Blow (1649-1708).

Billy Taylor was already in his early seventies and Gerry Mulligan not far behind when the pianist and baritone saxophonist performed together for the first time in a series of 1993 dates at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburgh, PA. The two had been close friends for years, though, and their on-stage meeting has an aura of inevitability about it: there's a symbiotic relationship at work here from the first moments that only grows tighter as the program moves along. By this time, each musician had half a century of experience behind him, accustomed to working in any number of diverse configurations, but together they keep things loose and easy here, not looking to prove anything to anyone - only to enjoy each other's company…

An amazing piece of work - a massive eight-disc boxed set that contains every one of Fats Domino's 1949-1962 Imperial waxings. That's a tremendous load of one artist, but the legacy of Domino and his partner Dave Bartholomew is so consistently innovative and infectious that it never grows tiresome for a second. From the clarion call of "The Fat Man," Domino's 1949 debut, to the storming "Dance with Mr. Domino" in 1962, he typified everything charming about Crescent City R&B, his Creole patois and boogie-based piano a non-threatening vehicle for the rise of rock & roll.

30 Trips Around the Sun is an 80-CD live album, packaged as a box set, by the rock band the Grateful Dead. Announced for the celebration of their 50th anniversary, it consists of 30 complete, previously unreleased concerts—73 hours of music—with one show per year from 1966 through 1995. The box set is individually numbered and limited to 6,500 copies. It was released on October 7, 2015.