Cerrone

It couldn't be simpler: a boy, tired with his work, decided to quit everything and form a band. In most cases, the band and the hopes didn't last long. With Kongas, French disco producer Marc Cerrone's first band, this was more complicated. In the early '70s, the young man made his own revolution.

Recorded during the summer of 1977, the ambitious Supernature was a surprising departure from Cerrone's two previous albums, Love in C Minor and Cerrone's Paradise. Those who expected the Parisian producer/composer/drummer to come up with another happy, sexy party record had a major surprise when they discovered that Cerrone's third album is a moody, conceptual effort that could be described as the Euro-disco equivalent of a horror or science fiction movie. But Cerrone doesn't go for pure shock value, and the lyrics are never gruesome or graphic. Supernature, although entertaining, has a social conscience…

Saxophonist Julian Velasco headlines an inventive, virtuosic, and diverse album of contemporary classical works for soprano, alto, and tenor sax as winner of Cedille Records’ first Emerging Artist Competition, a juried event celebrating the independent classical label’s 30th anniversary of championing Windy City artists of world-class talent.