Clarinetist David Orlowsky is widely recognized as a musician of tremendous expressiveness and depth, and is acknowledged worldwide as one of today's leading interpreters of the clarinet repertoire ranging from Mozart to Golijov to klezmer. An exclusive Sony recording artist, David has recorded eight discs which have received three ECHO Klassik awards and won him a large and devoted following. David Orlowsky has appeared both as a soloist and with his trio (the David Orlowsky Trio) at a number of major festivals and venues, including the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Lucerne Festival, Gidon Kremer’s Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, the Philhamonie Berlin, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall, with orchestras such as the Netherland Radio Philhamonic Orchestra and the German Chamber Orchestra.
Vibraphonist Cal Tjader is in typically fine form on this live set from 1968. His quintet at the time featured Armand Perazza on congas and pianist Joe Kloess and his repertoire ranged from Afro-Cuban jazz to occasional straightahead tunes. Six of the eight selections on this date are originals by band members or Gary McFarland. Although Tjader had been playing this style of music for 15 years by this time, he still was quite creative and enthusiastic, and is heard throughout in excellent form.
For 40 years Allan Taylor, has been considered as the consummate performer, a writer of literary gracefulness whose troubadour chronicles encapsulate the realism of otherwise unsung heroes, otherwise uncharted lives. On previous albums Allan Taylor sang songs about the road, about all the different countries and all the hotel rooms. All Is One goes deeper - into time and ultimately to the recognition that All Is One. A powerful philosophical statement delivered with virtuoso lightness. Someone who is approaching 70 and calls his album All Is One obviously has something to say. Taylor plays his favorite Martin guitars with the same sensitivity for body, expression and autonomy which one finds in his vocal performance - always moving, and never merely vague. In the last song Allan Taylor summarizes: ''I may not be the perfect man, I guess I'll do the best I can'' - and ends the album with the bemused lightness of a simple D-major chord.
Farewell Tour is the first live album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 1983. It documents the group's 1982 Farewell Tour and is a double album set. By the early 1980s, the Doobie Brothers had evolved from the guitar-boogie sound under original band frontman Tom Johnston to a soulful keyboard-driven AOR sound under Michael McDonald. Despite the many personnel changes in the group, Patrick Simmons remained from the original incarnation of the group. In 1982, Simmons decided to retire from the group after years of constant touring and recording. When the band decided to break up in light of his impending departure, Simmons encouraged the group to make one last tour during the summer of 1982 as a way of thanking the group's loyal fanbase.
Joe Walsh's catalog by this point was two albums strong and of a consistently high quality. Despite a change of lineup for So What – a wide range of musicians is used, including the Eagles' Don Henley – the sound is very similar to previous releases. A number of classic Walsh tracks are featured, including a more polished version of "Turn to Stone," originally featured on his debut album, Barnstorm, in a somewhat more riotous style. "Help Me Thru the Night," Walsh's mellowest song to date, is helped along by some fine lead and backing vocals from the band. So What sees Walsh in top form as a guitarist. Most of the nine tracks feature solos of unquestionable quality in his usual rock style. The classic rock genre that the man so well defined with his earlier albums is present here throughout, and it is pulled off with the usual unparalleled Joe Walsh ability.
This lesser-known Sonny Clark session (his only studio album not made for Blue Note) is sometimes issued under drummer Max Roach's name, too. They are joined by bassist George Duvivier for a set of generally obscure Clark originals including "Minor Meeting," "Blues Mambo," and "My Conception" (which is taken as an unaccompanied piano solo). Although not obvious while listening to his recording, Clark's life was in decline and this would be his penultimate date as a leader.
Vocalion's reissue of classic easy-listening album by Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra, originally released in 1976 on the Philips label. Remastered from the original analogue stereo tapes for Vocalion's trademark crystal-clear sound. French composer/conductor Paul Mauriat is a classically trained musician who decided to pursue a career in popular music. His first major success came in 1962, as a co-writer of the European hit "Chariot." In 1963, the song was given English lyrics, renamed "I Will Follow Him," and became a number one American hit for Little Peggy March. Mauriat is best remembered for his 1968 worldwide smash "Love Is Blue."
Controversial at the time, delayed because of fights with the record company over lyrical content and the original title (Volunteers of America), Volunteers was a powerful release that neatly closed out and wrapped up the '60s. Here, the Jefferson Airplane presents itself in full revolutionary rhetoric, issuing a call to "tear down the walls" and "get it on together." "We Can Be Together" and "Volunteers" bookend the album, offering musical variations on the same chord progression and lyrical variations on the same theme. Between these politically charged rock anthems, the band offers a mix of words and music that reflect the competing ideals of simplicity and getting "back to the earth," and overthrowing greed and exploitation through political activism, adding a healthy dollop of psychedelic sci-fi for texture.