Escape David Hirschfelder

You'd get differing answers to the question of whether John Adams is America's greatest living composer, but he's the one to whom the country turned in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The demand for new work from him has only increased since he achieved senior citizen status. Fortunately, he's been able to meet that demand with distinctive large-scale works. Consider 2016's Scheherazade.2, recorded here by the violinist who premiered the work, Leila Josefowicz, with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under David Robertson. The piece succeeds on several levels. It is, outwardly, as close as Adams has come to writing a big Romantic violin concerto, and it will no doubt be welcomed into the concert repertory as such. Yet go into it more deeply, and it seems less a concerto than – well, what, exactly? Adams calls it a "dramatic symphony." English critic Nick Breckenfield has compared it to Berlioz's Harold in Italy, with the soloist representing an individual making her way through a series of adventures that may have a threatening tinge.

Compiling the third and fourth solo albums by sideman-to-the-stars David Bromberg, Wanted Dead or Alive/Midnight on the Water includes Bromberg's virtuoso musicianship, eccentric songwriting, and endearingly off-key vocals, along with plenty of guest spots: Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and on the first, most of the Grateful Dead.

Multi-instrumentalist David Arkenstone began his recording career back in 1987 with the impressive debut Valley In The Clouds followed up 3 years later with the notable Citizen Of Time. In 1994 Arkenstone released Another Star In The Sky and much like the two previously mention albums his compositions had some elements of the ambient genre. Such influences were less obvious in his subsequent recordings until 2007 when he released Myths and Legends which also had textures of the genre. But not until now has David truly set his mind to fully experimenting with the Ambient World courtesy of this double disc conception…

Pianist/composer and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow Helen Sung celebrates the work of influential women composers on her latest album Quartet+, crafting new arrangements of tunes by Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland and Toshiko Akiyoshi while carrying the tradition forward with her own stunning new works. Co-produced by violin master Regina Carter, the album pairs Sung’s quartet with the strings of the GRAMMY® Award-winning Harlem Quartet in an inventive meld of jazz and classical influences.

Pianist/composer and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow Helen Sung celebrates the work of influential women composers on her latest album Quartet+, crafting new arrangements of tunes by Geri Allen, Carla Bley, Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland and Toshiko Akiyoshi while carrying the tradition forward with her own stunning new works. Co-produced by violin master Regina Carter, the album pairs Sung’s quartet with the strings of the GRAMMY® Award-winning Harlem Quartet in an inventive meld of jazz and classical influences.

One of Taylor Deupree’s many side projects on the Instinct Ambient record label. Good example of early american ambient. Slow and meditative most of the time, almost lounge-like at points, it's actually quite difficult to listen to it all the way through, but worth it in the end.

British AOR outfit has been away for quite some time but now guitar player Vince O’Reagan (BOB CATLEY, LEGION) starts a new version of the band including a new line-up. It’s a collection of re-recorded and freshly produced songs from earlier ESCAPE records and some of his solo stuff as well as two songs previously recorded by BOB CATLEY but written by O’Reagan (“Blinded By A Lie“ and “Walk On Water“). Everything is typical British AOR with lots of majestic keyboards but also with balls or in other words, sharp guitars. If you dig the likes of TEN, NEWMAN or SERPENTINE, you can’t go wrong here.