Harvest (2024)

The UK's No.1 independent soul label Expansion Records commences each year with the label's most anticipated collection, "Luxury Soul". The success of the series comes down to the quality of tracks sourced from independent soul music artists, often unsigned or with recordings previously unissued or on limited release elsewhere in physical format. Many tracks have reached No.1 on soul charts over the last 12 months, but never released physically on CD before. Names include Will Downing, Con Funk Shun, Narada Michael Walden, Lynn Davis (former lead with George Duke), Carol Riddick (former Motown artist), Mike Lindup (of Level 42), Paulette McWilliams (original lead singer with Rufus) Natalie Duncan (Incognito) with exclusive tracks here by The Requestors featuring Vivienne McKone, R. Cory Johnson, Robert Gee and new artist Steven Thad. Also some of the biggest songs of past 12 months by Ronnie Herel & Kenny Thomas, Stokes & Machine, Brian Power with Cornell CC Carter and many more. Release to coincide with the Luxury Soul Weekender in Blackpool, January 2024 and includes tracks by three artists performing live at the event - Shaila Prospere, Natasha Watts and Hil St Soul.

For his new album, violinist Niklas Liepe has joined forces with Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman to create a powerful musical appeal for the preservation of creation.

T Bear is a distinctive singer and talented keyboard player who has made his mark as a solo performer and collaborator with many iconic artists – Crosby Stills and Nash, The Blues Brothers, Billy Squier, Cher, as well as Gene Simmons and Peter Criss of Kiss, to name a few.

The album comprises nine original, mostly instrumental tracks written and produced by Williams, and features her on various guitars, banjo, calabash drum, tap shoes, and kora. Williams is joined on the album by an eclectic cast of collaborators - including Immanuel Wilkins on saxophone, Dom Flemons on rhythm bones, Aoife O'Donovan on vocals, William Tyler on guitar, and many others - creating a folk music that reflects the wide range of musical influences that have inspired her throughout her life.

Don’t let the title fool you, this record can be played all year round! Spooky Jazz Vol 2 showcases a variety of haunted flavors all the way from enchanting blues and mesmerizing foxtrots, to songs that swing so hard they’ll wake the dead! Every song it’s guaranteed to put you in the spooky spirit no matter the time of year.

Virtuosic playfulness and seemingly infinite creativity – from the first note on, violinist Bjarke Falgren and guitarist Sönke Meinen leave all traditions behind and enthuse their audiences all over the world. In their concerts they break the stylistic boundaries between folk, jazz, world music and classical music. Their compositions are expressive and vibrant, and especially the quiet notes draw the listener into their musical world. Nevertheless, the two musicians never take themselves too seriously, leave room for spontaneous interaction and accompany their pieces with humorous and touching stories.

Sealladh (pronounced 'shall-ugh'), the new album from singer, harpist and composer Rachel Newton, began as a commission for the National Galleries of Scotland, celebrating over eighty years of live music programming at the Gallery. The commission also coincided with the opening of the new Scottish Galleries, home to the vast collection of artworks by Scottish painters, a selection of which both inspired and are in conversation with Newton's music. Each track on the album is based on a particular painting and draws on the mythology, language, history, culture and landscapes that originally set the scene for these artworks.

Thunder into Our Hearts is the second album of South African group Jabula, released in 1976 on Caroline Records. Recorded in November and December 1975 at Chalk Farm Studios and Decibel Studios in London, it is a further expedition in African-tinged jazz. The album features the group and guest musicians: Frank Roberts (keyboards), Nick Evans (trombone), "Spartacus" (electric bass), Graeme Morgan (drums), Bob House (clarinet), Ken Ely, Jim Dvorak (trumpet), Mike Rose (flute).

William Grant Still (1895-1978) from Little Rock was a pioneer in many ways. He was the first African American to successfully depart from the generally acceptable genres of jazz and pop. He lived to see a symphonic work and an opera of his performed, he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic and directed an important Southern orchestra. The respect that he acquired is reflected in two Guggenheim fellowships and five honorary doctorates, as well as a growing number of top-quality recordings of his works. This album is dedicated to the composer's impressive art songs. Two dozen works, including simple spirituals, expansive, declamatory and captivating scenes, touching miniatures and provocative challenges paint a portrait of a self-assured man asserting his musical authority.

On their second ECM duo album Romanian pianist Lucian Ban and US violist Mat Maneri find fresh inspiration as they follow the trail of Béla Bartók, revisiting the folk music that spurred the imagination of the great Hungarian composer who, in the early 20th century, collected and transcribed numerous pieces from Transylvania. For the duo these songs have become “springboards and sources of melodic material” for arrangements “that capture the spirit of the original yet allow us to improvise and bring our own world to them. If you go deeper into the source material, new vistas open up. These folk songs teach us many things.” Recorded live in October 2022 in the context of the Retracing Bartók project in Timișoara, these performances also bear testimony to the finely attuned understanding that Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri have achieved in their long-running musical partnership.