Jeff Lorber Fusion

Sylvia St. James began at Elektra on her debut album Magic with two further giants of jazz fusion, both also with affiliated with groups, Lenny White (Twennynine) and Larry Dunn (Earth Wind & Fire). Also contributing is a long term affiliate of Lenny White, and legend in his own right Don Blackman. Sylvia had previously worked with Lenny White on Twennynine s 1980 album Twennynine featuring Lenny White , but for her second album Echoes & Images Andre Fisher was brought in as producer who had previously produced Brenda Russell and worked with Sylvia St. James between projects for Betty Wright and Sheree Brown utilising top Los Angeles players.

The title of the popular trumpeter and composer's latest triumph is a wistful reference to a language created in the late 19th century (by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, who used the pseudonym "Dr. Esperanto") to facilitate communication between people of different lands and cultures. It's representative of the unique vibe of the collection, which features distinctive Euro influences drawn from the realms of trance, electronica, and acid jazz, with dramatic orchestral touches as well. Before those kick in, however, listeners are treated to an extension of the old-school brassy soul of B.W.B., the Warner Bros. ensemble of Braun, Kirk Whalum, and Norman Brown.

Theander Expression is the AOR project by Swedish guitar player Andree Theander, who started to work with the first album in 2012 and released it one year later. It was called "Strange Nostalgia" after one of the songs and got critically acclaimed around the world of melodic rock in 2013. Andrée Theander with his band delivers a pure AOR album, spiced up with energetic licks and furious solos and occasionally leaning towards the more powerful side of 80s Westcoast, all in all tailor-made for everyone who is into the high class AOR sounds of bands like Street Talk, Toto, Work Of Art, Mecca and Lionville…