L'iniziazione (1999)

V.A. - Afrodesia: The Tribal Sound Of Irma (1999). A gift to the roots, the percussive sounds that meets the metropolis sounds that are in perfect balance between modernisation and tradition, a musical adventure that points straight to the heart of Africa featuring Artists like: Moz-Art, (Jestofunk’s main producer), Soul Ascendants, (main Band from seminal London Label Nuphonic), Claudio Coccoluto and Sam Paglia. The Album also includes the Shazz Remix by Joe Clausell Dj resident of Body & Soul in New York…

The blues of Lurrie Bell comes from a turbulent place, but there's no denying the man can play. This album brings together tracks from three different sessions, the bulk being held in 1997. Supported by a spartan rhythm section, Bell sprays kamikaze guitar licks over a bevy of old standards like "Five Long Years," "Who Do You Love," "Mean Old Frisco," and "You're the One." The last four songs on the album are the real treat; cut in 1995 at the Mercurial Son sessions, this is just Lurrie and his electric guitar running through raw, soulful, and sometimes whacked-out versions of everything from "Rollin' and Tumblin'" to "If I Had a Hammer." If you've wondered what all the fuss is about, grab this CD and turn on to the blues world of Lurrie Bell.

Al di Meola's first so-called Christmas album is a relaxed, flowing, intensely musical affair that jazzers, world music buffs, and new agers will feel equally comfortable with. Mostly, he steers away from the often-cracked chestnuts, composing several nice tunes of his own ("Zima," the leadoff cut, is especially inviting), playing acoustic guitar and a battery of percussion instruments and keyboards in a graceful one-man band, thanks to multi-track tape. Other tracks feature duets between di Meola (with overdubbed additional instruments) and Roman Hrynkiv, who plays a Ukrainian zither-like instrument called the bandura.