Leo Betzl

That globetrotting composer Camille Saint-Saëns wrote La Princesse jaune in 1872, exemplifying the current craze for all things Japanese. Kornélis, played by the tenor Mathias Vidal, dreams only of the Land of the Rising Sun. Under the influence of a hallucinogenic potion, he becomes infatuated with Ming, a fantasy princess.

This unusual album teams together the altos of Lee Konitz, Pony Poindexter, Phil Woods and Leo Wright (along with pianist Steve Kuhn, bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Jon Christensen) on a variety of challenging material. There are four pieces for the full septet (including one that pays tribute to both Bach and Bird), a pair of quintet performances and a ballad medley that ends in a complete fiasco (it has to be heard to be believed). Despite the latter, everyone fares well on this summit meeting.

2022 marks 50 years of Leo Sayer as a recording artist. With the world gradually emerging from a two-year hiatus, Leo will be celebrating this milestone to great effect, with a live performing schedule throughout 2022, along with a brand-new album.

This unusual album teams together the altos of Lee Konitz, Pony Poindexter, Phil Woods and Leo Wright (along with pianist Steve Kuhn, bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Jon Christensen) on a variety of challenging material. There are four pieces for the full septet (including one that pays tribute to both Bach and Bird), a pair of quintet performances and a ballad medley that ends in a complete fiasco (it has to be heard to be believed). Despite the latter, everyone fares well on this summit meeting.

What's Trending is Leo Sidran’s eighth solo record. In many ways it picks up where his celebrated 2021 release The Art Of Conversation left off. If The Art was a “hymn to empathy” (El Pais, Spain) and “a treasure chest of intimate and introspective portraits of family life during the pandemic” (West Coast Soul, Germany), this latest release is a hip, deeply personal exploration of how music can make life more livable in difficult times.

Wadada Leo Smith defines his music as ‘Creative Music’, and his diverse discography reveals a recorded history of music centred in the idea of spiritual harmony and the unification of social and cultural issues of his world.

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith with Orange Wave Electric, an all-star electric band including guitarists Nels Cline, Brandon Ross and Lamar Smith; bassists Bill Laswell and Melvin Gibbs; electronic musician Hardedge; percussionist Mauro Refosco; and drummer Pheeroan akLaff.

Federico Ughi Together with Leo Genovese and Brandon Lopez Explores the Spaceways in the New Multidimensional LP/CD ‘Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You, Vol. 1’.

"A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke" features pianist Vijay Iyer and the musician he has described as his “hero, friend and teacher”, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The two had played together extensively but this album is their first collaborative album, recorded in New York City in October 2015. The centrepiece of the programme is the mostly-improvised and spellbinding title suite, dedicated to innovative Indian artist Nasreen Mohamedi, whose improvisatory imagery evokes abstracted rhythms. Iyer's piano and Smith's trumpet interact here with creative sensitivity to tone, texture and space.