Michael Ruff

The well-known adult contemporary singer debuted her powerful, poetic, and anthemic closing track, "No Room for Hate," in April of 2000 in front of 80,000 people at Equality Rocks, an all-star concert to benefit the Human Rights Campaign. The song and its message of compassion seem even more timely coming out just a few months after September 11. The rest of the time here, Scott's appealing voice tackles her usual spread of romantic lyrics and stylistic excursions to Brazil (the balmy, soundscape-enhanced samba-lite "I Always Think of You," co-written with and featuring guitarist Ricardo Silveira). She's been part of the Los Angeles studio scene for many years and always works with the cream of the crop…

Christian Rosander is a 22-year old musician and songwriter from Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. He studied music for about 11 years, three of them in high school and two years in college. Since he was 14 years old, he'd been writing songs in the AOR/MR and westcoast genre. His main influences include Toto, H.e.a.t, Queen, Chicago & Def Leppard, all having been an important inspiration for his musical work. Rosander's musical work includes artists and bands such as Michael Ruff, Paulo Mendonca, Frank Ådahl and X-Romance.

Close-Up is very much a collaboration between altoist David Sanborn and Marcus Miller, who serves as producer, bassist and frequently the lead keyboardist. With the exception of Randy Newman's "Same Girl" and "You Are Everything," all of the music was written or co-composed by Sanborn and Miller. Some selections utilize such additional players as guitarist Hiram Bullock, keyboardist Ricky Peterson and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta. In general, the music fits the formula well, offering Sanborn's emotional sax backed by then-modern electronics and funky rhythms.

Chris Rosander is a 25 year old musician and songwriter from Örnsköldsvik, Sweden who has been writing songs in the AOR/Melodic and West Coast genre since he was 14 years old. Christian''s musical work includes artists and bands such as Michael Ruff, Paulo Mendonca, Frank Ådahl and X-Romance.

"I believe that Richard Elliot is one of the most under appreciated artists around! This CD, "The Power of Suggestion", is a fusion of bluesy-funky rhythms (a`la Tower of Power) and smooth jazz with just a hint of tropical breeze thrown in. From the title track, (which makes you move) to [on some CD's] the last track, "Michele" (which, without words, makes your heart ache) and all of the tracks in between (in particular "St. Croix", "Hearts On Fire" w/Phillip Ingram and "Neon Nights") stories are told; some sad, some raucous, some tell of love lost and some of happiness found. All of them are told from the heart, most without words. If you buy only one Richard Elliot CD, make it this one."

Live in Tokyo is a live record from the reunited original lineup of Amon Duul, and while most of the members are in place, the band isn't able to recapture the spark that made their early-'70s albums prog-rock milestones. The lineup features three longtime members, Renate Knaup, Lothar Meid, and Chris Karrer, with Wolf Wolff on drums and new second guitarist Felice Occhionero, Michael Ruff on keyboards and Jan Kahlert doing percussion and vocals. Most of the material is from Nada Moonshine # and one of their best albums, Wolf City.