After years of making his own esoteric ambient albums and paying for them by doing dance remixes for pop acts, William Orbit hit the big time in 1998 by co-writing and producing Madonna's Ray of Light album. With his own debut solo album on Madonna's label, he returned to his esoteric pursuits, programming a variety of calm classical pieces into his computer and rearranging them to one extent or another. Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" came off relatively unscathed, but by the time he got to "Ogives Number 1" by Erik Satie, Orbit was mixing in the sounds of a helicopter, as if he were Francis Ford Coppola doing sound design work on Apocalypse Now with the Doors' "The End." Handel's "Largo from Xerxes" remained recognizable, but Beethoven's "Triple Concerto" was largely transformed…
The Jackson 5 were a group made-up of five brothers from Gary, Indiana, USA –Michael, Jackie, Tito, Marlon, Randy (with Jermaine instead of Randy pre-1976)– under the leadership of their father Joseph Jackson…
Too Short discovered rapper Spice 1, who'd been born in Texas before moving to California. His self-titled debut was as vivid and fatalistic a gangsta album as possible, and his hard-edged, angry, and pessimistic rapping style and tone only added to the despair emanating from the disc…
Vibraphone master and thought leader Stefon Harris (featured on the cover of Downbeat's May 2024 issue) drops a surprise short-form album featuring four excellent tracks from his 2017 Sonic Creed sessions, his exquisite vibes & marimba arrangement of Stevie Wonder's "You. and I," and a moving new ballad titled "I Know Love." His 10th album serves as both a sequel to the previous 2018 release and also serves as a prequel for an epic new release coming in 1Q 2025, entitled 'LEGACY DANCES'.