Pinnacle

Pinnacle's second CD is a quantum leap above the first. This is melodic Progressive Rock having musical hooks and natural sounding time changes. In 1997, guitarist/synth player Karl Eisenhart and drummer Greg Jones met in an East Pennsylvania coffee house where Karl was playing an acoustic gig. After clicking personally and musically, they began playing together and performing, first as Dread Pirate Roberts and then Landslide. By 2002 they draft bassist/multi instrumentalist Bill Fox and the trio begin covering progressive staples by Tull, Rush, Yes as well as the Police.

Actually, more of a prog rock album with some hard rock leanings. The keyboards (Farfisa organ and moog) pretty much carry this one. The vocals are a bit on the weak side, but musically it’s fairly strong for a low-budget prog album…

The Greek word ‘kosmos’ is our ethos in a nutshell. It means the world, the universe, people, order from chaos, honour and is also the name of a flower. Kosmos transcends boundaries, and connects people from all around the world. With our shared passion for music from across the globe –from Argentina to Japan–we create bridges between classical and non-classical music, and our music dances across them. All the music on this album is arranged and composed together by us for our signature combination of violin, viola and classical accordion. This recording is a one-off performance, just as each and every one of our concert performances is always novel and singular. Kosmos is a trio of award-winning, international musicians who have performed worldwide, with live broadcasts on national radio including BBC Radio and Classic FM. In 2018 acclaimed composer Errollyn Wallen wrote a Triple Concerto for Kosmos, which was premiered at the Jersey Royal Opera House and Chichester Cathedral. Their previous album released by Nimbus, Pomegranate, was highly acclaimed as ‘a delight from start to finish’ by Guy Rickards of Gramophone Magazine.

Andrew Hill returned to the Blue Note label (where he made many significant releases during 1963-80) for a stimulating quintet date with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, altoist Greg Osby, bassist Rufus Reid and drummer Ben Riley in 1989. The pianist's six originals (which are joined by three alternate takes on the CD) his dense chords behind the other improvisers and his own unpredictable solos are not all overshaowed by his talented sideman, even Osby who is heard in particularly inspired form. There are no weak performances on this superb post bop effort, Andrew Hill's strongest recording in several years.

Kansas' third album, Masque, is a lyrically dark effort courtesy of guitarist/keyboardist Kerry Livgren's brooding songwriting. Musically, Masque foreshadows the tight melodies and instrumental interplay on the next two albums, Leftoverture and Point of Know Return, which together serve as the peak of Kansas' vision. The band deserves more respect than it gets for incorporating British hard rock and progressive rock to become the only U.S. progressive rock band of note during the genre's 1970s heyday. Robbie Steinhardt's violin work certainly helped give Kansas a distinctive sound. The liner notes indicate Masque is a "concept album" thanks to the title's definition: "A disguise of reality created through a theatrical or musical performance." Vocalist/keyboardist Steve Walsh's "It Takes a Woman's Love (To Make a Man)" is the leadoff track, and it's atypical of the rest of the album. The song is a fairly basic yet groovy pop/rock tune about musicians' loneliness on the road, but it is spiced up with some saxophone lines.

Coming off the surprise new studio album Somewhere to Elsewhere in 2000 Kansas seemed to have a bit of a resurgence in popularity, with an increased tour schedule that hasn't let up yet, and a rapid-fire series of reengineered back-catalog albums, compilations, and reissued live releases. In the summer of 2002 the band auctioned off several hundred premium tickets for this concert at Earthlink Live in Atlanta, and drummer Phil Ehart realized a long-time desire to record a full-length concert of the band in a small-venue setting. The result was the two-disc "Device - Voice - Drum", released with little fanfare by Compendium Music Group…

One of the better albums in Rova's confusingly expansive discography, From the Bureau of Both features some of the quartet's most immediately rewarding moments, as well as a few on the opposite end of the spectrum. Rova can be surprisingly accessible when the group's free explorations are tethered to strong frameworks, and that's the case with much of this album. "Swang" became something of a signature piece for the group, featuring a jaunty, rhythmic opening riff that builds into a more complex main passage with several different parts, followed by some spirited group interaction. "Swapmeet! Swapmeet!!" and "Streak" follow a similar pattern: driving rhythms and catchy themes in the lower register, plus interlocking melodies over the top, all of which gives the group members solid bases from which to take flight in their solos.

Escape Music are delighted to announce the release date of the highly anticipated and long awaited ‘Turkish Delight – Volume 1’. Featuring an ‘A list’ collection of musicians, this compilation album celebrates the absolute joy that Escape Music co-owner Khalil Turk has for the kind of music he loves so much and has spent the last thirty and then some years championing.