Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen

After a long period off of records (at least as a leader), pianist Kenny Drew emerged in 1973 for a duo session with bassist Niels Pederson. For their rematch in 1974, Drew and Pederson performed one original apiece, five standards (including "A Child Is Born" and "My Shining Hour") and jazz interpretations of a couple of Scandinavian folk songs. The pianist's style was largely unchanged from the 1950s except that he had grown a bit as a player and was open to some more modern chord voicings. The music on this encounter with the virtuosic bassist Niels Pederson should easily appeal to Kenny Drew's fans.

Chase Rice’s sixth studio album is not so much a reinvention as it is a reveal, as the Asheville-born singer-songwriter serves up 13 tracks that offer a deeper glimpse into his life and artistry than on any previous release. That newfound vulnerability is hard-earned for Rice, who confronted some personal demons during the pandemic. Accordingly, he tells Apple Music, he believes I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go to Hell</i> to be his best work yet. “I would put my stuff up against anybody now,” he says. “And if it’s not as good as theirs, then at least I know it was the best that I could do.”

The Lion King proved to be one of Elton John's most successful projects – which is quite an achievement for one of the most successful rockers in history. Given its level of popularity, it's only logical that John would reteam with his Lion collaborator Tim Rice…

This rather memorable Pablo recording, his only album as a leader for Norman Granz's label (although he made several notable appearances as a sideman), features the great jazz harmonica player Toots Thielemans in a sparse trio with guitarist Joe Pass and bassist Niels Pedersen. The four main numbers ("Blues in the Closet," "Thriving on a Riff," "Autumn Leaves," and "Someday My Prince Will Come") are pure bebop, and Thielemans' solo guitar rendition of "The Mooche" is also a highlight.

Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1970 rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The album musical is a musical dramatisation of the last week of the life of Jesus Christ, beginning with his entry into Jerusalem and ending with the Crucifixion…

The Brabant Ensemble continue their investigation into unknown jewels of the Low Countries Renaissance, researched by their director Stephen Rice and recorded with equal amounts of passion and erudition by the young singers of the group.

The Brabant Ensemble, better known for uncovering works by forgotten composers such as Dominique de Phinot, turns to a giant of the Renaissance—perhaps the most celebrated name of the period. Yet within Palestrina’s huge output there are many hidden gems, lacking both recordings and modern performing editions, and it is from among these that the ensemble’s director Stephen Rice has chosen the repertoire for this album. A Mass—Missa Ad coenam Agni, from Palestrina’s first book of Mass-settings—is included, plus antiphons, motets and five Eastertide Offertories. Each work is, as Stephen Rice states in his typically informative booklet notes, ‘a finely crafted addition to the liturgy’.

Orlande de Lassus was an undisputed master of all the vocal genres of the late Renaissance, from German Lied to Latin Mass. He was extraordinarily prolific, and this recording features the glorious polyphony of the Missa Amor ecco colei and Prophetiae Sibyllarum, one of his most celebrated works. With the latter’s extreme chromaticism and constant modulation, Lassus stretched the compositional boundaries of the time to produce one of the most important and advanced works to come from the sixteenth century.

Jean Mouton was a Renaissance French composer and choirmaster, much acknowledged but more rarely recorded, who wrote a body of music that’s both technically inventive and immediately appealing. Here Stephen Rice and The Brabant Ensemble—renowned exponents of sixteenth-century Franco-Flemish repertoire—perform all Mouton’s eight-part music, two four-part motets, and his only five-part Mass setting, the Missa Tu es Petrus. The latter is characterized by light, clear textures and a soaring cantus firmus, while the double-choir Nesciens mater is rightly famous for its ingenious canon. Sheer compositional skill aside, all these works demonstrate Mouton’s vivid and original imagination—one that has the ability to speak directly to our time.