Rolling Stone Jazz

For the first time, Little Steven’s music from the ground-breaking first original series, Lilyhammer, which ended in 2014, has been collected together and will be released as two separate albums – Lilyhammer The Score – Volume 1: Jazz and Volume 2: Folk, Rock, Rio, Bits And Pieces – on CD, digital and 180g black vinyl on 12 July via Wicked Cool/UMe.

Great Britain’s BGO Records found a couple of nearly forgotten gems to compile in this grand two-fer from guitarist Joe Pass’ solo catalog. This set contains his amazing 12 String Guitar album (the first 12 tracks) issued in 1963, with bonus tracks from a 1964 session included. Pass played an acoustic 12-string, of course, and was accompanied by John Pisano on rhythm guitar, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Larry Bunker. Each cut is a beautiful modern jazz reading of popular movie themes of the day, from “Lawrence of Arabia” and “How the West Was Won” to the more delicate “Love Theme of Tom Jones” (not the singer) and the taut rhythmic intensity and ultimate beauty of “Carnaval” from the film Black Orpheus, offering listeners solid evidence of his bossa and samba chops. Every track here is a winner…

The electric guitar innovator in the 1970s. This box set in ECM’s Old & New Masters Series collects Terje Rypdal’s two-LP Odyssey album – heard on CD, for the first time, in its entirety, including the much-requested and epically-rocking “Rolling Stone” – and “Unfinished Highballs”, a recently unearthed 1976 radio recording that documents the Norwegian guitarist’s work for his Odyssey quartet and the Swedish Radio Jazz Group. The complete Odyssey may address a longstanding demand, but “Unfinished Highballs” will surprise even Rypdal’s most committed fans. It reveals that not only were many of the markers which would come to define his career already in place, but the intrepid guitarist was already searching for ways to include, rather than exclude, in his approach to composition and performance.

Gabriel is a totally unique artist, creating an enticing and varied palette of textures and colors with his trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, valve ‘bone, and electronic wind instruments with erudite grace and lyricism. He has had a half dozen Billboard Top 20 charting tracks of his own, and many more with other Artists as featured soloist, incl. 2016 releases by Greg Manning, Rock Hendricks, Tony Saunders, & Bob Baldwin.

The ultimate compendium of a half century of the best music, now revised and updated. 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a highly readable list of the best, the most important, and the most influential pop albums from 1955 through today. Carefully selected by a team of international critics and some of the best-known music reviewers and commentators, each album is a groundbreaking work seminal to the understanding and appreciation of music from the 1950s to the present. Included with each entry are production details and credits as well as reproductions of original album cover art. Perhaps most important of all, each album featured comes with an authoritative description of its importance and influence.