Shakatak's 40th Anniversary 3xCD and DVD set featuring: CD 1 - First 20 years retrospective; CD 2 - Favourite 21st Century tracks chosen by each band member + 4 brand new songs; CD3 - It's all Live -+ Bill Sharpe demos DVD of classic 1980's promo videos.
Known best as a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, American jazz trombonist Curtis Fuller also contributed to many classic jazz recordings, but, crucially, was a fine bandleader in his own right whose late 1950s and early 1960s output remains his best work. This four CD set features music from the era during which Curtis Fuller was at his musical prime, and when he released the strongest records of his career as leader or co-leader. Featuring eight such records in perfect re-mastered sound, this collection is an ideal starting place for newcomers to the great man's music and a fine reminder of his talent and creativity for everyone else.
When the Chicago winter finally breaks this year, The Steepwater Band will release their brand new album “Turn of the Wheel” on April 24, 2020, via the band’s own imprint, Diamond Day Records. The eleven-song set was recorded last year on the shores of Lake Michigan at the new Vigo Street Studios in Miller Beach, Indiana, marking the band’s return to work with producer/engineer Jim Winters (brother of TSB drummer Joe Winters), who recorded their fan-favorite 2006 release “Revelation Sunday.” For TSB, it’s their seventh full-length studio record and first recorded work since 2016’s “Shake Your Faith.” This also marks the first album to feature new bassist, Joe Bishop, rounding out the sound along with veteran guitarist Eric Saylors, and co-founding members Jeff Massey on lead vocals/guitars, and Joe Winters on drums.
In the days before punk rock, Kursaal Flyers straddled the line separating pub rock and power pop. The line was so thin it would seem to disappear in the rearview mirror, but when Kursaal Flyers were active in the mid-'70s, they were subtly pulled in two different directions. They'd tour on the same circuit as their friends Dr. Feelgood, but they also signed to Jonathan King's company in 1975, then worked with pop impresario Mike Batt after singing to CBS for The Golden Mile in 1976. Batt gave "Little Does She Know" a grandiose arrangement designed to conjure memories of Phil Spector, and it was enough for the single to crack the U.K. Top 20; however, instead of being their breakthrough, it was their only hit.
"I think Sola Gratia is as good as anything I’ve ever done." That’s a bold claim by any musician, but it’s an extraordinary one from a singer-songwriter-all-round-musician of the calibre (and extensive back catalog) of Neal Morse, whose reputation as one of the progressive rock world’s most talented and prolific current artists is unparalleled. Like much of Neal’s music, Sola Gratia originated from a seed planted in his mind, followed much later by a whirlwind of inspiration - and, this time, a little solar power: "A couple of people had suggested to me that I should do a prog concept album based on the apostle Paul, but it wasn’t until I went on a cruise to Australia and New Zealand in January 2020 that I started waking up with a lot of music, and would go up on deck with my keyboard to work on it as the sun came up…