The Night Listener

It is a sound garden inspired by the night, nature and spirituality to represent safe spaces for a digitalised and a conflicted society. It provides a "breathing space" from the crowds and brings the listener on a journey through the different moods of the night being calm, meditative, mysterious and even of turmoil. The Night Garden is a metaphor of using music and art as a 'safe space' of self-expression and healing, promote happiness and well-being in society and the message of hope that suffering and darkness is temporal. It is about journeying through the darkness, confronting it and coming out a better person. Compositions from classical composers such as Saint-Saens, Tansmann, Koechlin, Hersant, Robert Ronnes are in the programme.

The trio format has always been something of an ideal for Jan Lundgren. That particular buzz when communication between the musicians in a trio is direct, immediate and ever-present…when the trio keeps a constant sense of forward motion and development…when the players collectively remain open to the inspiration of every millisecond. These are the virtues which Lundgren sees as the recipe for the kind of openness, freedom, subtlety and excellence of a trio at its best.

Adept and international specialist of bansoori (a bamboo flute among the Indians of North), Andreas Ludwig attempts to produce an ethnic music slightly tinged with electronic music and progressives. Our man in particular is helped by drummer Harald Grosskopf and guitarist-keyboardist Axel Manrico Heilhecker, the duo is Sunya Beat in full force! Recorded between 1993 and 1998, parts of "Callings Of The Night" looks like an imaginary film, which leads the listener to the depths of the mysteries of the orient. Very relaxed and a kind of New Age.

This debut album by the Ventures is surprisingly good, considering that it was recorded in a huge rush during an era when all concerned couldn't help but know that rock & roll albums (apart from those by Elvis Presley) generally didn't sell very well; indeed, the fact that this is so good speaks volumes about the class and talent of the group at this early point in their history…

This is the one that started it: Mosaic, recorded in 1961, was the first recording of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers as a sextet, a setting he kept from 1961-1964. The band's front line was trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter; Cedar Walton played piano and Jymie Merritt (a criminally underappreciated talent) was the bassist. Everything on this set was written by the musicians in the band. Walton wrote the burning title track; its blazing tempo and Eastern modes were uncharacteristic of the Jazz Messengers sound, but it swings like mad. Hubbard contributed two pieces to the album, the first of which is the groover "Down Under," with its blues gospel feel. The bandmembers dig their teeth into this one, carrying the blues theme to the breaking point as Hubbard fills in between…

This is the one that started it: Mosaic, recorded in 1961, was the first recording of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers as a sextet, a setting he kept from 1961-1964. The band's front line was trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter; Cedar Walton played piano and Jymie Merritt (a criminally underappreciated talent) was the bassist. Everything on this set was written by the musicians in the band. Walton wrote the burning title track; its blazing tempo and Eastern modes were uncharacteristic of the Jazz Messengers sound, but it swings like mad. Hubbard contributed two pieces to the album, the first of which is the groover "Down Under," with its blues gospel feel. The bandmembers dig their teeth into this one, carrying the blues theme to the breaking point as Hubbard fills in between…

These 12 full-length CDs document the Vandermark 5 playing at Alchemia, a major nightclub in Kraków, Poland, for a period of five evenings in March 2005. Over the course of well more than 12 hours of music, the quintet solidifies its reputation as one of the most innovative and exciting jazz groups of its time, as magic fills the air every night. It is difficult to imagine a more compelling set of modern jazz. The invigorated Polish audience welcomed the group enthusiastically, and the musicians responded with thrilling performances that summarize the state of the band, which was in peak form, and suggest the directions in which jazz is heading as a creative force. This is difficult music to categorize, if only because it relies on traditional concepts of melody and improvisation, but pushes hard to stretch and twist the limits of propriety. The box set is marvelously packaged, with a splendid booklet featuring an extensive interview with Ken Vandermark, and numerous photos in color and black-and-white.