The Returned, Part Iii

Joey DeFrancesco - Part III (1991) {Columbia CK 47063}
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© 1991 Columbia / Sony Music | CK 47063
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Hammond B-3 Organ

This fairly early effort by organist Joey DeFrancesco features him displaying a great deal of energy on a variety of standards and basic originals. DeFrancesco swings hard throughout, mostly featuring his regular trio (with guitarist Paul Bollenback and drummer Byron Landham) and such fine (but little-known) players as tenor saxophonist Glenn Guidone, altoist Robert Landham, and trumpeter J.R. Henry. Joey's father, John DeFrancesco, makes a guest appearance on second organ on "Gut Bucket Blues." The music is quite enjoyable and easily recommended for fans of Jimmy Smith-style organ playing.

Keith Jarrett - Invocations - The Moth and The Flame (1981) {2CD Set, ECM 1201/02}
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© 1981 ECM Records | ECM 1201/02
Jazz / Post Bop / Experimental / Pipe Organ / Saxophone / Piano

A heady double-length set from Keith Jarrett – some of his more sharper-edged work of the time, even though the session follows the free-flowing solo aproach of his other ECM recordings! The first half of the set features the extended "Invocations" suite – a work that has Jarrett working moodily on a combination of pipe organ and soprano sax – the former of which is used with plenty of dark tones and odd notes, making for a surprisingly great combination with the sax! "The Moth & The Flame" suite follows on the second disc – featuring Jarrett on more familiar piano (and a wide-bodied Steinway at that), soaring out on some warmer, more lyrical lines.

Edward Ka-Spel is a singer, songwriter and musician. He is probably best known as the lead singer, songwriter and co-founder (with Phil “The Silverman” Knight) of the prolific underground band The Legendary Pink Dots.

This is not strictly a compilation of what the British would term "light music," for there is music of substantial weight on these two discs: e.g., Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending, Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad, and Elgar's Introduction and Allegro, but for the most part, Marriner and his charges offer less weighty fare that is familiar to many classical music-lovers and certainly dear to the heart of Anglophiles like this writer. From Vaughan Williams's perennial favorites, Fantasia on Greensleeves and the English Folk Song Suite, and George Butterworth's nigh-ubiquitous The Banks of Green Willow to less familiar fare like Delius's Serenade (composed to honor the 70th birthday of Frederick Delius) and the suite from Elgar's incomplete opera The Spanish Lady, this compilation of recordings–originally made in 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1979–embodies the spirit of England and does so faultlessly. This is a well chosen and exemplarily executed collection of English orchestral miniatures proffered by a conductor and orchestra whose names have become synonymous with the repertoire.

This gargantuan 35-disc set of Alfred Brendel's complete Vox, Turnabout, and Vanguard recordings released in late 2008, concurrent with his retirement from concert life, will be mandatory listening for anyone who reveres the Austrian virtuoso. When these recordings were made between 1955 and 1975, Brendel was at the start of his international career, and his performances here have a fire, energy, and a drama that his later recordings sometimes lack. Brendel devotees, however, may also find his performances lack the intellectual rigor of his middle period recordings and the poetic depths of his later recordings. Compare his demonic account of Mozart's Twentieth Concerto here, for instance, with his more elegant later account.

In that unthinkable Age of Grace enjoyed by all mankind before the dawning of the twentieth century before atonality and the H-Bomb few composers thought of writing for the clarinet in the upper part of its register, and the high piccolo clarinet (in E flat) was practically unknown outside the military band. Stridency was uncivilized. Mozart, Weber, Brahms, Reger—and lesser (but not undistinguished) luminaries like Romberg, Fuchs and Stanford—all favoured the clarinet for its lyrical, euphonious quality, its rich warmth of expression, and its deep broad range of tone colours.

On December 20 the world will see the opening of the final episode of the nine-part Star Wars saga: Star Wars – The Rise Of Skywalker. On this occasion Sony Classical have re-recorded the greatest music of this legendary saga. This is the ultimate collection for Star Wars fans.

The first ever collection of Daniel Barenboim’s Complete Recordings for CBS/Sony and RCA in one single edition on the occasion of his 75th birthday on 15 November 2017. Including his complete performances as conductor and pianist. 43 CDs plus 3 DVDs with 7 LPs appearing for the first time on CD, remastered from the analogue masters. With the Berliner Philharmoniker, English Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Wiener Philharmoniker. Collaborations with Jacqueline Du Pré, Arthur Rubinstein, Pinchas Zukerman, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, John Williams, Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern.