Tropics Joakim

This program offers three lively, colorful, and captivating orchestral works by two United States composers, born almost a century apart. These pieces exhibit the fruitful exchange and flow of musical material between North and South America that has long played a role in popular music, apparent not only in commercial song and dance music using Latin American melodies and rhythms but also in early jazz and blues where tango rhythms are so often heard, as in W. C. Handy's St. Louis Blues. And both Gottschalk in the 1850s, close to the beginning of a creative American musical tradition, and Gould in the 1950s, when such a tradition had flowered considerably, show a combination of seriousness of approach with a popular touch.

Life in the Tropics – the first Peak Records release for the Rippingtons – features guitarist Russ Freeman and is a great smooth jazz celebration of rhythmic delights that resemble the tropical splendor of an island oasis. The natural beauty of each composition is reflected by the great talents of the Rippingtons: Kim Stone on bass, Dave Kochanski on keyboards, Ramon Yslas on percussion, and Dave Hooper on drums, along with special guests the great saxophonists Dave Koz, Eric Marienthal, and Paul Taylor, keyboardist Bob James, and guitarist Peter White. The centerpiece of this CD is "Love Child," a sensuous mid-tempo ballad that alternates the brilliant sax work of Marienthal and Taylor as Freeman strums an emotional string sonnet under soulful synths and keyboards. The romantic vocals of Howard Hewitt on "I Found Heaven" invite you to rediscover his intense passion for a great love ballad.

Blue Bossa Vol. 1. This compilation should be titled Blue Latin because it's more of a sampler of various Latin jazz styles than just a bossa nova-jazz mix. In an age of overzealous marketing and grab-bag reissues, though, the oversight is understandable. Thankfully, the misguided approach doesn't dim the quality of this very enjoyable Blue Note release. The six actual bossa nova tracks in the collection - out of 14 - range from effervescent, hard bop treatments by Hank Mobley ("Recado Bossa Nova") and Cannonball Adderly ("Sambop") to languid ballad renditions by Ike Quebec ("Loie") and Eliane Elias ("Waters of March/Agua de Beber"). The most authentic and best of the bunch is Duke Pearson's "Sandalia Dela," which spotlights Brazilian stars Airto Moreira and Flora Purim. Another standout is John Patton's B-3 organ bossa "Latona," which features inspired solos by guitarist Grant Green and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson…

Born into a working-class family, Anders Eliasson’s earliest musical experiences originated from within himself: ‘they were my own singing, and tunes I heard on the radio’. At the age of nine he began to play the trumpet, and soon after he became the leader of a jazz band for which he wrote arrangements. Aged 14, he found a local organist to teach him harmony and counterpoint, and at 16 he left his hometown for Stockholm to study privately.

Vikings and metal tend to go together very well, and the idea of combining the two has obviously been made popular by the likes of Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth and German power metal band Rebellion, and now a new challenger has arrived to prove themselves worthy of fighting for Odin. That band is Brothers of Metal, from Sweden, and they have unleashed their debut Prophecy of Ragnarok, which is not only an incredibly addictive power metal album, with varying influences from other genres and a ton of different exciting elements, but it also happens to be perhaps the very best Viking themed metal album I’ve ever heard, as the band takes familiar ideas and mashes them together perfectly, while also managing to create their own distinct sound that really has to be heard…

This 2-disc set grew out of the fascination of Robert von Bahr, founder and managing director of BIS Records, for the television series House of Cards. It wasn’t only – or even primarily – the script or the acting that grabbed him, however, but just as much the music. Said and done - Jeff Beal, the composer of the House of Cards soundtrack, was contacted and it was soon decided that he should compose a Flute Concerto for the virtuosic Sharon Bezaly. To complement the concerto a selection of music from the series was agreed upon; this quickly grew into a large-scale House of Cards Symphony. So now the decision was made to record and present a lavish two disc-set, with three further works: Six Sixteen for guitar and orchestra (performed by Grammy Award winner Jason Vieaux), Canticle for strings and a brand new House of Cards Fantasy for flute and orchestra.