V Ray 6.10.08

Founded in 1989 by Kai Hansen in Hamburg, Germany after leaving Helloween, Gamma Ray borrowed straight from the Helloween classics, and continued to pioneer Hansen’s style of power metal…

Ray Vega's fourth album not only confirms his status as one of the leading Afro-Cuban trumpeters of his generation, but also shows an admirable willingness not to be stuck in one subgenre of jazz forever. Squeeze, Squeeze focuses mostly on band originals, composed not only by Vega but also by bassist Gregg August, whose "Crescent Mood" has an enjoyably retro feel that recalls the smooth, fusiony jazz of the CTI Records crowd, and alto saxophonist Bobby Porcelli, whose post-bop ballad "Both" is one of the album's highlights. The album has a few standard Afro-Cuban jazz pieces, most notably the closing "La Tercera," the rollicking title track, and a bracing take on Wayne Shorter's "Black Nile"…

20 CDs of live material from the final USA & Canadian 1974 tours, 1 CD of studio material featuring a new stereo mix of “Red”…

Ray Charles Robinson Sr. was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray". He was often referred to as "the Genius". Charles was blinded during childhood, possibly due to glaucoma. Charles pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic. He contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm and blues, and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, notably with his two Modern Sounds albums. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company.