Act Music

Al Jarreau’s final recording, Ellington, serves as a remarkable tribute to Duke Ellington’s timeless music and a fitting end to Jarreau’s legendary career, recorded shortly before his passing in 2017. This live recording with the NDR Bigband captures Jarreau’s unique ability to blend jazz, pop, and R&B, giving fresh interpretations to classics like “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” “I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good),” and “Come Sunday.” The album also marks a full-circle moment, reconnecting Jarreau with ACT Music founder Siggi Loch, who first discovered him and launched his career in Europe. With his six Grammy awards spanning multiple genres, Jarreau’s vocal mastery and emotional depth are on full display, making Ellington a must-have for any jazz lover. This album is not only a celebration of Jarreau’s unmatched artistry but also a poignant tribute to the legacy of both Jarreau and Ellington.

A 1960s and '70s pop singer fluent in Broadway standards as well as AM pop hits, Lana Cantrell was born in Sydney, Australia. She was exposed to music at an early age, since her father was a jazz musician. Cantrell made her singing debut at the age of ten, and by her teens she had become a well-known TV personality in Australia. At 19 she traveled to the United States to do everything "humanly possible," which meant trying her hand in film and on-stage.

Established in 2014 by the Azrieli Foundation, the Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) offer opportunities for the discovery, creation, performance, and celebration of excellence in music composition.

Christmas 2020 will be unlike the Christmases of the past, because the Covid-19 crisis and social distancing have fundamentally changed the way we live. Maybe they will also make us yearn more for the true spirit and the joys of Christmas. As we reflect and contemplate on what is important to us, we know that we want to keep hold of our sense of friendship and community. We feel a strong imperative to reach out for whatever can bring joy to the world. And with that thought in mind, there can surely be very few people who can gift-wrap the Christmas season in music for us – and do so quite as naturally, effectively and magically – as Nils Landgren.

The widespread positive response to “Lampedusa Lullaby”, KUU!’s 2018 label debut on ACT also gave rise to enthusiastic, imaginative and telling descriptions of the band’s music: “An alchemically complex jazz punk alloy. […] Really rather wonderful.”( PROG magazine). “A raw, thorny mixture of punk attitude, electro- dance elements, eccentric fusion, and free jazz outbursts.” (All About Jazz).

One World Of Music. The ACT label has jazz at its core, and an openness to all kinds of musical directions: pop, rock, the music of singer-songwriters and traditional folkloric forms such as flamenco and tango. These very different genres nonetheless never fail to find new and magical ways to work together. The twelfth Magic Moments compilation presents exciting music "in the Spirit of Jazz". All kinds of pleasure await the listener during its 71 minutes. And what can one expect to hear in this world so far away from a single pre-determined style? There are surprises, obviously. Plus several chances to re-connect with established and familiar stars. And discoveries of some genuinely exciting newcomers.

The soundtrack to Robert Wise’s film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music is being reissued across multiple formats, with a super deluxe edition offering “every musical element” from the film and a Dolby Atmos Mix.
The musical features classics such as as ‘My Favourite Things’, ‘Do-Re-Mi’, ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘Edelweiss’ and Robert Wise walked away with Best Picture and Best Director Oscars (being director and co-producer) at the 1966 Academy Awards.
The new reissue is led by a 4CD+blu-ray super deluxe which features over 40 previously unreleased tracks, including 11 never-before-heard alternate takes and instrumentals of each song for that singalong-a-Sound-of-Music experience. The blu-rays capacity allows it to deliver the full score in hi-res stereo audio and well as a Dolby Atmos Mix of the 16-track original soundtrack.

VOICES OF THE LAND from composer Christina Rusnak guides listeners on a journey through America, celebrating its landscape and its people. Featuring the Juventas New Music Ensemble, the pieces on this album explore the emotions and experiences of settlers, miners, and indigenous people as they navigated the challenges, triumphs, and indignities of early American history.

Paul Weston (born Paul Wetstein; March 12, 1912 – September 20, 1996) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor who worked in music and television from the 1930s to the 1970s, pioneering mood music and becoming known as "the Father of Mood Music".