Jesus Christ Superstar started life as a most improbable concept album from an equally unlikely label, Decca Records, which had not, until then, been widely known for groundbreaking musical efforts. It was all devised by then 21-year-old composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and 25-year-old lyricist Tim Rice. Jesus Christ Superstar had been conceived as a stage work, but lacking the funds to get it produced, the two collaborators instead decided to use an album as the vehicle for introducing the piece, a fairly radical rock/theater hybrid about the final days in the life of Jesus as seen from the point of view of Judas. If its content seemed daring (and perhaps downright sacrilegious), the work, a "sung-through" musical echoing operatic and oratorio traditions, was structurally perfect for an album; just as remarkable as its subject matter was the fact that its musical language was full-blown rock music.
In the mid-1970s, Andrew Gold’s skills as a musician and an arranger were ubiquitious, appearing on some of the biggest records of the decade by artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Art Garfunkel, and James Taylor. By 1977, he had reached the Billboard Top 10 as an artist and writer with his self penned hit, “Lonely Boy.” In the mid ’80s and early ’90s, Andrew’s song “Thank You For Being A Friend” was used as the theme for the hugely successful NBC-TV sitcom The Golden Girls. From 1992–1999, Andrew was the TV theme voice of the Paul Reiser—Helen Hunt comedy starrer Mad About You and in 2019, Andrew’s “Spooky Scary Skeletons” found new life thanks to a viral dance craze on TikTok that has reached over 250 million people!
On April 1, 2022, Steinway & Sons releases Andrew Rangell's recording of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2 (STNS 30176). Pianist Andrew Rangell's debut recording—released thirty years ago—featured Bach's Goldberg Variations, F-sharp minor toccata, and the two Ricercares from "A Musical Offering". Over the course of many years, the verve, beauty and originality of Mr. Rangell's Bach playing have been evidenced in a steady progression of interpretations: The Partitas, French Suites, Well-Tempered Clavier (bk.1), The Art of Fugue, English Suites, Inventions, Sinfonias, and many other individual pieces. This second book of the WTC now brings to completion a journey and survey which was never firmly planned as such. This is because the pianist's embrace of Bach has run parallel with other deep involvements, beginning with Beethoven, but also exploring repertoire ranging from Sweelinck, Gibbons, and Farnaby to Ives, Nielsen, Enescu, Schoenberg and a host of other 20th century voices. Schubert, Haydn and Chopin also receive special attention within the artist’s rich discography. Rangell's Bach survey ends with this second book of the WTC in sparkling, free-spirited performances.
Following from Ash Wednesday, this album is the second live Evensong album from the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge and marks the next great season of the Church’s Year, Eastertide. This cele- bration of Jesus’s resurrection also initially spans forty days, taking us up to Ascension Day, and culmi- nates on the fiftieth day with the Feast of Pentecost. Where the previous album reflected the tradition of using no organ from Ash Wednesday until the Gloria of the Easter Vigil, the instrument is fully utilised here by the Chapel’s organ scholars Glen Dempsey and James Anderson Besant.
Andrew Nethsingha and The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge release the second volume in the highly praised ‘Magnificat’ series, presenting nine settings of the Evening Canticles by celebrated Organist-Composers, written between 1932 and 1952 and non-church musicians from 1974-1989.
Guitarist, songwriter, and singer Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones began working professionally at age 16 with Freddie King's backing band, the Thunderbirds. He got his first guitar from his uncle, jazz musician Adolphus Sneed. Jones cites an eclectic array of influences: Freddie King, Cornell Dupree, and Larry Carlton. For many years, he's backed various Dallas-area vocalists on guitar, but in the mid-'90s, he came into his own as a vocalist with an album for JSP Records, I Need Time (1997), which showcases his crafty songwriting, great guitar playing, and powerful singing…