Cosmic Ground

The master new age piano pioneer took a cool and rhythmic detour in the early 2000s, working with some top smooth jazz stars to create a spirited, radio - friendly hybrid he playfully referred to as "smooth age." After returning to his roots (and his original label, Narada) with the atmospheric Spirit Romance, his 2005 dual project with flutist Gary Stroutsos, Lanz, on his beautiful and impressionistic Shanachie debut Painting the Sun, comes full - circle back to the elegant and contemplative (but still engagingly melodic) solo piano vibe that launched his career 25 years earlier. His original idea for the album title was "A Time for Peace," but taking a walk around his Seattle area home on a sunny spring day found him looking up and thinking about the artistic spirit of one's soul and energy…

All Music

The idea of An AMERICAN DIARY sprung from my memories of youth. There were two camps in my family, the jazzzers and the longhairs. Picture a very crowded tenement, three railroad rooms in the Bronx filled with my father, his brother, out of work tapdancers billed in vaudeville as ‘Moe’ and ‘Boe’, and my aunts and uncles who were struggling singers, musicians and composers....

Soundscape is a collaboration between keyboardist Mick Talbot (Lambrettas, Style Council) and producer/DJ Chris Bangs (Paul Weller). Intended to be an acid-jazz exploration, Soundscape never quite gets off the ground. Perhaps that shouldn't be surprising, given Talbot's jazz chops always leaned toward psuedo-sophisticated cocktail jazz. Bangs does his best to give the music some dance-club credibility, but he isn't quite adventerous enough to save Talbot from sinking into meandering lite jazz. And that means Life Force simply hovers between acid-jazz and smooth mainstream jazz, without knowing where to go.

Celebrated as the European electronic music community's premier ambassador, composer Jean Michel Jarre elevated the synthesizer to new peaks of popularity during the 1970s, in the process emerging as an international superstar renowned for his dazzling concert spectacles…