Eckey Advanced Soaring

Specially commissioned instrumental mixes of all tracks on the latest album "Soaring Wild Lands".

Reframe the narrative that a breakup is the end of something - and instead, view it as the start of your journey to self-realization.

The last album by Don Ellis' Big Band before the trumpeter suffered a heart attack that would ultimately cut short both his career and his life, this underrated set finds Ellis' orchestra consisting of seven brass (including tuba), four strong woodwind players, a string quartet, and an enlarged six-piece rhythm section that includes guitarist Jay Graydon and keyboardist Milcho Leviev. A special highlight is "Invincible" which is an outstanding feature for altoist Vince Denham; whatever happened to him? Ellis composed four of the eight originals including one titled "The Devil Made Me Write This Piece!" This out-of-print LP is well worth searching for.

Dj Set Cinortele Soaring

"[Soaring to Glory] tells about the struggle and the greatness of the Tuskegee airmen. If you really want to know what they accomplished and how they did it, this is the book to read. Not just black Americans, but all Americans need to know this story." —Tony Dungy, former professional American football player and coach in the National Football League

A powerful underdog story, Soaring delivers practical leadership advice, business lessons, and tips for success mined from the real-life strategies of Lee E. Rhyant's forty years as a corporate leader. Born into poverty in the postwar South, Rhyant was the fourth of eight children raised by a family of African American sharecroppers struggling to survive the last decades of segregation. Soaring combines compelling storytelling with practical lessons to demonstrate the transformative power of perseverance.

This recently reissued 1985 date has plenty of electric bombast, along with ample examples of DiMeola's piercing acoustic style. What it lacks is the energy and creative integrity that underscores DiMeola's World Sinfonia sessions and his classic Splendido Hotel. There are some pretty melodies, an entrancing moment or two, and too many interludes where it seems that something is about to happen, but things cool down or degenerate into blandness. The longer compositions drone on without establishing anything substantial, while the short pieces fade in and out, offering bits and pieces of fine playing, but nothing thematically distinguished. When the CD ends, you realize that DiMeola is an excellent technician, but nothing left any lasting impression. (AMG)