On her new album, Fragile as Humans - written and recorded as her time living in the UK was coming to a close - Emily Barker turns her lyrical gaze inwards.
American-Australian harpist Emily Granger made an indelible impression with her solo debut recording, In Transit. She follows up with Something Like This, a beautiful collaboration with flautist Sally Walker, featuring original music for flute and harp alongside adaptations and arrangements for the instrumental combination. Woven among classics by J.S. Bach and Mozart are works by living composers including Australians Elena Kats-Chernin, Sally Greenaway, Lachlan Skipworth and Jessica Wells, and indigenous composer Christopher Sainsbury. 20th century works by Jacques Ibert and Witold Lutoslawski are juxtaposed with Erik Satie’s timeless Gymnopédies.
A lavish deluxe 20 disc boxed set comprising 17 CDs and 3 Blu Ray discs covering Van der Graaf Generator’s entire recorded work for Charisma Records. Between the years 1970 – 1978 the band released 8 albums (two under the name Van der Graaf) for the legendary Charisma label. Each record was ground breaking and the influence of the band’s unique music would be felt in the ensuing decades by artists of many different musical genres. This boxed set features all of their Charisma albums newly re-mastered from the first generation master tapes and much more.
On her new album, Fragile as Humans - written and recorded as her time living in the UK was coming to a close - Emily Barker turns her lyrical gaze inwards.
After Emily Remler's untimely death from a heart attack in 1990 at the age of 32, Concord issued two anthologies of her work, although all six of her CDs for the label were still readily available. The guitarist was still blossoming at the time of her last session for the label; this second volume concentrates on her work as a composer. "The Firefly" is a lively hard bop piece in the style of Wes Montogmery, while the very soft, understated "Waltz for My Grandfather" is reminiscent of Jim Hall. "Nunca Mais" is an upbeat samba featuring trumpeter John D'Earth in a pianoless date; a second session with him produced four more Remler tunes, all of which are present on this CD. Her duo date with Larry Coryell didn't include any of her works, so it is not represented in this release. Her last date for the label included "Blues for Herb," a swinging tribute to her friend and fellow guitarist Herb Ellis…