One of the clearest examples of the creative genius of Art Pepper, especially in his later years – filled with loads of long live tracks that are a masterpiece of improvisation! The group features George Cables on piano, George Mraz on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. A lavish nine-disc boxed set that contains all 45 uninterrupted takes from Art Pepper's legendary stay at the Village Vanguard! Any Pepper fan will find a lot to treasure here: A Night in Tunisia; You Go to My Head; These Foolish Things; Labyrinth; My Friend John; Valse Triste; But Beautiful; Caravan; More for Les ; a solo sax rendition of Somewhere over the Rainbow ; radically-different alternate takes; witty between-song banter and spoken introductions, and more, plus an essay in the liner notes tells the whole sordid tale of Pepper's odyssey from prison to a halfway house to a late-1970s rebound that brought about some of his best music.
Art of the Western World was one of Michael Wood’s earliest “big” series.
It was commissioned by the old, now-defunct, Television South (TVS)–with additional funding from WNET New York, ORF Austria, and Radiotelevision Española–and produced by Screenlife Ltd., a UK production company organised as a one-off solely for this series.
This five-CD deluxe set contains an impressive 150-page booklet and reissues every scrap of music that the innovative pianist Bud Powell recorded for Verve. The first disc has the best music, four truly outstanding sessions from 1949-51. The other performances (trio sides from 1954-56) are much more erratic, particularly the alternate takes, with gems followed by completely lost solos. Bop fans will want this set but more general collectors are advised to pick up the Blue Notes first.
A riddle wrapped in an enigma dressed up in leather and studs, Germany's Mekong Delta perplexed the heavy metal world both by playing an unconventional brand of progressive thrash and by keeping the identities of the bandmembers secret for the first five years of a career starting in 1987…
In the harp world, few figures are better known than Carlos Salzedo; however, in the larger musical world, and even among classical music enthusiast, his biography and personality are not sufficiently discussed and appreciated. For this reason, this Da Vinci Classics album is a very welcome addition to the existing discography, and will enhance the fame of this great musician and pedagogue.
The British Library in London is home to 14 million books, on shelves that stretch over 600km. Extraordinary vessels of ideas and knowledge, they testify to the love affair we have with books. This series explores the enduring appeal and importance of books from a 4th-century bible to present-day paperbacks.