George Lee

Guitarist Lee Ritenour decided to celebrate his 50th year as a guitar player by inviting a bevy of name guitarists into the studio to jam out some tunes, all in the name of love for their chosen instrument. Ritenour's subsequent album, 2010's 6 String Theory, is just that, a varied celebration on the many styles and players who have utilized the guitar. The result is an expansive, ambitious, but never belabored album that touches on jazz, blues, funk, and rock and expands beyond the usual Ritenour approach while remaining true to his unique six-string sound.

Countertenor Derek Lee Ragin is somewhat better known for his portrayals on the operatic stage than for the many concerts he has appeared in. His repertory is amazingly broad, encompassing works by Baroque composers – Handel, in particular – as well as twentieth century ones, like Benjamin Britten and György Ligeti.
His career as a singer flourished quickly, with an official operatic debut in 1983 at the Innsbruck Festwoche der Alten Musik in Cesti's Il Tito. After vocal study in Amsterdam he won first prize in the ARD International Music Competition (1986). Two years later he debuted at the Met singing Nirenus in Handel's Giulio Cesare.

British-born pianist George Shearing's work for the MGM and Capitol record labels from the late '40s to the early '60s is collected on this 21-track compilation. Beginning with four tracks recorded for MGM in 1949 with his unique quintet of guitar, bass, drums, and vibraphone (which would double the melody he was playing with his right hand), Shearing's piano work is always tasteful and guaranteed to swing. Although the players regularly changed, he stuck with the quintet with vibraphone format throughout this period. Of special note are the three tracks included where Shearing backs up vocalists: 1951's "You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?)" featuring Billy Eckstine, 1959's "You Came a Long Way From St. Louis" with Peggy Lee, and 1960's "The Nearness of You" featuring Nancy Wilson. There are also two solo tracks ("Tenderly" from 1950 and "Memories of You" from 1960) and one trio track ("What Is This Thing Called Love" from 1962). This disc does a very nice job of capturing the laid-back sound of Shearing and is a good place to start a collection of his work. It is also recommended to anyone looking for an album of quiet, romantic piano tunes.

Danger High Voltage is significant in two respects: It is the first release from the Two and Four Recording Company, and it marks the reformation of the George Coleman Octet, which hadn't recorded since its debut in 1977. The horn section consists of Coleman and special guest Ned Otter on tenor saxes, Jim Rotondi on trumpet, Adam Brenner on alto, and Gary Smulyan on baritone.

Having received all major recording industry prizes of the world many times, as well as the Siemens Special Prize, the Buxtehude Prize of the City of Lübeck and the Special Prize of North-Rhine Westphalia, Goebel has still remained the leading outsider in the area of “Early Music” – always looking for new acoustic worlds, shocking new ways of interpreting standard repertoire and uncomfortable programs far off the beaten track of “top-40 classic programming”. Reinhard Goebel began studying violin at the age of 12. He became interested exclusively in “Early Music” at a young age, but was forced to proceed through a classic- modern program of study by the German conservatory system.