Gill Bennett

Ballads In Otherness, the sixth record in a series of original guitar music from the pen and fingers of Richard Bennett; record producer, studio musician and long-time guitarist with Mark Knopfler and Neil Diamond. It is an unusual title for an album especially as all the songs are not exactly ballads in the modern sense but in the traditional one of a song or melody that tells a story at any tempo. These are ballads with a beat and all 13 of them tell a story of otherness. Along the way you will here some Southern r&b, a gumshoe serenade delivered on a console steel guitar, something vaguely Asian, a slice of dream-pop, duet for English Horn and Stratocaster, a nod to Hamburg, Germany's recording history, a hillbilly waltz and something for solo electric guitar. Dive into the otherness, the water's fine.

The follow-up to his smash 2009 concert album Live in Boston, Chris Botti's studio album Impressions features more of the cool trumpeter's crossover jazz, pop, and classical stylings. Focusing on Botti's love of melody, Impressions is an aesthetically varied album featuring works by classical composers Frederic Chopin and Astor Piazzolla as well as standards by George Gershwin and Harold Arlen. While Botti's virtuoso playing is always the focal point of his albums, here we get more of his acclaimed collaborations, including tracks with such artists as jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, guitarist Mark Knopfler, country singer Vince Gill, composer/pianist/producer David Foster, and more.