Great Kai

Among the promising percussionists of his generation is Kai Strobel, who has already won the renowned TROMP Percussion Competition Eindhoven and the 2019 ARD Music Competition.

What Simon Höfele does with his trumpet is simply sensational! The prizewinner of the German Music Competition and winner of the special prize 'U 21' of the ARD music competition shows all his skills on his GENUIN debut CD in the Primavera Edition. It presents an electrifying program of contemporary music: from György Ligeti to HK Gruber, from André Jolivet to Toshio Hosokawa. What results is a firework of sounds, between delicate hints and shattering fanfares, between deep seriousness and teasing humor. Höfele and his colleagues on piano and percussion start with a debut that promises for a great career.

In the 1950s, New Music essentially meant one thing: maximum complexity and maximum remoteness from the audience. That changed radically at the end of the 1960s, when a group of freaks completely rewrote the rules of the musical avant-garde and achieved one of the last great breakthroughs in 20th-century art music.

Three pianist-composers from the first half of the last century form the program for Joseph Moog's new album. For this recording he is joined by pianist Kai Adomeit in three works for two pianos - Rachmaninoff's late 1940 Symphonic Dances, York Bowen's 1951 Theme & Variations, and Rachmaninoff's friend and compatriot Medtner's Two Pieces. York Bowen had many works by Rachmaninoff in his extensive concert repertoire, and he became known as 'The English Rachmaninoff' without much reason. As strange as that sounds, like the two Russians on this recording (with Prokofiev), he represents the last of the great pianistic composers of the 20th century.

"Birth Of The Cool" is a must-have compilation album featuring three landmark Davis sessions from 1949 to 1950. Showcasing compelling and unique instrumentation, Davis is joined by acclaimed musicians including Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, Al Haig, Al McKibbon, Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, Kenny Hagood, Bill Barber, J.J. Johnson and more. The album is included on Guardian’s “50 Great Moments in Jazz”. This is a definitive release in the history of cool jazz.