Immortal 2004

This DVD is the lively biography of the nanogenarian delta bluesman. The film delivers the blues, its roots, personal accounts of the deep south before the civil rights movement, heartfelt stories of Edwards' missed recording opportunities, and life on the road. Included are appearances by B.B. King, Sam Carr, the late Willie Foster, and others. Although his name is barely known outside blues circles, David "Honeyboy" Edwards's influence has stamped itself across the genre.

The Clarke-Boland Big Band's acclaimed sequel to their "All Smiles" album features a second batch of immortal jazz standards presented in the distinctive, tight and swinging fashion of Europe's most outstanding big band of the 60s.

Most of this disc is for fans of Holst only – after all, how many almost unaccompanied part songs can any human being stand? – but on at least one song, this disc is for every spiritual human being on the planet. O Spiritual Pilgrim, Holst's setting of six lines from the "Fourth Song of The Gates of Damascus," was one of his last works and its purity is as sublime as its text. While anyone but a Holst fan will lose interest in this disc before the Choral Folk Songs (6) at its end – after all, how many superbly sung and lovingly performed part songs can any human being stand? – anyone with an immortal soul should hear O Spiritual Pilgrim.

Spanning the majority of their releases but largely focused on their Contagion album, Live & Life was recorded during their Contagion Tour and consists of a mix of audio from numerous shows rather than one single concert. On the first disc of this double live set they play the album Contagion almost in its entirety. Though some of the original's abstract magic is lost, this powerful rock star rendition recorded has a charm of its own! Rob Sowden shines throughout with vocals that mach the atmosphere of the original, whilst opening up registers of vocal strength on some major powerful moments. The guitars sound thicker and grittier, the keyboards are a bit more to the background the rythm section is playing in a higher gear throughout…

Many of the musicians we know and adore come to us only through recorded media. They step into a studio, bear their souls into a digital void, and send the results out into a world of ears. These blessed creators may seem immortal to us, for even when their bodies are gone they continue living through the art they have gifted to humanity. Such thoughts weighed on my mind when I first listened to Der Türken Anmarsch, for in addition to signing off a fourteen-year project by baroque violinist John Holloway to engage the fascinations of composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704), it was the last recording to feature Holloway’s wife, organist Aloysia Assenbaum, who along with harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen fashioned the most distinctive continuo in Baroque music.