Keyboard Maestro 9.0.6

When Brownswood’s head honcho, Gilles Peterson loaded ‘Jazzy Joint’ with vocals by José James on his myspace site, the buzz surrounding this this track alone got everyone on the message boards in a spin. James’ interpretation ranges from proper jazz vocals, rap to a full scat and pianist Josei’s composition is as much indebted to Jay Dee (a la Robert Glasper) as any jazz legend. ~ FlyGlobalMusic

Leonardo Leo (1694-1744) was a Neapolitan composer whom academics have sometimes pushed as the missing link between Pergolesi and the full flowering of the early Classical style. Niccolò Jommelli and Gluck Piccinni were among his students, and his own operas feature smooth, lightly accompanied arias that do seem to look forward to the spirit of Gluck and even Mozart. Several recordings of the early 2000s have unearthed his almost-forgotten instrumental music, with liner notes chiding listeners (in the words of the present disc) "so entirely enamored with Vivaldi…that they have ignored music derived from other circles or styles."

Listeners seeking a single box of all Haydn's solo keyboard music performed on a fortepiano and recorded in digital sound need look no further. Pianist Ronald Brautigam's 15-disc set for BIS contains everything the great Austrian classical composer wrote for the instrument: the 63 piano sonatas and the 25 miscellaneous works, plus The Seven Last Words of our Savior on the Cross in a keyboard arrangement authorized by the composer.

Aurio Corrá: "I started my piano studies at the age of four. At eighteen years of age I was educated in classical music at the Sao Paulo Conservatory. Later, I dedicated my atttention to the study of Jazz and contemporary music. I studied the viola and later I moved on to the guitar. In 2001 I started to study the soprano saxophone, influenced by the sound of Paul Winter, and with Ivan Meyer as my teacher, continuing until 2003. From here I started to teach myself how to play woodwind instruments. I released my first New Age piece of music in 1988 called 'Aura', with the participation of the harpist María Tereza Briamonte…

Here are the articled funky beats that hip-hop DJs can’t stop diggin’ in the crates for – including rare grooves aplenty. What’s more, there’s soul, jazz and a message or two to go with those killer breaks. As sampled by everyone in rap - including you?

The true power of music is impossible to define and yet we can all feel it when the sonic planets align. The magical impact of the finest rock'n'roll - that hazy but overwhelming blend of inspiration and perspiration - sustains us through dark times and fills our hearts with joy and strength. Music unites us, nourishes us and provides us with an emotional clarity that the rest of our turbulent lives singularly fails to offer. For those reasons and many more, we must proudly acknowledge and salute the true architects of the musical world that we call home. Above all else, Ritchie Blackmore is one of rock's greatest architects; a six-string seer that laid robust foundations upon which four decades of thunderous, perpetual evolution have taken place.