Keyboard Maestro 9.0.6

Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchester, Leipzig follow the international success of their recording of Gershwin's piano concerto in F with five of Bach's best loved concertos for keyboard, a recording which has already stayed 7 weeks in the Italian Pop charts. The soloist is young Iranian-born Bach specialist Ramin Bahrami. Well known on the international concert platform, Ramin Bahrami studied with the legendary American Bach pianist Rosalyn Tureck, the artist who perhaps more than any other brought the composer's keyboard works to the attention of the public through her research and recordings.

Italian composer and organist Bernardo Storace was the assistant music director of the senate in the city of Messina in the second half of the seventeenth century. Here, Jörg Halubek, a young organist who won the first prize in organ at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig in 2004, plays a selection from Storace’s variations on well-known dances and melodies of the time.

This is Helloween guitarist Roland Grapow's second solo album. His first, "The Four Seasons Of Life" was a respectable neo-classical release that contained a lot of guitar work. This release is a bit more song orientated, and what a band Roland has to back him up! Basically this is Yngwie's "Magnum Opus" band minus the Maestro himself and Mats Olausson. Yes, that's right, Mike Vescera lends his golden lungs and the ace rhythm section of Barry Sparks and Mike Terrana create a powerhouse of solid backing throughout. Add to this the keyboard expertise of Ferdy Doernberg (Axel Rudi Pell fame) and you have a bit of a supergroup happening; even Jens Johannson throws in his fleeting fingers on a couple of tracks.

Collection includes: Espers (2003); The Weed Tree (2005); Espers II (2006) and Espers III (2009).

The Benda family has occupied an important and continuing place in music in Germany for some 250 years. The founder of the musical dynasty, Jan Jirí Benda, was born in 1686 in a village in Bohemia and combined the trades of weaver and musician. He married Dorota Brixi, a member of the Skalsko branch of a distinguished family of Czech musicians, and five of their six children became musicians, working in Germany…

Coursing through the cosmic pulse of Jazz-Funk is the inimitable influence of Lonnie Liston Smith. For over five decades, the legendary keyboardist and bandleader has been a driving force in shaping the genre's sound. Smith made his recording debut as a sideman for heavyweights Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri and Leon Thomas. He later formed his own ensemble, Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes which delivered an incredible run of classic albums through the 1970s. His music has served as the foundation for immortal hip-hop samples and ecstatic dancefloor revelry. In late February 2020, Smith headlined Jazz Is Dead’s Black History Month series, giving many jazz fans what would be their last taste of live music before the nightmare of COVID-19 that took over in the weeks that followed. Now, he reunites with Jazz Is Dead to deliver Lonnie Liston Smith JID017 - a full-bloom tribute to the multitude of sonic strains that all lead back to the fingertips of the maestro himself.

May 2004 was the 400th anniversary of the death of Claudio Merulo (1533-1604), a great organist and composer of the Renaissance. We are pleased to present the world première recording of his complete organ works. These works represent the complete range of musical development of compositions for keyboard instruments in the 16th century. Since their quality had no equal at that time, Merulo's opus is of immense importance for the history of music. Tapping the full potential of the then usual forms of expression and structure, Merulo a contemporary of Gabrieli and his colleague as ''maestro di cappella'' at the Marcus Cathedral in Venice was groundbreaking in a highly creative era.

We are pleased to present volume 2 of the world premiere recording of the complete organ works of Merulo. These works represent the complete range of musical development of compositions for keyboard instruments in the 16th century. Since their quality had no equal at that time, Merulo's opus is of immense importance for the history of music. Tapping the full potential of the then usual forms of expression and structure, Merulo a contemporary of Gabrieli and his colleague as 'maestro di cappella' at the Marcus Cathedral in Venice was an important pathfinder in a highly creative era. And he opened up a new one: the Baroque period.