For turning out reliable recordings of the standard repertoire, it's hard to beat Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra because their releases on BIS are always highly enjoyable, and they are dependable for accurate renditions that are genuinely exciting. The six-CD set of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky's symphonies Nos. 1-6, the Serenade for strings, Romeo and Juliet, Capriccio Italien, Francesca da Rimini, and other less familiar orchestral works, is a bargain that shouldn't be missed, for the beginning classical fan has everything necessary to begin appreciating the Russian master, while connoisseurs will find unexpected surprises in the obscure selections.
For one reason or another, Cream reunited in the spring of 2005, setting aside nearly 40 years of acrimony for a series of gigs at the Royal Albert Hall in May, which was later followed by a few shows at Madison Square Garden about a month after souvenirs of the London shows – a double-CD set and a double-DVD set – were released…
The Rolling Stones have always been the biggest champions of the blues, even taking their name from the Muddy Waters’ track ‘Rollin’ Stone’ – so who better to have hand-picked a special compilation album of the music that has inspired them throughout their career. Confessin’ The Blues collects together the greatest ever bluesmen, such as Chuck Berry, B.B King, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James and Muddy Waters and provides a perfect education to the genre. The tracklisting on the various formats has been chosen by The Rolling Stones, in collaboration with BMG & Universal and will be released on November 9th 2018.
This CD reissue features trumpeter Booker Little at the beginning of his tragically brief career. The first six selections find the distinctive soloist playing with a quintet also including the young tenor George Coleman, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Art Davis, and drummer Max Roach (who was his regular employer at the time). Little contributed three now-obscure originals and also plays two standards and an early version of Miles Davis' "Milestones." The remainder of the CD has lengthy versions of "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" and "Blue 'n Boogie" from a jam session that matched Little with fellow Memphis-based players including Coleman, altoist Frank Strozier, and the masterful pianist Phineas Newborn. Overall, this forward-looking hard bop set is easily recommended.