Marka Havana Calling

Following the phenomenal success of the first Mozart y Mambo album, Sarah Willis returns to Cuba not only to record two more Mozart horn concertos but also to create a landmark original work that takes its place in Cuban music history. In Mozart y Mambo - Cuban Dances , Sarah commissions the very first Cuban horn concerto – calling on six young talented Cuban composers to each write an original dance for solo horn, strings, and percussion inspired by the most famous dance rhythms from across different regions of Cuba. Together with her beloved Havana Lyceum Orchestra conducted by José Antonio Méndez Padrón, Sarah takes us on a cross country musical road trip in this spectacular showcase of the roots and traditions of Cuba’s music and dance. Cuban Dances is Cuban music as it has never been heard before and a huge challenge for the horn player, not only technically but physically – “if you can’t dance it you can’t play it” she was told. So dance it she did! Mozart y Mambo - Cuban Dances is full of magic, energy, and passion, and Sarah’s love for Cuban music is evident in every track.

Sarah Willis is a tireless ambassador for her instrument, the French horn, which she champions around the world. A horn player with the famous Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra since 2001, she launched what was soon to become a famous TV programme, ‘Sarah’s Music’, for Deutsche Welle in 2014, interviewing personalities ranging from Gustavo Dudamel to Wynton Marsalis. The award-winning programme presents music with warmth and in all its diversity.

With this album - subtitled La Bella Cubana - the Mozart y Mambo trilogy is complete. After two critically acclaimed albums, three documentary films, two international tours and fundraising to help support classical musicians in Cuba, Sarah concludes this adventure of a lifetime with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and their conductor, José Antonio Méndez Padrón by recording Mozart's Concerto No. 4 with its famous final Rondo. Also on the album, three of her colleagues from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Jonathan Kelly, Wenzel Fuchs and Stefan Schweigert, join her for more Mozart, performing the Sinfonia Concertante for four solo wind instruments and orchestra.

Germany’s most successful instrumental rock act Long Distance Calling explore the next step in their multi-faceted career with their 7th studio album ‘How Do We Want To Live?’. The band have returned with a sharply defined, artistically deep exploration of the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. In late 2020, Long Distance Calling will continue their hugely successful ‘Seats & Sounds’ tour, and this year also saw them nominated for the German Musikautorenpreis 2020 for compositional & artistic achievement. ‘How Do We Want To Live?’ carries all the bands trademarked sounds whilst at the same time revealing new, surprising and unexpected elements of the Long Distance Calling sonic landscape.

Nothing can turn back the tides of time or stop their inexorable forward grind, but music can always be relied upon to make the journey more enjoyable. LONG DISTANCE CALLING have been expressing the inexpressible for the last 16 years, ploughing their primarily instrumental furrow with the skill and dexterity of true sonic artisans.

Issued in a 4-panel Digifile. Given away for free with German magazine "RockHard" issue 07/08/2020. Exclusive Rock Hard sampler.

Right down to the hip, pleasant cover model, Buscemi's second album of groovy productions is a near-perfect match for his debut, 1998's Mocha Supremo. Producer Dirk Swartenbroekx flaunts his love of breezy, continental rhythms and late-night atmosphere. Though the scattered Latin-dance fusions bossa nova meets disco, salsa meets drum'n'bass, samba meets downtempo house aren't exactly pioneering ideas, Swartenbroekx is an able hand who knows when and how to freshen what could be a stale production.

What happens when a group of visionary musicians get together for the live performance of something very sophisticated, lead by one of jazz's heaviest hitters? The answer, of course, if magic. Now, what happens if all those things are true, but it is simply before the musician's time? Uncontrolled magic. When rhythm section players like Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Felipe Cabrera, Roberto Vizcaíno, and Horacio "El Negro" Hernández take the stage, there is Cuban alchemy so strong that concepts like tumbao and clave become obsolete, irrelevant. The horn players, Lazaro Cruz and Rafael Carrasco, together form an amazing voice, and individually push the style to new levels. The complexity of Rubalcaba's arrangements are unparalleled in modern Latin jazz.