Mayal Turning Point

The musicians working with soprano Maacha Deubner take us to exotic worlds of sound on their new recording, which is exclusively comprised of world premiere recordings. These include works by the Russian composer Elena Firsova and fellow composers, set in dialogue with the oeuvre of the poet Ossip Mandelstam. In addition to Firsova's works, we make acquaintance with music by Sofia Gubaidulina, Edison Denisov, and Valentin Silvestrov. Maacha Deubner and her colleagues from the KAPmodern ensemble of the Kammerakademie Potsdam devote themselves to the invariably highly expressive music, performing it with great seriousness and mastery.

Rising is the second full-length album from pianist/composer Vicente Avella and his first album of all original compositions. His debut album, All the Days of My Life, was released in 2013 and was named “Best Solo Piano Album” by One World Music Awards and received an “Award of Excellence for Instrumental Performance Solo” from Global Music Awards. Born and raised in Venezuela, Avella has been writing and performing internationally since 1998. He has scored numerous independent films, orchestrated and worked on music production for major network television shows, and written music for worldwide advertising. Where the first album was solo piano, Rising is piano and orchestration with live musicians (strings, bass, guitars, percussion and wordless vocals). The overall theme of Rising is “life, its joys, its struggles and especially the strength needed to overcome life’s obstacles” (quoting Vicente Avella). The eleven pieces are varied and often emotionally charged and intense, much like life itself! Avella recorded the music and most of the instrumental parts in Southern California and then traveled to Italy to work with sound engineer Michael Seberich on the mixing process. Avella wanted the music to have a wide range of expression and to have a sound that wasn’t classical or pop but a balance of both. It was well worth the trip, as the sound quality is excellent and very dynamic. I love All the Days of My Life, but Rising is even more personal with a wider range of expression. I can pretty much guarantee that Rising will be one of my Favorite Albums of 2018.

B-3 specialist Dr. Lonnie Smith retools a dozen original compositions from early in his career and performs them live with an octet on In The Beginning, Volumes 1 & 2. Drawing material from his recordings, Finger-Lickin' Good (Columbia, 1966), Think! (Blue Note, 1968), Turning Point (Blue Note, 1969) and Move Your Hand (Blue Note, 1969), Smith, with the help of saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith, cast this music against the rich palette of a horn-heavy little-big band.

3-CD box set with 56 of the Brunswick label's biggest & best soul hits of the '50s & '60s, including Jackie Wilson's 'Lonely Teardrops', Gene Chandler's 'Nothin' Can Stop Me', the Chi-Lites 'Have You Seen Her', Barbara Acklin's 'Am I The Same Girl', Tyrone Davis' 'Turning Point' and Young Holt Unlimited's 'Soulful Strut'.

Plot Point Seven - as the mysterious title of the 6th album of the Berlin ChansonJazzerin and tape. "What a word mark …" was Kitty and scribbled the whole 7 times on a scrap of paper before they decided: it will necessarily mean the new plant.

If you’ve been along for the ride then Turning Rocks’ opening salvo is a satisfying alloy; there are hooks and riffs and the usual clash of drums and imaginative instrumentation, and not at the cost of the angular textures that make the quintet such a worthwhile proposition. “Bloody War”, the record’s third of ten tracks, features more of what we might recognise as the ‘characteristic Swedish female pop vocal style’, but underpins it with jazzy percussion and double bass more reminiscent of Cardiac Malformations. By the slow burning, minimalist synths and bass drum of “A Windful of Screams” all signs point pleasingly to Turning Rocks being a more mature album than 2009’s debut and a fuller one than Harbours.