Newyear Concert 2011

Lully, Handel, Charpentier, Scheidt, Biber, Schein, Cabanilles, Dumanoir, Rosenmüller, Jenkins, Cererols, Blow: this double SACD-book gathers the who’s-who of European music, to mention but a few, of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries. Deeply affected by the Thirty Years War as well as the War of Spanish Succession, the finest music inspired by this turmoil is vividly performed by Jordi Savall and his ensembles. The set ends with a fantastic and complete performance of Handel’s 'Jubilate Deo'.

Gluck wrote his opera seria Ezio in 1750 for production in Prague. (In 1762, after the formal and stylistic breakthroughs of Orfeo ed Euridice, he revised the opera for a Vienna production, but it's the original version that's recorded here.) The opera has many of the characteristics of Italian late Baroque opera; it's essentially a series of arias separated by accompanied recitatives, the formula that the composer reacted against in Orfeo. It's not Gluck at his most innovative or original, but it's a fine example of opera seria, with a number of impressive arias and some very expressive recitatives, and it can make quite an impact in a performance as fine as this one.

This album marks the second release by Polish-born violinist Joanna Kurkowicz to be devoted to the concertos of Grazyna Bacewicz, a violinist/composer who survived World War II and Stalinism with her artistic vision intact. Not only that, she adapted the violin concerto, not a form in great favor in the 20th century, to waves of successive influences. As Eastern Europe emerges as the crucible where musicians tried to build a durable culture out of the 20th century's various musical and political "isms," Bacewicz's music is well worth keeping an eye on.

Since Charly Records began working with the catalog of the fabled Texas label International Artists Records, they've released a steady stream of material by Lone Star psychedelic pioneers the 13th Floor Elevators, beginning with the definitive 2009 box set Sign of the 3 Eyed Men. But while Charly's releases have been beautifully assembled and annotated, they've also been created with serious fans in mind, rather than someone looking for the band's basic oeuvre. While a four-disc box set might seem a bit much for someone who just wants the basics, The Albums Collection is a thorough but elegant collection that delivers the Elevators' essential repertoire in one package. The Albums Collection includes the four albums the Elevators released in their lifetime - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, Easter Everywhere, Live, and Bull of the Woods - all in remastered form…

Collection of The James Cotton Band - 100% Cotton (1974) and The James Cotton Band - Live & On The Move (1976).
100% Cotton (1974). The ebullient, roly-poly Chicago harp wizard was at his zenith in 1974, when this cooking album was issued on Buddah. Matt "Guitar" Murphy matched Cotton note for zealous note back then, leading to fireworks aplenty on the non-stop "Boogie Thing," a driving "How Long Can a Fool Go Wrong," and the fastest "Rocket 88" you'll ever take a spin in.
Live And On The Move (1976). Originally released on two vinyl platters in 1976 by Buddah, this set was digitally unleashed anew by the British Sequel label…

Music has been present in Hugh Laurie’s career in some form or another since the days of Fry & Laurie, even working its way into House, the American television series that turned him into an international star in the 2000s. Without House, Laurie would never have been granted the opportunity to record an album like 2011’s Let Them Talk, a full-blooded immersion into American blues via New Orleans, shepherded by acclaimed roots producer Joe Henry and featuring such Big Easy heavy-hitters as Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, and Irma Thomas. To his enormous credit, Laurie never sounds like a dilettante among this group; he holds his own, working his way into the marrow of the songs, playing credible piano throughout the record.

Carnegie Hall Concert: June 18, 1971 is 17-song set recorded just as Tapestry was topping the charts and making Carole King a superstar. Featuring most of Tapestry and a few songs from Writer and Music this is, in a sense, Carole King unplugged (although that terminology was not yet in use). King performs the first half-dozen songs alone at the piano; bassist Charles Larkey, guitarist Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, and a string quartet back her (in varying combinations) throughout the rest of the program. Tapestry wasn't exactly a high-wattage affair to begin with, so these rearrangements aren't radical, but they're different enough from the studio versions to merit attention by serious King fans. James Taylor, then at the peak of his own popularity, joins King on vocals for a medley of some of her old Brill Building hits…

Highly successful Dutch vocalist whose music straddles the line between jazz and contemporary pop.
Dutch vocalist Trijntje Oosterhuis (aka Traincha) is a popular singer with a global fanbase whose music touches upon jazz, standards and contemporary pop/rock. Born in Amsterdam on February 5, 1973, Oosterhuis is the daughter of a theologian (Huub Oosterhuis) and a musician (Jozefien Melief, flutist for the Amsterdam Promenada Orchestra). Brought up in a culturally rich, supportive household, by the time she was 17, Oosterhuis had formed a group with her brother Tjeerd called Total Touch. Together the siblings performed consistently, even entering the Grote Prijs van Nederland, an important amateur music competition…