Oscar 2023

Features nine new original Cash Box Kings songs hotwiring the classic juke-joint sound for the modern day. The band also breathes new life into Muddy Waters’ “Please Have Mercy” and Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Pontiac Blues.” Chicago blues diva Deitra Farr and Memphis blues great John Nemeth guest. “Oscar Wilson’s powerful and deep voice harkens back to the golden age of Chicago blues. Joe Nosek blows spirited, muscular harp. One of the top blues bands of this era.”

JATP concerts from the 1940s were documented in 1998 on a 10-CD Verve boxed set. But until now, the 1950s concerts have been passed over for a retrospective. In fact, since the CD era began very little of the material from that span has been available at all.

Time and again, composers – well-known and lesser-known – have arranged Franz Schubert's piano songs for orchestra. These versions are not in any way intended to cast doubt upon the powerful quality of the originals, they merely place them in a different light, and/or attempt to make them easier to perform on a larger scale – when an art song cannot be performed in an intimate salon or chamber music hall, it can also make an impact in a large concert hall. Baritone Benjamin Appl has compiled nineteen such arrangements from the 19th and 20th centuries for this new CD from BR-KLASSIK. The Münchner Rundfunkorchester, conducted by Oscar Jockel, provides accompaniment that is subtle and in keeping with the work.