The winner of 1971 Tokyo International Guitar Competition, Norio Sato has been the leading figure in the field of contemporary music in Japan, both as a guitarist and as a conductor, giving world premieres of numerous works in Japan and abroad. He formed Ensemble NOMAD in 1997, and became its Music Director. He has made appearances at major contemporary music festivals around the globe, and has been awarded the Kyoto Prize, Kenzo Nakajima Prize, and Asahi Prize for Contemporary Music. He is currently teaching at Toho Gakuen College of Music and Drama and Nihon University College of Arts.
LIVE was mostly recorded on November 1st, 2019, at Haus der Berliner Festspiele in Berlin, Germany, during the 2019 edition of JazzFest Berlin. For Angel Bat Dawid and her band Tha Brothahood – which includes Deacon Otis Cooke, Viktor Le Givens, Xristian Espinoza, Norman W. Long, Dr. Adam Zanolini, and Asher Simiso Gamedze – it was the first stop of their first European tour.
A collection including nine of the ten tracks from the Brand New Heavies' self-titled debut album, plus three tracks recorded live in Tokyo, In Tha Beginning… is a fresh look at the acid jazz group's first recordings. Entrenched in England's rare-groove scene at the time, the Brand New Heavies were a tight unit that fused dexterous instrumental jazz-funk with just a touch of P-Funk bounce for club audiences. The results, on "Dream Come True," "People Get Ready," and the instrumental highlight "BNH," are great examples of acid jazz.
J to tha L–O! The Remixes is a remix album by American singer Jennifer Lopez, released February 5, 2002 by Epic Records. It contains remixes from Lopez's first two studio albums: On the 6 (1999) and J.Lo (2001). It features artists including P. Diddy, Ja Rule, Fat Joe and Nas, and includes dance and hip hop remixes of past singles. It was Lopez's second album to feature a Parental Advisory warning, after J.Lo, and the last to have one until the release of her eighth studio album, A.K.A., in 2014. It garnered mixed reviews from music critics, but debuted atop the Billboard 200 in the United States, selling 156,000 copies in its opening week—the first remix album to reach the chart's top spot, and Lopez's second number-one album. The lead single "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)", featuring Ja Rule, reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100; and its second, "I'm Gonna Be Alright (Track Masters Remix)", reached the top ten. It also contained the song "Alive", which failed to chart. J to tha L–O! The Remixes became the fourth best-selling remix album of all time, after Michael Jackson, Madonna and Linkin Park's remix efforts. It has sold 1.5 million copies in the United States.
Though Little Freddie King may not be a household name quite yet, his self-styled "Gut Bucket Blues" approach is well worth a listen for any of those who like rough but precise vocals, warm blues harp, and fat, incisive guitar.
King's style is a rough fusion of T-Bone Walker's sharp attack and Albert King's laid-back, smoky stylings: economical, precise, and thick, tending to simmer but never boil. His rented-mule vocals, likewise, do capably in the pepper-and-vinegar of his mostly self-penned album. Bobby DiTullio adds reliable harmonica, while the backing band keep a likeably primitive rhythm on low heat…