Scandinavian Star

"And again a new piano album" says Martin Tingvall's website. The Swedish jazz pianist and songwriter will present his fourth album on his own in 2021: "When Light Returns". The last album "The Rocket" was released in 2019, which landed at number one on the German jazz charts, and in 2020 the long player "Dance" was released together with his trio.

William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer and pianist. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man", he has been making music since the 1960s, releasing popular albums throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s…

Neeme Järvi, with his children now as rivals, remains a busy star on the international conducting scene. Born in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, on June 7,1937, and brought up within the USSR's system for developing musical talent, Järvi studied percussion and conducting at the Tallinn Music School. He made his debut as a conductor at age 18. From 1955 to 1960 he pursued further studies at the Leningrad Conservatory, where his principal teachers were Nikolaï Rabinovich and Yevgeny Mravinsky.

Iiro Rantala takes us through a kaleidoscope of different sound worlds, bringing a virtuoso sense of flow, melodic richness, drama and wide-screen technicolor emotion: "Veneziana" is an enlivening and highly distinctive portrait of a city. One might call it programme music, but it is of a kind that only Iiro Rantala can write…where the listener, as in the winding streets of Venice, will find a new surprise behind every musical corner.

Stina Nordenstam's commercial strategy won't win her many new fans: having given only a handfull of interviews over the years and never toured except one show 14 years ago in London, the Scandinavian singer - songwritter seems to be all about creating the art but not really giving that much energy to promote it out there. At least, a rather pretty site made it's appearance on the net recently. Still, this Kate Bush-like resclusiveness bounds harmonically with the fragile, mysterious nature of her music. Nordenstam made her first appearance in the music scene in 1992 with the jazzy, eerie Memories Of A Colour, then shortly after that she released And She Closed Her Eyes, a track of which (the tender "Little Star") was included in the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack, introducing the artist to a wider audience. Three, significally more downbeat and melancholic albums followed.

Catchy melodies - particularly from the Impressionist period - in fresh new arrangements that bridge the gap between jazz, pop and classical music. Featuring Bugge Wesseltoft and Lars Danielsson.