Stern 09.2015

Soundcheck is the sixteenth solo album by legendary rock guitarist Leslie West. Leslie West first gained worldwide recognition in 1969 as the guitarist and singer in the groundbreaking rock band Mountain. West's wholly unique sound, distinguished by beautifully melodic phrasing, his slow, wide vibrato, and a crushing guitar tone set the standard in the late sixties and early seventies for blues-rock guitar playing of the highest order. Leslie lays down some of his most inspired musical magic to date with the assistance of true rock royalty: the renown British guitarist Peter Frampton and Brian may, ex-Jeff Beck keyboard virtuoso Max Middleton, vocalist extraordinaire Bonnie Bramlett and the late great Cream bassist and longtime friend of Leslie's, Jack Bruce. Soundcheck is co-produced and engineered by West's collaborator Mike 'Meta' Goldberg, who he shared 'helped me get my sound down on 'tape' as they use to say, and did an amazing job as he always does.'

Sons of Serendip is an extremely unique quartet consisting of a cellist, harpist, pianist and lead vocalist. These four young men came together in graduate school at Boston University, and since their formation, their music has taken the world by storm. Not long after their first audition on America s Got Talent Season 9, Sons of Serendip was called, the most musically talented act on the show by judges Howie Mandel and Howard Stern. By offering fresh interpretations of popular music, anything from rock hit Bring Me to Life by Evanescene to soul classic How Will I Know by Whitney Houston, Sons of Serendip is pioneering a new sound within the music scene.

Moving from his high school listening experiences of groups like AC/DC and Kiss, guitarist Galen Weston discovered jazz through the influences of well-established guitarists such as Pat Metheny and Mike Stern. After attending the highly-regarded jazz program at Toronto's Humber College, Weston opted out of music for more than ten years while pursuing other business interests. While traveling, a chance sit-in at a bar session in a small Greek town reignited Weston's interest in music. The result of his self-imposed emersion is documented on Plugged In.

Musical director at the Haymarket Theatre in London, the director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, a professor of composition at the Leipzig Conservatory, the director of the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, and a diligent composer who enjoyed a fair measure of success, Graener represented the latest of late romanticism and strongly tended toward French impressionism, which makes him unique among the composers from Germany during the first half of the twentieth century. This new release from CPO only emphasises the value in rediscovering these works.

Caecilie Norby and Lars Danielsson are the dream couple of jazz – in the truest sense of the word. Being a couple also in “real life”, two of the most popular and recognized musicians in European jazz now present their first duo album ever. An intimate touching musical statement with voice and strings.

Anne Akiko Meyers Serenade: The Love Album is an exploration of love in all its dimensions, featuring Leonard Bernstein s Serenade and ten world premieres from seven living composer-arrangers. The Serenade is based on a reading of Plato s Symposium, in which seven ancient Greek philosophers debate their thoughts about love at a raucous dinner party. Meyers thought it fitting to pair Serenade with newly commissioned love-inspired music from seven living arrangers.

As soon as the sprightly melody of “Hit Spot,” the first track of Jeff Richman’s latest album, emerges with electrifying excitement, you might expect a great jazz-rock fusion album that updates the genre from the early days of Miles and Zappa. The punching vamp reminds me specifically of Miles’s Tribute to Jack Johnson, reaching out with palpable spunk; but a gentle atmosphere still invites us, the listeners, in. But this is the most psychedelic or near psychedelic the album gets. Following the flight of “Hit Spot,” we land on the ground for a funky jam called “Seven Up.” It is a great start to an album that jams, grooves, flies, and ruminates.

Ramón Valle has become known as "the Other Face of Cuban Jazz." Though he and his trio members are Cuban, their Latin rhythms are unexpected. This is modern jazz played by Cubans. 'Take Off' is a studio recording that spotlights this distinctive pianists' golden-touch on the keyboard and his gift for creating original memorable melodies.