The Gift of Siilence

The Gift of Love pairs R&B legend and Tony Award-winning actress Melba Moore with veteran R&B star Phil Perry. Co-produced by Chris "Big Dog" Davis, Preston Glass, David Nathan, and Dwayne Palmer and released on Shanachie, the set contains 11 upbeat, uplifting, and inspirational songs that run the gamut from contemporary gospel to adult contemporary. These duets are structured in an old-school soul style, but the sonic presentation is up to the minute for radio…

The act of switching to Columbia did not have a substantial impact upon Jean-Luc Ponty — not yet, at least — for his debut with the label found him mining the repeating, sequencer-driven lode that he was exploring while on Atlantic. But there are two areas where there is a difference: the material is superior to that of Fables, more memorable and immediately winning in melodic and arpeggiated content, and the sound quality is considerably improved over that of much of his Atlantic output. The rhythm section of Fables returns, with Pat Thomi replacing Scott Henderson on guitar, and as before, they take a definite back seat to their leader's violins, synthesizers and electronic devices.

Sylvium was formed back in 2010 by Ben van Gastel (guitar, keyboards), and his intention was to make use of guest musicians when he was recording. The first album, Purified, was produced and released in 2012 with Fred Boks contributing to the album. Purified was an instrumental album and was very well received, and on the basis of that success, they were invited to record a 10 minute track for the Dutch Exposure album, which was to highlight Dutch bands. Ben produced a track collaborating with Janroel Koppen (piano) and although they were chosen as one of the finalists, Sylvium was not ready to perform live, and consequently withdrew from the competition. Spring 2013 saw Sylvium become a live band with Ben and Janroel being joined by Gijs Koopman (bass) and Greg Geurtson (drums), and also the recording, and subsequent release, of The Gift of Anxiety…