Following his recorded debut as a leader for States Records, Junior Wells signed with Mel London, producing a number of sides for the producer's Chief and Profile imprints. Perhaps best-known for his spectacular harmonica playing, this period, documented on Calling All Blues, saw Wells emerging as an outstanding vocalist as well. A consummate performer with a firm grasp of the range of emotions the music can produce, Wells wrings every drop of feeling out of the lyrics. The singer growls, shouts, howls, moans across these 24 tracks including two versions of his great "I Could Cry" and other classics like "Little By Little," "Cha-Cha-Cha in Blue," and "Lovey Dovey Lovey One." While it has a great deal of overlap with the collections from Paula Records, Calling All Blues remains a fine introduction with no glaring omissions…

Cuban born pianist Omar Sosa completes his third recording on the Ota label with the large ensemble sound of Bembon. Sosa creates world fusion music highlighted by the combination of Afro-Cuban funk with the inventiveness of jazz. Bassist Geoff Brennan and the percussion team of Elliot Kavee and John Santos generate an invigorating rhythmic glue that keeps the improvisational elements of Bembon on track. Added into the interweaving musical blend are the voices of Bay Area singers Ledisi and Maria Marquez and the spoken word of Will Power.

Catapilla's second album is probably better-remembered for its gatefold cover – a bug-headed lettuce leaf which opens to reveal a fat, juicy maggot – than for its contents. Delve in deeper than that, though, and the music is even more striking . A magnificent disc, Changes offered an absolute shift away from the grinding Armageddon of Catapilla's debut, with the opening "Reflections" viciously carving out a new territory which floats with breathtaking audacity. For over 12 minutes, vocalist Anna Meek and saxophonist Robert Calvert duel and duet in a manner which would influence everything from Deep Purple's voice and guitar confabulations to Gong's spectral, spacy meanderings.

Highly-regarded blues singer and harmonica player, an unpredictable character, and a major figure of Chicago blues.
Sonny Boy Williamson was, in many ways, the ultimate blues legend. By the time of his death in 1965, he had been around long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at the start of his career and Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Robbie Robertson at the end of it. In between, he drank a lot of whiskey, hoboed around the country, had a successful radio show for 15 years, toured Europe to great acclaim and simply wrote, played and sang some of the greatest blues ever etched into black phonograph records. His delivery was sly, evil and world-weary, while his harp-playing was full of short, rhythmic bursts one minute and powerful, impassioned blowing the next…

Born in Italy in the 16th century, Palestrina ranks with Lassus and Byrd as one of the most important figures in the music of this time. In his Missa L'homme arme, Palestrina makes use of a fifteenth-century secular song of the same name as a cantus firmus for polyphonic elaboration. This performance of the mass, with its interpolation of organ ricercari by Girolamo Cavazzoni, seeks to restore earlier performance traditions.

One of the first acts signed to the fledgling Harvest label in 1969, Bakerloo were very much a product of their time, a hard-hitting progressive blues band whose predilections ranged from a straightforward assimilation of Willie Dixon to some positively dazzling flashes of instrumental prowess. Guitarist Dave Clempson's "Big Bear Folly," the opening cut on the band's first and only album, is a dazzling Ten Years After-style showcase, while a jazzy variation on a theme of Bach, the aptly titled "Driving Bachwards," proves that the band wasn't averse to messing with the classics, either.

Sundazed Music is proud to present Another Side of This Life, 18 previously unheard demo recordings of Gram Parsons, country-rock pioneer and former member of the Byrds and founding member of the Flying Burrito Brothers. This collection features Parsons, singing and playing acoustic guitar, recorded from March 1965 to April 1966 at the home of his Winter Haven, Fla. friend, Jim Carlton.

Sam's fifth album "ReBoot" was released in the UK on the 25th September 2000 and it's a wonderful album, diverse and very original, with plenty of nice surprises, contemporary production, faultless musicianship and of course Sam's remarkable voice as expressive as ever. It ranks alongside Sam's best ever work.

In fact, until these new performances by Midori Seiler and Jos van Immerseel, only the spirited, often schmaltzy renderings of K. 205 and K. 301-304 performed by Erich Höbarth and Patrick Cohen (Astrée) have ranked with the finest modern-instrument accounts.

Peter Neumann ist der erste, dessen Aufnahme die zweite Fassung der ›Johannes-Passion‹ in einem Durchlauf hören läßt. Dies ist insofern wichtig, als durch die Änderungen die Aspekte ›Schuld‹ und ›Sünde‹ stärker akzentuiert werden, die theologische Aussage des Werks also in eine etwas andere Richtung weist. Das eigentlich Bemerkenswerte der vorliegenden Einspielung ist der Einsatz einer großen Kirchenorgel als Continuoinstrument, was den Arien und Chorälen eine ganz eigene Färbung verleiht.

Tom Jones became one of the most popular vocalists to emerge from the British Invasion. Since the mid-'60s, Jones has sung nearly every form of popular music – pop, rock, show tunes, country, dance, and techno, he's sung it all. His actual style – a full-throated, robust baritone that had little regard for nuance and subtlety – never changed, he just sang over different backing tracks. On-stage, Jones played up his sexual appeal; it didn't matter whether he was in an unbuttoned shirt or a tuxedo, he always radiated a raw sexuality that earned him a large following of devoted female fans who frequently threw underwear on-stage. Jones' following never diminished over the decades; he was able to exploit trends, earning new fans while retaining his core following.