After 15 years of waiting: Audio portraits of Oslo's tragic-heroes by Norway's least Nordic piano trio.The idea for the album came to Aarum after reading "Oslo originals" - a book about the fascinating residents from the Norwegian capital's history. Each track on the album, he decided, would paint a portrait of one of these personalities. Take "El Jucan", a tribute to Einar Olsen, who walked the streets as a fakir, swallowed swords, flames and glass and lay on a bed of nails. In an inspiring twist of serendipity, the recording studio happened to be in the immediate vicinity of a mental hospital. This set the mood perfectly, as many of the personalities captured on the album battled with alcoholism and deteriorating psychological health. The entire album, the first one by the current line-up of the trio after 15 years, was recorded in a single 1,5 hour short session. Thanks to this impressive achievement, the Anders Aarum trio are now originals as well. They, too, have now become part of the Oslo puzzle.

Art of Recording vol. 2 released in 2014 on stockfisch records. Album of popular singers such as Allan Taylor, Sara K, David Munyon, Paul O’Brien, Brooke Miller, Ewen Carruthers, Duo Balance, McKinley Black, Bass Swing Trio & Barbara Burkle.

The tenth album from this Toronto based groove duo, Four80East. With an eclectic mix of neo-jazz, Gonna Be Alright serves up a infectious mix of soul, funk and jazz groovers to follow-up their 2022 release Straight Round. Four80East is a Toronto-based electro-jazz duo that’s all about the groove. Drawing from their diverse musical influences, Rob DeBoer and Tony Grace have created a signature sound that combines electronic production with live instrumentation. Four80East has been a mainstay on the contemporary jazz scene for over 20 years.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Imelda May is a unique vocal talent, one whose gift lies outside the normal order of pop culture time and trends. Inspired by the sounds of vocal jazz à la Billie Holiday and the sound and looks of rockabilly, May began performing with the swing outfit Blue Harlem, and released a handful of independent CDs before scoring attention in 2007 with her nomination for an award as Best Burlesque Singer as well as the release of her more official debut, Love Tattoo. The album, featuring her strong backing band comprised of players Dave Priseman, Darrell Higham, Al Gare, and Steve Rushton, was critically and commercially well received, leading to some high-profile live gigs, including hitting the road with Jools Holland. It was released in the U.S.A. by Decca in 2009, followed by two singles, and scored a mid-level success. Her sophomore effort, Mayhem, arrived in September of 2010, preceded by the single "Psycho".

Unless you frequent Los Angeles clubs like The Baked Potato and La Ve Lee, chances are you haven't heard of keyboardist David Garfield. But you've heard him. Appearing on over a hundred albums, Garfield has worked with artists like trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and guitarist Larry Carlton. He's a co-founder of Los Lobotomys and Karizma, two fusion-based jam bands that have included drummers like Vinnie Colaiuta and Simon Phillips, as well as guitarists Steve Lukather and the perennially-underrated Michael Landau. No recording dates are listed on The State of Things, but Garfield's clearly been working on it for years, given that a third of the tracks feature Carlos Vega—a versatile drummer who appeared on literally hundreds of albums before passing away tragically in 1998. This fusion-centric effort features many of LA's best session players, but in many ways it's as much Landau's disc as it is Garfield's. He pays tribute to Jimi Hendrix on a version of "If Six Was Nine that—as blasphemous as this may sound—might actually be an improvement on the original. While his tone says rock, his lines say jazz as he demonstrates complete facility navigating changes on the swinging version of Miles Davis' "Milestones and a more delicate mainstream take on John Coltrane's "Naima. He exhibits his more textural side on "Me and kicks things into extreme high gear on the greasy funk of "Five Storks and the more overtly rocking "Black Cadillac.

The sound of De Phazz is unique. The German based outfit combines the bouncing sounds and vocal stylistics of jazz, with the electro beats and twings of the modern groove and house scenes. The unique sound of De Phazz is mainly due to this perfect marriage of these two smooth genres. By employing the sounds of classic percussion and jazz instruments such as the trumpet and sax, De Phazz successfully create smooth electro-groove music with an unmissable swinging jazz theme. If your a fan of contemporary jazz, and dig the beats of groove, dub and house genres, De Phazz is a unique sound that you must check out. This CD is a collection of the best De Phazz tracks from their first three albums.

Recorded in 1972, Blue Moses, the most commercially successful album in pianist/composer Randy Weston's catalog remains one of his most controversial due to his conflicted feelings about the final product, which he feels is too polished and too far from his original intent for the project. Indeed, appearing on Creed Taylor's CTI imprint was an almost certain guarantee of polished production. Weston plays both acoustic and Rhodes piano here; he was backed by a band of CTI's star-studded stable: trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, tenor saxophonist Grover Washington, flutists Hubert Laws and Romeo Penque, drummer Billy Cobham, alternate bassists Ron Carter and Bill Wood, and percussionists Phil Kraus, Airto Moreira, and Weston's son Azzedin…

What is more inspiring than life and love? All the ups and downs, the constant change and the constant charge.
This music is the positive charge that transfers "sounds" into "feeling". You can hear the swing of life on the thoughtful "Just talk to you"; the breezy, positive and bell-like feeling on "Hand in Hand" and enjoy the summery, swinging and jazzed-up hymn "Loving Life!" The new face of soft fusion, jazz and NewEmotionalMusic comes alive with the unique sound of Freeze Frame!

In the late '30s and early '40s, pianist Teddy Wilson was a big deal in the land of jazz. He had many opportunities to perform as a sideman, and eventually got his breaks. These sessions showcase of variety of his efforts with big bands, large ensembles, small groups, and a singer named Billie Holiday. Though none of his own compositions are credited ("Big Apple" should be,) he certainly had a hand in the arrangements, and was given space to play quite a bit of piano. The Hep label has generously provided 23 selections with Wilson and bandmates including stalwarts Hot Lips Page, Lester Young, Freddie Green, Red Norvo and Pee Wee Russell, as well as backing trombonist Benny Morton's All Stars. There are two takes of "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Just a Mood" (Blue Mood,) "When You're Smiling," and "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" for contrast sake. The sound reproduction of these vintage performances is excellent, and this one can easily be recommended to both fan and novice.

Tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore offers up a satisfying array of neo hard bop numbers on Furthermore which features some of the up and coming stars of the Wynton Marsalis retro trad jazz school, including trumpeter Roy Hargrove, pianist Benny Green, and bassist Peter Washington, as well as veteran drummers Kenny Washington (Peter's brother) and Victor Lewis. The CD opens with the thematically rich Moore original "Hopscotch" (reminiscent of Coltrane's "Moment's Notice") and works its way through Green's driving "Phoebe's Samba" and Hargrove's Wayne Shorter inspired mood piece "Into Dawn," with all three tunes providing prime vehicles for the innovative yet restrained soloing of these young players…

This is one of the maddest Roland Kirk albums of all time - and it's also one of the hardest to find! The title says "Slightly Latin", but it's more of a mixed-up Now Sound/Bacharach-ish blend of orchestrations and voices, plus Exotica tinges, with Roland playing some very off-kilter reed solos on flute and various saxes. The sound is incredible, and the arrangements are incredibly strange - and the album sounds like nothing that Kirk (or anyone else) has ever done. Highlights include "Shaky Money", "Safari", "Ebrauos", "Raouf", "Juarez", and a wild version of "Walk On By". The whole thing's wild, though, and it never lets up for a minute! More "out" than "easy", and a real treasure that's the kind of reissue we like to get behind!

From Norwegian folk singer and harpist Sinikka Langeland comes a seductively subtle contemporary jazz album. The lyrics are all Norwegian or Swedish (the sleeve notes have translations), and celebrate the poetry of Edith Södergran and Olav Håkonson Hauge – the first a shortlived pioneer of modern Swedish poetry, the second the Norwegian "lumberjack poet" who came to the art in his 40s. Langeland's band brings together trumpet-player Arve Henriksen and saxophonist/composer Trygve Seim, and it's a magical combination. Despite a predominant feeling of tranquillity, the singer sometimes adds an almost Nina Simone-like bite, for which Seim's smoky sound, Henriksen's ghostly multiphonics and Anders Jormin's bass are ideal foils. The mood is often broken by grooves that suggest some strange fjord-village cabaret music, or episodes that are like Nordic Miles Davis. It's a real one-off.