Maurice Abravanel The state of Utah became a flourishing classical music scene thanks to the efforts of Maurice Abravanel, who served as music director of the Utah Symphony for 32 years starting in 1947. Although his peers might have looked at a posting in Utah as death in the boondocks, to Abravanel it was an opportunity to accomplish his dream of building up a permanent symphony orchestra of his own in a part of the world that was sorely lacking such a resource. Doing this meant turning down a lucrative contract with Radio City Music Hall, and even working without pay during the orchestra's most extreme periods of financial struggle.

None of the Band's previous work gave much of a clue about how they would sound when they released their first album in July 1968. As it was, Music from Big Pink came as a surprise. At first blush, the group seemed to affect the sound of a loose jam session, alternating emphasis on different instruments, while the lead and harmony vocals passed back and forth as if the singers were making up their blend on the spot. In retrospect, especially as the lyrics sank in, the arrangements seemed far more considered and crafted to support a group of songs that took family, faith, and rural life as their subjects and proceeded to imbue their values with uncertainty. Some songs took on the theme of declining institutions less clearly than others, but the points were made musically as much as lyrically…

Happily, it is not the responsibility of this review to address in detail the train wreck that was the 1979 film adaptation of the stage musical Hair. A complete misfire conceived by a screenwriter, Michael Weller, and a director, Czech expatriate Milos Forman, who did not seem to have the slightest familiarity with hippies, the '60s, America, or even Broadway, the movie was miscast with supposedly bankable young film stars of the day (Treat Williams, John Savage, Beverly d'Angelo), and the essentially plotless libretto of the stage version was replaced by a contrived Hollywood script in a textbook example of how not to do an adaptation.

This release is very interesting set of nostalgic sides from sessions in Art Blakey's name, with a big band he formed independently of the Jazz Messengers. Featuring Trane in an ensemble setting with Al Cohn (writer of most of the charts, according to Charles Waring's liner notes) Donald Byrd, Sahib Shihab and Bill Graham, the record has a slick but not superficial, swinging sound, bright and cheering. This package also features a second disk of alternate takes and one bonus track ("Oasis") making the set a nice catch.

Curtis Knight Zeus was a band led by Curtis Knight that was active from 1973–1974. Curtis Knight, born Mont Curtis McNear, was an American musician who is known for his association with Jimi Hendrix. Knight was a singer in the 1960s Harlem R&B music scene, usually fronting his own band, the Squires. In 1965, with Hendrix as guitarist, he recorded some singles and demos for record producer Ed Chalpin. Chalpin also signed Hendrix to a management contract, which Hendrix soon forgot about and left for England in 1966 to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience. After Hendrix became famous, Knight and Chalpin issued hundreds of albums of the recordings with Hendrix, resulting in years of legal action by both sides. During the 1970s, after Hendrix's demise, Knight moved to London, where he formed the group "Curtis Knight, Zeus", and toured throughout Europe, relying on his Hendrix connection for many years. Among the musicians enlisted was Fast Eddie Clarke, who later joined Motörhead.

Iconic and prolific composer and musical collaborator in the progressive rock universe, Neal Morse brings a new project to the genre with Neal Morse & The Resonance. Rather than an international alliance, like Transatlantic, The Resonance unites local musicians from the Nashville area.
The album consists of only five songs: but it's three short songs bookended by two prog opuses at over 20 minutes, Of course, in true Morse tradition, the two longer songs, Eternity In Your Eyes and No Hill For A Climber, are adventures in prog rock creativity and experimentation. Both are divided into parts with both instrumental and voice sections.
Of the shorter songs, Thief throws you a curve with its mild start, but then erupts with a heavier middle with some big drums and hard organ…

A relatively standard release from Clifton Chenier, the then reigning king of zydeco. The music bumps and grooves in all the ways it's supposed to. One of the songs dates the album a bit ("Zydeco Disco"), but aside from that one, the rest of the album is pretty much straightforward zydeco and blues. In spots it delves a little into jazz, but only in spots. In and of itself, delving into jazz wouldn't be such a bad thing, but this band's form of the genre tends to be a bit sloppy. When it comes to zydeco, there's no stopping them, but elsewhere they're more stoppable.

An unmissable event for French and international artists, the NRJ MUSIC AWARDS once again confirm their place among the most important musical television ceremonies on a global scale. The official compilation of the ceremony and best-seller of the year, returns in 2024 with all your favorite hits. Between revelations, national stars and international phenomena, this edition brings together all the leading NRJ artists and the hits that marked the year in an exceptional 5 CD digipack.

Substance is a double-disc set collecting New Order's singles, including several songs that were never available on the group's albums, at least in these versions. While there are a couple of re-recordings of earlier singles, most of Substance consists of 12" single mixes designed for danceclub play. Arguably, these 12" mixes represent New Order's most groundbreaking and successful work, since they expanded the notion of what a rock & roll band, particularly an indie rock band, could do. Substance collects the best of their remixes, and in the process it showcases not only the group's musical innovations, but also their songwriting prowess - "Temptation," "Blue Monday," "Bizarre Love Triangle," and "True Faith" are some of the finest pop songs of the '80s. Although it is a double-disc set, Substance isn't overly long. Instead it offers a perfect introduction to New Order, while providing collectors with an invaluable collection of singles.

GNX is the sixth studio album by American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was released as a surprise album through PGLang and Interscope Records on November 22, 2024. Titled after the Buick Regal model, and a follow-up to Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (2022), GNX is Lamar's first album after his departure from Top Dawg Entertainment and Aftermath Entertainment. Lamar and Dave Free executive produced the album, which features uncredited appearances from AzChike, Deyra Barrera, Dody6, Hitta J3, Ink, Kamasi Washington, Peysoh, Roddy Ricch, Sam Dew, Siete, SZA, Wallie the Sensei, and YoungThreat.

The Grand Scheme of Things is a 1993 solo album by Yes guitarist Steve Howe. The album features seven vocal tracks and nine instrumental tracks using instruments including dobro, steel guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, keyboards, organ, Spanish guitar and anvil. The album reached No. 15 in the Billboard Top New Age Albums charts. Steve Howe is an English musician, songwriter and producer, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Howe helped to change the band's musical direction, leading to more commercial and critical success. Many of their best-known songs were co-written by Howe, who remained with the band until they briefly disbanded in 1981. Howe returned to the group in 1990 for two years and has remained a full-time member since 1995.

January 2nd, 2023. Aside from being the second of a new year, it was a pretty ordinary night at ETA in Los Angeles, where guitarist Jeff Parker - alongside his ETA IVtet with saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose - had been holding down a regular Monday gig since 2016. At the time, nobody knew it was the first gig of the last year that ETA would be open for business. Over seven years of holding down that residency, Parker’s ETA ensemble evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form (sometimes stretching out for 45 minutes or more) journeys into innovative, often uncharted territories of groove-oriented, painterly, polyrhythmic, minimalist and mantric improvised music. With that musical growth, the crowds for Parker and his band at ETA grew across the years too. What started as a sparse gathering of weeknight drinkers, friends, family, and Chicago expats (coming to get a shot of nostalgia for the atmospheres Parker used to create at Rodan across the ‘00s and early ‘10s) grew into a Los Angeles nightlife staple with a packed house and a line down the block for every show.

The Best of Sophie B. Hawkins is the first retrospective on the adult alternative singer/songwriter, and it's not without its quirks – which might be appropriate for this particular singer/songwriter. The biggest quirk is that even though it contains all of her hits – "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover," "Right Beside You," "As I Lay Me Down," "Only Love (The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty)" – it completely overlooks her third album, Timbre, which is a bit odd, especially since it contains two new songs in "California Here I Come" and a cover of the Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," not to mention the Butcher Brothers' remix of "As I Lay Me Down." This is a problem, but it's not a major one, since Tongues & Tails (represented with five tracks) and Whaler (represented with six) are her two most popular albums, and they make for good companions, particularly since the best moments are distilled here, making it both a good summary and introduction to a singer/songwriter who often gets overlooked because she's too mainstream for alternative and too unusual for the mainstream.

The Hoochie Coochie Men, named after the Willie Dixon song "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man", were Bob Daisley (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Uriah Heep) on bass, Tim Gaze on lead vocals and guitar, Rob Grosser on drums and Jim Conway on harmonica The band's life changed drastically when legendary founder member of DEEP PURPLE, Jon Lord decided to join them for a concert at the famous "Basement Club" in Sidney just after a few hours rehearsal. All musicians loved playing together and remained in contact. Many journalists and fans have already said the HOOCHIE COOCHIE MEN is Jon Lord's return to rock music and thanks to the distinctive presence of his Hammond organ; louder and cooler than ever. Live At The Basement is documenting the show that started the Hoochie Coochie Men project feat. Jon Lord.

Produced by Jack Richardson, So Long, Bannatyne was recorded by the Guess Who in a two-week stint in June of 1971. With guitarists Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw on board, the album opened well with “Rain Dance” and the perceptive “She Might Have Been a Nice Girl,” but then fell into a kind of disjointed, dispirited, and rather exhausted-sounding mishmash of underdeveloped songs. . The album was reissued in the digital era with the March 1971 single “Albert Flasher” b/w “Broken” included as bonus tracks, which lifted things considerably, allowing the sequence to end as strongly as it begins. In retrospect, So Long, Bannatyne wasn’t a disaster, but it didn’t move the band forward either, and it still seems, all these years later, like an underrealized release that’s short on memorable songs.