Supergrass – Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn, Danny Goffey, and Rob Coombes – are one of the most important bands to emerge during the 1990s, with several million record sales, including 6 top 10 albums and 10 top 20 singles. Formed in Oxford UK in 1993, the Brit, Q, NME and Ivor Novello-winning outfit released their Mercury-nominated No.1 debut album I Should Coco in 1995. Fourth single, Alright, was a pop masterpiece and became a massive hit, catapulting the band to global success.

Supergrass – Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn, Danny Goffey, and Rob Coombes – are one of the most important bands to emerge during the 1990s, with several million record sales, including 6 top 10 albums and 10 top 20 singles. Formed in Oxford UK in 1993, the Brit, Q, NME and Ivor Novello-winning outfit released their Mercury-nominated No.1 debut album I Should Coco in 1995. Fourth single, Alright, was a pop masterpiece and became a massive hit, catapulting the band to global success.

The Lovely Mood Music label's Coffee Bar Lounge series of collections invariably and effortlessly creates a cozy atmosphere for relaxation. It is recommended both for minutes of a coffee break or a summer picnic, and as background music for creative personalities in their good undertakings.

Deutsche Grammophon presents the second and final volume of Ferenc Fricsay’s complete recordings for the label. Vol. 2 gathers the totality of Fricsay’s œuvre with the human voice, covering all of his opera, orchestral song and choral recordings on 37 CDs.

Deutsche Grammophon unites all of its Fricsay recordings into 2 volumes, of which this is the first. FERENC FRICSAY – Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon Vol. 1 presents Fricsay's orchestral output in its entirety, covering symphonies, concertos, waltzes, overtures, ballets etc.

The Way Up is the Pat Metheny Group's debut offering for Nonesuch Records. Comprised of a single, sprawling, 68-minute composition by Metheny and Lyle Mays divided into four sections on CD it is an unprecedented new direction for the band. The lineup is the same as on the live Speak of Now from 2003 Metheny and Mays on keyboards, bassist Steve Rodby, drummer Antonio Sanchéz, and trumpeter/vocalist Cuong Vu. New to the roster is Swiss/American harmonicat Gregoire Maret.

Raoul Björkenheim's guitar playing is often described as a force of nature, the conventional traits usually associated with jazz or rock having given way to a more visceral, expressionistic approach to creating timbre and velocities. Experimenting with various tunings on 6 and 12 string guitars, Raoul makes full use of the subtleties offered by electronics and the deft touch of his fingers, creating startling textures that imitate everything from birds, opera singers or flutes to heavy industrial machines, string orchestras or butterfly wings. Constantly discovering new sonorities on his guitar, he has created a uniquely personal language which speaks to audiences all over the world through his concerts and recordings. Influenced at first by Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King, Raoul progressed gradually from Frank Zappa to John McLaughlin and John Coltrane, finding great inspiration in the highly charged expression of their music.

"A Brazilian Love Affair" is a labor of love, something I have believed in for a long time but have not had the means to bring to life until now. It is not a pure Brazilian recording bur rather a blend of Brazilian musical concepts with the diverse musical ideas of my mind. For most of the selections, I have intermixed Brazilian artists with American artists to archieve a true fusion of the styles. ~ George Duke

Guitarist Thom Rotella's DMP CD is essentially a well-recorded set of inoffensive Jazz in the Earl Klugh vein. The musicians (which include Jim Studer and Mike Lang on keyboards) are studio aces.

A technically skilled guitarist, Thom Rotella is capable of playing both commercial jazz and in a style influenced by Wes Montgomery. When he was six he started playing for the fun of it on his grandfather's guitar and he began serious guitar lessons when he was ten. As a teenager, Rotella played rock but soon discovered jazz through Wes Montgomery's recordings. He went to Ithaca College (as a classical guitar major), and at Berklee he often studied under Gary Burton (1970-1972). Rotella left Berklee to tour with a lounge band, moved to Los Angeles and, with Tommy Tedesco's guidance, he became a studio musician. However after a few years he missed playing live music and in 1984 Rotella moved to New York where he continued working in the studios but also had the chance to appear in clubs. In 1987 he recorded his first solo album for DMP.

While quietly setting numerous standards both musically and technically in the jazz recording field, Digital Music Products has prided itself on pushing numerous stylistic envelopes, from the tasty pop fusion of Flim & the BB's and the Fantasy Band to the artsy, straight-ahead skinning of Joe Morello. Expanding its palette even further, the Stamford, Connecticut based company enters the New Adult Contemporary realm for the first time with the sly and seductive half-vocal, half-instrumental Follow Me by the new ensemble Thursday Diva. Mesmerizingly rhythmic, melodic, and tailor-made for late-night sensuality, Thursday Diva features the merging talents of producer, composer, percussionist, and keyboardist David Charles and composer, lyricist, and song stylist Lisa Lombardo, along with slick, all-star contributions from Michael Brecker, Nelson Rangell, and labelmate Chuck Loeb.

On this CD guitarist Thom Rotella sought to follow in the footsteps of Earl Klugh. Rotella's attractive acoustic guitar is featured on some upbeat and moderately funky originals.

This is the kind of band that dares to go beyond limit, embarking a journey into the ‘unknown’ part of music that probably would only exist in the darkest part of the parallel universe. Their music, especially this new album titled “TRANSISI” is one of the most ‘provocative’ jazz recordings we have ever heard. It’s so provocative that we even have to use ‘brutal’ as the one of the words to describe their music. And of course, we just have to feature them in our event. We want our jazz community members to see how far can jazz go if they don’t go against the word ‘crazy’, how borderless jazz really is in the mind of free-spirited musicians and how exactly skill is needed in order to accomodate the creation from a dangerous mind.

Re-released to capitalize on the popularity of the big-screen adaptation of his life story, Les 50 Plus Belles Chansons de Claude François is a comprehensive compilation of the late French chanteur's career. The three-CD collection includes the original versions of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" ("Comme d'Habitude") and Elvis Presley's "My Boy" ("Parce Que, Je T'aime Mon Enfant") and his covers of "If I Had a Hammer" ("Si J'Avais un Marteau"), Herman's Hermits' "There's a Kind of Hush" ("Qu'Est-Ce Que Tu Deviens"), and the Everly Brothers' "Made to Love" ("Belles Belles Belles").

Percussionist Olatunji was championing African music long before anyone devised the worldbeat marketing strategy. His 1989 recording Drums of Passion: The Beat updated his classic Drums of Passion concept, adding rock and pop energy and instrumentalists to the wall of multiple rhythms. The idea clicks, and Olatunji's African beats are contrasted by Airto Moreira's Latin percussion, Mickey Hart's bombastic presence, and such special guests as Carlos Santana and Bobby Vega.