Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) was a highly successful female pianist and composer. As a pianist she toured the European countries, in 1892 making her debut in England, making acquaintance with one of her biggest fans, Queen Victoria. In 1908 she made her American debut, gaining instant and immense popularity. The reason for Chaminade’s popularity is the charm, tunefulness and general accessibility of her music. It touches a ready chord with every music lover, and the fancy titles and not overly virtuosic piano writing made that her works became drawing room favorites of the epoch.

Volume three is incidental music from a play called The King of the Jews. Recorded only twice, the second time by Polyansky… But it’s brilliant. This is atmospheric, at times quite engaging, and an excellent example of the art of incidental music—all the more impressive considering the scarcity of models, Russian or otherwise. The introduction is a very nicely crafted exercise in subtle variation of scale, rather than of theme. It is, like much of the work, introspective, often stately, and a little mournful—how could it not be given the subject matter? But the piece as a whole is punctuated with occasional outbursts of grandeur—The Trumpets of the Levites, Entr’acte to Act III, Scene 2 and the Syrian Dance are all dramatic and/or lively enough to engage even the most humorless listener.

From the little that is recorded about Zipoli's life, we may understand that he pursued two paths during his lifetime: music and religion. At first it seems it was the religious road that led him to South America, but in fact, as well as wanting to take his vows in the order of the Jesuits, he was summoned to the New World because he was a musician as well as a missionary. As a child, he sang in the choir and was granted the support necessary to allow him to study in Florence. In 1709, he moved to Naples to study with Alessandro Scarlatti.

After breaking up in 2002, releasing an album made only by Danniel Brennare ("The Neonai"), Lake of Tears returned in 2004 in top form with "Black Brick Road"!
The style of "Black Brick Road" is the typical Lake of Tears gothic metal mixed with a lot of 70's influences. But this time, maybe even darker than before, being the album not so depressive like "Forever Autumn", but with more sinister melodies (wiht the exception of Sister Sinister, a very animated rock track.) The using of keyboards and the dominance of hard riffs is what makes "Black Brick Road" similar to "A Crimson Cosmos". Nevertheless, the amazing track Dystopia could have been in "The Neonai", just like A Trip with the Moon… The dramatic and retro-gothic The Organ, has the style of "Forever Autumn". The rest of the tracks have the Lake of Tears typical that they have made since "A Crimson Cosmos".

A rare find for fans of this acclaimed guitarist/songwriter, Seven Worlds is the long-lost solo debut from Eric Johnson. Cut in the late '70s, this album is far more than a promising collection of demos; it's a full length, fully-produced album that showcases all of Johnson's awesome talent – not only as a guitar virtuoso, but as a talented pop/rock songwriter. Tunes such as "Showdown" clearly indicate the talent that Johnson had, even at this early stage. A classy false start to a great career, and a must for fans of Eric Johnson.

This posthumous CD is novel because it features Joe Pass exclusively on acoustic guitar, and it is obvious that he enjoyed every minute of these sessions. "The Shadow of Your Smile" is no longer easy listening fodder, as Pass turns it into a miniature master class in swing. "Star Eyes" is accented by the soft squeaks of Pass' fingers gently weaving their intricate magic. Most of the works of Joe Pass tended to be improvised blues, so the title track is an exception – a simple yet elegant ballad written for his wife. "Blues for Angel" highlights his matchless mastery of slow blues. The boppish blues "Satellite Village" is a perfect closer. The good news is that there are several more unreleased sessions by Joe Pass that will follow this superb collection.

Aura is a concept album by Miles Davis, produced by Palle Mikkelborg, released in 1989. All compositions and arrangements are by Danish composer/trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, who created the suite in tribute to Miles Davis when Davis received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize in December 1984, the year Decoy was released.The album won a Grammy Award in 1990 for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance.