In each composition on his new album "Here And Now", pianist and composer Dirk Maassen processes special life situations. The first ride on the metro in Paris after the pandemic, the farewell to a loved one; each composition deals with a stage on life's journey. Experiences in the here and now meet wistful distance and the repeated prelude to a determined continuation.

You may not realize it, but at some point, during any day, week, or month, you’ve listened to the music of Trevor Rabin. It might have been on the radio when one of the biggest rock hits of all time, Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart “, was played, or on one of his more than 100 movie or TV soundtracks, or even the theme for NBA basketball on TNT. Now he returns with ’Rio’, his first vocal-led solo album since 1989’s ‘Can’t Look Away’.

Two-time GRAMMY nominated Dave Douglas continues his relentless musical exploration with a new record probing the possibilities of improvised jazz and electronic music. Featuring an exciting new band of noted players: Jonathan Maron (Groove Collective), on electric and acoustic bass; Mark Guiliana (Beat Music, Heernt) on electric and acoustic drums; and DJ, producer and beatmaker Shigeto (Ghostly International) on electronics. Recorded by five-time GRAMMY nominated Geoff Countryman (Dr. Luke, Patti LaBelle, Wu-Tang Clan, Randy Brecker, Gregory Porter, Fred Hersch) and mixed by Steve Wall (Semi Precious Weapons, Matisyahu, Meshell Ndegeocello) the album finds Douglas again walking a musical high wire. High stakes, high reward. High Risk!

Reissue of Chris Connor's best-selling debut for Bethlehem label. Connor, who was 26 at this time, is in top form and displays a wider range than one might expect. The original 10-inches LP reached the number one position on the Billboard jazz chart in April 1955, having sold over 40,000 copies, a remarkable achievement for jazz records back then.

Thirteen new MacLeod originals highlight this richly detailed recording by GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Keith Johnson. MacLeod is one of blues’ greatest guitarists. He is joined by longtime bassist Denny Croy and Jimi Bott, one of the most recorded, awarded and respected blues drummers in the world. The trio performs with scintillating precision and synergy.

Behind the name Cat Squirrel lies a group of Iberian blues 'pistolleros' fronted by a pure English blues legend: none other than the immense Mike Vernon. Creator of the Blue Horizon label in the 60s, discoverer/producer/collaborator (take your pick) of some major projects like John Mayall's legendary Bluesbreakers album, Fleetwood Mac's very first album or David Bowie's first recordings, our man has a CV as long as the meanders of the Thames. In short, he knows the blues, and not just a little! And listening to the album 'Blues What Am' confirms this beyond any doubt.

Prolific songwriter and guitar virtuoso David Tattersall presents 11 new songs on themes of memory, dreams, loneliness and love, featuring nylon-string guitar improvisations in the vein of gypsy jazz legend Django Reinhardt. The David Tattersall Group are old friends who rehearsed together for months in a small, smoky, sweaty room, before recording the album on a huge red boat moored on the River Thames, all vintage microphones and wooden walls inside. Friendship is a vital part of the record’s magic.

She's perhaps Germany's most wonderful insider tip. Almost 40 years have passed since Christina Lux and Oliver George played together in a rock band in Kassel. Those were Christina Lux's first steps on stage. After a year with many concerts, the voice of the then 18-year-old did not keep up and she had to take a break. "That was hard for me because I didn't know if I could fix it." It got better again, but she didn't want to go back to a rock band. In 1986 she got in touch with Edo & Vilko Zanki and recorded some songs together with Oliver George. They put them on a music cassette and visited the Zankis in their studio. "I only really felt how much the influence of Edo Zanki's way of singing influenced me when I started writing lyrics in German in 2006. A master."

Joseph Jongen is universally considered one of the major Belgian composers of the 20th century. The 150th anniversary of his birth, celebrated in 2023, is the occasion for the rediscovery of an oeuvre that remains, for the most part, oddly underrated. Following on Entrevisions (Musique en Wallonie, MEW 1993, 2019), this CD of Fetes rouges now concludes the first complete recording of his melodies (art songs) for voice and piano. The melodie genre occupies a special place within the chamber music repertoire. Numerous composers contemporary with Jongen, both male and female, tried their hand at it, but few succeeded in raising it to emblematic status to stand comparison with Faure, Debussy or indeed Ravel. In his letters and notebooks Jongen mentions his vocal works only briefly. But listening to the complete corpus of these works, and the stylistic evolution that becomes evident, reveals the enjoyment and obvious care which Jongen brought to each of these miniatures. Carrying on from Entrevisions, the double album of Fetes rouges offers a musical overview of the composer's various "periods": French romanticism, post-Wagnerism and Debussy-ism, and a Jongenian synthesis. Each CD focuses on one of his three great song cycles: opus 25 (Entrevisions, MEW 1993, 2019), here we have opus 29 and opus 57.