In 1646, France's first minister, Italian-born Cardinal Mazarin, eager to bring Italian culture to Paris, hired Luigi Rossi to write an opera for the Paris carnival. The premiére was given a magnificent staging and the performance, which lasted six hours, was a triumph. However, the expense of the performance only stoked discontent against Mazarin, which soon broke out into full-scale popular rebellion. On this video, Raphaël Pichon and Ensemble Pygmalion recreate the magic of that first performance, thanks to a skillful musical reconstruction and the group's vibrant, multi-colored timbre. The dramatic power of the myth of Orpheus is brilliantly conveyed in Jetske Mijnssen's production, which transposes the story into contemporary terms, to evoke the timeless experience of love and death that humanity both desires and fears.

Replica of 1985 Japanese Limited Edition Prince release “His Majesty’s Pop Life / The Purple Mix Club” originally limited to a run of 500, released in Japan only! Limited to 14,000 copies worldwide.

Dave Holland - Critical Mass (2006) {Dare2 Records SSC3058 rec 2005}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 441 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 174 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2006 Dare2 Records / Sunnyside | SSC 3058
Jazz / Modern Jazz / Post Bop / Bass

A wonderfully warm and soulful session from bassist Dave Holland – thanks to contributions from a younger batch of players that includes Chris Potter on saxes and Steve Nelson on vibes! Both Potter and Nelson really make the record something special – Potter for his angular, well-crafted lines on tenor and soprano sax – and Nelson for his dark-edged vibes, which always add a new dimension to any group he works with! Other players are pretty great too – and include Robin Eubanks on trombone and Nate Smith on drums – and titles are all originals by group members, very fresh numbers from the hipper side of the soulful jazz spectrum!

Strut present a new definitive collection of singles released by jazz maverick Sun Ra during his Earth years, spanning 1952 to 1991. Released prolifically during the 1950s and more sporadically thereafter, primarily on the Saturn label, the 45s offer one-off meteorites from Ra’s prolific cosmic journey, tracing the development of his forward-thinking “Space-Bop” and his unique take on jazz and blues traditions which sounded unlike anything else from the period. As with his LPs, most 45s were only pressed in small runs and were sold at gigs and have since become extremely rare and sought after. Some have only been discovered in physical form in recent years; some were planned and pencilled but allegedly never made it to vinyl and some appeared as one-off magazine singles and posthumous releases.