Sometimes known as the Prince of Cool and the James Dean of jazz, Chet Baker was one of the most popular and controversial jazz musicians. He was the primary exponent of West Coast school of cool jazz (that was in early and mid-1950s). As a trumpeter, he had an intimate and romantic style of playing music, and attracted a lot of attention beyond jazz, mainly because of his movie star looks. Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals (Chet Baker Sings, It Could Happen to You). Jazz historian Dave Gelly described the promise of Baker's early career as "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one." His well-publicized drug habit also drove his notoriety and fame. Baker was in and out of jail frequently before enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1970s and '80s.

Oscar Peterson was one of the greatest piano players of all time. A pianist with phenomenal technique on the level of his idol, Art Tatum, Peterson's speed, dexterity, and ability to swing at any tempo were amazing. Very effective in small groups, jam sessions, and in accompanying singers, O.P. was at his absolute best when performing unaccompanied solos. His original style did not fall into any specific idiom. Like Erroll Garner and George Shearing, Peterson's distinctive playing formed during the mid- to late '40s and fell somewhere between swing and bop.

In 1998, it would have been a cheap joke to say that Mariah Carey had no other kind of hits than ballads, but in the ensuing decade she steadily remade herself into an R&B diva, obscuring if not quite erasing the well-mannered adult contemporary singer of the '90s. The 2009 compilation The Ballads – released just before Valentines Day 2009 – attempts to turn back the clock by focusing just on those AC tunes – 18 of them, in fact, including such mammoth hits as "Hero," "One Sweet Day," "Vision of Love," "I'll Be There," "I Still Believe," "Dreamlover," and "Always Be My Baby."

Originally given a limited release in 2004, this Savoy Brown (featuring Kim Simmonds) live album, recorded in Vancouver, Canada, now gets a full national release. The album features wonderful concert versions of the Savoy Brown classic songs,Hellbound Train,Street Corner Talking and Poor Girl. Besides those tracks, we get to hear Kim Simmonds, a master guitarist, extend on the blues Where Has Your Heart Gone, an eleven minute opus! The original sleeve notes from Kim are included with almost sixty minutes of music. Rock/blues at its finest, this CD is a must for new and old fans alike.

Eugène Ysaÿe, a violin virtuoso admired by all his contemporaries, was an inheritor of what has justly been considered as the Belgian school of violin, whose ascendancy can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. His work as a composer, however, is much less well known today and it is this facet of his extraordinarily active life that we will explore here. He composed many different types of works; here we present his works for solo violin and orchestra, including two movements of violin concertos which are now available on record for the first time, and his chamber music.

There are several reasons to own this Vox Box 2CD set. For the first, it includes five great violin concertos in some of the very best performances in their discography. For the second, Ivry Gitlis (born 1922) is a great living violinist and these recordings made in early 1950s show his art in the best way, when Ivry's violin sounded powerful and brilliant.

As the billing on the cover indicates, Chris Potter extends the creative envelope of his longstanding Underground Orchestra on his second date as a leader for ECM. Guitarist Adam Rogers, drummer Nate Smith, and pianist Craig Taborn all return. The additional architecture includes not one but two bassists in Scott Colley (acoustic) and Fima Ephron (electric). Steve Nelson (Potter's former bandmate in Dave Holland's quintet) plays marimba and vibes, and a string quartet – violinists Mark Feldman and Joyce Hammann, violist Lois Martin, and cellist David Eggar – make this the "Underground Orchestra." "Lament" is introduced by the string quartet playing a near-Baroque melody before the jazz group enters with Rogers' warm, electric guitar…

Alligator continues its Trumpet reissue series with an excellent 15-cut anthology covering early Rice Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II) material, some of it also including guitarist Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and guitarist Bobo "Slim" Thomas. Miller was honing the uncanny technique that made him a harmonica legend, playing long overtones, spitting lines, droning and angular phrases that are now part of blues lore. His voice was gaining strength and stature, and he repeatedly demonstrated the kind of vocal character and instrumental acumen later immortalized on his Chess sessions. Alligator has found a genuine treasure chest with this series.

Giovanni Domenico Ferrandini (1709-1791) came to the Munich Court with his father already in 1722; initially active there as an oboist, he was appointed Kammer-Compositore by Elector Karl Albrecht in 1732 before being named Director of Chamber Music and appointed to the Electoral Council in 1737. As a contemporary of far better-known masters such as Galuppi, Pergolesi and Gluck, he developed his very own variant of the gallant style: highly expressive, with a dense string sound, idiosyncratic in its melody and rhythm whilst remaining extremely sensitively written for the singers.

This breath-taking new album features exceptional works by two of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century: The Violin Concerto No.1 by American minimalist composer Philip Glass and Igor Stravinsky's neoclassical Violin Concerto in D major.

Phil Manzanera's first post-Roxy foray into solo albums is a terrific all-star affair that still holds up enormously well. Calling on favors from Roxy members present and past, and those from the Cambridge/British art rock scene, Manzanera assembled a supergroup for every song. Robert Wyatt sings Spanish gibberish on the opener "Frontera," a rewrite of his own "Team Spirit." Brian Eno teams up for the sunny "Big Day" and the nonsensical "Miss Shapiro," both of which would not have been out of place on his own early solo albums. John Wetton (of several groups including Family and Asia) sings a duet with Doreen Chanter (of the Chanter Sisters and the Joe Cocker Band), and Bill MacCormick of Matching Mole and Quiet Sun sings his own "Alma," the album's closing ballad. Fans of any of the singers above, not to mention Manzanera, whose party this is, won't be disappointed.

Four subtle, slowly evolving pieces grace Eno's first conscious effort at creating ambient music. The composer was in part striving to create music that approximated the effect of visual art. Like a fine painting, these evolving soundscapes don't require constant involvement on the part of the listener. They can hang in the background and add to the atmosphere of the room, yet the music also rewards close attention with a sonic richness absent in standard types of background or easy listening music.

Marc Almond is captured in a performance at the Lokerse Festival in Belgium on August 7, 2000, in this video. Accompanied only by guitarist Neal X and keyboard player John Green, the singer begins with four consecutive songs from his most recent album at the time, Open All Night, before turning to his back catalog for such solo hits as "Tears Run Rings," "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart," "A Lover Spurned," "Jacky," "My Hand over My Heart," "The Days of Pearly Spencer," "The Idol," and "Child Star," then filling his encores with his early Soft Cell hits "Tainted Love," "Bedsitter," and "Say Hello Wave Goodbye." The unadorned stage with only modest lighting and special effects (a small fan blows dry ice around), plus the small ensemble require Almond to exert himself before an audience that seems (from the few glimpses of it), attentive but not particularly enthusiastic, at least until the end. Beginning in a leather coat, the bleach-blond singer is soon down to a sparkly black shirt, unbuttoned to display his tattoos, as he gesticulates grandly and, gradually, the music takes on more of a hard disco sound that gets his listeners dancing more.