Satchmo at Pasadena provides an enjoyable but incomplete presentation of Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars recorded live on January 1, 1951. The Pasadena Civic Auditorium concert found Armstrong fronting an edition of the All-Stars with trombonist Jack Teagarden, clarinetist Barney Bigard, pianist Earl Hines, bassist Arvell Shaw, Cozy Cole on drums, and vocalist Velma Middleton on two tracks. At the time of this concert, musicians began to take advantage of the new LP format that allowed them to bypass the usual three-minute time constraints of 78 rpm and stretch out a bit. Armstrong was no exception, and even though Satchmo is more of the ringleader/vocalist/showman on this set, the All-Stars provide some heated improvising, especially Hines on "Honeysuckle Rose" and Bigard's clarinet solo on the otherwise knockabout version of "Just You, Just Me"…

Al Di Meola is back with a vengeance on this 1994 studio release featuring his best world-music fusion since 1990’s ‘World Sinfonia’. Guest musicians include the multi- talented Greek George Dalaras, Peter Erskine, bassist Pino Palladino, and Israelis Achinoam Nin (Noa) with her luscious vocals and string player Simon Shaheen among others. And a first with Hernan Romero sporting a double-neck charango.

Criminally misconstrued by he music industry, and therefore, kept from a posible audience that might as well give them the break that they deserved, the fact is that Yezda Urfa is one of the best names in the history of USA's seventies prog. Their first recording "Boris" was actually a demo, and so we can have this catalogue comprising a selection of ideas that are still to find a final expression in their self-financed album, but also other tracks that only appear here. All of them are damn great in their own extravagant manner. The repertoire is a combination of Yessian melodicism and Gentle Giant-like elegant management of counterpoint and dissonance, all of it properly seasoned with touches of jazz-rock, circus music, folk-pop and country. You can notice slight similarities with the earliest Happy the Man ("Beginnings" and "Death's Crown")…

Japanese label Triton has released a Pascal Rogé album with a rather remarkable program; Crystal Dream features the eminent French pianist in a program that interweaves short piano pieces by Erik Satie with others written by contemporary Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu, mostly pieces drawn from his Pleiades Dances. Both composers employ relatively simple melodic concepts harmonized with elegant, though elemental, kinds of accompaniments, so perhaps the combination makes sense. On the other hand, Satie never lived into the age of rock-based pop music, his engagement with the popular consisting mainly of French music hall tunes, and later in life, a sort of half-understood perception of ragtime rhythm. Yoshimatsu, however, would not be Yoshimatsu if it weren't for his strong connection to pop, though admittedly in Satie's case the pop group Blood, Sweat & Tears' adaptation of his Gymnopédie No. 1 once earned Satie a Grammy-winning single. Either way, one might wonder "how does this combination-slash-conversation work?"

The band's third album for Reprise has its advocates among psychedelic cultists, but it really is a letdown when stacked against their previous two Reprise LPs, even if those LPs (particularly the second) were haphazard in their psychedelic-pop-folk-rock admixtures. When they play it straight, the songs are often average or even unmemorable, easy-going late-1960s L.A. rock. When they are obviously trying to be strange, as on the title cut, it sounds contrived, and if you've heard the previous Reprise LPs already, Bob Markley's occasional deranged rants will be old hat. The minute-and-a-half "Anniversary of World War III" is entirely silent: a radical notion for a rock album of the time, perhaps, but something that had already been done by John Cage. There are some pleasing moments here and there, like the melancholy folk-rock ballad "Eighteen Is Over the Hill"…

The Wolf record label has served Magic Slim & the Teardrops well, producing eight CDs between 1986 and 1992, when the band was emerging from Chicago to tour the world. They are deserving on many fronts as the self-proclaimed "best blues band on the planet," and these tracks, marketed as "Magic Slim's best 14 songs," certainly go a long way to proving that assertion. Of the album's 14 tracks, 11 come from the studio and three are previously unissued live concert sessions in Austria, all with Slim, the remarkable second guitarist John Primer, brother and bassist Nick Holt, and different drummers. Only one of the tunes was written by Slim, the others taken from classic blues songwriters and heroes of the lead vocalist and guitarist, whose distinctive sound comes shining through from start to finish. Albert King for sure is a favorite of Magic Slim…

This LP finds Herman's Third Herd in its prime. Rather than just revisiting his celebrated past, he and his orchestra primarily perform then-recent material, much of it arranged by Ralph Burns. Highlights include a big-band version of Horace Silver's "Opus De Funk," Burns's "Cool Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "I Remember Duke" and Bill Holman's reworking of "Where or When." With tenors Richie Kamuca and Dick Hafer, trumpeter Dick Collins and bass trumpeter Cy Touff as the main soloists, The Third Herd had developed into a particularly strong unit by the mid-'50s.

Esoteric Antenna are pleased to announce the release of the excellent album by John Hackett, Another Life.
Another Life is John Hackett’s long awaited rock album and is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Checking Out of London (released in 2005). On his new record John Hackett is joined by brother Steve Hackett, ex-Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips and prog legend Nick Magnus to create an evocative musical landscape of powerful rock songs and rich melodies.
John Hackett is highly regarded for his distinctive flute sound in the world of progressive music and as an accomplished soloist. Solo flautist, guitarist, singer and composer, John is best known for his work with his brother Steve Hackett, the former Genesis guitarist, and the ambient group Symbiosis…