Guitarist Lee Ritenour decided to celebrate his 50th year as a guitar player by inviting a bevy of name guitarists into the studio to jam out some tunes, all in the name of love for their chosen instrument. Ritenour's subsequent album, 2010's 6 String Theory, is just that, a varied celebration on the many styles and players who have utilized the guitar. The result is an expansive, ambitious, but never belabored album that touches on jazz, blues, funk, and rock and expands beyond the usual Ritenour approach while remaining true to his unique six-string sound.

Tommy Castro's sixth release for the Blind Pig label, Painkiller, picks up where his 2003 set, Soul Shaker, left off. This time around, producer John Porter – who has worked with Santana, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, and Buddy Guy – positions Castro's Delbert McClinton/Southside Johnny vocal grit in front of a punchy horn section and rounds out the date with a few guest artists. Unlike many similar modern blues projects of good intentions but lackluster performances, the combinations on Painkiller never sound forced. In particular, the Albert Collins track, "A Good Fool Is Hard to Find," has Coco Montoya and Castro trading vocal jabs and guitar riffs, and Angela Strehli's passionate vocal on Freddie King's "If You Believe (In What You Do)" is likewise another highlight of this overall triumphant rock 'n' soul album.

Released: 5 December 1988. Australia only release. Made In Australia by Disctronics Limited.

Any blues fan dedicated to live music will testify that when musicians play with their peers, the energy rises a few notches. That's the concept behind this meeting of the minds hosted by guitarist Debbie Davies. Fellow string-benders Tab Benoit and Coco Montoya (both have worked with her previously) join harmonica veteran Charlie Musselwhite and let the resulting fireworks naturally explode. Typically, these projects wind up being overdubbed affairs, a process that dilutes and often negates the concept. But except for a few instances, largely with Benoit, Davies and her musical friends assembled in the studio, resulting in the titular explosion.

The collaboration and friendship between Friedman and Rob Waring has resulted in the unique chamber music style that can be heard on ‘Wayfarers’. The telepathy between them when playing and the fusion of their experiences as composers and improvisers lead to a form of music that is both contemplative and spontaneous, serious and playful. The sound palette of vibraphone and marimba is a colourful and fascinating experience for the ear.

The Allnighter is the second solo studio album by Glenn Frey, the guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the Eagles. The album was released in mid 1984 on MCA in the United States and the United Kingdom, two years after Frey's modestly successful debut album, No Fun Aloud and four years after the demise of the Eagles. It was and still is Frey's most successful solo album throughout his whole solo career, having reached #22 on the Billboard charts, and releasing two Top 20 singles with "Smuggler's Blues" and "Sexy Girl". The album achieved Gold status in the US. It is generally regarded as the culmination of the smoother, more adult-oriented sound of Frey's solo work.

This is a cool little compilation of late-'60s and early-'70s spiritual soul and funky jazz. The "psychedelic" term in the title has more to do with the era than the music. It's true there are some spaced-out moments here, such as Sun Ra's "Spontaneous Simplicity" and Freddie Hubbard's notoriously freaky "Threnody for Sharon Tate," but let's face it, the former was psychedelic before the word was invented and the latter was attempting an indictment of the entire hippie generation. The majority of this material was rooted in early funk and fusion explorations of the Miles Davis era. There are some revelatory cuts here, such as the opener, Gary Burton's way-out groover "Vibrafinger," which is rockin', dirty, nasty, and greasy.

2013 three CD set, a 40 year salute to the pioneers of 20th-Century Experimental and Electronic music. Highlights the work of key European and US-based composers and the integration of electronic experimentation into soundtracks and mainstream pop. Featured composers, producers and performers include Olivier Messiaen, Edgard Varèse, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, Louis & Bebe Barron, Miklós Rózsa, Sun Ra, Les Baxter and Joe Meek.

Four CD set. Wind Borne - The Island Albums 1974-1978 features newly remastered versions of Floating World, Waves, Kites, and Way Of The Sun. After releasing a series of albums for Vertigo Records, the original line-up of Jade Warrior split in 1973. Flautist Jon Field and innovative guitarist Tony Duhig decided to continue under the moniker and embarked on composing and recording a series of wonderful albums for Island Records in 1974. Coming to the attention of Island founder Chris Blackwell through a recommendation from Steve Winwood, Island issued Floating World in 1974. Stylistically, Jade Warrior had now evolved into an instrumental entity, pioneering a unique fusion of ethnic Japanese influences and ambient progressive rock which soon became critically acclaimed. The 1975 album Waves took this template still further and featured guest musician Steve Winwood on piano and Moog synthesizer. Kites, issued in 1976, was even more ambitious, featuring a host of guest musicians including Fred Frith of Henry Cow and Clodagh Simmons of Mellow Candle. Jade Warrior's final album for Island Records, Way Of The Sun, was issued in 1978 and was arguably their finest album. An incredibly evocative work, inspired by the mythology of the Incas, the album saw Field and Duhig at the peak of their creative powers.

Frehley's Comet is the second solo release by American musician Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist of Kiss. Frehley also named his band after the title of this album, and in this way, it is also considered the self-titled debut album credited to Frehley's Comet, as opposed to a Frehley solo release. It was the first album that Frehley released after leaving Kiss in 1982.

Eddie 9V has an endless stockpile of cool stories – and you’ll find twelve of them on new studio album Saratoga, released 22nd November 2024 on the fabled Ruf label. It’s a record that will thrill both newcomers and fans who have trailed Eddie since the start, showcasing his fresh, fiery spin on Southern soul, blues, rock and funk, with his signature wit and sharp observations of modern America placing him squarely in the here-and-now. “I do think it’s a wonderful road trip album,” he nods.

Universal Sounds of America features music from radical Afro-American Jazz musicians in the USA in the 1970's. At a time when commercial jazz music was revolving around whether it would sound good in an Elevator at low volume, a number of Jazz musicians were seeking different musical paths. Self Determination, Creative Development, Community and Education were more important to these musicians than economic wealth, fame and stardom. Artists such as The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sun Ra developed around communal groups. The Art Ensemble, for instance , came out of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) founded in 1965 by Muhal Richard Abrams in Chicago. Many musicians followed the lead of Sun Ra in starting their own labels to release their own material.

Debussy is one of the great masters of Impressionism, and his singularity goes far beyond this legitimate label. As a magician of colour, François Dumont does magnificent justice to the shimmering timbres of the composer's work, revealing the thousand faces of this elusive genius.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest written literary text in Middle Eastern/Western cultural history, predates the Hebrew Bible. The epic relates the story of King Gilgamesh, partly divine, partly human, who may have existed historically circa 2800 BC. From immature youth and a belief in his immortality, he eventually comes to accept the power and reality of Death. The Resurrection of the Soldiers for string orchestra was commissioned by George Vass, to whom it is dedicated, and the English Symphony Orchestra.

As far as discs of the piano sonatas of Prokofiev go, this one with Sviatoslav Richter playing the Second and Sixth in Prague in 1965 and the Ninth in 1956 is about as close to definitive as anything can ever get in this world. Richter's strength and control, his passionate intensity, and his complete command of every aspect of technique and interpretation is brought to bear on Prokofiev's music, music closely identified with Richter and in one case composed by Prokofiev for Richter. Although Richter grew up playing Prokofiev's Second and Sixth sonatas, Prokofiev dedicated his Ninth and final sonata to Richter and Richter's interpretation is the aural incarnation of the music.