Steely Dan hadn't been a real working band since Pretzel Logic, but with Aja, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's obsession with sonic detail and fascination with composition reached new heights. A coolly textured and immaculately produced collection of sophisticated jazz-rock, Aja has none of the overt cynicism or self-consciously challenging music that distinguished previous Steely Dan records. Instead, it's a measured and textured album, filled with subtle melodies and accomplished, jazzy solos that blend easily into the lush instrumental backdrops.

Sync might be envisioned as a modified sax/bass/drum trio, where the bassist has been replaced by Jerome Harris on either acoustic guitar or acoustic bass guitar, and where the drummer’s role is taken by Samir Chatterjee on tabla and dumbek. With Rothenberg moving among alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, and the Japanese shakuhachi and composing looping ribbons of melody with odd rhythmic contours, the trio has found a most palatable merger of jazz and Asian music. The uncommon instrumentation is enhanced by a shared sense of purpose that gives Sync its winning character. Each player displays both the techniques and the sensitivity required to function as both soloist and accompanist, allowing Sync to maintain its three-way conversations after Rothenberg has finished soloing. This is not simply a matter of the leader’s ability to sustain extended melodic and rhythmic variations at lower volumes through circular breathing; it also results from the assurance that allows Harris to sustain a pronounced rhythmic underpinning in his guitar work and rare melodic fluency on bass. Chatterjee, who can sing and then play back the most complex patterns in the manner of the great tabla masters, also senses how to highlight more compact, swing-oriented parts through shifts in accents and dynamics.

One of the guitar heroes of fusion, Al di Meola was just 22-years-old at the time of his debut as a leader but already a veteran of Chick Corea's Return to Forever. The complex pieces (which include the three-part "Suite-Golden Dawn," an acoustic duet with Corea on "Short Tales of the Black Forest," and a brief Bach violin sonata show di Meola's range even at this early stage. With assistance from such top players as bassists Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke, keyboardist Barry Miles, and drummers Lenny White and Steve Gadd, this was a very impressive beginning to di Meola's solo career.

Johann Sebastian Bach arrived in Leipzig on May 22, 1723. After peaceful years in the small residence town of Cöthen he was moving to the busy mercantile and university city, forsaking the office of Capellmeister at the princely court for the post of Cantor, as he was to call it. Just eight days later, on May 30, Bach presented his first cantata. On every Sunday and feast day outside the periods of Advent and Lent preceding Christmas and Easter respectively, it was the task of the Thomaskantor to direct such pieces in the churches of St. Nicolai and St. Thomas in turn.

Guitarist Dave Specter has always straddled the blues/jazz fence with a hip disregard for arbitrary restrictions. On Speculatin', his sixth Delmark CD, Dave has put his distinctive mark on a collection of outstanding instrumental tunes from all corners of these related genres, tossing in a latin beat and some greasy organ in addition to his unmistakable West Side and Texas-inspired blues licks. The result will please all lovers of lean, inspired guitar work and will astound the blues buyer who previously considered instrumentals to be mere CD filler. Speculatin' features nine original compositions and covers of tunes by Charles Earland, The Meters, Dizzy Gillespie and Junior Walker. Dave is accompanied by his working band of Rob Waters, Hammond B3 organ; Harlan Terson, bass; Mike Schlick, drums; and Rich Parenti, tenor sax.

German guitarist Franz Halász displays a fine sense of tone and pacing in this revealing overview of Takemitsu's solo guitar music. Takemitsu wrote for the concert stage in an original avant-garde idiom, created over 100 film soundtracks, and produced arrangements of Japanese folk tunes and Western popular music. This range, except for the soundtracks, is represented here. The title tracks are from the concert work All in Twilight – Four pieces for guitar (1987), inspired by Paul Klee's painting of the same name. Here Halász's beautiful touch is shown in contrasting and subtle timbres on the composer's rich, jazz-like harmonies, sometimes brooding, sometimes in quickly flowing passages like those of the third movement. Next, the first six of "12 Songs" introduces some technically challenging, but aesthetically straightforward arrangements – Sammy Fain's classic Secret Love, four tunes by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and George Gershwin's Summertime in which Takemitsu spectacularly manages to reduce the best orchestral parts to the limits of the guitar and to improvise in a free-flowing manner.

Settings of the canticles, the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, have played a prominent part in the Office of Evensong since the Reformation. Cranmer’s original Book of Common Prayer of 1549 established the classic pattern for the Anglican Office of psalm–lesson–canticle–lesson–canticle. This pattern survived all the liturgical revisions and upheavals and was reiterated in the definitive 1662 version, which is still adhered to today. The form of Evensong resulted from the fusing together of elements from the Roman Offices of Vespers and Compline, though the liturgical pattern of psalms followed by paired lessons and canticles differs both from its Roman progenitors and from the Lutheran services.

Chicago's best-known early music ensemble The Newberry Consort exhilarates with VESPERS, a collection of dazzlingly original music for women’s voices. The composer? A mysterious early-17th-century Mexican named Juan de Lienas, whose style energetically oscillates between Renaissance and Baroque elements.

Mindscapes is the 4th album by Norwegian prog band The Windmill. All music and lyrics were composed and written by Jean Robert Viita and Erik Borgen. All arrangements by The Windmill. The creation of this album, Mindscapes, is a testament to The Windmill's unwavering dedication and boundless creativity. It consists of four tracks, including the epic Fear and three other shorter songs. The album was meticulously written and recorded from October 2022 to April 2024 and expertly mixed and mastered by Karl Groom, ensuring a high-quality musical experience for the listeners. Drawing inspiration from Camel, Genesis, and Jethro Tull, The Windmill has evolved their sound in this album. Mindscapes might have a slightly harder sound than their previous albums, promising a fresh and exciting musical experience for the fans.

For over a decade, Lindsey Stirling has enchanted audiences across the globe by performing a certain spellbinding magic with her electronic violin, dreaming up an exquisitely composed yet boldly inventive sound entirely her own. On her new album Snow Waltz, the classically trained musician/songwriter/dancer/author finds herself fully in her element, sharing a selection of holiday classics and original songs that evoke intense emotion through her immersive arrangements and mesmerizing melodies.

Die preisgekrönte Capella de la Torre lässt die Lübecker Abendmusiken wieder aufleben, in denen im 17. Jahrhundert erstmals Musik außerhalb des Gottesdienstes ausgeführt wurde – mit ausgewählten Werken Dieterich Buxtehudes (1637–1707), aber auch mit Raritäten von Franz Tunder, Johann Grabbe und Joachim Decker.Capella de la Torre, Margaret Hunter (soprano), Isabel Schicketanz (soprano), Florian Sievers (tenor), Martin Schicketanz (bass), Capella de la Torre & Katharina Bäuml, Katharina Bäuml, Martina Fiedler (organ)

Michèle Auclair was born into a family with sense for arts and culture. Her first teacher was Line Talluel and later, at the Conservatoire de Paris, Jules Boucherit, Boris Kamensky and Jacques Thibaud.In 1943, she won the first prize at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition and in 1946 also the first prize at Geneva Concours.From 1956, she collaborated with the pianist Jacqueline Bonneau with their concert debut a year later. In 1962, she started another collaboration with the pianist Geneviève Joy.

Bigelf are sort of the white version of Lenny Kravitz. They're astoundingly accurate rock revivalists in terms of songwriting, instrumentation, and recording techniques. They also cobble together styles that in their heyday would never have co-existed: Hendrix-ish blues, Beatlesque pop, Floydian psychedelia. Unlike Kravitz, however, Bigelf are much more sonically daring. They specialize in blowing up basic germs of ideas into Technicolor fantasies light years away from their origins. "Superstar," for example, begins with terse, standard-issue AC/DC chords, then flowers into bright pop changes and lush vocal harmonies.

It's hard to imagine that a group as bottom-heavy as percussionist Pierre Favre's new ensemble could actually sound light and ethereal. But Fleuve does just that. With a septet featuring two basses, tuba/serpent, percussion and, at times, bass clarinet, there's no shortage of warmth and depth. But with guitar, harp and soprano saxophone fleshing out the middle and top end, Fleuve manages to have both weight and an airy ambience that works, in no small part, due to Favre's carefully crafted compositions and the kind of sonic transparency that's long been a defining aspect of the ECM aesthetic.

Celtic Thunder is an Irish-Scottish musical group that has been a multiple-time Billboard winner in the world music category. Since their debut in 2007, they have released 11 albums, including "Heritage," "Mythology," and "Legacy." Their shows are known for impressive stage effects and a mix of traditional and contemporary Celtic music. The group actively tours the USA, Canada, and Australia, conducting large-scale tours and releasing popular albums. In 2014, Celtic Thunder joined Sony Records’ Legacy label, releasing "Holiday Symphony" and "The Very Best of Celtic Thunder."