It’s that time of year again and the Christmas discs are crossing my desk, whether requested on not. Here’s our annual survey of what we auditioned, and it will start off with two SACDs: Fiona Joy Hawkins – Christmas Joy – Little Hartley Music multichannel SACD FJH013 *****: This excellent disc—more than your usual Christmas [...]

Honoring the West Coast jazz masters….

Recent work from a true Renaissance man of the popular arts.

The late Simon Jeffes created a strange and wonderful musical world with his Penguin Cafe recordings. Now his son has reissued three albums and created a fourth in the same style.

The following 18 recordings have been selected by the CLASSICAL RECORDING INDUSTRY HALL of FAME for the 2005 Awards. They are recordings 46 thru 63 to be honored. Both numbers are listed. They are listed in random order. 1 (46). Chopin-”14 Waltzes”. Dinu Lipatti, piano. Recorded by EMI (Geneva, 6/50). CD# EMI 66904. 2 (47). [...]

The Charles Gerhardt-conducted series from the 1970s continues in remastered Dolby Surround CDs.

This year’s focus was on Jewish & African Americans Playing Jazz Together.

The Roma genius, who lived from 1910 to 1953, is even more popular today than during his lifetime. He is considered by many to be the single most important guitarist in the entire history of jazz.

Classical, jazz, in-between, SACDs & CDs, new & reissues

A look back at some sumptuous films scores by top Hollywood composers – with matrix surround to boot.