“At the tail end of 1996, saxophonist Mars Williams and drummer Hamid Drake took the tall corner stage at Chicago's Empty Bottle for two sets of duets. The rock club had just started a weekly Jazz & Improvised Music Series, curated by Ken Vandemark and John Corbett, which would run for nearly a decade. This rare pairing brought together two pivotal figures in the city's creative music scene, both of whom had extensive experience in diverse areas of music, from the free jazz focus of this intimate...

"In 1975 as the Incredible String Band dissolved Robin Williamson relocated to Los Angeles. He soon began work recording a tremendous body of new songs and a backlog of material that didn’t fit the repertoire of the late period String Band. These songs...

Fretless guitar, flute, violin, piano and drums!

“As the songwriter responsible for the sounds that all but define several eras of American music, Brian Wilson is one of the few artists who can return to the highlights of their catalog again and again without it becoming too tedious. At My Piano finds the iconic Beach Boys founder reworking some of his best-loved tunes as spare piano instrumentals, with a set list that includes four Pet Sounds compositions, songs from the Beach Boys' early surf-obsessed days, and selections from Wilson's solo albums...

This 1993 album was Cassandra Wilson's Blue Note debut and set the stage for the bulk of her career.
One of the best jazz vocal and most influential jazz album of its decade, it features uncluttered and well thought out arrangements, each one well suited to the song chosen and each one well fitting her dark voice.
She was also one of the earliest truly jazz vocalist to cast beyond the 'great American songbook' and use a personal & eclectic batch of great songs that reflect her interpretation of...

"Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman release their second full-length album The Sun Will Dance In Its Twilight Hour. The album, containing 10 brand new songs, features Damian on vocals and acoustic guitar and Adam on piano, vocals and acoustic guitar.
Guest musicians: Andy Dunlop (Travis) guitar, Ash Soan (Adele, Robbie Williams) drums, Tony Woollard (Damian Wilson) cello, Hayley Sanderson (Rick Wakeman) backing vocals.
Adam Wakeman is well-known as the keyboard (and sometimes guitar) player with...

J. Frank Wilson had only one hit, but it was a huge one! With his band the Cavaliers, he brought Wayne Cochran's teen-death melodrama "Last Kiss" to the upper reaches of the American pop charts in the fall of 1964 — a million selling record subsequently covered successfully by Wednesday and Pearl Jam. During the fall of 1964, the charts were dominated by the British Invasion, particularly the Beatles, so it was quite a feat for Wilson & the Cavaliers to scale such great heights. Inevitably, such sudden...

"Four time Grammy nominee, multi instrumentalist and producer, Steven Wilson follows up on his acclaimed 'Hand.Cannot.Erase'.

Produced and mixed by Steven Wilson, '4 1/2' features a stellar group of musicians contributing to the LP including Adam Holzman (keyboards), Nick Beggs (bass), Guthrie Govan (guitar), Dave Kilminster (guitar), Marco Minnemann (drums), Chad Wackerman (drums), Craig Blundell (drums), and Theo Travis (reeds).

The 6 track digipak CD edition with 8 page colour booklet..

"Steven Wilson is allergic to expectation. The multitude of musical twists Hemel Hempstead’s favourite son’s career has taken have been matched in lockstep by eruptions of disgruntlement from fans taking umbrage at the fact he’s not made In Absentia for the 137th time.
The fulmination levels shot off the scale when Wilson sprang Personal Shopper on an unsuspecting public as a taster for his sixth solo album. Here was a pulsing, strangely sexy 10-minute hymn to modern consumer culture that sounded...

“Presented on CD are previously unreleased and unknown recordings from 1974 by a band from Northampton, blending heavy glam with art rock. Windlord's music is suitable for fans of a.o. King Crimson, Roxy Music and Raw Material.”

Last time ever on this release from the wonderful, now gone, Reel Recordings label.

"Pam and Gary Windo were coupled in spirit with a private passion for the musical road less traveled. During their marriage, Gary taught Pam how to approach the...

"Among slowly unravelling coils of oscillations and intermittent fragments of semi-formed loops, instruments both electronic and acoustic resonate gently against each other over an ever-evolving soundbed of textures. A meeting of minds and those exciting first sparks of inspiration soundtracked by celestial, otherworldly tones and free-flowing spoken word.
This was how Virginia Wing and XAM Duo spent two cold days at the start of January 2017. A weekend escape in the frozen industrial district of...

MARK WINGFIELD guitar
MARKUS REUTER touch guitar
ASAF SIRKIS drums

"It’s rare that an album emerges as something entirely new; so different that there aren't any genre or sub-genre categories into which it comfortably fits. Like its critically acclaimed, similarly forward-reaching and all-improvised sister The Stone House - released first but actually recorded second during a marathon six-day 2016 series of sessions that will ultimately yield more than the three albums initially planned..

Mark Wingfield is a killer guitarist with a great, unique sound. This is high-energy, heavy jazz/rock by a singular voice on the instrument, backed simply by bass and drums; really good stuff!

"It's not often an album is released that is so...

MARK WINGFIELD - guitar, soundscapes
JANE CHAPMAN - harpsichord
ADRIANO ADEWALE - percussion, vocals

“Parallel Times. Dizzying constellations of notes netted within the soundboard of the harpsichord, quill-plucked and sent spinning in darting arcs and ascending steps. . . Harmonic fog adrift from which notes slip out in silvery streaks, gleaming with passion, while some, disconsolate, fall into dark silence snuffing out their glow. . . Cymbals sizzle and resonate, ceding space to the...

"Who would've predicted that the drummer of the punk band Joe Cool, one of the regular groups playing at the legendary CBGB's at the end of the Seventies along with Talking Heads, Television and The Ramones, would become a big name in the progressive jazz

For my money, despite her relatively small output, Norma Winstone is *the* voice of Brit-jazz, with her great work on early, seminal classics by Mike Westbrook, Michael Garrick, her own Edge of Time album from 1972 and then later on to her work with...

"British singer Norma Winstone got a Grammy nomination for her ethereal, understated album Distances, and this is an impressive follow-up. Like last time, Winstone has mixed standard songs with unexpected imports – mediaeval music or Armenian lullabies...

Norma Winstone - vocals
John Taylor - piano

THE singing voice of Brit-jazz and one of the great pianists of the same era.
“The incredible relationship between legendary British musicians Norma Winstone and John Taylor has been admired for nearly five decades. The vocalist and pianist have been inextricably linked from their early avant-garde work from the late 1960s through their gorgeous work with Kenny Wheeler and Azymuth.
The couple was also well documented in duo performance...

“Steve Winwood's finest album - by far.
Great "live in the studio" sound, unbelievable Hammond organ playing (while playing bass lines with the foot pedals), soaring vocals and the band (Jose Neto - guitar and Wafredo Reyes - drums) is "on it" and having a ball. He's reached a new level...anyone with a love for Traffic should pick this up as it has that strong Traffic, jamming loose but tight vibe. And it's always great when that Leslie spins up in stereo washing that Hammond across the mix. Some...

"Released as an illegal bootleg back in the early 1980s, Not About To Die were recordings made for EMI as demos for the 1978 and 1979 albums Chairs Missing and 154. Now Wire have decided to redress the balance and give the album its first official release on their own Pinkflag imprint."

“Recorded live on May 16, 2009 at Shepherd's Bush, London. This is a fantastic live album from the legendary Wishbone Ash. They play all the classics and bring in a couple of guests such as former band members Mark Birch or Ben Granfelt. The DVD includes a 51-minute road movie covering Wishbone Ash's 40th Anniversary tour.”

“Loved the set. The music was great, and the stories and history of the band really added to it.”

Disc 1:
Blind eye
Runaway
Right or wrong
Growing u