Harry James - Concerto for Trumpet - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Here's the trumpet master and his great orchestra backed by the powerhouse drums of Buddy Rich and fronted by vocalist Paula Gilbert. His band was touring like mad then, and you can hear it; they do Cherry; That Old Black Magic; Moanin' Low; Embraceable You; Autumn Leaves; Sugar Foot Stomp, and more!

This -the Taylor Festival Choir's second album for Delos-features original Christmas works by two distinguished American composers Brian Galante, whose choral works and arrangements have met with worldwide acclaim; and the late, great Stephen Paulus, whose many choral and orchestral compositions have been performed by America's leading choirs and orchestras. The two multi-movement works presented in this album-Galante's So Hallow'd the Time and Paulus's Christmas Dances-are heard here in world premiere recordings. Based in Charleston, SC, the Taylor Festival Choir (Robert Taylor, founder and conductor) has gained international recognition since it's inception in 2001 as one of America's finest professional choral ensembles; and proudly claims Brian Galante as it's regular Composer-in-Residence. They deliver truly transcendental performances in this lovely recording.

The cover art by the band's Chris Marec tells nearly everything one needs to know about this album a misshapen, CHUD-like figure wanders in a graveyard bearing a cross, while a mutated fish flops in a polluted ditch and a clutch of factories belch their smoke above it all. The message of the illustration is not to frighten or warn, but to celebrate and admire.Originally released in January of 1984, Disease Is Relative is an unapologetic and wholesale embrace of death, disease, and dystopia, with liberal doses of absurdism and an unrelenting devotion to anything unexpected, chromatic, or evil sounding. Sporting influences as diverse as no wave, death rock, funk, post-punk, hardcore, metal, and prog rock, this music somehow happened in the midst of a first wave hardcore scene, before there was a Inchpost-Inch to be InchpostInch of. Less surprising is that this happened in Cleveland, which also inspired a desire to recreate the feeling of the city's post-industrial desolation in sound. There's also some epic screaming and crazy guitar playing.The album features three songwriters (brothers Andrew & Chris Marec, Robert Griffin), who also divide guitar, bass, and vocals equally between themselves here. Drummer Bruce Allen is the secret weapon, and provides a clue to what a young Bill Bruford might have done in a band like this. And yet, beyond all odds, the end result is cohesive, cathartic, and utterly idiomatic. The distinct vibe of the album, and it's sheer quantity of killer riffs, songs and performances have made it an album that people have championed over time, while others have come to know it through the interwebs as a result.