Various Artists - Cuban Fire - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Cuban classical pianist Yamile Cruz Montero and the Greek jazz drummer Christos Asonitis are a couple in life and in music. Although they come from two different musical worlds, they have found a common language. Both of them arrange classical to contemporary Cuban piano music with great precision and feeling, such as compositions by Aldo López Gavilán, Andrés Alén, José Maria Vitier & Ernán López-Nussa for piano and percussion. They present the traditional and popular Cuban music styles and fuse them with influences from world music. Some of the works leave space for improvisation, which the two musicians use with creative enthusiasm. The international duo has already played live in Cuba, Germany, Great Britain and Greece. They are very proud to present their debut album as a creative duo Rapsodia Cubana.InchMagical, authentic, touchingInch (The New Listener)

Possessed with the heart and soul of Neil Hagerty and Neil Young, Wooden Wand leads the band - featuring members of Sky green Leopards, the Vanishing Voice, and Davenport - through eleven rollicking tunes that recall such cracked masterpieces as InchTonight's the NightInch and InchMendocinoInch. Wand has become somewhat well known for his surreal lyrical imagery, an uppity blend as informed by Robyn Hitchcock as by the Zimmer Man himself, and on InchSecond AttentionInch, he spares no detail.

After more than 30 concerts and many excellent reviews about their first trio albums InchTales From The UnexpectedInch and InchEuropean TrioInch, the Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi and the Dutch double bassist Jasper Somsen recorded their third trio album with the Catalan drummer Jorge Rossy InchCommon ViewInch. The new album is an equal and refreshing collaboration featuring these three masters both as performing artists and composers. Three totally different lives, characters and backgrounds collide as one InchCommon ViewInch. Challenge Records produced by Jasper Somsen. Enrico Pieranunzi has long been one of the best-known and appreciated personalities on the European jazz scene. Pianist, composer, arranger, he has recorded more than seventy albums under his own name, ranging from solo piano to trio, and from duet to quintet. He has played in concert and in the studio with Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, Marc Johnson, Joey Baron, Paul Motian, Chris Potter and Charlie Haden, performing at all the most important international festivals, from Montreal to Copenhagen, from Berlin to Madrid. Pieranunzi's formative years embraced both classical and jazz piano, and the influence of Debussy is readily apparent in the rich romanticism at the heart of his music. Emerging in the early '70s, Pieranunzi's lyrical approach quickly brought him to the forefront of the European scene, and in 1984 he formed a trio with Marc Johnson and Joey baron, the first of several outstanding groups with American musicians. In 1989, 2003 and 2008 he was voted Musician of the Year in the Italian magazine Musica Jazz critic's poll and he was 1997 recipient of the Django d'Or Award for best European Jazz Musician. In the recent years Pieranunzi performed and recorded frequently in the United States.