Various Artists - Motown Christmas (Various Artists) - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Swiss pianist and composer Sylvie Courvoisier has been a defining figure on the contemporary jazz scene for 20 years and is at the epicenter of the New York music scene. She was also recently awarded the prestigious Swiss Grand Prix Musik 2025. She now follows up on the acclaimed recent releases - her solo album To be Other-Wise, and the atmospherically multi-layered duo album Angel Falls with the legendary Wadada Leo Smith - with a live album from her much-lauded trio with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Recorded during a European tour in February 2025, the album presents the quintessence of this outstanding trio. With each concert, with each album, the trio's working method becomes more defined. In deep musical trust with each other, the three exceptional musicians celebrate a detailed and precise music that is both ambiguous and wide open. InchAnd that's what this album shows now. This joy, diversity, subtlety, this desire. (...) Losing oneself in the music, the delicious moment that unfolds heavenly. But so cunning, so complex, so pointed, as only true virtuosos can be,Inch writes Ulrich Stock in the liner notes. Album Tracks 1. Éclats - for Ornette 2. Just Twisted 3. Requiem D'un Songe 4. Imprint Double 5. South Side Rules 6. Big Steps Towards Silence 7. Free Hoops 8. Lulu's Dance 9. Downward Dog

Chimaera is the newest ensemble of pianist and composer Sylvie Courvoisier. The virtuoso band brings together key musical personalities from the New York jazz scene in Wadada Leo Smith, Nate Wooley, Drew Gress and Kenny Wollesen, and features Austrian artist Christian Fennesz, whose ambient textures can be considered Chimaera's wildcard. Inspired by the fantastic, enigmatic-hallucinatory paintings of symbolist Odilon Redons, the sextet creates an expansive and shimmering soundscape. InchThe lucid, dreamlike sounds of Courvoisier's Chimaera album are floating and elusive like shadows on the ocean; the melodic glitter of trumpet, piano and vibraphone on a rolling groove of rhythmic ambience, with Fennesz's magical guitar clouds enveloping the band,Inch writes Bradley Bamberger of the music of this new sextet. Album Tracks 1. Le Pavot Rouge 2. La Joubarbe Aragnaineuse 3. Partout Des Prunelles Flamboient 1. La Chimère Aux Yeux Verts 2. Annâo 3. Le Sabot de Venus

2 Disc set. The Condon Collection, compiled by Australian musician and leading piano roll authority Denis Condon, documents major classical composers including Claude Debussy, George Gershwin and Sergei Rachmaninoff performing their famous piano works using a form of music storage and playback technology that predates modern recording techniques. Recorded between 1905 and 1933, and capturing every nuance of each individual performance, this extensive archive faithfully reproduces the playing styles and techniques of these legendary musicians and offers a unique opportunity to experience these rare performances and historical treasures first-hand, while also serving as a comprehensive archive of the reproducing piano's unique musical legacy. Up next Claude Debussy performs his original Piano works. Album Tracks 1. Préludes 1 I. Danseuses de Delphes 2. Préludes 1 X. La Cathédrale Engloutie 3. Préludes 1 XI. La Danse de Puck 4. Children's Corner, L. 113 I. Dr. Gradus Ad Parnassum 5. Children's Corner, L. 113 II. Jimbo's Lullaby 6. Children's Corner, L. 113 III. Serenade for the Doll 7. Children's Corner, L. 113 IV. Snow Is Dancing 8. Children's Corner, L. 113 V. the Little Shepherd 9. Children's Corner, L. 113 VI. Golliwog's Cake-Walk 10. D'un Cahier D'esquisses 11. La Plus Que Lente; Valse Pour Piano 1. Estampes II. La Soirée Dans Grenade 2. Estampes III. Jardins Sous la Pluie 3. Preludés 1 VIII. La Fille Aux Cheveux de Lin 4. Préludes 2 III. La Puerta Del Vino 5. Arabesques, No. 1 in E Major 6. Arabesque, No. 2 in G Major 7. Préludes 1 II. Voiles 8. Suite Bergamasque III. Clair de Lune 9. Rêverie 10. Images 2 III. Poissons D'or 11. Images 1 I. Reflets Dans L'eau