Powerhouse blues and R&B singer, the original "Hound Dog" belter, and one of the most important female architects of rock & roll. Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton only notched one national hit in her lifetime, but it was a true monster. "Hound Dog" held down the top slot on Billboard's R&B charts for seven long weeks in 1953. Alas, Elvis Presley's rocking 1956 cover was even bigger, effectively obscuring Thornton's chief claim to immortality.

Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho releases the second album from his current Ravel project of the two piano concertos, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth (March 7). The album features the Concerto for the Left Hand, a notoriously difficult work that is notable for its dark sonorities, as well as the more lighthearted Concerto in G major that achieves an exquisite combination of jazz and the Classicism of Mozart and Saint-Saëns.

In addition to his symphonies, Anton Bruckner is best known for his sacred works: his stirring masses and his deeply moving a cappella motets. To mark the Bruckner Year 2024, the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, conducted by Peter Dijkstra, present his Mass No. 2 together with five well-known motets and the two short Aequali for three trombones from 1847. These studio recordings were made in connection with the opening concert of the 2023/24 season on 28 October 2023.

China Crisis underwent a complete change in sound for their third album, completely ditching the heavy dub rhythms and challenging arrangements of 1982's Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms, Some People Think It's Fun to Entertain and 1983's Working with Fire and Steel (Possible Pop Songs, Vol. 2) with an altogether smoother and less aggressive sound. That doesn't equal a commercial capitulation, however; if anything, the choice of Walter Becker (of the then-unfashionable Steely Dan) as producer was a more commercially daring maneuver than anything the group had previously attempted.

Polish trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Tomasz Stanko has created a ballads album worthy of the hearty approval of his former employer, Kryzsztof Pendereki. With the aid of pianist Bobo Stenson, bassist Anders Jormin, and drummer Tony Oxley, Stanko has composed and recorded a series of vanguard ballads that make full use of his tonal palette and chromatic invention. Stanko composes a great deal for film and here it shows with the lush textures, rich timbres, and angular sonances. The set opens with the glorious "Sunia," which features Stenson in an unusually aggressive mode, attacking the upper middle register with 16-note runs and turnarounds in the key signature before Stanko brings it back to earth, very slowly with a mournful wail with a hearty echo put on his trumpet…

Tom Waits' fifth album for Asylum foreshadowed changes that would alter his career over the next six years. It signals a musical restlessness that fueled his next two records (Blue Valentine and Heartattack and Vine), and resulted in his writing a film score and leaving the label for Island, where he was given greater artistic control. He leans less on comic relief here and more on fully formed story songs. The album contains more ballads than most of his records do, but they were the most effective vehicles for the kind of storytelling he was trying to get to. The song "Perfect Strangers" inspired director Francis Ford Coppola to shape the characters for his film One from the Heart (he also convinced Waits to score it, leading to Waits' iconic collaboration with Crystal Gayle)…

Music is a crucial element in every Oscar-winning film. In this concert you will be taken on a musical journey through the sounds of the greatest Oscar winners of all time, from classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to monumental cinematic works like The Godfather and blockbusters like Forrest Gump - blockbusters with music, that for almost a century have made us shudder, melt and cry in the darkness of the cinema.

Over fifteen years ago the DJ duo from Cologne (Blank & Jones) decided to strike quieter, more relaxed tones. From the passion for Ambient, Chill Out, Downbeat, Lounge Music, Beach House, Bar Grooves and Co. was created the idea of ​​Milchbar Seaside Season - a summer soundtrack for the cult Norderneyer Location milk bar. On the first compilation followed in recent years regularly further new Chillout compilation.

Some refer to The Miraculous Hump Returns from the Moon as the greatest album of all time! The story behind this LP, according to legend, is that when Hello Hello from Sopwith Camel's debut lp was used for a TV commercial, the band became inspired to make a new record. They supposedly went to Hawaii, enjoyed the herbal splendors the island is known for, then returned to California to record The Miraculous Hump Returns from the Moon. The record does indeed sound like a band drifting through clouds, as the cover illustration suggests. The lead track, Fazon became a minor FM radio hit, (when FM radio was still underground). It sounds like Traffic's Low Spark meets Steely Dan's Dr. Woo meets Flying off of the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour…

With the help of frequent collaborators (and ambient pioneers) Steve Roach and Robert Rich, as well as percussionist/programmer Djen Ajakan Shean, Vidna Obmana piles layers upon layers of diverse sonic textures to create a seamless, flowing record perfectly suited for meditation or simple relaxation. By incorporating various ethnic instruments (including flutes, didgeridoo, and percussion) with abstract synth textures, natural ambient sounds and effects-layered vocals and chanting, Obmama creates mesmerizing, otherworldly soundscapes unlike anything you've heard before. A nice chill-out disc after a night of overstimulation, The Spiritual Bonding is a soothing, natural remedy for 21st century digital burnout.

Darwin! will remain Banco del Mutuo Soccorso's masterpiece. This album, the band's second, is the proud equal of Premiata Forneria Marconi's Per Un Amico and Le Orme's Felona e Sorona in the Italian progressive rock hall of fame. In Darwin!, every promise made by Banco's eponymous debut was realized. Vittorio Nocenzi's writing has flourished into complex songs blending Italian songwriting, bel canto, and progressive rock. The arrival of guitarist Rodolfo Maltese crystallized the band's luxurious sound, all topped by Francesco Di Giacomo's operatic vocals. The majestic "L'Evoluzione" opens the album, providing some of the best moments ever recorded by this band (along with "Canto Nomade per un Prigioniero Politico"). "La Conquista Della Posizione Eretta" ("The Conquest of the Wrong Position") reproduces the same pattern as "Metamorphosi" from the first album…