CD Selections

Karrin Allyson Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane

It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. If that is true, than singer/pianist Karrin Allyson must find it a necessity to be inventive: She appears to be always looking for new ways to present her music...taking chances that other singers either have not thought of, or dare not try.

A Grand Celebration: The Philadelphia Orchestra Live with the Wanamaker Organ at Macy's Center City
The Historic Grand Court Concert
Peter Richard Conte, organist. Rossen Milanov, conductor

Charlie Haden and Quartet West
Sophisticated Ladies

Charlie Haden and Quartet West have been around for years, and could easily be compared to a chameleon. They have a unique, distinctive style, but blend in easily performing with orchestras and vocalists. They stand out at certain times, but then long stretches of time go by when no one can find them. Well, they're back, and better than ever on Sophisticated Ladies.
 

John Zorn: The Gift

Composers have always used elements of popular music to make high art. The suites of Bach and entire movements of Mahler would never have appeared without the seeds of middlebrow entertainment. John Zorn cultivates this field, and, for The Gift, keeps to a corner of it called "The Sixties."

Relache: Press Play
Music of Mark Hagerty, Guy Klucevsek, Cynthia Folio

Relache has been slipping the thin leading edge of new music into Philadelphia since 1979. They've done it with a jolly indifference to the clashing of styles or the rocking of boats. Even their name, which in French means "the show is closed," exhibits their iconoclasm and humor. Downtown, uptown, no town, doesn't matter: if it's new - brand new - Relache is all over it.