Brightblack Morning Light - Freak Folk Prog (USA)

Brightblack Morning Light is a band which formed in Northern California by Nathan Shineywater & pianist Rachael Hughes, both of whom are from Alabama. The band has been "linked to a spirit of folky 1960's revivalism," and they were called one of the leaders of the "freak folk" scene. Praised for their recordings, the band also organized a number of small folk festivals in Northern California.

The band eschewed commercial exposure, having chosen a relatively quiet and luxury-free life—they have lived in cars, tents, converted chicken-coops, and cabins, and have recorded music using solar power. They were described as "back-to-the-land idealists and activists" who are influenced by such writers and activists as Edward Abbey, Leonard Peltier, Henry David Thoreau, Allen Ginsberg, and Carlos Castaneda. Shineywater also cites Ram Dass, Rachel Grimes, and Hamza El Din.

"Haunting", "ethereal", and "oozing with soul" are just a few of the words used to describe the music of these Alabama-Kentucky-to-Northern California transplants. Backed by a crack ensemble, this duo's transcendent brand of super-spooky, carefully crafted music for many moods is the genre-blurring experience of the decade. "Brightblack's free form blues sound transcends marketing, name-dropping, and hustling, taking us for a blindfolded dive into a live river. When you close your eyes, separating yourself from your immediate surroundings, and hear Rabob's (Rachael's) moody keys and experience the slow syrup rhythms of Nabob's (Nathan's) 'Bear Momma' slide guitar, you find yourself lost in an unpretentious, unmaterialistic world".

Morning Light (2006)

Motion To Rejoin (2008)

AKRON - Progressive Rock • Italy

Akron biography (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=5514)

AKRON is the name of the musical project of Elio "Akron" Nicolini, bassist for Italian heavy doom band The Black. AKRON produced two albums, "La Signora del Buio" in 1999 and "Il Tempio di Ferro" in 2003, a concept album dealing with the Knights Templar. The albums are heavily based in keyboards, particularly church organ, leading to the sometimes applied label of Cathedral Art Rock. The music is generally slow, deliberate, and always dramatic. The central keyboards are completed by the unique, dramatic operatic vocals of Eugenio Mucci, with the rhythm section of Nicolini and drummer Lea Palmieri. There is no guitar. The reference band that comes immediately to mind when listening to AKRON is JACULA, although AKRON'S music is not as dark. Some have compared the music of AKRON to that of METAMORFOSI, although the similarities are primarily based on the operatic vocals, the predominant organ, and the dramatic style; AKRON'S compositions are not nearly as varied or interesting as those of METAMORFOSI. AKRON produces interesting music, often compelling, and is recommended to those who like dramatic, theatrical or operatic style and are willing to tolerate some artistic indulgence at the expense of complex compositions or instrumental virtuosity.

Il Tempio di Ferro [2003]

Airto Moreira - Samba Bossa Jazz (Brazil)

Airto Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. After moving to the US, Moreira began playing regularly with jazz musicians in New York, including the bassist Walter Booker. Through Booker, Moreira began playing with Joe Zawinul, who in turn introduced him to Miles Davis. At this time Davis was experimenting with electronic instruments and rock and funk rhythms, a form which would soon come to be called jazz fusion. Moreira was to participate in several of the most important projects of this emerging musical form. He stayed with Davis for about two years, touring and participating in the creation of the seminal fusion recording Bitches Brew (1970).

Shortly after leaving Davis, Moreira joined other Davis alumni Zawinul, Wayne Shorter and Miroslav Vitous in their group Weather Report, playing percussion on their first album (1971). He left Weather Report (replaced by Dom Um Romão and Muruga Booker for their Sweetnighter album) to join fellow Davis alumnus Chick Corea's new band Return to Forever. He played drums on Return to Forever's first two albums: Return to Forever and Light as a Feather in 1972. Moreira was a contributor to many of Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart's world music/percussion albums in Rykodisc's The World collection, including The Apocalypse Now Sessions, Dafos, Supralingua, and Planet Drum, which won a World Music Grammy in 1991. He can be heard playing congas on Eumir Deodato's 1970s space-funk hit "Also sprach Zarathustra" on the album Prelude.

Moreira has played with many of the greatest names in jazz including Cannonball Adderley, Lee Morgan, Paul Desmond, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, John McLaughlin, Keith Jarrett, Al Di Meola, Zakir Hussain, George Duke and Mickey Hart. He has also played with the Latin/fusion rock band Santana, with symphony orchestras, and as a solo percussionist. During live performances he often includes a samba solo, where he emulates the sound of an entire band using just a single pandeiro. In addition to jazz concerts and recordings, he has composed and contributed music to film and television (including scores for Apocalypse Now and Last Tango in Paris), played at the re-opening of the Library of Alexandria, Egypt (along with fellow professor of ethnomusicology Halim El-Dabh), and taught at UCLA and the California Brazil Camp.

Aluê

Fragile - Progressive Rock (Neitherlands)

Fragile was an obscure band that played a heavy, twin guitar rock. They choose this name as a tribute to the band Yes, who had released an album by the same name. The music of Fragile is not unlike Cargo or Wishbone Ash. The band saw the light around 1972. They recorded an album in 1974 but it was not released until 1976. After the album was released their rehearsal location, including their equipment, was burnt down. This didn't make them stop performing, but eventually they did disband the band due to lack of income. In 2004 their album was released on cd.

Remastered reissue on CD of the one and only album by Dutch 70's psych/rural band consisting mainly of Mollucans who play guitar like crazy, as we know. On one side long track they expose a tapestry of excellent guitar fuzzing. One of the most wanted albums from Holland, and an absolute ultra rarity, originally made as a private pressing for friends, relatives, etc.(Freak Emporium)

Fragile (1976)

The Band:

Henk Limaheluw - guitars

Ferry Limaheluw - guitars

Hank Oraille - vocals, percussion

Chris Limaheluw - bass

Ted Tahapary - drums
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Thanks to Gilmar Maciel

Nini Rosso - Easy Listening Trumpet (Italy)

Raffaele Celeste "Nini" Rosso (19 September 1926 – 5 October 1994)[1] was an Italian jazz trumpeter and composer. Born in San Michele Mondovì, Rosso's parents had attempted to send him to university, but at 19 he chose the trumpet over academia, and left home. After his employment in a nightclub was terminated by the police, he returned home, but soon after departed again to relaunch his career. He soon became one of the best-known jazz trumpeters in Italy, reaching the crest of his popularity in the 1960s. He became known in the UK in 1962 when his recording of "Concerto Disperato" was covered by Ken Thorne and his Orchestra and became a hit under the title "The Theme from 'The Legion's Last Patrol'". Rosso's original was quickly released on the Durium label and also made the charts, but was less successful than the cover. His 1965 worldwide hit "Il Silenzio" went to #1 in Italy, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and sold over five million copies by the end of 1967. In the USA it peaked in November 1965 on position 32 of the Billboard Charts. It was awarded a gold disc. He also acted in the 1960s.

Magnifique Trumpet Gala (1989)

ABSENTHIA - Progressive Rock • Italy

Absenthia biography (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4562)

ABSENTHIA is an Italian prog band from Vicenza that was formed in 2005. The line up features Igor Daoconte (vocals), Alberto Saccozza (bass), Massimiliano Piazzon (drums), Enrico Baù (keyboards), and Paolo Miotti (guitar), previously also with Ferruccio Caoduro (guitar). Their music blends influences ranging from PFM, BMS and Le Orme to folk, Italian melody and prog metal in a very original and convincing way. 

The band has a strong theatrical approach, with the operatic vocals of Igor Daoconte in the forefront. The history of Ancient Rome is the main source of inspiration for the lyrics of their debut album, the excellent self produced "Tenebrae Vincunt", which was released in 2009. 

The follow up album, Novecento, which was self-produced and released in 2016, continues in the same vein as the debut. 

[Originally written by Andrea Parentin in May 2009, updates by Todd 2016]

Tenebrae Vincunt [2009]

Nino Nardini & Roger Roger - Jazz - Easy Tempo

This piece of musical exotica is truly a classic of the genre. It was written, produced, and conducted by two bright, underappreciated French composers (Nardini is of Italian descent but was born in Paris) whose only idea for collaboration was a commission by a society of sound professionals for something unified and "exotic." What could be more exotic than the jungle itself? This pair set out to create a work for a sound library recording (not to be sold commercially) that evoked the sights, sounds, smells, and textures of the jungle. Released in 1971, the disc quickly entered the dead-dog files of cultural miscegenation and has remained there ever since. Forget Martin Denny, Les Baxter, and Dick Hyman too for a moment. Certainly those men were all into this before, and no doubt influenced Jungle Obsession's composers. But whereas the music and arrangements of Denny and Baxter all derived from simple themes -- easily recognized by Western audiences as a way in -- these two cats threw all that out the window and created a series of motifs, leitmotifs, and modes that were out of the musical sphere at the time. They took rock and classical and bossa and jazz and easy listening, wove them together with polyrhythmic invention and a boatload of sound effects, and created one of the true masterpieces of pop exotica: musically sophisticated, sensually lush, and technically innovative. There is no record quite like this one, and any fan of so-called lounge music or exotica should own this. For those fans of hep sounds and po-mo kitsch, you should have it too, but for those interested in the finest sounds the '70s had to offer, this is a necessity.

 Jungle Obsession

AGNUS - Symphonic Prog • Argentina

Agnus biography (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=476)

It was the year 1973 a group of kids from Santa Fé, a province located 475 kilometers from Buenos Aires in the low mountains decided to form a Progressive Rock band inspired mostly in the Italian Symphonic bands like PFM and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso.

They were leaded by excellent guitar player Luis Saéz who had already been member of a straight Rock band called Dapalu. Soon they started to gain fame with their own effort and almost with no sponsors, it's said that they promoted their concerts using only the telephone, so one fan called another one until they had sold the tickets.

But this system worked for them because this fan base was so loyal that they followed AGNUS wherever they played, mostly in Buenos Aires, the center of the cultural and artistic scenario. 

They tried to release a cassette in the mid 70's with their own label "Marvus" and even when they didn't succeeded, the experience gained was valuable for their career. After almost seven years and with only one original member (Luis Sáez) AGNUS was able to release their first and only LP called "Pinturas y Expresiones".

Despite they were not as famous as "LA MAQUINA DE HACER PÁJAROS" or "MIA", the album deserved more success, the delicate Italian Symphonic style works perfectly with Sáez atmospheric guitar clearly influenced by the sound of Pink Floyd, but that's not all, the additional flutes (Cacilia Glaria and Laura Fazzio) plus the violin played with great skills by Enrique Shussler, gave a touch of Folk reminiscent of Jethro Tull.

The keyboard, correctly played by also by Laura Fazzio is not the lead instrument but contributes to add that unique and dreamy atmosphere characteristic of the Italian and early Argentinean bands.

It's also important to mention that the vocal work mixing male and female voices is simply delightful.

After the release of "Pinturas y Expresiones", AGNUS made some tours and disbanded, but Luis Sáez formed a couple of short living bands "AGNUS VERDE" y "EL BANDO" but in 1984 he forms "LA NARANJA" a Latin music project with which he is still involved.

Iván Melgar Morey - Perú

Pinturas y expresiones (1980)

George Jinda - Jazz Fusion (France)

Very rare debut solo album from Hungarian drummer Jinda, who was a widely travelled player in the 70's French prog scene and, at the time of this record, a member of Yochk'o Seffer's post-Magma unit Speed Limit. Seffer's playing on this one too, alongside Heldon bassist Didier Batard. Quite a cast! The Wheel Of Love is a furious and sadly rather forgotten zeuhl gem that splits the difference between Zao and (especially) Magma keyboardist Benoit Widemann's solo debut "Stress" in it's mix of airy lyricism and slightly funk inflected zeuhl fury.

The Wheel of Love (1975)

Space Age Cocktail Lounge

This is one of those 'just the music, ma'am' collections from Europe--no liner notes at all--but very well chosen. I couldn't point to a single dud in the entire set. They stretch the concept of "space age" music by including tracks like Raymond Scott's from the 1930s and Anton Karas' "Third Man Theme", but in reality they fit the mood of the others, and it doesn't hurt to have your concepts stretched once in a while.

Sound quality varies, with the older tracks showing their age, but none of them are bad. Some care went into this set.

Space Age Cocktail Lounge

Doug Pettibone - Folk Rock (USA)

Doug Pettibone (born in Los Angeles, California) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and studio musician. Doug Pettibone started to play the guitar at the age of eight. His first teacher was Andy Summers, formerly of The Police. With nine years, Doug studied with Eddie Lafreniere, guitarist for big band leader Jimmy Dorsey, with whom he spent the next five years studying the music of Dave Brubeck and Duke Ellington. Later he received a scholarship to Pepperdine University-Malibu for Jazz Guitar, Classical Guitar and Voice, graduating with a triple major in 1984. In the following years he played with many different artists of various genres. In the last few years, Pettibone has played live and/or recorded with some of the most influential artists of our times, among them Keith Richards, Norah Jones, Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, Joan Baez, Mark Knopfler, Draco Rosa, Sting, Michelle Shocked, Vic Chesnutt, Kevin Montgomery, amongst others.[1][2] In 2012 he went on tour with Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley. In 2013 Pettibone toured with Lucinda Williams with just the two of them on stage. He joined John Mayer's touring band as lap steel and guitar player for the Born and Raised 2013 World Tour. 2016 Doug is on World Tour with the Italian Zucchero - accompanied by Brian Auger on Hammond Organ.

Gone (2014)

Miles Davis - Jazz (USA)

Decoy is a 1984 album by jazz musician Miles Davis, recorded in 1983. It features keyboardist Robert Irving III and guitarist John Scofield contributing most of the compositions and the other solos. The theme of "That's What Happened" comes from Scofield's improvised solo from the track "Speak" included on the previous album Star People. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis guested with the group on the September 1983 studio sessions.

Decoy

Violator - Trash Metal (Brazil)

Violator is a thrash metal band from Brazil, formed in 2002 by Pedro Arcanjo, Pedro Agusto, and David Araya. After 6 years of playing in the metal underground, the band signed with Brazilian label "Kill Again Records" and released their debut album, "Chemical Assault". Then they went on tour through Brazil and later in France, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Japan, Belgium, Mexico and Italy. In August 2012, during an interview, Violator confirmed a new upcoming studio album for late 2012, and started playing live a new song called "Echoes of silence".

Scenarios of Brutality (2013)

Le Sensazioni • Progressive Rock (Italy)

Le Sensazioni biography (http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7956)

LE SENSAZIONI was a short-lived five-piece outfit that formed in Padua in 1978. Under the artistic direction of bassist Mauro Moschin they recorded and released their only album ''Doctor Faust Suite'' in 1981 before disbanding some time later. There's a marked dichotomy between prog rock and pop music on the two sides of the LP but the story behind the album's creation helps to explain the disparity in musical styles. 

The album was dedicated to Italian painter Dario Serra; in fact, the organisers of an exhibition devoted to the artist's work asked LE SENSAZIONI to provide programme music to accompany the event. Serra had previously set up a theatre company and among his productions were several operas/musical theatres using marionettes. He based one of these puppet theatres on the tragicomedy ''The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus'' by Christopher Marlowe (a contemporary of Shakespeare) hence the reason for the Faust-inspired album by LE SENSAZIONI. 

The exhibition organisers required a lengthy piece, dark in mood to reflect the subject matter of necromancy, Faust's pact with Lucifer and his final damnation. The end result is the album's symphonic title-suite, a mainly instrumental work where the story of magic and apparitions unfolds through a blending of serious and light moods dominated by keyboards and Margherita Garagnini's wavering violin lines. 

The band was mainly influenced by the likes of PFM and BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO but this piece shows they had a genuine talent for dark progressive. The suite proved so successful that the band was offered the chance to record a full album but the producers wanted the recording completed within fifteen days and there was an additional requirement for it to have commercial appeal. As a consequence the second side is marred by the inclusion of several short pop tracks. 

Doctor Faust Suite (1981)