VOCAbuLarieS is Bobby McFerrin music for the 21st century. It is unlike anything the 10-time Grammy-winner has ever recorded. An ambitious project several years in the making, it draws from the array of influences that have long contributed to McFerrin's innovative style - classical to world music, R&B to gospel and beyond - and recasts the world-renowned singer in a new framework defined by dense compositional detail, rich textures and complex arrangements.  VOCAbuLarieS builds upon McFerrin's past explorations and journeys into expansive territory. The CD will be in stores April 6th on Decca. VOCAbuLarieS was imagined by McFerrin's longtime manager and producer, Linda Goldstein. She envisioned a new kind of vocal ensemble music using extended compositional forms. Bobby's inventive articulation, timbre, and phrasing would serve as a template, allowing singers to break free of choral conventions.

Haitian-American violinist/composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) continues to establish himself as one of today's most relevant artists on the contemporary classical music scene.  An innovative violinist, composer, performer, re-mixer, and band leader, DBR has won world-wide acclaim for his eclecticism and fearless exploration, whether through extended violin techniques, the infusion of electronics, or in his perspectives on the definition of chamber music. On Woodbox Beats & Balladry (Thirsty Ear Recordings), his profusion of classical composing and performing talents are uniquely exposed.  Echoing his own career, Woodbox Beats & Balladry contains elements of classical minimalism, dance club beats, traditional ballads, and thick distorted noise.  Fitting coming from an artist who has performed with everyone from the Seattle and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, to the dancers Bill T. Jones and Savion Glover, to the composers Philip Glass and Derek Bermel, to DJs Radar, Scientific, and Spooky, to the jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, the pop-singer Lady Gaga, and the infamous 2 Live Crew.
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At first, it's easy to mistake Handful of Luvin' for just another set of ex-college jam band rockers in the Dave Matthew's Band tradition, but a second look reveals a quirkier and more rewarding aesthetic. A rock quartet featuring a rocking classically trained violinist, Handful refers to their music as "fiddle driven roots rock," and their cheerful blend of folk-rock, reggae and world rhythms, plus secondhand baroque and Celtic influences with catchy pop hooks, strongly recalls the vintage sound of Actual Tigers, the madness of Flogging Molly, and the moodier, more experimental side of Wilco. Their new release: Life In Between is the combination and culmination of all these influences. The band began in the spring of 2002 and immediately realized the potential of their sound.


If Jesse Cook was an actor instead of a Juno award winning guitarist, he'd be considered a method actor, someone who immerses himself completely in the world of the characters he portrays to deliver authentic performances cloaked in realism.  For his eighth album, The Rumba Foundation, on E1 Music, the Canadian headed to Colombia equipped with his acoustic guitar, a few song sketches and a wide open mind. Originally Cook's mission for The Rumba Foundation was to bring his muse - rumba flamenco music - back to rumba's birthplace: Cuba.  But then he got in touch with Latin Grammy winners Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, a traditional Vallenato group that makes their own instruments, and was invited to Colombia.  The group members arrived in Bogota after a long bus trip and an impromptu living room exchange took place. 

'Love, Work & Money' features ten songs, nine written or co-written by Josh Charles, plus a funky, galloping cover of the Jimmy Cliff classic "The Harder They Come."  The album was recorded with members of Dr. John's backing band, primarily at famed Piety Street Studios in New Orleans.  It pairs Charles' deep love for that city's unique piano tradition with a knack for soulful, sophisticated arrangements that would do Billy Preston proud. Charles will celebrate the release of 'Love, Work & Money' with two pre-Mardi Gras shows in New Orleans, February 9 at the International House Hotel and February 10 at Tipitina's opening for Papa Mali, followed by a February 15 headlining show at City Winery in NYC. Love, Work & Money' follows Charles' breakout single "Healing Time," released last year.  Recorded as a benefit for the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, the song captured the mood of a city on the mend. 

E1 Music is thrilled to announce the groundbreaking release from Philadelphia's Time for Three, a dynamic "classically trained garage band" of musicians who have musically broken new ground. Classical music will never be the same once Time for Three releases their third album, 3 Fervent Travelers. With two violins and a stand up bass, TF3 breaks all the rules with its crossover-fusion. Bluegrass, jazz, Americana and jam band fans will come along for the amazing journey that classical fans across the country have already experienced in concert halls. Violinists Zachary De Pue, Nick Kendall and Bassist Ranaan Meyer make up Time for Three. The trio met as student musicians who played together for fun while students at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music. They earned a reputation as a charismatic ensemble with limitless enthusiasm and no musical boundaries.

To commemorate the Mendelssohn bicentennial in 2009, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Emanuel Ax, and violinist Itzhak Perlman have collaborated together for the first time and recorded the Mendelssohn Piano Trios. The three players performed these works at Carnegie Hall in March 2009 and will once again dazzle audiences with their interpretation during their Live from Lincoln Center telecast on PBS on May 5, 2010. The Sony Classical release Mendelssohn: Piano Trios documents this incredible collaboration with a studio album that finds the players in resplendent form. The release contains complete accounts of Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49 and Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66. This is the first chamber recording these three virtuosos have recorded together. "Beyond his excellence as a composer, Mendelssohn was the ideal citizen musician," says Yo-Yo Ma.

They met in a castle in Germany. Before long they were jamming together and realized there was something special happening. They wrote with new inspiration for the CD they would make together, NEW WORLD FLAMENCO. Germany's famed duo Tierra Negra and America's award-winning guitarist and harp-guitarist Muriel Anderson have found an exciting combination. The joy and passion of Raughi's flamenco guitar, Leo's pulsating rhythm and Muriel's beautiful melodies merge to create music unlike any other. Joined by drummer Danny Gottlieb, bassist Mark Egan both of the original Pat Metheney Group, and powerhouse bassist Victor Wooten, flamenco nuevo has found a new world. "Just one hell of a great player ...a great personality and what I like is the touch that Muriel has on the guitar, the way she plays it like we all wish to play."  Les Paul

Harmonyville Records is proud to release: PROJECT Trio's third studio recording ? a self-titled album that continues the ensemble's unique and heralded musical exploration.  Following the success of their first two CD's, "Winter and June" & "Brooklyn", this effort yields far more musical innovation than one might expect from a traditional chamber ensemble. Based in Brooklyn, PROJECT Trio emerged from a classical background, but has found an unconventional and energetic voice through the exploration of unique performance techniques. Their obsession with program versatility and contrast of musical style is executed by Flutist Greg Pattillo, Cellist Eric Stephenson, and Double Bassist Peter Seymour. Simply put, their music synthesizes Hip-hop, Rock, Bluegrass, Americana, Jazz, and Classical music to create their truly distinctive sound. 


GPR Records, Dedicated to Broadway, Classical, Spoken Word & Children's Music launches its first recording: POETIC LICENSE. 100 Poems by 100 Performers. Spoken Work Performers: include Kathleen Turner, Michael York, and Jason Alexander Patti LuPone, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Charles Busch, Len Cariou, Michael Cerveris, Florence Henderson, David Garrison, Paige Davis, Kate Mulgrew, Harriet Harris, Cynthia Nixon. Released in April 2010: National Poetry Month.

To have great poets there must be great audiences too.  ~Walt Whitman
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