Geir Aule Jenssen is a Norwegian electronic musician and composer who records as Biosphere. A resident of Tromsø within the Arctic Circle, Jenssen is well known for ambient and ambient house pieces, often inspired by Arctic or mountain settings, and his use of loops and peculiar samples from science fiction and natural sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal.org website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. He has also composed several film scores.
Heavy Weather is the seventh album by Weather Report, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. By 1991, the release had sold 1,000,000 copies in America alone; it would prove to be the band's most commercially successful album and one of the best sellers in the Columbia jazz catalog. DownBeat magazine gave Heavy Weather a 5-star review, and later its readers voted it jazz album of the year.
Moonlighting is the debut album by the contemporary jazz ensemble the Rippingtons. It was released in 1986 on Passport Jazz and GRP labels, and reached number 5 on Billboard's Jazz chart.
This is also the first appearance of the Jazz Cat on the album cover by artist Bill Mayer. The Jazz Cat has since been on the cover of every Rippingtons album.
Poi Dog Pondering is an American musical group which is noted for its cross-pollination of diverse musical genres, including various forms of acoustic and electronic music. Frank Orrall founded the band in Hawaii in 1984, initially as a solo project. In 1985 Orrall formed the first line-up of PDP to perform its first concert at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. The band embarked on a yearlong street performance busking tour across North America. They eventually settled down in Austin, Texas in 1987, where they recorded their first three albums. In 1992, the band relocated to Chicago and they began to incorporate orchestral arrangements and elements of electronic, house music, and soul music into their acoustic rock style. The membership of Poi Dog Pondering has evolved from album to album, with Frank Orrall a constant player since the inception of the band.
Nucleus was a British jazz-fusion band, which continued in different forms from 1969 to 1989. In 1970, the band won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival, released the album Elastic Rock, and performed both at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Village Gate jazz club.
Thirsty Moon is a German Krautrock band. The band was founded in the early 1970s in Bremen and plays progressive rock with strong jazz influences. Band members were the brothers Jürgen and Norbert Drogies, Michael Kobs, Harald Konietzko, Erwin Noack, Willi Pape and Siegfried Pisalla, although this line-up changed in the late 1970s. The band's first two albums received critical acclaim and are considered Krautrock classics.
The Swing of Delight is a 1980 double album by Carlos Santana. It was released under his temporary Sanskrit name Devadip Carlos Santana, given to him by Sri Chinmoy. It peaked at #65 on the charts.
Weather Report is the tenth studio album by the American jazz fusion band Weather Report, released in January 1982; there was some confusion among consumers and retailers upon its release as the band's first album (1971) was also self-titled. It is the final album featuring bass guitarist Jaco Pastorius and drummer Peter Erskine in the rhythm section.
Sky Islands is the second album by Jazz fusion group Caldera released in 1977 on Capitol Records. The album reached No. 18 on the Cashbox Top 40 Jazz Albums chart.
Turn This Mutha Out is a 1977 album by Idris Muhammad. Produced and arranged by CTI/Kudu staff arranger David Matthews, it was aimed more at the R&B/disco market than the jazz market. One of only a few Kudu albums not produced by label owner Creed Taylor, Turn This Mutha Out spawned two pop and R&B hits, the title track and "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This".
Crossings is the tenth album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released in 1972.
Portico Quartet are an instrumental band from London, United Kingdom. They are known for their use of the hang, a modern percussion instrument. Their debut album, Knee-Deep in the North Sea, was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize and was Time Out's Jazz, Folk and World album of the year 2007.
Grand Piano Canyon is the 22nd solo album by Bob James. It was released on June 28, 1990. The cover art is reproduced from an original painting by David Grath entitled "Grand Piano Canyon." The title for the seventh track, "Xraxse" is the planet inhabited by Blue People in a story written by James' daughter, Hilary, at age 6.
Live at the 6th Tokyo Music Joy is a live album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy recorded in February 1990 for the Japanese DIW label. It is the only recording to showcase both of the groups that Lester Bowie established and features performances by the Art Ensemble, the Brass Fantasy and both bands.
Oregon is an album by American jazz fusion band Oregon recorded in February 1983 and released on ECM later that year. The quartet features guitarist Ralph Towner, reed player Paul McCandless, bassist Glen Moore, and sitarist Collin Walcott.
The Comet Is Coming was a London-based band that incorporated elements of jazz, electronica, funk and psychedelic rock.
Too Many Zooz is an American music group based in New York City, consisting of Leo Pellegrino, Matt "Doe" Muirhead (trumpet), and David "King of Sludge" Parks (drums).
Red Sky is the third album by American jazz trio Moon Hooch, released on June 10, 2016 by Hornblow/Palmetto Records.
Viagra Boys is a Swedish punk band formed in Stockholm in 2015. The line-up currently consists of lead singer Sebastian Murphy alongside musicians Linus Hillborg (guitar), Elias Jungqvist (keyboards), Henrik Höckert (bass), Tor Sjödén (drums), and Oskar Carls (saxophone). The band's lyrics are known for using satire and dark humour to criticise hypermasculinity and far-right conspiracy theories.
Lucky Chops is a band from New York City, which formed in 2006 and has performed professionally since 2014. It achieved prominence through performances on the New York City Subway which were filmed and shared on the internet, in particular a 2016 performance of "Funky Town" and "I Got You ".
