Luther Allison - Live in Paradise (1997)

Jazz guitarist Mike Stern and fusion violin player Didier Lockwood perform a unique duo concert at the beautiful antique theatre in Vienne, France.

Remember Shakti is a quintet which combines elements of traditional Indian music with elements of jazz. The band consists of English guitarist John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain (tabla), U. Srinivas (mandolin), Shankar Mahadevan (vocals), and V. Selvaganesh (kanjira, ghatam, mridangam), who are all of Indian descent. The band's name is derived from John Mclaughlin's acoustic Indian fusion band Shakti which was active in the 1970s.

Mike Stern is certainly one of the best electric guitarists of his generation. This has never been more obvious than in the extraordinary concert the 4 time Grammy nominee gave in the springtime of 2008 to a mesmerized New Morning audience. At the peak of his inspiration, improvising past all musical genres, Mike - superbly backed this time by brilliant drummer Dave Weckl, soulful tenor saxophonist Bob Franceschini and incredible bassist Tom Kennedy - takes his fans along into a journey of pure musical delight. Not a surprise that Mike concluded the evening by confiding, ""I don't want to stop! They'll probably have to wheel me off the stage"".

Klaus Schulze and Australian singer Lisa Gerrard (formerly of Dead Can Dance) work well together on Rheingold: Live at the Loreley. Gerrard doesn't appear on all of this release's moody, hypnotic material, but when she is featured, her performances add a lot to this two-DVD set -- which is a live album more than anything. All of DVD one is devoted to a July 18, 2008 concert in St. Goarshausen, Germany, while DVD two contains the 65-minute documentary "The Real World of Klaus Schulze" and a 55-minute interview (the interviewer is singer/guitarist Steven Wilson, a member of the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree). The concert in St. Goarshausen is Rheingold's main attraction -- and Schulze is in very good form on the songs that feature Gerrard (the 14-minute "Wellgunde" and the 39-minute "Loreley") as well as the instrumentals that don't ("Nothung," "Wotan," and the 24-minute opener "Alberich").

On November 22, 1981, in the middle of their mammoth American tour, the Rolling Stones arrived in Chicago prior to playing 3 nights at the Rosemont Horizon. Long influenced by the Chicago blues, the band paid a visit to Muddy Waters' club the Checkerboard Lounge to see the legendary bluesman perform. It didn't take long before Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Ian Stewart were joining in on stage and later Buddy Guy and Lefty Dizz also played their part. It was a unique occasion that was fortunately captured on camera. Now restored from the original footage and with sound mixed and mastered by Bob Clearmountain, this amazing blues night is being made available in an official release for the first time.