"Cellist Hank Roberts is one of the most accomplished jazz improvisers on his instrument, working mostly in the avant-garde and modern creative fields." — All Music Guide

In the 1980s and '90s in the downtown New York jazz scene, Hank Roberts recorded various albums for JMT with colleagues such as Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, Joey Baron, David Sanborn, and more. Here, with guitarist Marc Ducret and drummer Jim Black, Roberts adapts and recomposes musical elements from avant-garde and traditional jazz as well as funk, R&B, rock, gospel, and traditional Native American music.

trks: living bicycles/jersey devil, my winter song, trees, wind, car man, cola people, o on the beach, our meeting with other worldly spirit creatures at the campfire, screamage 2, i'll always remember.

Hannibal - African Portraits //Hannibal Locumbe Quartet (9), Jevetta Steele (6,7), Alhaji Bunka Susso (1,3,11,13), Eye Plus One Drummers(2,10), David Honeyboy Edwards (8), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, Conductor// 1. Libation: Harvest, 16th Century West Africa - Griot: 'Dafengba!' 2. Chorus: 'Duwa beh' 3. Attack - Subjugation 4. The Middle Passage 5. Auction: Potter's Mart, Charleston, South Carolina, 1833 6. Wailing Song 7. Victor Nelson's Cotton Field, Elgin, Texas, 1940 8. Music Man, Shaw, Mississippi, Delta Swamp, 1945 9. The Three Dueces Club, 52nd Street, New York City, 1952 10. Chorus: 'You Can Find A Way' 11. 400 Years Ago Today - Living Inside The Clear Glass Cell, Bensonhurst, New York, 1989 12. Redemption 13. Epilogue. Kora

Andrew Manze is, in my opinion, one of the finest contemporary violinists, and his playing of this fiendishly brilliant and difficult music will simply amaze you. Biber was unquestionably the greatest violinist of the 17th century; his sonatas and other solo works were the most technically difficult. But they are also the most wonderful fun to listen to—the famous Sonata Representativa has the player imitating all manner of animal noises and other things. It's hilarious, gorgeous, and it's never been performed better. If this isn't quite simply the best record of Baroque violin music ever made, then I don't know what is. —David Hurwitz

There is little innocence in Herbert von Karajan's account of the piece, which emphasizes suavity and smoothness and can occasionally sound contrived rather than spontaneous. But there's lots of passion in the Larghetto, and the sheer beauty of the Berliners' playing is ravishing. The recording, an early digital effort from DG released in 1981, offers good ambience and detail but is rather light in tonal weight. —Ted Libbey