Catalog

Big Round Record's first installment of its compilation series, BIG ROUND SOUND VOL. 1, presents a deep cross-section of the label's contemporary and eclectic catalog. From jazz and world music to folk, fusion, and progressive rock, this album features performances by Tony R. Clef, the Oscuro Quintet, Andy Jaffe and Branford Marsalis, Sophie Dunér, the Larksong Trio, Anne Vanschothorst, Juan Álamo, Jean-Philippe Grégoire, and more in works by Christina Rusnak, Svjetlana Bukvich, Sebastiano Meloni, Ecco La Musica, Bunny Beck, and others.

BIG BULLY is the first disc in the new Best Foot Forward series from Recess Music. This disc highlights the importance of education on bullying and its effect on children, as well as how children and their parents can deal with issues surrounding bullying. More importantly, the tracks on the disc teach kids that even if they are bullied, they are special to someone and that they can still make a difference.

Big Round Records presents the first of five albums by “Mr. Music of Memphis,” Berl Olswanger, featuring tunes by Duke Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, and more. From pop standards and jazz ditties to good old-fashioned polka, pianist Berl Olswanger wrested command of just about every style.

APERÇU from composer and banjo innovator Michael Nix challenges listeners to reimagine the banjo as an instrument. The music, part of Nix’s New Classic Banjo Project, is brought to life by Nix’s 7-string Banjar, incorporating a wide range of folk and classical styles to forge an entirely new genre: New Classical Banjo. The album's title, which translates to “A survey or sketch; or an immediate impression, especially an insight” delivers just that. Koromanti, the opening piece on the album, is based on the very first notated banjo music, a transcription of music performed at a gathering of enslaved people in Jamaica in 1688. Banjar Lam Plearn, meanwhile, pays homage to the Mor Lam style traditionally performed in the Issan region of Thailand. These, and many other Aperçu shine through this remarkable collection of music.

If variety is the spice of life, A DIFFERENT TAKE adds a bowlful of zest to the idea of standard repertoire. On their debut album, the Gruca White Ensemble’s creative programming and energetic performance lead listeners on a journey through intermingled genres and out-of-the-box renditions of well-known tunes.