'Round Midnight : New York State Of Mind

What better for well-respected Barbershoppers and 2006 NYC Harmony Sweeps Regionals champs and Audience Favorite 'Round Midnight to dedicate their second album to, than their beloved hometown? Larry, Jeff, T.J. and Wayne have represented their city well, twice reaching the Semi-Finals in the Barbershop Harmony Society's International Barbershop Quartet competition, and also being named the BHS 2010 Mid-Atlantic District Champions. Their first, self-titled CD won major kudos, being nominated for a CARA award for 'Best Barbershop Song.' 'New York State of Mind' features 10 Big Apple (and international) favorites: Billy Strayhorn's Duke Ellington hit, 'Take the A Train,' a pair by Billy Joel, 'Honesty' (a live cut) and the title tune, Lennon/McCartney's 'All My Lovin','' Jazz master Thelonius Monk, Williams & Hanighen's ''Round Midnight,' Sam Cooke's soulful Doo-Wop hit 'Nothing Can Change this Love,' the Barbershop standard 'Some Lucky Day, the bluesy 'Body and Soul,' Harry Noble's pop hit 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me' and Adam Schlesinger's 'That Thing You Do,' from Tom Hanks' 1996 comedy/drama of the same name. The sweet sound, great harmonies and leads, and wonderful arrangements of this talented, veteran quartet add up to the kind of great entertainment that New York City is famous for!

Alexander L'Estrange : Christmas Special

A collection of four joyful songs exploring the 'lighter' side of the Christmas. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas was made famous by the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis, where it was sung by Judy Garland and this is complemented with O Christmas Tree, one of the most popular German traditional carols, and the original Another Christmas composed by series editor Alex L'Estrange and fellow composer Peter Gritton. A Christmas collection would not be complete without Jingle Bells, given a boisterous treatment here, although actually the song isn't about Christmas at all - it's about the cutter drag races in Boston, where young men would race sleighs to impress the girls!

Ambassadors of Harmony : Welcome Christmas!

Under the direction of barbershop legend Dr. James (Jim) Henry the Ambassadors of Harmony are considered to be one of the top barbershop choruses in the country. The chorus is also blessed to have Dr. David Wright as associate director whose arrangements are quite likely the most highly regarded in barbershop today. With such a combination it is no wonder that this latest release is a winner and is bound to please the most discerning barbershop fan.

Andy Waterman & Kate Reid : Glee - Vocal Method & Songbook

A must for all Gleeks with an inner desire to belt it out like their favorite cast members, the Glee Vocal Method & Songbook teaches people how to become better singers and performers, all in the style of the show. The method teaches eight of Glee's most popular songs. Each tune highlights three specific vocal concepts with three uniquely developed vocal exercises designed to build vocal chops. Like taking private lessons with a professional vocal teacher, this new release lets students: learn the vocabulary of vocal study; understand how to use microphones in performance; read background info on the writers and original artists for each song; study what each song is about; analyze lyrics; and much more. The real fun comes in with the accompanying CD and the choreography instruction. Containing warm-ups as well as full-length backing tracks for performance, the CD lets budding vocalists sing in 'live' performances along with experienced singers. The book offers choreography tips for each song, with Glee-inspired staging ideas designed for as few as three and up to 30 singers!

Anonymous 4 : Secret Voices

The women of Anonymous 4 revisit their favorite era with repertoire from the Codex Las Huelgas. Spanning the entire 13th century - from virtuosic motets and conductus to heartfelt laments, plainchants and sacred songs - this important manuscript was compiled for a convent of aristocratic Castilian women who (in spite of a rule forbidding Cistercian nuns from singing polyphony) sang the most beautiful and demanding music from all across Gothic-era Europe.

Aquabella : Nordlichter (Northern Lights)

In search of new stories for their Winter concert program Aquabella discovered the Far North. Here they have set timeless Icelandic myths to music, with their own original texts. True to their World Music concept, they also sing pieces from Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and Latvia in their original languages. In these myths set to song a central role is played by the Islandic giantess Gryla, and her 13 Troll sons, who during the nights between the 12th nd 24th of December, appear in peoples' houses, exercising the very worst of human qualities; They scratch up the cooking pots, lose important items, steal anything edible, and frighten people with weird sounds and unexplained phenomena. They are never punished for their misdeeds, but rather the innocent children are unjustly accused. To compensate, the Trolls bring the children little presents in this season, and are each night anxiously awaited. After the 25th of December, the Trolls disappear again, one after the other, and once again become invisible to humans. Aquabella, with their wonderful original songs, bring the 13 Trolls unforgettably to life.

Ariella Vaccarino : Voice Lessons To Go for Kids

This CD is designed for young elementary school aged singers to learn how to warm up their voice in a healthy fun way. The volume begins with advice on healthy singing, including words on posture, breathing, and diction. Vocal warm ups follow in patterns broken up into three separate vocalizes: Singing numbers, Singing syllables and Singing solfege. Musical terms such as major scales, chords, octaves, staccato and legato are sung through and explained. The goal of Voice Lessons To Go for Kids is to develop good healthy confident voices as well as to develop children's theoretical knowledge about music, creating good singers on the road to being young musicians.

Bach Choir : Colors of Christmas - John Rutter

John Rutter conducts the Bach Choir and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in what is surely the finest new recoding of Christmas carols this year. Rutter is a composer, conductor and arranger and he brings all of that to these high holiday gems. Most of the carols are very well known, though in the arrangements of Rutter they sound completely fresh. There are some new carols here - Rutter's own 'Riu Riu Chiu' (the sounds a nightingale makes) and 'The Colours of Christmas' - and some new approaches to old ones. The main factor that makes this such a perfect selection of holiday music is the free intermixing of religious carols with contemporary Christmas songs.

Backbeats : Backbeats

The Sing-Off season two finalists, The Backbeats, release their self-titled, debut album. The record, 'The Backbeats From The Sing-Off,' features a mix of hand-selected cover hits, including the group's rendition of Beyoncˇ's 'If I Were A Boy,' which helped seal their top three position on season two of the show. The album also includes a track featuring the Grammy-nominated and season three judge from 'The Sing-Off,' Sara Bareilles, who guests on the group's version of Sara's hit 'Uncharted.'

Barbershop Harmony Society : Top Choruses 2010

The nations top barbershop choruses gathered in Philadelphia in 2010 with gold being won by the amazing Westminster Chorus. The Vocal Majority took silver and The Northern Lights won bronze. This high quality DVD features 27 different choruses as they compete for the gold.

Barrie Carson Turne : Just Voices - Jazz

Ten easy three-part a cappella arrangements of inspirational songs, for either SSA or SAT choirs, with a piano part for convenient rehearsal. All of these rousing pieces are presented in new arrangements by Barrie Carson Turner. Bringing together ten timeless songs of faith, celebration and inspiration, Just Voices: Classic Pop is an ideal introduction to mastering the a cappella style. Perfect for your next concert or as a fun treat for your choir. Just Voices Jazz brings together ten timeless jazz songs that make an ideal introduction to mastering the a cappella style.

Barrie Carson Turner : Just Voices - Gospel

Ten easy three-part a cappella arrangements of inspirational songs, for either SSA or SAT choirs, with a piano part for convenient rehearsal. All of these rousing pieces are presented in new arrangements by Barrie Carson Turner. Bringing together ten timeless songs of faith, celebration and inspiration, Just Voices: Gospel is an ideal introduction to mastering the a cappella style. Perfect for your next concert or as a fun treat for your choir.

Blenders : Christmas Light

Originally hailing from Fargo, ND, The Emmy-winning Blenders now call Minneapolis, MN their home, and this talented, pioneering all male a cappella quartet has been very busy since we first discovered them in 1992 with the first of their now 13 recordings, 'Totally Whipped,' 'From the Mouth' (1994), and 'The Blenders' (1995). Then came their instant Best Seller Christmas collection, 'Nog,' which filled the stockings of all our friends and family with creamy-smooth harmonies. 2002's 'When It Snows' was supported by an enormously successful holiday tour and made the Billboard charts, and 'The Blenders Holiday Best,' (2004) and 'Most Wonderful Time' (2005), live DVD 'Christmas with the Blenders' (2007) and 2 CD set 'The Blenders: Christmas Collection' (2007) helped make the Blenders' name synonymous with Christmas! 'Christmas Light' has 11 songs, mostly accompanied. Our favorites are of course the cuts with little or no accompaniment, the fun, rhythmic 'Sleigh Ride,' richly harmonic 'Some Children See Him,' and bright, joyous 'What Child is This.' Among the accompanied tunes, the original 'Where Are You Christmas,' 'Last Christmas,' 'Amen,' 'This Christmas,' 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,' 'Joy to the World' and bonus track 'America' are standouts. But the highlight of all the Blenders recordings are the heavenly harmonies and great leads of these four talented men, often called 'one of America's best-kept vocal secrets,' who have been touring and delighting live audiences for decades with their signature sound.

Breath of Soul : Blue Christmas

'Nashville's Premier Vocal Band,' Breath of Soul, David, Jesse, Tony and Jake, brings us what seems to be their first recording as a trio (vocal percussionist Jake is not pictured on the cover, and there are no liner notes) a surprising, thought-provoking 8-song Christmas CD, recorded in 2009. For singing together only a few years, BOS sounds like a much more experienced group. We're especially impressed with their cutting-edge arrangement, most probably done by baritone Jesse Upah, who did all the arranging on BOS's excellent 2010 release 'Breath of Soul.' 'O Come O Come Emmanuel' is a bluenote, call-and-response arrangement of the classic carol unlike any we've ever heard, 'Satisfaction' is a vocal percussion-driven original with a memorable hook, 'Peace, love, hope, satisfaction!;' the title tune is a Doo-Woppy walking Blues with a sweet whistle solo, 'Silver Bells' also has a walking-rhythm Doo-Wop flavor with sweet leads and harmonies, and 'Angels We Have Heard on High' is given a nice 80s pop rearrangement with a cool lead that eventually dances its way back to the original chorus tune. 'Rudolph' has a jazzy, 50s nightclub flavor, a fairly standard 'Silent Night' shows off BOS's considerable harmonic blending talents as it segues into a gentle 'Away in A Manger' and the powerful 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day' gets a new melody and new words ('Then ring the Bells so loud and deep, God is not dead, nor does He sleep, peace on earth, goodwill to men!'). Breath of Soul, which we would classify as 'Contemporary Christian' on 'Blue Christmas,' has taken a lot of chances here, while showing off its collection of non-instrumental sounds and whistles, technical augmentations, and of course, yummy leads and harmonies. And it all shows us a group that we feel is destined for great things!

Cadence : Cool Yule

Toronto's all male Vocal Jazz quartet Cadence says 'Instruments are for surgeons,' and we couldn't agree more! The group's much-anticipated hot new 4th release, 'Cool Yule' is hot and cool off the presses, and the goodies in our stockings keep on coming: 'Silent Night - Prelude,' great vocal percussion and faux instruments on 'Sleigh Ride,' the jazzy title tune, sweet new arrangements on 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,' 'Baby, It's Cold Outside,' 'I Saw Three Ships,' 'The Carpenter's Carol,' 'Carol of the Bells' and 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree;' the soulful, bluesy original 'River,' the sweet, joyous new French carol 'Petit Papa Noel,' 'Christmas Song' and 'Silent Night.' The buzz around fast-rising Cadence in the jazz world is growing every day, and the finely-crafted 'Cool Yule' is a Christmas winner from start to finish, one of the best Vocal Jazz albums of the year!

Cantabile The London Quartet : Songs of Cricket

Cantabile, AKA The London Quartet, have been wowing audiences across the world since the 1980s with their shows that blend performance flair, comic timing, and a deep passion for high-quality vocal music. This album is an eclectic tribute to the very British obsession that is cricket, bringing together works from the turn of the century to the present day. Featuring guest performances from the likes of Richard Stilgoe, Rory Bremner and Tim Rice, this album should prove a must-buy for cricket- and music-fans alike.

Cantamus : Joy

Called by one observer 'probably the best girls' choir in the world,' Mansfield, Nottinghamshire's (UK) Cantamus Girls Choir consists of approximately 40 girls aged between 13 and 19. Founded in 1968 by Director Pamela Cook, the Choir has consistently won international competitions such as the 'Choir of the World' title 1997 Llangollen Eisteddfod, Olympic Champions title at the World Choir Games 2004 and 2006 and many others. There are 20 songs here, mostly lightly accompanied by accompanist and arranger Michael Neaum. Some of our favorites are 'Look to this Day,' 'La Regata,' 'O Won't You Sit Down?,' 'Goin' Up-a-Yonder;' 'Pretty Little Horses,' 'And So It Goes,' 'Miss You Nights' and 'The Rose.' Wonderful leads, perfect harmonies - 'Joy' is exactly that!

Cantamus : Noel

Founder Pamela Cook directs Cantamus, based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, UK, her 40 hand picked singers, girls age 13 to 19, in a generous, finely-crafted Christmas collection of 19 songs. Just a quick listen to John Rutter's 'Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day,' and accompanist Michael Neaum's arrangements of 'The Little Drummer Boy' and 'Do You Hear What I Hear,' and we know what a treat 'Noel' is going to be! Mostly accompanied by piano, flute and other instruments, there are few sounds as joyous and welcoming at Christmas than these soaring, spirited young voices singing favorites like 'Patapan,' 'Stille Nacht,' 'White Christmas,' 'Riu, Riu Chiu' and 'Away in a Manger;' and lesser-known tunes like 'I Sing of a Maiden,' 'Lullay Myn Lyking,' 'Midwinter' and 'Pastorcito Santo.' Treat yourself and your loved ones to 'Noel,' a true musical Christmas gift!

Cantus : Christmas with Cantus

In their newest recording, the men of Cantus bring the sounds of the holidays to you and your family. Including audience favorites 'Do You Hear What I Hear,' 'Carol of the Bells,' 'Noel Nouvelet,' 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,' and of course the Franz Biebl 'Ave Maria,' this collection of songs old and new is full of light and life.

Cardiff Festival Choir : Carols of Vaughn Williams

Listeners who love the sound and mood of the most traditional Christmas carols and hymns should be delighted with this collection of choral arrangements made by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The majority of the pieces are traditional English carols, many of which the composer collected himself as part of his research on folk song. For several of the carols where only a text survives, he wrote the melody. A few of the selections may be familiar to American audiences and a few more to fans of English choral music, but by and large these carols will be obscure to general audiences. Their tone tends to be gently contemplative rather than exuberantly celebratory; they're more similar to 'Away in a Manger' than 'Joy to the World.' Vaughan Williams' intent was to create music that could be sung by the average church congregation or church choir, so the arrangements are simple and traditional. Some are arranged for unison singing, but most are in four parts.

Chanticleer : Our Favorite Carols

For many years the Chanticleer Christmas concerts were a San Francisco special treat and they performed sold out performances virtually every day from Thanksgiving to New Years. And then they started winning Grammys and the word soon spread. Now they perform year round and tour all over the world but Christmas has always been special to this very talented ensemble. Here is a release of their favorite Christmas carols with wonderful a cappella arrangements by some of the best including Joe Jennings, David Willcocks and Gene Puerling.

Chapter 6 : Color By Number

These seven talented guys from Chicago, six vocalists and one arranger, started singing together at Illinois' Milliken University, where they won the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in 2001. They were 3-time winners of the Chicago Harmony Sweeps Regional before finally being named National Champs in at the Finals in San Rafael, CA in 2004. Chapter 6 was also featured on American Idol Season 7 in conjunction with bandmate Luke Menard's 'Top 16 run.' Taking regular breaks from their extensive touring schedule to record, new release 'Color by Numbers' is their 7th excellent album, in addition to a live DVD and a songbook. There are 14 recordings of fan favorites here, including the jazzy, scattish 'Rainbow Connection' and manic, swingin' 'Harold's House of Jazz,' the very funny 'Reverb' (sung to the tune of 'Fever'), great faux horns and vocal percussion on 'Interlude I (I Dream of Jeannie),' a breezy, sweet lead and new arrangement of Lennon/McCartney's 'Penny Lane,' a salsa-flavored arrangement of 'Pure Imagination,' a brilliant, funny Swingle Singers take on 'James Bond Meets the Sugar Plum Fairy,' a pair of short, yummy Interludes, 'II (I'm Looking It Up Online)' and 'III (Invention);' A bluenote, rainy-day jazz arrangement of 'Let's Stay Together,' a finger-popping original, 'Left-Handers Unite!,' a surprisingly hip arrangement of 'Fairest Lord Jesus' and a lightly piano-accompanied vocal symphony of 'Rhapsody in Blue' that is a soulful, harmonic tour de force!

Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge : Beyond All Mortal Dreams

On Beyond All Mortal Dreams, Stephen Layton and his acclaimed Trinity College Choir perform a magnificent selection of American a cappella choral works. The recording is a showcase of little-known American composers unearthed by Layton during his travels. These distinctive and luminous compositions illustrate the context in which better-known composers such as Lauridsen and Whitacre - already championed by Layton - learned their craft. The choir is in perfect voice here, and their purity of tone, flawless intonation and depth of feeling are truly exceptional. This wonderful disc is a must for all choral music fans.

Chor Leoni : Yuletide Fires 2

With our world changing so rapidly, with our means of communication accelerating at dizzying speeds, with our cultures and beliefs intermingling and becoming less well-defined, what does Christmastime mean to people in our world and how do we choose the music for a CD that will be appealing to listeners? In many ways the music on this CD, Yuletide Fires II, is a reflection of that current world. You'll find ancient Latin chant expressing the wonder of the virgin and child; familiar words and carols that connect us to a Christmas of our childhood; songs written in the 21st century that explore new ways to celebrate the joys of Christmas and hopes and possibilities of a new year. There are also tunes and tales that tell of traditions and transport us back in memory to that time of heightened anticipation. We are thrilled to have renowned mezzo-soprano Judith Forst join us on this CD - what a wonderful Christmas present!

Close Harmony For Men : He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

Show the full range of your men's chorus with this favorite spiritual that highlights each voice part until they combine in an audience-pleasing full harmony conclusion. A fantastic concert closer! Ava