A new piano album by Laura Sullivan

Admired for her graceful solo piano releases, some piano albums have artists performing instrumentals of cello, guitar, violin and keyboards. Laura Sullivan’s Pianoscapes for the Trails of North America is an elegant piano and instrumental release presenting America’s grandeur with a sense of wonder and admiration.

Although Laura Sullivan is recognized for piano music in the adult contemporary, classical and new age music styles, she is also a vocalist who composes, arranges and records almost all of her own music.

Until later in October when Laura Sullivan releases her new piano album for 2012, here is her Hope for the Trees song video from her album Pianoscapes for the Trails of North America. Hope for the Trees is a song featuring Laura and artists who accompany her on cello, guitar, keyboards and violin.

Pianist Laura Sullivan is also a featured artist on the Free New Age Piano App for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. On the New Age Piano app, you can listen to 3 full length songs by Laura Sullivan for free, along with 56 additional songs from 20 of today’s top New Age pianists.

Visit Laura-Sullivan.com homepage to find out more. Sample or purchase albums at her online store, or visit Amazon.com. Photo is courtesy Laura Sullivan.

Miami Vice: The Complete Collection is a soundtrack with 42 Jan Hammer songs. The entire collection is a classic, like the Original Miami Vice Theme, New York Theme, and my favorite, Crockett’s Theme. Wonderful harmony is heard in laid back songs Tubbs And Valerie, Rum Cay, & Crockett’s Return. The 42 songs on Jan Hammer’s Miami Vice Complete Collection is one of his finest albums.

Jan Hammer is a GRAMMY® Award winning artist recognized for his high octane electronic hit music, but there is much more to the composer, keyboardist Jan Hammer, than his chart topping hit songs and albums like the Miami Vice Complete Collection. Jazz fusion, pop, soundtrack and film music are mainstays, but the entire musical expression of Jan Hammer is pretty diverse, as is his professional associations with other legendary music icons.

Jan Hammer was a Mahavishnu Orchestra member, led by John McLaughlin. Mick Jagger, Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck, are some of his music associations. The fashion statement of wearing a sport coat with white tennis shoes may be out of style, especially for a politician, but Jan Hammer and popular hit songs in his Miami Vice soundtrack are still in vogue. The video is from The Best of Miami Vice twentieth year anniversary. During the interview style narrative with Jan Hammer, he and his fans discuss the impact Miami Vice Original Soundtrack made in music history, featuring song Crockett’s Theme. Visit JanHammer.com to sample or purchase, or visit Amazon.com. Album artwork is courtesy Jan Hammer.

Yanni is preparing for his 2012 North American Concert Tour

The Yanni – North American Concert Tour video is a live promotional video performance for Yanni’s 2012 concert season. The song lineup is said to be comprised of classic concert favorites, and songs from his original studio album Truth Of Touch, performed by the music professionals that complete the Yanni concert experience.

Yanni’s Truth Of Touch release was recently selected in the Best of 2011 at Billboard. In addition, Truth Of Touch was selected the top-selling new age album of 2011, plus Yanni has made Billboard’s Top New Age Artist of the Year. At present, his studio release Truth Of Touch, which peaked at the #1 position, has spent a total of 48 weeks on Billboard’s Top 10 New Age chart so far this year.

After a sold out world concert tour last year, 2012 is expected to be another successful concert season for Yanni and his world-class orchestra of top musicians. Visit the Yanni.com homepage and 2012 Concert Tour page. Photos are courtesy yanni.com.

Christmas music has always been a popular topic here at New Age Music World. There were so many new age Christmas albums from 2011 that it has been a challenge to tell you about every single one. Some of the newest Christmas albums can be seen in an earlier article I wrote entitled; Best Christmas Albums for Holiday Music.

The 2002 music duo Randy and Pamela Copus have one of the most popular new age Christmas albums around too. Christmas Dreams by 2002 is a wonderful Christmas album they released in 2008. Randy and Pamela’s Carol of the Bells animated video has received over 868,300 views, so this gives one an idea just how popular 2002’s music has become!

Believe by 2002 is their soon to be released project, plus 2012 marks the year Randy and Pamela Copus of 2002 celebrate their twentieth year anniversary as a band! Below is a Christmas video of Carol of the Bells by 2002 from their Christmas Dreams album. On the YouTube page for 2002 you can view a song video from their new Believe album Dreams of Peace. Visit 2002music.com and 2002′s Amazon page.

Merry Christmas from New Age Music World!

Al Conti is a nominee for the 54th GRAMMY® Awards

Northern Seas is Al Conti’s GRAMMY® nominated album that highlights his abilities as a top composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist who has produced a total of four exceptional story based releases so far. Plus, I read at the alconti.net website there is new Al Conti album currently in the works, so I will bring you more about Al Conti’s new album soon.

The storyline on Northern Seas chronicles the ancestral homeland and Nordic heritage of Scandinavia in a manner you will find glorious. The rich instrumental landscape captures the imagination by 10 songs in a fascinating mixture of new age and world fusion music, with a Celtic tonal expression on several songs.

I have an interview with Al Conti in the near future. In my interview, I plan to cover a variety of interesting topics about Al Conti, including his GRAMMY® nominated new age album Northern Seas, along with his story based album compositions that have earned him the reputation of top new age artist. Pending my Al Conti interview publication, below is his Northern Seas high definition promotional song video for Veil of Mist.

Visit alconti.net to sample or purchase at his music store. Photos are courtesy alconti.net.

Billboard magazine

It’s a well known fact that TSO’s live concert events are notorious for stunning audiences with their exceptional rock opera style interpretation of orchestral music!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a spectacular American music group that has performed on stage before an estimated 8 million concertgoers, and has sold around 8.5 million albums since their inception in 1993.

The theatrical group’s most current 2 disc album entitled Night Castle showcases TSO’s fundamental elements of progressive, symphonic rock music that has made them a titanic success. Knowing how extraordinary this album is, I would be willing to guess that songs from Night Castle are included on their playlist of concert songs.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Winter Concert Tour for 2011 is in full force with many concerts dates scheduled between now and their final Winter Concert Tour performance in Phoenix, Arizona on December 30, 2011 at the Jobing.com Arena.

TSO’s Beethoven’s Last Night 2012 Concert Tour begins a new season for Trans-Siberian Orchestra and fans starting with their very first concert appearance on Saturday March 3, 2012 in Beaumont, Texas at the Ford Arena. The final Beethoven’s Last Night 2012 Tour season ends on Sunday May 12, 2012 in Battle Creek, Michigan at the Kellogg Arena, but there are many opportunities for you to see TSO perform live!

Please note the tour dates shown above are beginning and ending dates only, and like any concert tour, all dates and venues listed here and at their site are subject to change. The must see YouTube HD video below is a live promotional video performance for TSO’s Winter Concert Tour.

You can visit the trans-siberian.com homepage for news and gift ideas. Visit the TSO concert tour page for full concert schedule for 2011 & 2012. Photos in this article are courtesy trans-siberian.com.

Bill Leslie’s A Midnight Clear is an instrumental album with 16 songs of traditional and original music. Finding inspiration from author Jan Karon, and her best-selling Mitford series, A Midnight Clear was the first entry in a 2011 album recommendation I wrote entitled The Best Christmas Albums for Holiday Music.

Simple Beauty earned Bill Leslie a top award for Best Instrumental Album – Acoustic at Zone Music Reporter in 2010. The video from the album below of song Smitten is the audio visual product of a family vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Along with his original compositions, Bill composes traditional and Celtic fusion music as soloist and concert appearances with his band Lorica.

The 10 original songs on Simple Beauty are modeled after 4 traditional Irish melodies in a wonderful blend of instrumental harmonies. On Simple Beauty, Bill Leslie performs acoustic guitar, piano, bass, whistles and keyboards.

Instrumental artists on this album are Bill Covington (Grand Piano), Brent Cotton (Acoustic Guitar), Jennifer Curtis (Violin), Nancy Green (cello), Will Leslie (percussion), and Linda Metz (flute).

While Bill Leslie is a prominent new age artist, a 5 time Emmy award winning journalist and recipient of multiple Journalist of the Year awards in North Carolina, Bill Leslie gives the impression he is prepared to go the normal distance to find perfect balance in his talents as a top artist and TV journalist, for which he is equally admired. Below is a review quote from Simple Beauty and the song video Smitten.

Visit billleslie.com to sample or purchase at his web store or visit his amazon.com page. Read my pages for Bill Leslie. Photo is courtesy billleslie.com.

Bill Leslie’s appropriately titled Simple Beauty is a work of harmony whose scenic wonder and peaceful surroundings emerge by the great instrumental theme, making this natural and wholesome new release a sensational find for everyone.

If you were a touring concert pianist with Julio Iglesias

Performing concert tours with Julio Iglesias before thousands of people was of course rewarding as anyone could imagine, and it speaks of his talents as a pianist, but Chad Lawson’s solo career was waiting. During his career he was the leader of his own jazz trio, contributed to albums of a variety of great artists, and has produced several film scores, with another movie score nearing completion.

Chad Lawson’s new solo piano release entitled The Piano is another great album from this artist who won Whisperings Album of the Year award in 2009 with his debut solo album entitled Set On A Hill. His debut solo piano album produced by GRAMMY® Award winner Will Ackerman, moved Chad’s solo career in a positive new direction. Today his newest release highlights the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Piano featuring 10 songs of Chad Lawson’s latest songs for solo piano can be sampled by the song video of Nocturne in a Minor shown below. Visit chadlawson.com to sample or purchase The Piano or go to his amazon.com page.

A New Horizon features 14 songs in a classical merge of electronic rock music in a representation like epic band Tangerine Dream, in his changing scores of over 100 popular music themes. Esteban has studied classical guitar and electronic music over the years before producing his first album Dreamland in 2002. Composer Esteban is the second Spanish musician who has signed with Landscape TV, an audio visual media station in the UK called Landscape HD productions.

José Luis Serrano Esteban’s first new age video will be released near the end of 2011. Along with his own recordings, Esteban is a guitar player and synthesizer programmer in other artist’s CDs and visual music productions too, having produced numerous scores for commercials, demo tapes, and music scores for television documentaries.

On A New Horizon, some pieces were performed with the help of the fine artists Nacho Serrano (Bass and 12 string acoustic guitar), Nuria Felix (Violin), Santiago Puente (Clarinet), Gloria Esteban (Flute) and Covadonga Serrano (Piano). The song video of Further Than The Milky Way shows images from the European Space Agency/Hubble Space Telescope.

Visit his jlse.serarte.es website to sample or purchase or at amazon.co.uk and other digital stores. Find more on my page for José Luis Serrano Esteban. Visit Landscape HD at landscapehd.com. Photo is courtesy jlse.serarte.es.

The soundtrack for Tron: Legacy won an award for Best Original Score by the Austin Film Critics Association, nominated for Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film from the Art Directions Guild, and reached the top 10 charts at Billboard.

The Daft Punk soundtrack was nominated Score of the Year from the International Film Music Critiics Association, and Grammy nominated for Sound Editing.

Daft Punk is the Grammy award winning music duo comprised of French artists Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Recognized internationally for their innovative electronic techno music, Daft Punk at present has been honored by seven Grammy nominations and two Grammy awards.

Shown below is a YouTube video of the song Derezzed. You can sample or purchase the Tron: Legacy Soundtrack at amazon.com, or Tron: Legacy DVD at amazon.com, and visit daftalive.com.

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack cover art is courtesy Walt Disney Records.