More jazz than not.(Bliss: String Quartet No. 2, Clarinet Quintet Maggini Quartet)(Daryl Hall/John Oates: Our Kind of Soul)(John Hiatt: Master of Disaster)(Mussorgsky/Stokowski: Symphonic Transcriptions)(The Redwine Trio: Baby Won't You Please Come Home)(Choose Something Like a Star: The Choral Music of Randall Thompson)(Vivaldi, Gloria, Bach: Magnificat)(Sound Recording Review)

Bliss: String Quartet No. 2; Clarinet Quintet Maggini Quartet/David Campbell, clarinet (Naxos 8.557394)

This Naxos release of two fine compositions by English composer Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) is a real delight; I would recommend it highly to anyone who has even the least hint of affinity for chamber music. Both pieces are quite approachable, with plenty of pleasures for the ear, so you need not be daunted by the dates of composition. If you enjoy the music of Vaughan Williams, for example, you should find these pieces quite to your liking. And at the Naxos budget price, you can't go wrong giving this disc a try.

Daryl Hall/John Oates: Our Kind of Soul (U-Watch Records 480103-2)

This one has been out for a while, having been released in 2004. Yeah, I'm getting older and slower. But this is such a great release that I would feel negligent in not passing along a recommendation.

Those familiar with Hall and Oates are well aware that they represent the Philly soul sound, and a sweet sound that is. They have produced some simply wonderful hits over the years, with infectious hooks galore, but this time around, they have simply outdone themselves--this is an absolutely fabulous recording. Were it not for the fact that my Top Ten list for the year is already being laid out, Hall & Oates would bump no less a luminary than Bill Frisell right off the list.

From the opening cut, an original titled "Let Love Take Control," which sounds as though it could have been a classic Philly soul tune from the '70s, on through dynamite renditions of classics such as Standing in the Shadows of Love," "I'll Be Around," "Used to Be My Girl," "Rock Steady," "What You See Is What You Get," and more, the hits just keep on coming, hook after glorious hook.

Readers who think I am someone who listens to little else than Mahler and ECM recordings may be shocked to know that I am such a huge fan of this sort of music. Hall & Oates, The Spinners, the Chi-Lites, The O-Jays--oh man, sweet sooooooul's got a hold on me! If you have any sort of affinity at all for soul music, you have to hear this disc. You'll be smiling and singing and dancing!