(1) BOOK: Audition Masterclasses, a collection of 15 selected articles on how to prepare for and win an audition. From Windplayer Publications, P.0. 2750, Malibu, CA 90265. Order and get additional information at: http://www.winauditions.com. Price: $15.95 with free shipping (plus any applicable state taxes.)

     Topics covered range from the basics of preparation and how to perform under pressure to dealing with performance anxiety, use of medications, and memorization. Written by a experts from a wide variety of backgrounds, this thirty-one page booklet includes advice on preparing for specialized auditions ranging from scholarships and/or conservatory entrance and placement, securing freelance and casual contract work, Las Vegas and other show bands, cruise lines, and musicals and Broadway shows. Whether you are getting ready for tryouts for music school, the pop field, chamber music gigs, or classical orchestra jobs, this book is sure to give you valuable advice and assurance. (The publisher is so confident you will like this publication that he says: "If this book doesn't help you, I'll gladly refund your money with no questions asked.") (JEP)

(2) CD: New. A CD of recently written music for flute and piano performed by the young California flutist BRIAN BENSING, and Marja Mutro, pianist. Privately produced and available directly from the performer at: 2537 Alden Way #6, San Jose, CA 95117 or on the web at http://www.brianbensing.com/brianbensing.html. Price: $16 plus shipping.

     This recording brilliantly presents works newly composed and not widely available on disc, including premiere recordings of Gary Shocker’s 1993 Sonata No. 2, Op. 32, and Robert Denham’s The Lament of Aeneas from 2003. Other works include John Rutter Suite Antique, Carl Vines’ Sonata, and Mike Mower’s “Scraps” from his Fingerbusters. Flutist Bensing's tone is open and free, his technique is dazzling (especially on the Schocker and Mower pieces), and the interpretations and interplay of the flute and piano accompaniment are clear and musical. (JEP)

(3) CD and/or Download: Two New Recordings by Laurel Zucker. It must be nearing harvest time—we have another bountiful crop of delightful and tasty recordings from LAUREL ZUCKER who has out done herself this year with three outstanding discs including:

(a) The Claude Bolling Suites for Flute and Jazz Trio. Cantilena Records No. 66025-2, a two CD set available from Fluteworld.com, or you can download them directly from www.cdbaby.com for $25.00. (You can find all 26 of her fine recordings at this site.)

     Zucker presents both the original 1973 Bolling Suite made so popular by Jean-Pierre Rampal and the composer as well as the 1987 sequel. Her versions are every bit as interesting and exciting as the older recordings—and even a bit more stylishly swinging and cool, with fresh improvisatory sections. (Laurel has strong roots in jazz, rock and pop styles: I urge you to check out her early recording “Poetic Justice” to hear her in a high-powered setting.)

     As always, her performances are lyrical and soaring, the intonation flawless, and the rhythmic clean and driving. Laurel brings out the character of these pieces with a luxuriant tone, a singing and subtly expressive vibrato, and utterly liquid leaps. (Is there a modern melody as singing and expressive as the “Sentimentale” movement of the first suite!?!) This whole recording swings; and the piano solos and accompaniments by Joe Gilman are even more dynamic and inventive than the original version we have been accustomed to. The rhythm section with Jeff Neighbor on bass and David Rokeach on percussion are just as creative and supportive.

     The second Bolling Suite is just as delicious as the first one and I hope more flutists will rise to the challenge and perform this interesting work. It is definitely more jazz-oriented and requires a good knowledge of jazz styles and familiarity with patterns and chord changes used by jazz players. In some ways, this later suite has more to recommend it, with a wider variety of moods, harmonies and character than the first. It maintains the original suite's ability to shift between baroque, classic, romantic and jazz styles but has even more pungent chords, expansive harmonies and inventive melodies with depth rather than the light-hearted cleverness of the first suite. The spectacular technical sections in the later suite are challenging and impressive -- and extremely well performed and interpreted by Zucker and Gilman. They run the changes and passage work with breathtaking surety and ease.

(b) Caliente! World Music for Flute and Guitar by Christopher Caliendo. On Cantilena Records No. 66032-2. You may obtain physical CDs through Fluteworld.com for $18.95 or purchase/download the recording from cdbaby.com for $16.00.

     After two highly successful recordings of his sensuous modern tangos, guitarist and composer, Christopher Caliendo has paired up on his exiting new set of Latin and gypsy-flavored flute and guitar works on an elegant CD with Laurel Zucker. It is a fine match of styles, temperaments, and moods. Caliendo establishes driving rhythmic backgrounds and Zucker responds with meditative melodies and bouncy rifts that get you dancing and swaying. Although primarily Latin-tinged, the diverse styles of the thirteen tunes on this recording run the gamut from Brazilian samba to jazz fusion to Flamenco to Italian and Arabian folk songs to American pop/folk rock to meditative classical melodies; yet they all have that highly original “Caliendo” feel — the soulful, passionate, energetic expression of a composer with a special appreciation for this combination of flute and guitar. These works evoke nostalgia, hypnotic dervish dances, and the spirit of the dance. (You can obtain printed copies of these and other Caliendo compositions at the website: www.christophercaliendo.com.) (J.E.P.)