Master jazz guitarist/visionary Chuck Loeb again rolls out yet another fine project, Unspoken, that further compliments and hails the chuck-loeb-unspoken-cdintricacies and meticulous nature of well-played J-A-Z-Z. Here’s another perfect example of how the well-polished artist, who now boasts 18 albums to his credit as a leader (counting this one), can dash between solid straight-ahead styles and melodies to the contemporary smooth stuff and that which carries the emotive and exotic Brazilian touch.

The album was recorded with Sting s long-time collaborators Dominic Miller (guitar) and Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) and includes contributions from drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Guns n Roses), guitarist Lyle Workman and the San Antonio-based Tex-Mex band The Last Bandoleros. Riding a wave of inspiration, 57th & 9th came together impulsively, with sessions completed in just a few weeks.

The longest track on “Perfection,” the debut album by a jazz trio with David Murray on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Geri Allen on piano and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, clocks in at just over eight minutes, covering so much ground that it feels almost like an epic. Composed by Mr. Murray, it’s a swinging tune with a pensive yet intrepid melody, and a midsection of bristling abstraction. The title is playfully apt: “The David, Geri & Terri Show.”

By reviving the swirling, guitar-heavy sounds of late-'60s psychedelia and infusing it with George Harrison's Indian mysticism and spirituality, Kula Shaker became one of the most popular British bands of the immediate post-Brit-pop era. More musically adept and experimental than Cast, Kula Shaker nevertheless worked the same vaguely spiritual lyrical territory, but musically they brought the overpowering rush of Oasis to psychedelia, a genre that the Mancunians had previously avoided.

Two rising stars in today’s firmament of Baroque music performance, Leila Schayegh and Jörg Halubek, join forces to record one of the major challenges in their joint repertory: the six Bach Violin Sonatas, BWV 1014-1019. The collection’s title, 'Sei Suonate à Cembalo certato è Violino Solo', reflects the close partnership demanded of the violin and harpsichord players, with Bach moving away from the idea of continuo support for a solo instrument and constantly making new technical demands on the musicians and thereby approaching the concept of the triosonata.

Joe Henderson is the essence of jazz. He embodies all the elements that came together in his generation: the virtuosity of hard bop and the avantgarde. He can be harmonically abstract and yet keep to the roots. On 1980's "Mirror, Mirror", Henderson has gathered a truly all-star group. This album isn't about a soloist and his sidemen: all the musicians are on an equal footing, everyone has their space to play.

The Puppini Sisters' fifth studio album, The High Life, is the trio's first with Emma Smith joining original members Marcella Puppini and Kate Mullins. Aside from new membership, the vocal group stays the course, offering more of their close-knit, three-part harmonies on versions of big-band classics, a couple of original songs, and swing era-inspired rearrangements of more contemporary hits. The trio holds a few surprises in its selections of the latter, such as a medley of the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" and Sia's "Chandelier," and a fluid cover of Missy Elliott's "Work It."

Beethoven's sonatas for cello and piano span his entire creative life. Sonatas Nos.1 and 2, dating from the late 1790's, were products of his early years as a virtuoso pianist and aspiring composer in Vienna. Sonata No.3 dates from the composer's middle period and is contemporary with his fourth and firth symphonies. Sonatas Nos.4 and 5 were composed at the beginning of Beethoven's visionary late period and rub shoulders with his last violin sonata. These authoritative performances from cellist Ralph Kirschbaum and pianist Shai Wosner were recorded immediately after concluding of a tour of all five sonatas and the variations across the USA and the UK.

Trance duo Blank & Jones recruit pianist Marcus Loeber in these pensive works to guide in rest and reflection. “Le Grand Bleu” has all the hallmarks of a great pop song—stirring melodies and strong accompaniment—and its chilled tempo makes it perfect for relaxing at the end of a long day.