This tenth recording from the now legendary quartet reminds listeners that, while smooth jazz often gets better press, there are still fans of honest to God inventive electric fusion who will eat up this type of powerfully rocking and energetic project. Bassist Baron Browne joined the core trio of Steve Smith (drums), Frank Gambale (guitar), and Tom Coster (keyboards) in 1998, and provides a rollicking bouncy energy throughout on tunes like the feisty Herbie Hancock ode "Soul Principle" and the '60s soul-jazz-flavored "Cat and Mouse" (featuring some of Coster's slyest Hammond B-3 lines).

Phil Alvin's second solo date, County Fair 2000 continues his thorough exploration of Americana with references to tap dancing ("Low Down Rhythm"), Ellingtonia ("The Terror"), Delta blues ("That Thing"), New Orleans brass bands ("Danny Boy's Mourning Sunset"), rockabilly/country ("County Fair 2000"), automobiles ("Wreck Your V-8 Ford"), and the Jimmy Reed-styled "Oh, Doctor." Alvin has the good taste to employ an impressive list of guests including the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Billy Boy Arnold, Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos, James Intveld, and members of the Blasters (without brother Dave Alvin.) County Fair 2000 leaves no doubt that Phil Alvin is a premier musicologist, preserving and staying true to what he loves.

Africa and Latin America together have moulded American popular music since the beginning of the twentieth century. African influences have led to the development of jazz, gospel and blues while successive waves of dance music from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica have largely determined its rhythm. Dance forms and musical stylings such as habanera, bolero, tango, rumba, conga, samba, baion, calypso, mambo, charleston, cha-cha-cha, bossa nova and twistall have their origins outside the USA. This compilation aims to demonstrate just how far back the roots of Latin jazz stretch, well beyond the partnership that Dizzy Gillespie forged with Chano Pozo in founding cubop, the post-war marriage of bebop with Cuban music.

It's an amusing little slice of the pop culture times that veteran bassist Sekou Bunch is better known to the American public as the first eliminated contestant from Survivor: Cook Islands (2006, the thirteenth season of the show) than for his incredible all-star resume featuring everyone from Quincy Jones and Luther Vandross to Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, the Winans, and Stevie Wonder. His experience on the show probably made him impervious to the odds of a new name (this was his first solo effort since the early '90s) breaking through the smooth jazz format when this was released. The success of Wayman Tisdale aside, another obstacle was the fact that he's an ace bassist, not the most radio-friendly instrument in the genre. All that said, The Next Level is a solid, coolly funky, and supermelodic date, on par with and even surpassing the catchy and grooving joy that Tisdale was famous for.

One of the pre-eminent Chicago harpists of the pre-war era, Bill "Jazz" Gillum was born September 11, 1904 in Indianola, Mississippi. He picked up the harmonica at the age of six, and five years later ran away from home to live with relatives in nearby Charleston; after spending his formative years playing street corners and house parties for spare change, Gillum moved to Chicago in 1923, and before long he hooked up with guitarist Big Bill Broonzy, often playing together as a duo in area clubs. Following a few sideman dates for ARC, he signed with RCA Victor's Bluebird imprint in 1934 to record as a solo artist; his strong relationship with producer Lester Melrose also resulted in a steady stream of session work, and he was a fixture of the "Bluebird Beat" house band.

The work is a vibrant traverse through soul, disco, jazz and funk, before the duo up-the-tempo to bumpier house grooves, tinges of jungle, and their own sublimely crafted electronica. The highlight-heavy compilation includes two brand new Maribou State productions, ‘Mother’ and ‘Strange Habits’, alongside a delicate and uplifting re-work of Radiohead’s ‘Reckoner’. A beautiful collaboration with Pedestrian under the North Downs moniker is also weaved into the final work.

MONOLORD make their Relapse Records debut with their new album, No Comfort. The Swedish power trio channel the most exciting elements of driving rock and crushing stoner sludge to produce one of the year's most gripping and heavy albums. Tracks like "The Bastard Son" and "The Last Leaf" showcase undeniable riffs piling over each other, continually evolving alongside heart-pounding drums with a bass attack that will make even the most conditioned ears bleed. No Comfort elevates Monolord from one of the underground's best bands to true leaders of the genre. Rarely does a band so seamlessly fuse absolutely heavy riffs with undeniable groove.

The Police were an English new wave band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the band consisted of Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion)…

Renée Fleming and Andreas Scholl lead a superb cast in Stephen Wadsworth’s celebrated production of Handel’s Rodelinda from the Metropolitan Opera – based on the "Live in HD" transmission to cinemas worldwide. The title role is unique in featuring no less than eight magnificent arias. Renée Fleming’s triumph in the first run of the production was hailed by The New York Times, "Ms Fleming draws on every resource of her artistry in this portrayal: luminous sound, exquisite ornamentation, floating high notes, emotional volatility."

Femme Fatale is the very suitable title of Wolf Myer Orchestra's debut album. Passion, emotion and lifes other big themes are the threds, leading through this new recording. Demandig an active listener as with previous soloprojects (Seven and Storm, Rough Cuts) Parov Stelar cooperates on "Femme Fatale" with Wolf Myer and his Orchestra. Over 30 guest - artists helped to create a fresh and vivid album that is always aware of its jazzy roots but definitively goes beyond any genres thight boundaries. Hip Hop meets Soul, Funk, Pop und Jazz in a perfect blend of analog and digital. Leading the listener into a world full of intimate thoughts and capacious moments, "Femme Fatale" rejects all daily struggle and rush.

Global Rock will be Waltari’s first album for their new home of Metalville, and will be released worldwide on March 20th. Global Rock shows a fresh, diverse view of modern metal, including a cover of Canned Heat’s “Going Up The Country.” As always with this band, expect the unexpected!. Vocalist and mastermind Kartsy Hatakka sums up the philosophy of Waltari: “Rock is an attitude, an unquenched thirst to remain playful with life – ’til the very end! It’s the world Waltari was born into. I still find it cool to put on my make-up and be an outcast. Our goal is to create music that will blow the minds of our listeners.”

Throughout Steve Morse’s memorable career he has written music that draws on hard rock, country, British fusion and baroque classical. Angelfire, the debut album from his latest project of the same name, finds Morse applying his gifts to yet another genre: acoustic vocal music.

Recorded in a church in 1973, this is one of the great lost albums of '70s free jazz. The label "free," though, is something of a misnomer. There's structure here, just not a classical, rigid, "now it's your turn" thing that binds so much of jazz. Here the structure is supplied by mutual respect and the kind of telepathy that only comes from long sessions and careful study of the rules before you break them. Sure, this stuff is loose, but it stomps, it sways, and, good Lord, it swings. Just the thing to get us into church. As an added note, Charles "Bobo" Shaw is, as always, a revelation.

With this strong, mainly Latin influenced debut, add a chapter on Erquiaga to the book of smooth and breezy, and slightly exotic, smooth jazz guitar. Produced by Andy Narell and featuring Narell's steel pans on one cut and the jamming support of Peter Erskine, Jimmy Johnson, Bob Sheppard, and Mitch Forman, this collection goes down smooth and easy. There are moments of frenetic inspiration, but for the most part, it's more of that nice and easy pop jazz with Latin spice. An impressive debut from an artist we unfortunately didn't hear enough of as the '90s rolled by.