Joshua Redman's sophomore effort found him leading a piano-less quartet that also included guitar great Pat Metheny and half of Ornette Coleman's trailblazing late-'50s/early-'60s quartet: acoustic bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins. With such company, Redman could have delivered a strong avant-garde or free jazz album; Haden and Higgins had played an important role in jazz's avant-garde because of their association with Coleman, and Metheny had himself joined forces with Coleman on their thrilling Song X session of 1985. But Wish isn't avant-garde; instead, it's a mostly inside post-bop date that emphasizes the lyrical and the introspective…

Emerging as one of the 62 bands signed out of the Northwest during the post-Nirvana explosion, Seattle's own Sweet Water signed to Atlantic Records in 1992. Fronted by charismatic front man Adam Czeisler and the songwriting team of guitarists Dudley Taft and Rich Credo, the band created a little buzz for itself in the Seattle region prior to releasing its self-titled debut in 1993…

Alligator Records presents Genuine Houserockin' Music Vol. 5.
Koko Taylor, Elvin Bishop, William Clarke, Bob Margolin, Lonnie Brooks, Charlie Musselwhite and others.

Corelli's Op. 6 contains two types of concerto, one termed da chiesa, the other da camera. The first eight concertos of the set belong to the former category, while the remaining four, of a less ostensibly serious character, belong to the second. Sometimes the differences are little more than terminological since there are, for instance, several clearly dance-orientated movements among the da chiesa concertos. The Brandenburg Consort give an affectionate and stylish account of these works…The playing is full of vitality and also responsive to the satisfying sounds inherent in Corelli's rich ripieno textures. The concertino group of two violins and cello also comes over effectively, providing that balanced contrast between small and larger units of sound.

Winter Light could arguably be classified as Linda Ronstadt's best pop album of the 1990s. She followed up 1989's hugely successful Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind with two Spanish language albums (Mas Canciones and Frenesi), then returned with the beautiful light-pop collection that is Winter Light. This set finds Ronstadt interpreting such classics as the Bacharach/David compositions "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" with enough torchy bravado to make them her own. Her cover of the Beach Boys' "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" is an ethereal, gorgeous, and breathy interpretation, and other covers, such as "Oh No, Not My Baby" and "It's Too Soon to Know" shine just as brightly. In fact, there is not a single dud on this impeccably produced album, which, in fact, gets better and better with each listening.

The timeless Way out West established Sonny Rollins as jazz's top tenor saxophonist (at least until John Coltrane surpassed him the following year). Joined by bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne, Rollins is heard at one of his peaks on such pieces as "I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)," his own "Way out West," "There Is No Greater Love," and "Come, Gone" (a fast stomp based on "After You've Gone")…

This compilation unites great artists like Ronnie Laws, Wilton Felder, Wayne Henderson and Chet Baker.

Like so much of Moby's earliest work, this isn't so much an album as a compilation via his original label, Instinct. Ambient influences in techno were all the rage in 1993 in terms of press and coverage (though jungle would swiftly eclipse both it and the progressive house genre), so it's no surprise Instinct wanted some of that action, right down to the says-it-all title. Motivations aside, Ambient is an enjoyable collection of experiments; if Aphex Twin's monumental Selected Ambient Works releases eclipse it in terms of both quality and sheer inventiveness, Moby's own efforts in the field are often quite pleasing. Those familiar with such later efforts as "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" and "The Rain Falls and rhe Sky Shudders" can find their partial roots here, though the compositions are generally more formal and less-immediately noteworthy than what came next.

The set that made Cray a pop star, despite its enduring blues base. Cray's smoldering stance on "Smoking Gun" and "Right Next Door" rendered him the first sex symbol to emerge from the blues field in decades, but it was his innovative expansion of the genre itself that makes this album a genuine 1980s classic…

Page began his career as a studio session musician in London and, by the mid-1960s, alongside Big Jim Sullivan, was one of the most sought-after session guitarists in Britain. He was a member of the Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968. In late 1968, he founded Led Zeppelin. Page is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Rolling Stone magazine has described Page as "the pontiff of power riffing" and ranked him number 3 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2010, he was ranked number two in Gibson's list of "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time" and, in 2007, number four on Classic Rock's "100 Wildest Guitar Heroes". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice; once as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and once as a member of Led Zeppelin (1995). Page has been described by Uncut as "rock's greatest and most mysterious guitar hero".

Flesh and Blood (stylized as Flesh + Blood) is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Roxy Music. Released in late May 1980, it was an immediate commercial success peaking at No. 1 in the UK for one week in June and then returned to the summit in August for another three weeks, in total spending 60 weeks on the albums chart in the United Kingdom. The album also peaked at No. 35 in the United States and No. 10 in Australia. The album was made after their drummer Paul Thompson had left the band, essentially making Roxy Music a three-piece band consisting of Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay and Phil Manzanera.