Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick makes his ECM debut as a leader with this set, which features keyboardist Jon Balke and a guest appearance from Stian Carstensen - usually an accordionist, but here playing that jazz-band rarity, the pedal-steel guitar. Eick (who also plays vibes and guitar) has played with everybody from the pioneering Trygve Seim collective to Chick Corea, psychedelic group Motorpsycho and contemporary jazz-rock band Jaga Jazzist. His silky, unbrasslike sound is ideally suited to this undulating groove-landscape, and pianist Balke's apposite fills and asides help give the music a collective fluency. But there's more angularity in the rough offbeats and low keyboard grunts under Eick's airy lines on the funky Stavanger, the stately Cologne Blues is like a slowed-down Carla Bley piece (with Carstensen's steel guitar shimmering beneath it, and a probing Balke solo), and there's a folk song lilt to the mid-tempo Williamsburg. A lot of it is slow tone-poetry, but Eick's rather mournful, puffs-of-air sound is pretty captivating.

From the beginning of Blues Dream, the listener knows that something special is going on. The spare notes of Ron Miles' trumpet and the relaxed guitar work of Greg Leisz lay the groundwork for a spacious sound on the title cut. This openness remains throughout the album, even when alto and trombone are added into the mix. The instrumental "Ron Carter" begins with the loose, electrified feel of an early Miles Davis fusion piece, with Bill Frisell's distorted guitar exploring the space of the piece without resorting to excessive volume. The short and sweet "Pretty Stars Were Made to Shine" leans heavier on the country side, with steel guitar and Chet Atkins' fingerpicking dominating. The arrangements on Blues Dream are a big change from last year's solo effort, Ghost Town…

This is definitely the most lighthearted of the Gatsby soundtracks. Out of all of the different soundtracks for the movie, this soundtrack merges the modern aspects of the movie with an authentic 20's feel better than the others.

If there's such a thing as poetic music, Matsui continues her discovery of it on this effort. For all its beauty ad more aggressive touches, this collection doesn't quite measure up to her previous collection No Borders, but there are moments of fusion in her work here which cook like never before, thanks to Eric Marienthal, Gerald Albright and guitarist Ron Komie. While husband/producer Kazu Matsui adds his mysterious shakuhachi wind to "Grey Cliffs," Matsui spends her time creating soundscapes which range from mainly acoustic to punchy electric pieces like "Hope." Clay Jenkins' flugelhorn is a plus. The two vocals here don't give Greg Walker enough excitement to play with; instead they seem too ambitious. Don't let the flowers on the cover fool you because this disc is anything but fluffy and pastoral in nature.

In general, tenor saxophonist David Murray's Red Baron recordings are not on the same level of his Black Saints albums; the settings tended to be more conservative and the material not as strong. This outing with pianist Kirk Lightsey, bassist Santi Debriano, drummer Roy Haynes and trumpeter Marcus Belgrave is better than most of his Red Baron releases…

Recorded in 1957, Ella & Louis Again re-teams Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong after the success of their first album and a popular series of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl the previous year. Stylistically, Fitzgerald and Armstrong had very different histories; he started out in Dixieland before branching out into classic jazz and swing, whereas Fitzgerald started out as a swing-oriented big-band vocalist before becoming an expert bebopper…

Saxophonist Dave Koz has become one of the most successful and beloved instrumentalists of his time, and helped establish smooth jazz as a musical force to be reckoned with. His career catapulted with 1993's Lucky Man, one of Koz' slickest and most commercial releases (which is not a bad thing by any means) to date. The album has an undeniably crisp and clean feel, akin to the color schemes used in the artwork. The musical styles range from funky and peppy, as in the opening "Shakin' the Shack," "Silverlining," and the evergreen "You Make Me Smile," to tender and sweet, as in "Faces of the Heart," "Lucky Man," and "Tender Is the Night," which features hypnotic vocals courtesy of Phil Perry.

Of course, you have already heard all of that: sometime, somewhere, somehow. Of course, it is again a piano trio, the most traditional, most often used, but also the most common collection of band members grouped together in one category in jazz…