Conversations with Christian is an unusual release, as it features the veteran bassist playing duets with a number of good friends. The vocal meetings include Angélique Kidjo, Sting, and Dee Dee Bridgewater (the latter with a hilarious, funky cover of the Isley Brothers' signature song "It's Your Thing"). The pairings with musicians of McBride's generation (trumpeter Roy Hargrove, tenor saxophonist Ron Blake, and guitarist Russell Malone) all exceed expectations. There are several enjoyable duets with pianists, one featuring Latin jazz master Eddie Palmieri, a duo improvised tango by Chick Corea and the leader, plus an all too rare acoustic outing by the talented George Duke (who tears up the keyboard with his hard-charging "McDukey Blues".

Chris Hinze’s unceasing interest in the integration of ethnic music in western music cultures brought him all over the world and led him to the by now very successful ‘African-Indian and World Music Fusion’.

Antonio Forcione is referred to as the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar and his live energy has established him as one of the most cherished figures across the world. Touch Wood is a continuation of previous works, building an eclectic mix of Italian folk music with Brazilian, Spanish and Cuban sounds. Forcione enriches the experience by enlisting friends and musicians from across the globe. The album includes the outstanding title track, “Touch Wood,” an emotionally charged guitar workout, executed with Forcione’s effortless technique.

Amidst his rich synthesized sounds, pop textures, and spicy Latin rhythms, Rubaja also performs on such exotic South American instruments as the charango (a guitarlike instrument made from an armadillo shell) and the bandoneon (a button accordion made famous by fellow-Argentinian Astor Piazzola). Guest artists include trumpeter Mark Isham and percussionist Alex Acuna, among others.

"ArcoLuz", the first live album after six studio recordings on ENJA, powerfully captures the fire and emotionality of Renaud Garcia-Fons' vibrant concert performance. With the core trio of "Entremundo" including upcoming flamenco star-stringer "Kiko" Ruiz and drummer "Negrito" Trasante of Gipsy Kings-fame, Garcia-Fons delivers seven of his thrilling Spanish-influenced pieces, four of them being brand new. His trio's highly inspired, forceful and expressive performance, caught at Germany's Schloss Elmau in summer 2005, is not only presented on a first-class CD recording but can also be seen on a 85-minute DVD video disc directed by Nicolas Dattilesi. With subtitles in four languages and bonus tracks included, the DVD is further proof for Renaud Garcia-Fons' and his trio's extraordinary musicianship and deep-felt emotions. "He's in a position to unite nations of music lovers"

Avishai Cohen’s third CD for the Stretch Records label, Colors, features the talented bassist, composer, arranger, producer, and pianist trusting his own imagination and intelligence in order to capture the auras of chord progressions and rhythmic patterns with this excellent use of musical metaphors. The composer wrote 13 selections for this program and each is a meeting of artistic colors, each rare and emanating its own originality through Cohen’s sense of harmony, expansive tones, and polyrhythms. His earthy placement of “Shay Ke,” a warm, ballad filled with the funk-Middle Eastern oud solo of Amos Hoffman, vocals of Claudia Acuna, and individual gifts from Jimmy Greene on soprano saxophone, is a prime example of Cohen’s ability to realize his maturing non-conformism. The inclusion of Avi Lebovich on trombone in addition to Steve Davis, makes the experiences of his circle of friends a splendid chance to grow musically.

At Home, Avishai Cohen’s sixth recording as a leader, features eleven profoundly beautiful compositions performed by his trio of Sam Barsh on piano and Mark Guiliana on drums, joined by special guests Yosvany Terry, (saxophones, chekere), Anne Drummond (flute), Diego Urcola (flugelhorn), Jeff Ballard (drums, percussion) and Tomer Tzur (hand drum). At Home reflects on, and celebrates, places, people, emotions and realizations that Cohen has encountered in his many sojourns around the globe, all the while exposing the innermost jubilation and contemplation of the bassist/composer. Stuart Nicholson, commenting on At Home, in Jazzwise Magazine, said “for my money [it’s] the most considered and best realised of all.” Indeed, Cohen exposes his many gifts as a melodic composer, powerful soloist and provoking leader, as never before, reflected in the brilliant performances by the trio and ensemble.

Avishai Cohen showed enormous promise as both a composer and an acoustic bassist on his first album as a leader, Adama, which he produced with Chick Corea for the company Corea co-owned, Stretch records. Reminding listeners of his Israeli heritage, the post-bopper brings a heavy Middle Eastern influence to such impressive originals as "Reunion of the Souls," "Ora," and "No Change." Although Cohen's 1997 music wasn't innovative – John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, and Miles Davis successfully experimented with Middle Eastern elements when they embraced modal jazz in the late '50s – Adama has a certain freshness to it.

Guitarist-composer Antonio Forcione has a new album out this month entitled Sketches of Africa. It is his first for five years and reflects inspiration drawn from visits to Africa and collaborations with local musicians. In support of the album he has just completed a four night residency at the Pizza Express in Dean Street, and will also be back there, for a five-night residency from December 7th-11th. The live band features Forcione on nylon and steel string guitars, Adriano Adewale on percussion, Matheus Nova on acoustic bass guitar and Jenny Adejayan on cello. Nova plays world music with a healthy injection of funk, while Adewale produces a grooving mix of hand percussion thuds and rattles together with conventional drum and cymbal sounds.

Lunatic Taxi est le sixième album studio de Sixun, enregistré et mixé en novembre et décembre 1994 par James Farber au studio Power Station, New-York.

The French band Sixun was founded in 1984.(Sixun comes from Six (Fr: six) and 'un' (one). This refers to the number of band members (six) from around the world that play together as a unit. The core of the band, Paco Sery (drums, percussion), Jean-Pierre Como (keyboards), Alain Debiossat (saxophone), Louis Winsberg (guitar) and Michel Alibo (Bass) remained unchanged over the years. The group began his recording career with Nuit Blanche in 1985, followed in 1987 by Pygmies and Explore in 1988. The polyrhythmic work of the band is very important and significant influences of the multicultural musical origins of the band members in particular, African and Caribbean can be found. The band is often compared to Weather Report, the major influence of Sixun.

Considered by many in the jazz world as the natural heir to the throne of the late great Jaco Pastorius, Cameroon-born bassist and vocalist Richard Bona is so well-known for his incredible work as a studio sideman (Joe Zawinal, Regina Carter, Bob James, etc) and two-year stint as musical director for Harry Belafonte that it's easy to overlook his prodigious solo output since the late '90s. Rather than release a safe greatest hits type collection, Decca had the capital idea to follow his Grammy nominated disc Tiki with a high energy, hour-plus live album that captures a batch of his most compelling, rhythmically overjoyed tracks in the habitat where they best come to life. The unique twist is that while Bona loves being on-stage, he's not a fan of making live recordings. So his deal was telling his board guy not to inform him of which performance he was recording to use for the album.

Dreamer is the fourth and final album by the Jazz fusion group Caldera. For Caldera, the term "Latin music" meant a variety of things – everything from Spanish flamenco and Afro-Cuban salsa to Brazilian samba and Andean music – and on this LP, all of those things successfully interact with jazz, funk, and rock. Like Caldera's three previous Capitol albums, Dreamer went out of print after the band's breakup and now is released on CD only in Japan

Trilok Gurtu's percussion work has powered a number of great albums that effectively fuse world music with jazz, allowing for both tight performance and free improvisation. This collection is therefore a gem, selecting ten cuts from six albums. Both an excellent overview and a wonderful place to begin acquainting yourself with Gurtu's music, and thus an essential addition to any jazz or world music collection.