Alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett is the star attraction, although this is nominally drummer Mike Clark's album. Clark does have a strong, extensive solo on the title track and plays with purpose and direction throughout, but it's Garrett who emerges as the date's finest player.

This CD is more jazz-oriented than most of Bob James' recordings and even takes chances in a few spots. The tunes, mostly by James, contain several strong melodies, including a tribute piece for Sarah Vaughan; among the sidemen are guitarist Lee Ritenour, Kirk Whalum on tenor and soprano, and (in a guest spot) tenor great Michael Brecker. The results overall are still poppish in places, but the diverse instrumentation, which changes from song to song, and the wide range of moods covered make this release of great interest.

This SACD hybrid recording was beautifully crafted at Oslo's Rainbow Studio with engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug, home and technician behind so many classic ECM recordings. While Libera Me is unquestionably a well-crafted album for those who want to simply sit back and be enveloped by something that doesn't confront or challenge, it is in the odd man out tracks—"The Teacher," "Both Sides Now," and especially "Asnah"—where we hear what this album could have been and, perhaps, should have been. Hopefully they are harbingers of what Danielsson has in store next time around.

Lars Danielsson ACT-debut “Libera me“ (ACTSACD 9800-2) left no doubts about his creative versatility. And yet: the bass player, cellist and composer continues to surprise. His latest ACT-release “Mélange Bleu” (ACT 9604-2) shows up a completely new dimension to this musician with enormous potential. Danielsson has surrounded himself with partners like pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer und guitarist Eivind Aarset, all of them specialists for mood music that often develops in before a backdrop of ambient inspired sounds, samples and programmed beats.

Djabe are an award-winning Hungarian jazz and progressive fusion band comprised of virtuoso musicians. Their music is a unique meld where elements of electric jazz are woven through various aspects of Hungarian and other cultures' folk and progressive rock. Djabe often collaborate with guitarist Steve Hackett.
In 2019 the band went on an North-American tour. Some of the highlights of this tour is the full house show in the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the 8th performance at the Rochester International Jazzfest in New York, and the closing gig at the Edmonton International Jazz Festival of Canada. In the band’s opinion the latter show was the best and they decided to release the recorded multitracks. Djabe played 2 sets with different tracklists, now featured both of them on this release.

This sequel to the 2003 tribute Word of Mouth Revisited showcases the compositions and arrangements of the legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius. It features Pastorius-influenced bassists, including Victor Wooten, Mark Egan, Gerald Veasley, and Marcus Miller, with a number of Pastorius' ex-sidemen, from trumpeters Randy Brecker and steel drummer Othello Molineaux to drummer Peter Erskine. Peter Graves–a bandmate of the flashy bassist when they both lived in Florida–leads this big band and sticks close to Pastorius' original conceptions, as evidenced by the Latin-tinged "Las Olas," guest-starring the Cuban bass giant Israel "Cachao" Lopez.

The track that showcases the classic Jaco chops of old is the 1986 recording of Mike Stern's "Mood Swings". Recorded just two months prior to Jaco checking himself into the Bellevue psychiatric ward, this is the most masterfull bass playing that I have ever heard Jaco record since Word Of Mouth. Jaco just absolutely tears this cut up. Obviously Jaco was on top of his game the day this recording was made. Jaco is all over the instument playing double-stops and litterally playing rhythm guitar licks over Mike Stern's opening statement.

The controversial but memorable Tutu is mostly a duet between Miles Davis and the many overdubbed instruments of producer Marcus Miller (although violinist Michal Urbaniak, percussionist Paulinho da Costa, and keyboardist George Duke are among the other musicians making brief apperaances). Certainly the results are not all that spontaneous, but Davis is in top form and some of the selections (most notably the title cut) are quite memorable. Davis received the 1986 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist Grammy Award for his performance on the album.

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).

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.

Brian Bromberg's first totally "Solo" acoustic bass recording. This is a state of the art, 100% digital hi resolution recording. This CD is quite unusual as it was recorded using only digital microphones. There were no mic pre-amps, outboard EQ, or analog signal path. This is truly a noiseless recording. The CD was recorded at 24 bit 96 kHz and is one of the must pristinely recorded CD's to date. All of the songs were recorded live with no overdubs. This CD was recorded for King Records in Japan.

Even though Half Note Records is building a highly appreciated catalog of jazz CD's recorded at New York's Blue Note jazz club, Half Note—and musician/producer Mordy Ferber—throw the listener an unanticipated curve with the release of Mr. X. Instead of the crackling energy of a live club recording, Mr. X crackles with a different type of energy: an energy of multi-leveled recording engineering feats in support of visionary and unconventional guitar work.

It has been a great pleasure for me to have a chance to collaborate with Steve Khan on his first solo album. I was constantly amazed at his knowledge of the entire spectrum of music. Steve's music signals a new era in jazz, combining the best elements of his rock, jazz & progressive background. It has been exciting watching it come to life on this record. ~ Bob James

Real jazz-fusion - spontaneous, risk-taking and improvisatory is exactly what the electric guitarist passionately and enthusiastically embraces on Spears, his debut album. Drawing on such influences as Return to Forever, John McLaughlin and Weather Report, the hard-edged guitarist set the uncompromising tone for his career and that of his band Tribal Tech.