This CD has music featuring keyboardist Mitch Farber in 1982 (except for one selection from 1990) that generally grooves at a relaxed pace. Randy Brecker has a few worthwhile trumpet solos, the melodies are upbeat and the lightly funky style has not dated too much. The backup group includes guitarist Steve Kahn, bassist Marc Egan and drummer Danny Gottlieb.

Currently one of the most exciting and active groups in boundary-pushing jazz, is the collective trio Thumbscrew, who release their sixth album in seven years with Never Is Enough. Constantly taking the simple, ‘guitar trio’ line-up into new territories, their music is a masterclass of musical interplay and focused forward momentum.

First album from the best Italian jazz-rock band (formed in Rome in 71), and the first of a few masterpieces in a row, all of them being distinctive from one another, something that’s not always evident in the JR/F style. Perigeo has their sound somewhere between Mwandishi, MD’s BB, Soft Machine, Nucleus and Iceberg. I have rarely seen such a bizarre/ugly artwork illustrating so well the music on the disc: if you can easily picture your head/brains after listen of this album through the headphone, chances are that it wouldn’t look too far away from this, maybe with added smoke coming out of the ears.

Spirals , the slow reveal, cyclical but eventually coming to a point . ‘Realm of Spells ‘ is for me the point . Maybe the last time I will get to work with Bill. For me personally, this record embodies and contains a lot of the basic approach I had right from the beginning , especially in regard to playing the bass. The circumstances of our trip led to me using a Fender P bass for the first time in years. All the early PiL stuff plus Full circle with Holger and Jaki was played on Fender P. I was taken back to that beautiful naive beginning . At that juncture some pristine mathematical truth shot like a ray of vajra light from deep space.

The follow-up to Music for Piano and Drums is more along the lines of what fans might have expected the first time around. Flags features Moraz's augmenting his piano work with his Kurzweil synthesizer; a fuller production with overdubbing, and more structure. Still, to contrast purely anthemic tracks like the opening "Temples of Joy," Bruford and Moraz offer moments of pure improvisations, including the driving "Split Seconds" and "Infra Dig," which is based around a challenging theme but ultimately evolves into a more free-flowing exploration, with Bruford's light cymbal work and strategically placed shots providing interesting counterpoint to Moraz's more flowing lines. Again the chemistry between the two is clearly evident.

Up to this point, Eldar Djangirov has been best known as a brilliant young acoustic pianist who is influenced a little by Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. While Eldar has previously been heard mainly in trios, Re-Imagination is a bit of a departure, ranging from unaccompanied piano solos on "Tears" and "Dream Song" and a romping trio rendition of Oscar Peterson's "Place St. Henri" to a few electronic numbers on which Eldar adds synthesizers for color. Three selections have DJ Logic on turntables, interacting with the leader's keyboards. The electronic trappings may dismay Eldar's fans, but in general they are quite intelligent and reasonably creative. Even those numbers have strong displays of Eldar's acoustic piano playing, and he really digs into "South Bixel." One cannot blame Eldar for spreading his wings a bit, and fortunately no one gets hurt along the way. This CD was nominated for a Grammy award in 2007 for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

This is already the third album of the working band BLAER, founded in 2012 by the composer and pianist Maja Nydegger. YELLOW is the result of a longstanding and diligent collaboration. The band concept sets on a balanced group sound and a calm, focussed flow of music.

Happy coincidences can often lead to extraordinary results. No-one could have foreseen that Lars Danielsson and the Armenian pianist Tigran would pair up to form the new dream duo of the European jazz scene, when in fact the two musicians played their first concert together only one week before the scheduled recordings of Liberetto. It was clear from the first note that two musical soulmates had found each other, and despite it happening by coincidence the result of their meeting was all the more intense. Lars Danielsson says: “Tigran sees my music exactly the way I do and he composes music exactly the way I would do myself. For example, his ‘Svensk Låt’ sounds more Swedish than my songs. It was simply fantastic to record this album with him.”

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.

Jazzpana II assembles an equally stellar ensemble, with a heavier emphasis on the flamenco contingent. This is led by performer/composers Gerardo Nunez (flamenco guitar) and Chano Dominguez (Grotrian Steinweg piano), and filled out with Esperanza Fernandez (vocals on one track), Jorge Pardo (soprano sax), Carles Benavent (electric bass), Renauld Garcia-Fons (five-string acoustic upright bass), Tino Di Geraldo (drums) and Cepillo (cajon). The Jazz counterpart is headlined by Michael Brecker (tenor sax) and Fareed Haque (electric guitar) and rounded out with Perico Sambeat (alto sax).

"From A Love Supreme to The Sex Machine!" The personal musical mantra of the late Philadelphia reedman Byard Lancaster informed an open-minded and varied lifetime in jazz.

Tetsuo Sakurai (born November 13, 1957 in Tokyo) is a Japanese musician. He started playing bass when he was 13 years old. He was a member of the jazz fusion band Casiopea in 1976-1989 and Jimsaku with Akira Jimbo in 1990-1998. He has released a total of 37 albums as members of Casiopea and Jimsaku as well as solo. He also made 3 instructional videos. Now, he is composing and playing his own music as a solo artist with domestic and foreign musicians.

The early '80s were a confusing time for many a jazz musician. The temptation to dabble in such waters as disco, funk, and rock was a risky proposition: pull it off and you were a genius, fail and you were the laughing stock of the industry. Falling somewhere in the large grey area between those two poles, the Brecker Brothers started the decade with Straphangin', a seven-song excursion into all sorts of fusion and AOR-like territories.

Refined big band compositions and Nordic throat singing. Yet again this big band shows its capabilities to surprise with something new every time. It is immediately recognisable through its unconventional, absorbing yet unambiguous approach. Their leader is absolutely uncompromising. Norwegian Geir Lysne, born in 1965, manages to create a uniquely radical sound and yet with his pieces still remains very accessible. It’s like a solved paradox. On his new CD "Boahjenásti – The North Star" you can hear a continuously unexpected but satisfying mix comprising everything from various electronic elements through jew’s harp to traditional Norwegian singing.