LA Workshop Norwegain Wood is a project arranged by Joe Pasquale. This album features Lee Ritenour, Ray Parker Jr, Steve Lukather and more great musicians from the sessiondays.

Sooner or later labels should just get real. This is not the "best of" Tom Scott. It's just the best of Tom Scott on Columbia. It's the Impulse recordings, the Warner recordings, and the GRP recordings to boot that would really make a representative best-of. To be fair, when this was issued, there wasn't a lot of cross-licensing going on in the music biz, though there is some here. Since it was issued, much consolidation has occurred, and, strangely enough, there has been a lot more cooperation. Perhaps they are all going to become one large conglomerate one day.

The last 20 years of this legendary saxman's four-decade solo career have mostly featured fun and funky, energetic pop or smooth jazz dates, with one exception, 1992's straight-ahead date Born Again. Not surprisingly, despite all the solid work he's put forth during that time, that date is the only one that's been truly respected by traditional jazz critics. But now, making his MCG debut with Bebop United, Tom Scott makes a special return to his bebop roots on a live recording – featuring cohorts like Randy Brecker, Gil Goldstein, and Phil Woods – performed at the Manchester Craftsman's Guild in Pittsburgh in May 2002.

Despite the absence of Joe Sample and Larry Carlton, Tom Scott's L.A. Express remains very Crusaders-influenced on Tom Cat – a highly accessible jazz-funk-R&B date that, as commercial as it is, leaves room for inspired blowing courtesy of both the leader and sidemen like electric guitarist Robben Ford and keyboardist Larry Nash. Sweaty, hard-hitting jazz-funk is the rule on such down-home grooves as "Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America & All the Ships" and "Day Way," which allow the players to let loose, blow, and say what needs to be said. "Love Poem" is a pleasant, likable piece of delicate mood music (but not "Muzak"!) that features wordless vocals by pop-folk singer Joni Mitchell and has a slightly Flora Purim-ish appeal.

The single-disc Tom Scott collection Masterpieces: Best of the GRP Years brings together tracks the influential smooth jazz saxophonist recorded during his time with GRP in the '80s and '90s. These are fluid and soulful crossover recordings culled from both live and studio albums.