You thought Marcus Miller and Jaco and Stanley Clark were funky? They are indeed but they don't play the double bass. Brian Bromberg displays absolute chops that Charles Mingus would have wanted. Akira Jimbo as usual with his unbelievable groove keeps the whole album going and Otomaro Ruiz is one hell of a pianist.

Digital Prophecy traces a journey from Tunisia's heat to Norway's cool. Across this distance an affinity is discernible in the shared outspokenness of expression of both musical cultures. This recording may also be viewed as the latest in an ongoing dialogue between Norway and the rest of the world; Nils Petter Molvaer's trumpet sound has long seemed like a soft muezzin call, Eivind Aarset's guitar like a keening djinn, Arve Henriksen's trumpet shakuhachi-like and so on. Another lineage may be traced from here back to Marilyn Mazur's groups and thence to Jan Garbarek's outernational explorations.

Testifying a wide range of sound colors, stylistic facets and musical ingredients, the list of musicians involved on "Malak" includes German lyrical trumpeter , Vietnamese guitar wizard Nguyên Lê, French bass virtuoso Renaud Garcia-Fons ("Oriental Bass"), Indian percussion master Jatinder Thakur, Indian bansuri player Deepak Ram, Italian tambourine professor Carlo Rizzo, Hungarian violinist Zoltan Lantos and other colorful players. A thrilling statement made of Arabic lyricism, rhythmic power, visionary strength, multi-cultural influences and jazz-oriented improvisation, "Malak" opens the way to a new definition of East-Western crossover.

A pianist who has always given more attention to the shape of a melody than to the condition of his outward career, musicians' musician Bobo Stenson is suddenly ubiquitous.

A pianist who has always given more attention to the shape of a melody than to the condition of his outward career, musicians' musician Bobo Stenson is suddenly ubiquitous.

Akira Jimbo, known for his work with Casiopea, and bassist extraordinaire, Brian Bromberg are back together again. This duo's debut 'Brombo' recorded in 2003, remains a favorite. On their second studio effort they are joined once again by Otmaro Ruiz on keys. The Enhanced CD includes a video of the trio performing 'I Got Rhythm.'

Bromberg's fourth release “BASSically Speaking”, actually a reissue of Brian's first recording with some new tracks and additions, went top 5 on the radio charts and #7 on the Billboard sale's charts.

French/Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le is certaily one of the most talked about guitarist today. His strong technical skills and equally profound compositions sets him apart from tons of other good players. Check out this power trio with ex Mahavishnu and Pat Metheny drummer Danny Gottlieb and bassist Dieter Ilg.

Joe Morris is chasing William Parker for the right to be the whore of the New York jazz scene. He's been popping up everywhere lately, establishing himself as one of the leaders of avant-garde jazz guitar. Mat Maneri, son of microtonal composer Joe Maneri, is an electric violinist who played on a track of Morris's recent Cloud of Black Birds album (also on Aum Fidelity). This disc pairs the two for over an hour of free improvisation.

If Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, Etta James, Jimi Hendrix and Snoop Dogg got together for a gig, it might sound something like this performance by the daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra.

The premier jazz vocal act of all time, Lambert, Hendricks Ross revolutionized vocal music during the late '50s and early '60s by turning away from the increasingly crossover slant of the pop world to embrace the sheer musicianship inherent in vocal jazz.

Along with James Carter, young Joshua Redman has emerged as one of the most charismatic young reed virtuosos of the 1990's. The son of the estimable tenor innovator Dewey Redman, Joshua Redman has already carved out an imposing niche for himself over the course of a few albums. Now, with the release of the double-CD, SPIRIT OF THE MOMENT: LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD, Redman appears poised to move up in class.

Guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel arrived on the scene in the early ‘90s recording with artists including Gary Burton and Paul Motian, and while those early days were spent in a kind of post-Metheny haze, by the middle of the decade a distinctive voice was emerging that was equal parts staggering arpeggio, flurry of cascading notes, and idiosyncratic lyricism. He was also evolving a uniquely ethereal tone—processed, but in a thick and velvety manner that was completely his own.