Unexpected is the fifth studio album by American singer Angie Stone. It was released by Stax Records on November 23, 2009 in the United States. Conceived following the death of her father, Stone's spiritual anchor and creative mentor, the album marked a breakaway from the neo soul elements on Stone's first four studio efforts, taking her work further into the dance pop, funk, and contemporary R&B genres. As a result, Unexpected incorporates more upbeat material, produced by Jazze Pha, among others.

Alex Bollard - real name Alexander Bolderdijk - Netherlands guitarist and songwriter, session musician since the mid-1970s, member of the Metropole Orchestra since 1991. Bolderdijk's biggest success as a songwriter was Margriet Eshuys' Black Pearl (1982).

The Art of Love & War is the fourth studio album by American singer Angie Stone. It was released on October 15, 2007, by Stax Records. Her debut release with the then re-launched label, following her split with J Records in 2005, it saw Stone working with a group of less well-known musicians, including The Designated Hitters, Elijah "Vato" Harris, Ervin Pope and Jonathan Richmond, the latter of which went on to produce most material on the album. English actor and DJ Idris Elba contributed "My People," a duet with singer James Ingram. Stone co-wrote and produced or co-produced most songs on the album.

African Herbsman is a 1973 Trojan Records repackage of Bob Marley and the Wailers' 1971 album Soul Revolution Part II produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry, which had had a limited Jamaica only release. African Herbsman was released shortly after the band's major-label debut album Catch a Fire had been released by Island Records.

Karen Carpenter is the only solo album by singer/drummer Karen Carpenter of the Carpenters, recorded between 1979 and 1980 and released by A&M Records in 1996.

If jazz was ever meant to be a religion, its prayers might sound something like Nan Madol. The title means “spaces between,” and no description of this music could be more apt. The album is an eclectic mandala of drones, eruptions of ecstatic liberation, and snatches of melody from both near and far. Influences range from Japanese folk melodies to Alpine herding calls, and all of them strung by a powerful understatement of continuity.

For the fourth of five recordings made by the classic Ruby Braff-George Barnes Quartet, ten songs by Rodgers and Hart are given melodic, swinging, creative treatment. Cornetist Braff and guitarist Barnes fed off of each other and worked very well together, while rhythm guitarist Wayne Wright and bassist Michael Moore always gave them impeccable support. Highlights of this enjoyable set include "Isn't It Romantic," "Blue Room," "You Took Advantage of Me" and "The Lady Is a Tramp".

After the album-tour-album cycle of Script for a Jester's Tear, Fugazi, and the subsequent Euro-only release of Real to Reel, Marillion retreated to Berlin's Hansa Ton Studios with Rolling Stones producer Chris Kimsey to work on their next opus. Armed with a handful of lyrics born out of a self-confessed acid trip, Fish came up with the elaborate concept for 1985's Misplaced Childhood. Touching upon his early childhood experiences and his inability to deal with a slew of bad breakups exacerbated by a never-ending series of rock star-type "indulgences," Misplaced Childhood would prove to be not only the band's most accomplished release to date, but also its most streamlined. Initial record company skepticism over the band's decision to forge ahead with a '70s-style prog rock opus split into two halves (sides one and two) quickly evaporated as Marillion delivered its two most commercial singles ever: "Kayleigh" and "Lavender"…

Chicago native John Henry Davis spent most of his later years recording in Europe, where he was much better known than he was in the U.S. This release, recorded in the mid-'80s, spotlights Davis solo at the piano (except for the final bonus track, which features a vocal by Jeanne-Marie Carroll), and his warm, unhurried playing and singing is as comfortable as an old easy chair. Although he helped format the Chicago blues sound through his work in the 1930s and 1940s with artists like Tampa Red, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy, Davis seems most at home doing a kind of lounge blues, an approach that plays to his strengths. The opening track on this collection, "I Had a Dream," sets the pace here, and it is a likeable tune that contains the line "I dreamed I won the Brooklyn Bridge on my knees shooting dice" before turning into a song of amused resignation…

As modern big-band leaders go, Quincy Jones in the '60s would be first choice for many composers who wrote for a television series or the cinema. Though not the original themes, Jones was quite able to produce a full album featuring Henry Mancini's famous songs from movies and the small screen. This collection of the familiar and obscure Mancini done in 1964, preceded famed epic scores written by Jones from films The Pawnbroker and The Deadly Affair. It comprises several well-known hit tunes and a smattering of cuts not easily identifiable as the hummable and memorable Mancini classics. Taken from three separate sessions, the bands assembled by Jones are loaded, including Jerome Richardson, Billy Byers, Urbie Green, Clark Terry, Ernie Royal, Snooky Young, Mundell Lowe, Zoot Sims, Phil Woods, and Seldon Powell, Drummer Osie Johnson plays on all tracks, pianist Bobby Scott is a central figure…