Possibilities is a Herbie Hancock adventure record. This ten-cut smorgasbord features the ever restless pianist, composer, and arranger in the company of literally dozens of artists, from pop singers like Christina Aguilera, Sting, and Annie Lennox to rock legends such as Santana and Paul Simon to relative newcomers like John Mayer, Jonny Lang, and Joss Stone, as well as some renowned international performers, such as Angélique Kidjo and Raul Midón in a wide range of songs, styles, and moods. Hancock cut the record in studios all over the world, all the collaborations were done face to face, not long distance. Session musicians here include everyone from Stevie Wonder (who plays the harmonica solo on the cover of his tune "I Just Called to Say I Love You"), to Santana to Cyro Baptista, Willie Weeks, John Pattitucci, Steven Jordan, and Gina Gershon (the actress)! The standout cuts are the sensual read of Leon Russell's "A Song for You," sung by Aguilera, Simon's jazzed-up revisioning of his "I Do It for Your Love," and Lennox's read of "Hush, Hush, Hush," written by Paula Cole (whatever happened to her?).

A French fusion super-group, formed in 1971 by two early members of Magma: François "Faton" Cahen and Jeff "Yochk'o" Seffer, and featuring many other talents of the 1970's prog and fusion fields. Zao took the Magma "Zeuhl" brand of fusion and jazzed it up a bit, adding folk elements of Seffer's cultural heritage, and lots of other unique touches. After Seffer left, the band became more jazz-rock. They have reformed at least twice since disbanding in the late 1970's.

Violinist Dave Kline is pushing the contemporary voice of strings to new heights, while maintaining a sophisticated yet approachable city sound. Kline's original compositions are intricate and push the violin as a lead instrument in an ensemble setting, assertively bending the borders of undiscovered territory with great result. This idea led to his new album entitled Shifting Borders. While this refers to the musical twists, turns and combinations, it also captures Kline's personal journey across the globe, and encompasses his musical view of our world.

Soundtrack for the landscape of Koutus. Debut album of accordionist-composer Harri Kuusijärvi's avant prog project Koutus. “In other words: unexpected, curious, striking, offbeat, rockin’, avant-garde, and fucking good. – – This trio [Koutus] is loaded for bear and willing to hunt its prey through thick and thin, tundra and freeway, jungle and library, so never get too relaxed at any point. Koutus is one of the best discs to emerge this year, regardless of category.”

Progressive Jazz/Rock Fusion from a highly acclaimed master guitarist/bassist. Sounds like Allan Holdsworth on the guitar and Jeff Berlin on the bass. Born in Newark, NJ, Al began playing the bass guitar at the age of 13. His musical horizons were broadened early on to include Jazz, Classical, and Indian music after hearing John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Later on, the music of Allan Holdsworth inspired Alfred to take up the electric guitar as a means of expressing another side of his musical persona. Other influences on his playing include the music of J.S. Bach, Charlie Parker, Bela Bartok, Eric Johnson, Jaco Pastorious, Jeff Berlin, Brand X, ELP, Yes and pianist Bill Evans.

Star percussionist’s onrushing wave of sound features vintage drum-skins, a musical saw and marbles rattling on a plate.

After issuing three consecutive studio double LPs, Chicago topped themselves with this four-album live box set. As the title suggests, At Carnegie Hall, Vols. 1-4 (Chicago IV) (1971) finds the band at the venerable New York City venue during a five-night stand (April 5-April 10) in the spring of 1971…

Jazz bassist Carles Benavent and guitarist Josemi Carmona have combined talents for Nuevos Medios release Sumando, remaking the fusion of jazz and flamenco into some bright and breezy. Composing and performing most of the instrumentation of Sumando‘s nine tracks, Benavent and Carmona weave flamenco rhythms and tight, neat guitar work with some dreamy jazz themes to create a soulful mix.

A collection of some of the best numbers played by Brainstorm when the band made its highly successful debut at London's Ronnie Scott s Club! One of the most innovative and engaged small groups in contemporary improvised music. Brainstorm presents 74 electrifying minutes of inspired and wide-ranging music. As Ed Hazel has observed, Chico Freeman's style combines the energy and wide leaps of John Coltrane's later work with a classic conception of form and a strong sense of swing.

The 1970s were banner years for Airto Moreira – not only because of his association with Chick Corea's Return to Forever and his work on wife Flora Purim's Milestone dates, but also, because of the generally superb work he did under Creed Taylor's supervision at CTI from 1972-74. One of the five-star gems that the Brazilian percussionist recorded for CTI was Fingers, which employs Purim on percussion and vocals, David Amaro on guitar, Hugo Fattoruso on keyboards and harmonica, Jorge Fattoruso on drums and Ringo Thielmann on electric bass. Produced by Taylor and recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's famous New Jersey studio, this LP demonstrates just how exciting and creative 1970s fusion could be. When Moreira and his colleagues blend jazz with Brazilian music, rock and funk on such cuts as "Wind Chant," "Tombo in 7/4" and "Romance of Death," the results are consistently enriching. Fingers is an album to savor.

The Benavent, Di Geraldo and Pardo trio emerged from the ashes of the Pardo y Benavent band, the sextet that made flamenco history and that came to an end in 1998 with an amazing tour of the most important jazz festivals from Vitoria to Montreal. It was in this sextet – a historic fact – improvisation on a flamenco beat was done for the first time, with a jazz attitude and based on the compositions of Pardo and Benavent contained in their previous albums.

Audio-Visualscapes is an album by Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, featuring Greg Osby, Gary Thomas, Mick Goodrick, and Lonnie Plaxico, recorded in 1988 and released on the MCA/Impulse! label.This single-CD (formerly a double-LP) from Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition contains music that mixes together advanced hard bop, fusion, M-Base funk and avant-garde jazz.

The Jazz Club series is an attractive addition to the Verve catalogue. With it's modern design and popular choice of repertoire, the Jazz Club is not only opened for Jazz fans, but for everyone that loves good music. This collection by the Jazz keyboardist features 10 tracks including 'Slinky', 'Love Castle', 'Fickle Funk' and more.
Chick Corea has been one of the most significant jazzmen since the '60s. Not content at any time to rest on his laurels, he has been involved in quite a few important musical projects, and his musical curiosity has never dimmed. A masterful pianist who, along with Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett, was one of the top stylists to emerge after Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner, Corea is also one of the few electric keyboardists to be quite individual and recognizable on synthesizers…

Well it's the disco era by the time this album is released and so many people in the jazz and funk world were effected in different ways. Usually it met with mixed results but because Sonny's music was taking on a unique sound that I choose to call funk-bop (there's more on that in my other Sonny Rollins reviews) this wound up being one of his most energized,memorable and creatively satisfying albums of the decade. Not only is Sonny and his band here endlessly abound with creative ideas but also managed to bring the very best out of the musicianship. Miles Davis' drummer Al Foster and guitarist Larry Coryell, himself one of the very earliest architects of jazz fusion in the 60's are the musicians here aside from Sonny who really help a lot in the inspired sound of the music.

Songs of Experience is the second studio album by American composer and producer David Axelrod, released in October 1969 by Capitol Records. It was composed, arranged, and produced by Axelrod, who worked with session musicians such as guitarist Al Casey, drummer Earl Palmer, and conductor Don Randi. As with his 1968 debut album Song of Innocence, Axelrod composed musical interpretations of English poet William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, an 18th-century illustrated collection of poems. A jazz fusion album, Songs of Experience explores darker sounds than its predecessor, as the poems Axelrod drew on for inspiration dealt with the darker side of humanity. Its music was partly inspired by composer Gunther Schuller's Third Stream concept. Axelrod composed Baroque orchestrations with rock, R&B, pop, and folk music elements. Songs of Experience received retrospective acclaim from music critics, who found Axelrod's compositions musically varied and innovative. Contemporary musicians praised it as a source for sampling in hip hop production. Some of its songs have been sampled frequently by hip hop artists and producers. In 2000, the album was reissued by EMI.