Nino Josele is the stage name of guitarist Juan Jose Heredia who was born in 1974 in Almeria, Spain. Although primarily a flamenco guitarist Josele is nothing if not versatile having worked in a variety of contexts ranging from flamenco through classical to jazz and even pop.

The band's fifth release, Rain Dances is Camel at its best, offering the most consistent and representative package in their saga. The addition of Caravan-cofounder Richard Sinclair proves profitable, as do a few colorist touches by Brian Eno on "Elke." Mel Collins' woodwinds are among the highlights, especially on "Tell Me" and the title track. From beginning to end, this project flows gracefully.

Downbeat is the result of the evolution of Tizer, who have garnered their strong reputation as an electrifying group through tireless touring, both domestically and internationally. The record includes an array of flavors; Afro-Cuban and world rhythms mixed with the best of jazz, rock, classical, and even jam-band influences. Downbeat is a progressive return to the spirit of the 70's best jazz-fusion records; a pristine studio sound and production capturing the live energy and interaction that can only come from a band truly working and playing together! The record includes numerous compositions by Lao as well as collaborative works with the group and features the first single "World In Rhythm," a co-write by Lao & Chieli.

In April 2013, Spyro Gyra entered a recording studio in Rhinebeck, NY, a small town in the Hudson Valley. Jay Beckenstein and his band set out to do something that they had never done before in their nearly forty year history – improvise with each other over three days and in the process write and record an entire new album. Beckenstein concedes, “It was a bit of a gamble but we’re lucky to have a loyal fan base who are probably going to be interested in what we’re doing. I was also fairly confident that whatever came out of it would be pretty close to the way we have approached our live shows for years.”

Danny Gatton was truly the guitarist's guitarist. Hailed by Guitar Player as the "World's Greatest Unknown Guitar Player" he was cherished by the likes of Les Paul, Joe Perry, Steve Vai, Joe Pass, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Vince Gill, Albert Lee and countless other guitar luminaries. Until his tragic and untimely death in 1994 he was every guitar players best resource for a treasure of "hot licks". Never one to tour he remains an underground treasure for those "in the know". If you play the guitar, you owe it to yourself to check out this great instrumental genius. This is a scorching live set from June 10th and 11th,1988 at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. This set features the legendary pedal steel guitarist Buddy Emmons, who also collaborated with Gatton on Redneck Jazz Explosion, (to be reissued late summer 04’). This is also the only Gatton release to feature Danny’s jazz unit known as “The Funhouse”.

Beck is back! A perfectionist, gifted with a sharp sense of self-criticism, Joe Beck (born on July 29, 1945, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia) was making good music (and a lot of money) when he disappeared from the NY music scene in 1971 to become a dairy farmer in Vermont. After his professional debut with Paul Winter’s group in 1964, he had played with such masters as Gary McFarland, Charles Lloyd, Chico Hamilton, and Gil Evans, on whose orchestra he was a member from 1967 to 1971. (One of his best albums with Evans, Where Flamingos Fly, only came out ten years later on the Artists House label).

With the tragic passing of Michael Brecker in 2007 at the all-too-young age of 57, it seemed that the flagship group the Brecker Brothers, co-led by the saxophonist with his trumpet-wielding older brother Randy, was also to be a thing of the past. But some things never die; as it was, during the saxophonist's lifetime, the horn-led band that defined the term "downtown funk" and an edgy, urban sound that could only have come from New York City seemed to have an unquenchable life clearly fated to continue, even as the brothers separated at various points to pursue other projects.

The late, great Pakistani Qawwali singer's first collaboration with producer/guitarist Michael Brook took the passionate, gymnastic tenor out of tradition and into trip-hop nation. Recorded at Peter Gabriel's expansive Real World Studios, the album combines ethnic percussion, programmed beats (some by Gabriel himself), Brook's atmospheric and infinite guitar swells, and loop-based motifs with Khan's complex, ornamented vocal delivery and devotional lyrics. On the later Night Song, Brook and Khan perfected their cross-cultural dialogue, though Mustt, with its fiery vocal runs and funky, ethereal production, has become an important touchstone in the ethno-techno movement that includes Transglobal Underground and Loop Guru.

Alegría and his sextet display a clear evolution on Pucusana , presenting a more defined idea of the possibilities inherent in Afro-Peruvian Jazz. The repertoire reveals a growing confidence within the group and a exciting willingness to stretch their original blend between Afro-Peruvian culture and jazz. Alegría’s compositions bring more of his jazz background to the forefront, from a Miles Davis influence to a preference for dropping into swing.

Studio and session guitarist Joe Beck was best known for hits when backing vocalist Esther Phillips on Kudu in the '70s. During the '80s he made a series of competent fusion and pop/jazz recordings for DMP and had a big hit recording with Dave Sanborn on CTI in 1975. His career continued into the '90s and beyond with albums like 1991's Relaxin', 1997's Alto and his 2000 collaboration with Jimmy Bruno, Polarity.

The title pretty much says it all. These 10 new compositions and well-chosen covers play like a scrapbook of pianist/composer Brown’s favorite sounds. There’s the daredevil, highly technical ensemble swinging that sometimes seems like the signature of his alma mater, Berklee School of Music. There’s the propulsive bounce of the Fender Rhodes electric piano that will always feel like a trapdoor to the 1970s, that decade when Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea and a few others nailed it and made it a permanent part of the jazz soundscape.

“My time with ECM is a lifetime by now,” Terje Rypdal notes, as he embarks upon his fourth decade with the label that has documented his far-reaching achievements as both improviser and composer. For this anthology, Rypdal chose to focus on his groundbreaking electric guitar artistry, heard in settings ranging from symphony orchestra to the enlightened hard rock of the Chasers. “Music must have colours and freedom”, Rypdal once said, and his selection here lacks neither.

In 1983, the ubiquitous composers' collective known as Oregon left its old homestead of Vanguard Records and moved over to Manfred Eicher's ECM. It was also one of the final recordings the band did with multi-instrumentalist Collin Walcott; he was killed in a car accident a year later. Here's the strange thing about this date: Since the early '70s, Oregon had been an acoustic, chamber jazz/improvisational group.

Music of Another Present Era remains Oregon's most enduring masterwork. Achieving a perfect balance of musical traditions from the East and West, ancient to future, they set the stage not only for a new transculturalism in jazz, but also created a lasting template for the fusion of musics from world traditions that would flower over a decade later. The four participants in Oregon, oboist and pianist Paul McCandless, guitarist and pianist Ralph Towner, upright bassist and pianist Glen Moore, and the late multi-instrumentalist Collin Walcott, operated on the premise that melodic ideas and expansive harmonies all contributed to a music that didn't bridge cultures, but erased them and eradicated them.

Telecommunication demonstrates Azymuth's ability to occasionally get into trouble when resorting to hi-tech gimmickry for its own sake, but also illustrates how rewarding the Brazilian trio can be. With its vocoder-ish hijinks, the funk-influenced "May I Have This Dance" is a dated and corny bit of silliness unworthy of Azymuth. But there's also much to admire on this CD, including the haunting "The House I Lived In," the sensuous "Country Road," and the sentimental "Last Summer in Rio." Though keyboardist/pianist José Roberto Bertrami and bassist/guitarist Alex Malheiros do not always stretch out enough, the results are quite appealing when they do.