While it would be utterly foolish to consider a two-disc set by guitarist John McLaughlin as anything other than a sample of the wildly diverse career he's enjoyed since the early '60s, it should be noted and underscored that what Legacy does with this set is to provide a solid look at not only the man's gifts but at the way he's employed them, exploited them, and let them get the best of him for the past 40-plus years.

Since the late '60s, John McLaughlin's name has been synonymous with electric fusion guitar. But McLaughlin is equally accomplished on the acoustic guitar; he has a long history of excelling on that instrument, which he plays exclusively on Thieves and Poets. This 2003 release, in fact, isn't fusion in the amplified jazz-rock sense but rather acoustic-oriented post-bop with Euro-classical leanings. Thieves and Poets finds McLaughlin joining forces with two of Europe's classical outfits: the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie (with Renato Rivolta serving as conductor) and the much smaller, guitar-oriented Aighetta Quartet.

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Luzifers Zorn, Die 7 Lieder der Tage & Der Kinderfänger (2001) {Stockhausen-Verlag No. 63}
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© 2001 Stockhausen-Verlag | Stockhausen 63
Classical / Avant-Garde / Experimental / 20th Century

Since 1991, a complete edition of all recordings in which Karlheinz Stockhausen has personally participated is being released on compact discs. Each CD in this series is identified by Stockhausen's signature followed by an encircled number. The numbers indicate the general historical order of the works. Stockhausen realised the electronic music and participated in these recordings as conductor, performer, sound projectionist, and musical director. He personally mixed down the recordings, mastered them for CDs, wrote the texts and drew the covers.

This production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro caused a sensation when it first came out, stunning critics and audiences alike with its perfect balance of joyous humor, improvisatory brilliance, and always subtle music-making.

Up for It marks the 20th anniversary of Keith Jarrett's "Standards Trio," with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, and the group's 17th recording on ECM. (The figure is deceiving because many of these 17 albums have been multi-disc sets.) Up for It also signals a return to the Great American Songbook, after two recordings that were completely improvised, Inside Out and Always Let Me Go.

Nancy Kelly has paid her dues over her career and produced her best CD as a result of her hard work. She benefits considerably from the presence of tenor saxophonist Houston Person on this studio date, as he provides the perfect foil for her sassy vocals. Her regular rhythm section - consisting of pianist Dino Losito, bassist Neil Minor, and drummer Mark Taylor - also provides strong support. Seven of the dozen tracks she chose are standards from the 1930s through the 1950s, including a spirited take of "I've Got the World on a String," a midtempo bossa nova setting of "Like Someone in Love" (with Losito switching to electric piano), and a driving "Falling in Love with Love," the latter two with Person sitting out…

Ritchie Blackmore decided to pull the plug on Rainbow following the supporting tour for 1983's Bent Out of Shape. To commemorate the end of the band, he released the appropriately-titled, Finyl Vinyl. A double-record set of live recordings and a handful of studio outtakes, primarily culled from the Joe Lynn Turner era but also featuring selections with Ronnie James Dio and Graham Bonnet, Finyl Vinyl offers a haphazard alternate history designed for hardcore fans (by 1986, that's pretty much all Blackmore had left). For those fans, the album is actually quite a treat. Rainbow always sounded better on stage than they did on the studio – rawer, harder, alive – and songs that sounded half-baked in the studio, such as selections from Difficult to Cure, sound right here.