Malia - Yellow Daffodils 2003

British jazz vocalist Malia was born into a family of mixed African and English heritage in the small East African country of Malawi, which borders Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. Growing up with only the two local radio stations (one in the native tongue, the other in English) and her father's Beatles-heavy record collection, Malia was not exposed to a large variety of music. She did not develop the intense desire to sing and create music until her early teens, when for political reasons her family was forced to relocate to London. In this new land of plenty, Malia took great interest in the rich musical landscape that surrounded her, immersing herself in the dance-oriented new wave style that dominated the English music scene. Sarah Vaughanand Billie Holiday soon came into her world and transformed her life and world view, encountering influential black voices for the first time. She set her mind to becoming one of them one day. After finishing school Malia took work as a waitress while she organized a band to accompany her, singing ballads and jazz standards in bars and clubs around London. She came to a stylistic turning point in a New York café when she heard a pop-jazz track sung in French that had been produced by Berklee School of Music graduate Andre Manoukian. Malia was so entranced by the enticing mix of pop and jazz sensibilities that she contacted Manoukian to solicit his help. The pair fell in love with each other's musical ideas and potential, and set to work on Malia's debut album, Yellow Daffodils. Though the release features English lyrics, Malia gained enormous notoriety among French audiences. Her subsequent releases, Echoes of Dreams (2004) and Young Bones (2007), found favor among jazz fans across Europe thanks to Malia's unique, smoky vocal timbre and sensitive interpretation. Her records have climbed international soul and jazz charts as she maintains a busy touring schedule, appearing on some of the continent's most important stages. AMG.

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Del Fuegos - Boston, Mass

The Del Fuegos' debut album, The Longest Day, sounded like a great bar band roaring through a beer-fueled set on a Saturday night, but their sophomore effort, Boston, Mass., found the group sanding off a few of their rough edges and adding a touch of pop polish to their sound. While producer Mitchell Froom had added keyboards to a few cuts on The Longest Day, he's much more of a presence on this set, and the slinky romanticism of "I Still Want You" and the late night vibe of "Coup De Ville" are more adventurous in their conception and approach than anything on the first album. The Del Fuegos' energy and no-frills rock & roll attitude carried them over the rough spots on The Longest Day, and here it helps them skate past the slick spots of Boston, Mass.; the interplay between Dan Zanesand Warren Zanes' guitars may be tighter, but they still know when to crank up the amps and how to leave some space to breathe, and bassist Tom Lloyd and drummer Woody Geissman remain a crack rhythm section who keep this music in gear at all times. Beyond a bit more gloss than it needs, the greatest flaw of Boston, Mass. is that the band didn't have quite as many good songs at their disposal as they did on the debut, but while it's not the group's best album, it comes in as a close second and time has been kind to it. AMG.

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Richard Manuel - Whispering Pines, Live at The Getaway 1985 (2005)

Singer/songwriter/pianist Richard Manuel never actually made any formal solo recordings apart from his membership in the Band, but this posthumously released album presents a club date he played in Saugerties, NY, less than five months before he committed suicide on March 4, 1986. Manuelaccompanies himself on piano, singing songs from the Band repertoire ("Across the Great Divide," "King Harvest [Has Surely Come]," "I Shall Be Released," "The Shape I'm In," "Chest Fever"), including a couple ("Whispering Pines," "Tears of Rage") on which he has co-songwriting credits. He also demonstrates his major influences by performing music by and associated with Fats Domino ("Grow Too Old") and Ray Charles ("Georgia on My Mind," "You Don't Know Me," "Hard Times"). And he plays a couple of piano instrumentals. He has friends in the audience who sometimes come up and join him, notably fellow Band member Rick Danko, who provides vocal and guitar support on several tracks, and guitarist Jim Weider, who was a member of later configurations of the Band. Manuel's contributions to the Band tended to be overshadowed by other group members, but here, even shortly before his death, he makes a strong impression with his barrelhouse piano work and expressive vocals, emphasizing the loss to music that was soon to come. AMG.

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Gary Husband & Alex Machacek - Now 2013

A pianist, drummer, and bandleader, Gary Husband is a journeyman jazz-rock musician with a versatile, dynamic, and genre-bending approach to improvised music. Born in Leeds in 1960, Husband studied classical piano and jazz before finding work professionally. In the '90s, Husband began leading his own piano trio featuring bassist Mick Hutton and drummer Gene Calderazzo and released the album From the Heart in 1999. During this time he continued to work with other artists including Billy Cobham, Jimmy Nail, Anthony Hindson, and more. He returned to his solo work with 2004's Aspire as well as The Things I See: Interpretations of the Music of Allan Holdsworth that same year. In 2006, Husband investigated another of his influences with A Meeting of Spirits: Interpretations of the Music of John McLaughlin. In 2008, he delivered the highly personal The Complete Diary of a Plastic Box, which featured works Husband penned while touring as a sideman from 1989 to 1993. A year later, he returned in a more post-bop mood with the album Hotwired: Gary Husband's Drive. In 2010, he was joined by Holdsworth and a list of legendary fusion artists including McLaughlin, keyboardist Jan Hammer, and guitarist Robin Trower for Dirty and Beautiful, Vol. 1. In 2012, Husband followed up the project with Dirty and Beautiful, Vol. 2. Jazz guitarist and composer Alex Machacek was born in Tulin, Austria, in 1972. He began studying classical guitar at the age of eight, eventually moving on to study jazz guitar at the Conservatory of Vienna, and also attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Machacek's biggest early influence was guitarist Joe Pass, and he was also drawn to the work of Allan Holdsworth and the compositional approach of Frank Zappa. Machacek released his first album, Featuring Ourselves, in 1999. That same year he began working with drummer Terry Bozzio and reed player Gerald Preinfalk as part of the trio BPM. Delete and Rollappeared in 2001. In 2004 Machacek moved to Los Angeles. Two years later he released [Sic] on Abstract Logix. AMG.

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Alan Gowen, Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair, Trevor Tomki - Before A Word is Said 1981

Recorded in April and May 1981, this album contains some of Alan Gowen's last sessions (he died in 1982). Different in many ways than the core corpus of the Canterbury progressive rock movement (Soft Machine, Caravan, National Health), this quartet album moves deeper into jazz -- jazz by rock musicians, yet not blatantly jazz-rock. Jazz has always been part of the Canterbury essence, in Richard Sinclair's melodic basslines and in Phil Miller's blues guitar background. Gowen continues to explore the dreamy mood exposed in Two Rainbows Daily, his collaboration with Hugh Hopper dominated by sad, subtle Moog melodies. Drummer Trevor Tomkin adds a light free jazz touch, his playing moving outside the beat in the quietest passages to provide textures rather than pulses. Writing credits are split between Miller, Gowen, and Sinclair. The guitarist's tunes are jazzy and more upbeat. "Nowadays a Silhouette" stands out; it began its life as part of National Health's repertoire. Sinclair's only contribution, "Umbrellas," features his evanescent wordless vocals. A soft number, it prefigures his solo material of the '80s. Gowen brought the darkest, most melancholy pieces. The title track is a lesson in understatement, its slow theme floating over sparse arrangements, yet it delivers the most memorable music of the set. This album takes fans of the Canterbury scene elsewhere, on a ride between parentheses, and will be of interest mostly to aficionados and collectors, but it is a fine session. Just not quite the thing you expect. AMG.

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Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart 1988

After making most of their earliest records on their own dime, Camper Van Beethoven moved up to the big leagues with 1988's Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, their first album for Virgin Records. While some fans wondered if a larger budget and corporate oversight were going to change the shape-shifting folk-punk smart alecks, the results offered a decisive answer: yes and no. Producer Dennis Herring gave CVB a much bigger and glossier sound than they had ever had before, and between the horn charts, the gated drums, the tasty electric guitar tones, and the keyboards that no longer sounded like they'd been rescued from a junk shop, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart made the band sound like professionals rather than enlightened (and slightly sloppy) amateurs, which had always been a certain part of their charm. There was also a greater snark in Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, as the cockiness of their humor developed a sharper and more defensive edge on tunes like "Never Go Back," "Life Is Grand," and particularly the darkly witty paean to Patty Hearst, "Tania." But for all the polish, Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart is still very much a Camper Van Beethoven album, especially when Victor Krummenacher's loping bass kicks in, Jonathan Segal's fiddles and keyboards color the melodies, and David Lowery spins his tales confirming that, despite his loose-limbed attitude and goofy sense of humor, he wasn't a hippie -- or a hipster for that matter. Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart revealed you could clean up Camper Van Beethoven but you couldn't necessarily make them behave, which was certainly a good thing. AMG.

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Susheela Raman - Salt Rain 2001

Opening Salt Rain is an invocation to the Hindu deity Lord Ganesh, remover of obstacles. In the Indian tradition, it's always a good idea to get Ganesh's blessings at the beginning of any new venture. Susheela Raman may toss in bass, drums, and other Western flourishes, but she also knows when to stick with the tried and true practices of her native culture. Raman also affords praise to other deities, namely the devis or goddesses Saraswati and Kamakshi, and lords Shiva and Rama. No doubt about it, Salt Rain is truly a mix of East and West, as Raman sought out producer Sam Mills after hearing his work with Bengali singer Paban Das Baul. Mills gathered musicians from around the world to create the backdrop for Raman, who sings in English and various Indian languages -- Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu -- as well as East African Luo. Most of the songs are traditional prayers or chants that Raman and Mills arranged in such ways as to fit their vision without losing the essence of the original. Overall, they did a pretty good job, as Raman shines more on those pieces than any others. AMG.

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Phil Lynott - Solo in Soho 1980

Regularly cited as one of the greatest pure rock stars of all time, Philip Lynott had already guided hard rock heroes Thin Lizzy for over a decade and nine studio albums before embarking on his first solo effort, Solo in Soho, in 1980. Always the life of any party, Lynott would hold court in the studio, preaching an open-house policy which led to collaborations with countless fellow musicians and party animals (Huey Lewis, Gary Moore, Ultravox's Midge Ure, etc.) and which led to a star-studded solo debut. Recorded by the regular band without any outside guests, opener "Dear Miss Lonely Hearts" is the great, lost Thin Lizzy track -- a Lynott masterpiece -- from its immaculate songwriting, to its innocently romantic tell-tale lyrics. "King's Call" is slightly less inspired, but benefits from a laid-back vibe and typically fluid guitar solo from Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler. From here on out, Lynottintroduces a wild assortment of new sounds and styles, including the gorgeous string overkill of "A Child's Lullaby"; the saxophone- and synthesizer-led pop of "Tattoo" and "Girls," respectively; the reggae swing of the title track (a shameless re-write of Elvis Costello's "Watching the Detectives"); the Spanish guitar of "Jamaican Run"; and even the full-on electronic dance music of "Yellow Pearl." The darker "Ode to a Black Man" revisits more familiar hard rock turf (and even shares some lyrics with "Didn't I" from Lizzy's Chinatown album of the same year), while "Talk in 79" brings the album to a close with a muscular bassline, topped with Lynott's husky voice delivering free-form poetry. An album that serious Thin Lizzy fans will have to own. AMG.

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Ray Mantilla - Dark Powers 1988

Inspired by his South Bronx Afro-Cuban roots, percussionist Ray Mantilla rose to prominence in the early '70s, performing with a host of prestigious bands, and eventually led his own band in the '80s, the Ray Mantilla Space Station. All this time Mantilla remained active and continued his prolific streak into the 2000s.

Born in 1934, in the South Bronx, Mantilla's musical career began early. By the time he was in his 20s, he was already performing in New York, blending his Afro-Cuban roots with the contemporary jazz idiom of the time. The culmination of Mantilla's upward climb came when he began touring the States, Europe, and Japan with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He remained with Blakey for several years in the '70s, yet he still managed to work with countless others, including Charles Mingus and Max Roach.

His solo debut, Mantilla, surfaced in 1978 on the Inner City label; however, it wasn't until his next album, Hands of Fire (1984, Red), that his solo recording career gained momentum. His group, the Ray Mantilla Space Station, returned two years later with another album for Red, Synergy (1986), and then again shortly after with Dark Powers. In 1991, he returned with a new band, the Jazz Tribe, and then didn't return with another album until 2000, The Next Step. AMG.

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Barbara Manning - In New Zealand 1998

True to her collaborative form, this "solo" effort from Barbara Manning is more like a transpacific one-off supergroup of indie rock without the goofy moniker -- not that any of the much-respected but commercially overlooked artists from New Zealand (the Clean, the 3-D's, the Verlaines) and the States (Calexico) could add hunks of prestige to the record via a stronger association with its creative genesis. To all but a few music geeks these artists speak in obscure musical tongues, so In New Zealand's truth in packaging ultimately matters little. Just call it a Manning solo effort for simplicity's sake and be thankful for the effort. Those interested will find many tender and sometimes bleak and bitter moments on this 1999 Communion release. The metaphorical meat of "Your Pies" (penned by Manning and New Zealand alpha-rocker Chris Knox) is perhaps the toughest of the set, while sweet and sour cuts like "Whatever I Do Is Right/Wrong" and "Everything Happens By Itself" make up the blunt, poetic main course of this minimalist feast. When fans of Manning begin digesting the simple truthfulness of In New Zealand, a familiar, sated feeling will result, and the name listed above the title will seem appropriate. AMG.

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Dawes - North Hills 2009

Often billed as the next generation of the Laurel Canyon sound, rootsy quartet Dawes evoke the spirit of their predecessors by matching acoustic-based music reminiscent of the Band or Harvest-era Neil Young with Byrds/Crosby, Stills & Nash-like vocal harmonies and lyrics that aspire to poetry. The quartet's debut album, North Hills (named for the group's Los Angeles area hometown, which is only 20 minutes away from Laurel Canyon), was recorded almost entirely live in the studio to 2" analog tape, an approach perfectly suited to the combo's earthy sound. The disc's producer, Jonathan Wilson, often invited the members of Dawes to join in on informal, multi-generational jam sessions featuring Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, the Heartbreakers' Benmont Tench, and the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson, and the spare, tasteful vibe of these artists seems to have inspired the feeling of North Hills. Lead vocalist Taylor Goldsmith is a careful wordsmith and endearing, emotive vocalist, coming off a bit like a mix of Gram Parsons and Kings of Leon's Caleb Followill. "When My Time Comes" finds him delivering a rapid-fire Dylanesque monologue about the difficulty of personal maturation, before breaking into a soaring chorus worthy of U2's Bono. Elsewhere, such as on "Bedside Manner" and first single "Love Is All I Am," the band leaves space for more gentle reflection, with lazy drumbeats, loping bass, and subtle organ flourishes creating the musical equivalent of a breezy California sunset. AMG.

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Banned From Utopia - So Yuh Don't Like Modern Art 2002

A fraternity of musicians that have collaborated with the great Frank Zappa at one point or another, Banned From Utopia is an extension of Zappa's emphasis on spontaneous music. Covering Zappa songs with a loose vibe and exploratory approach while also writing their own material, BFU (as they refer to themselves) lovingly recreate the wacky virtuoso approach of their former band leader. Forming in 1994, they have been touring the country ever since with their funky hard rock stew and unique Zappa interpretations. AMG.

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Heavy Trash - Midnight Soul Serenade 2009

On their third album, 2009's Midnight Soul Serenade, Heavy Trash keep delivering the good old rock & roll, rockabilly, and hillbilly soul that their first two albums handed out like candy at a Fourth of July parade. Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray hit their stride right away on their debut and continue to be nothing short of great. They make no great changes to their sound here; it's still loose as geese on the rockers and pleasantly spooky on the ballads. Spencer and Verta-Ray still conjure all kinds of unhinged noise from the guitars, yet remain firmly within the bounds of the songs. Best of all, Spencerfully embraces his role as greasy, rockabilly crooner with an unrestrained joy and fervor. His performance on their cover of LaVern Baker's "Bumble Bee" is guaranteed to bring smiles, his unhinged howls on "Bedevilment" bring back memories of Lux Interior, and he's never less than entertaining. The whole record is just a flat-out blast, with the duo gleefully raising all kinds of ruckus, blasting through swamp blues, noisy punk blues, cornpone balladry, and nocturnal jazz poetry, and even laying down a song that could have been a chart-topper back in 1959, the sweetly rollicking "Gee, I Really Love You." It may heretical to say it considering the backgrounds of the participants, but Heavy Trash could be the best project either man has been involved with. And while Midnight Soul Serenademay not be the best Heavy Trash album (their debut takes that honor), it's still some of the best rock & roll around. Anywhere, anytime. AMG.

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Ani Choying Drolma - Moments Of Bliss 2004

Ani Choying Dolma (born June 4, 1971), in Kathmandu, Nepal, also known as Choying Dolma and Ani Choying (Ani, "nun", is an honorific), is a Nepalese Buddhist nun and musician from the Nagi Gompa nunnery in Nepal. She is known in Nepal and throughout the world for bringing many Tibetan Buddhist chants and feast songs to mainstream audiences. She has been recently appointed as the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador to Nepal.

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