It would be tempting to call this jazz fusion, or jazz rock. Or jazz something. But there’s so very much more going on, as Yes alum Trevor Rabin hurtles through Jacaranda, due May 8, 2012 from Varese Vintage Records.

Ooooh baby … just one listen to Wilson’s gorgeous and sultry voice intertwined with Willie Nelson’s classic melody from “Crazy” is enough to make me think things I just shouldn’t be thinkin’!

There is a sense, throughout the covers-filled What the Hell is Goin’ On?, of broken-in familiarity. Paul Thorn and his longtime backing band aren’t simply pulling out these songs to try to move records. They have loved, and they have lived, every one of these tales.

I’m not going to tell you, in the wake of Adam “MCA” Yauch’s death on Friday, that I was a huge Beastie Boys fan. The truth is, I haven’t thought about them in years.