Though ZZ Top now says they’re thrilled with the results on the forthcoming new longplayer La Futura, they admit that it wasn’t always smooth sailing with eccentric producer Rick Rubin.

I’ve always loved the tension that builds up in this little ticking bomb of a song. The sparse yet insistent guitar, the unhinged shouts and howls, and a man carrying that one secret that’s been with him for a long, long time

I’ve found that young jazz musicians — the more ambitious ones, at least — like to hit the ground running and start establishing their foothold in the jazz world as soon as they’re wrapping up their advanced studies

You’ll want to jump start your short week with some new sounds from the likes of Bob Mould, Chick Corea and Gary Burton, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame, and Melissa Etheridge.

A scalding summer hasn’t delivered us from its convection heat, though it has brought this crisp set of jazz tunes focusing on snow-covered, shiver-inducing themes. Wintertime Tunes blows in like fall’s first northerly breeze.