January 2013 will make the 40th anniversary of Kiss, and details remain sketchy as to just what the band will do to celebrate. Well, except this: Co-founder Paul Stanley says there won’t be any reunions with former members.

James Falzone is part of a young, resurgent cadre of clarinet players that also includes the likes of Ben Goldberg and Anat Cohen, determined to prove the continued vitality of this sometimes-forgotten wood instrument of jazz.

The Tom Tom Club’s new groove-based, very 1970s six-song EP Downtown Rockers finds former Talking Head rhythmnists Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth digging back into their earliest influences.

Given a chance to stuff five box sets into our baggage before that fateful trip, our panel of intrepid travelers has selected the Beatles and Miles Davis as must-have items. But not by much.

There’s not much Memphis blues traveler Darren Jay can’t do, as his varied, deeply absorbing Drink My Wine makes abundantly clear.

If there’s a knock on Aimee Mann, and I’m not sure I buy this, it’s that the singer-songwriter’s albums haven’t always done enough musically to properly feature her mood-setting lyrical complexity. Charmer certainly answers the criticism head on.