Ambitious, connective and simply unforgettable, The Raven is not just Steven Wilson’s best solo album to date, it rivals his career-making work on Porcupine Tree’s 2002 triumph In Absentia

I don’t usually spend a lot of time dumping on music that I don’t like. This is pretty much an ironclad rule when it comes to reviews. It’s the most pointless kind of writing, rarely rising above the level of drunken frat-boy snark.

In a way, Christian McBride has been working on this big-band project all along. The talented jazz bassist’s interest in this format began almost 20 years ago