Al Green’s return-to-form ‘Lay It Down’ arrived a decade ago this month with new hip-hop producers and a bevy of guest R&B singers – but it was no sell out.

Apart from his collaborator Arto Lindsay, Thiago Nassif’s ‘Três’ much unlike anything else you’re likely to hear from a very broadly defined pop realm that includes its rogue elements.

Released 10 years ago this month, Avishai Cohen’s ‘Gently Disturbed’ made the case for a modern jazz trio – but from the bassist’s perspective.

Walter Becker could knock out a catchy jingle like “Just One Season” with probably about as much effort as it takes most of us to write something clever on a greeting card.

It’s always a good indication that the music is working the way the artists intend for it to work when you struggle to pigeonhole it but can easily get a firm grasp of its emotional impact. Syrinx Effect ‘s ‘A Sky You Could Strike A Match On’ does just that.

The all-originals ‘Ours’ and all-covers ‘Theirs’ are both bulls eyes from Thumbscrew and a strong way to persuade the quality label Cuneiform to not give up the fight.

Thollem ducks into a studio and jams with a noted, up-and-coming fusion guitarist and the drummer from an established garage-punk band.

Philips is clearly that guy who is well suited for DIY, and now we know from ‘Get Along’ that even when he does something by himself two different ways, both ways are the ‘right’ way.

A little mellower and little more intimate, ‘Butterflies’ is Basia aging gracefully with music that will likely not age at all.

Strange to say this, but the 1970s adult contemporary star Rita Coolidge actually outdid her with her first real album in twenty years ‘Safe In The Arms Of Time.’