Ex-James Brown saxist Pee Wee Ellis unveiled his debut solo LP 30 years ago this month, proving again that he was one of the funkiest homo sapiens anywhere.

With ‘Threesome, Vol. 3,’ the Lickerish Quartet once again comes up with songs that are designed complex but come off catchy and frictionless.

There are no egos at all involved with the talented quartet Kind Folk, just a cooperative spirit that makes ‘Head Towards the Center’ truly better than the sum of its parts.

The Stefan Orins Trio’s ‘October 11’ is an enjoyable, modern jazz album with a firm rooting in the jazz of history.

He may not be from NOLA, but James Blood Ulmer proved 15 years ago this week that he was a true New Orleanian at heart.

‘Love, Sex and Death etc’ portrays Simon Love in all his genius glory by putting smart and shrewd lyrics to insistently catchy musical incarnations.

‘Tangled’ is a second live document of the phenomenal sax-drum telepathy between Tim Berne and Nasheet Waits.

The subversive nature of Zeal & Ardor’s music is sure to be a turn off for some, but for the rest of us, it’s a refreshingly original take.

Rush shared a unified, deeply uplifting message 15 years ago this week to tie an album of loose ends together.

‘Julee’ captures Dave Cope and the Sass showing respect to their origins, while at the same time flashing their own special identity.