L.A. is a big, diverse jazz scene where it’s tough to stand out but newcomer drummer Atticus Reynolds has quickly done just that with ‘Towers,’ bringing loads of chops and musical creativity to bear on his first record as an Angeleno.

One might think that the Everly Brothers would try to make their show into a living jukebox, but almost the opposite occurred.

“Rotations” is the trance-like advance single from Gerycz / Powers / Rolin’s strangely alluring pysch-folk LP, ‘Lamplighter.’

Ari Lehtela’s album is a godsend of sanity in the year the Earth stood still, getting everything right when everything else just went wrong.

“See, it takes two of us to make an Everly Brothers record,” Don Everly once told me, “and there’s just no way around it.”

Coming together in 1973, the Poppees were born either a decade too late or a few years too early.

Matthew Shipp and William Parker’s ‘Re-Union’ is a set of improv pieces that reveals the true extent of unity of purpose and direction that comes from more than three decades of playing together in nearly every imaginable setting.

There is nothing inherently wrong with Chicago’s “Back to You,” if you’re a fan of middle-of-the-road pop that lacks any hint of adventurism.

Hearing bass legend Dave Holland playing loose and sometimes hard with other top line players in a democratic trio setting for ‘Another Land’ is just as good as you would think it would be. Maybe even a little bit better.

Jean Luc Ponty’s long-awaited comeback album ‘Life Enigma’ was issued two decades ago, reestablishing him as the world’s finest electric violinist.