I just realized why Ralph Alessi became Fred Hersch’s trumpet player of choice: Alessi is Fred Hersch, rendered through brass instead of ivory.

Zakk Wylde’s “Sleeping Dogs” makes a good promise for ‘Book of Shadows II.’ Here’s hoping the rest of the album delivers on it.

If you’re looking to have your spine tingled and heart jingled, the Main Ingredient certainly fits the bill.

Returning to songs by the Beatles, Talking Heads, R.E.M. and others that – despite being pretty much incomprehensible – captured the public’s imagination.

B-Leaguers’ ‘Death of a Western Heart’ is crammed to the finish line with hooky punk-pop songs along the lines of the Buzzcocks, Undertones and Green Day.

Playing with nervy purpose is purpose enough for the new jazz supergroup of Haas, Dillon, Singleton an Vidacovich to get together and make a record.

“Long Distance Runaround” is stuffed with progressive elements from Jon Anderson, producer Eddy Offord and Yes, only adding to its stature in the canon.

Elvis Costello performs in front of an ebullient hometown crowd, reinterpreting favorites and dusting off more obscure album tracks.

The years between Rudd and his new bandmates melt away in that wonderful, cross-generational thing called telepathy when the four convened to spontaneously and collectively make some jazz noises.

Juggling pop rocking finesse with experimental episodes, Speed the Plough is still mixing and mashing genres. Democracy remains the key word on ‘Now.’