Ian East’s ‘Inner Paths’ is an ethnic fusion album that’s fun to listen to now and will be fun to listen to a hundred plays from now. Getting a world music education can hardly be more enjoyable than listening to this.

Paying homage to a Charles Mingus masterpiece with inspired original material is just what you’d expect from the ever-curious, ever-expansive alto saxophonist Greg Ward.

This exclusive stream from tenor sax master Nate Lepine’s debut album is a nice day’s work in the span of less than three minutes.

‘Rich Man’ is a consolidation of Bramhall’s strengths as a straight-up rocker, Texas bluesman and modern soul crooner, self-produced in the psychedelic soul style of The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.

When Carl Weingarten decides to create his soundscapes with little or no augmentation from others, it’s a flair that can be appreciated and enjoyed at its maximum potential.

With the first post-Daevid Allen Gong album, the torchbearers of serious rock who don’t take themselves *too* seriously carries on confidently.

It’s hard to imagine Ohio’s funky jazz-rock sextet Huntertones sounding any better than this. And that’s saying something.

A precursor of what’s next in store from UK-born/Spanish-residing David Phillips, “Washes Over Me” is a back-to-basics excursion from a guy who isn’t prone to stray far from the basics to start with.

Finding simpatico between improvising piano and drums probably isn’t so easy to pull off convincingly, but Bobby Kapp and Matthew Shipp make it seem that way.

As oldies recast in soul-jazz bliss, ‘Eight Track II” is one of those good ideas from Dave Stryker that deserved another go around.