Like all the best religious records, ex-Blind Boys of Alabama guitarist/vocailist Sam Butler’s ‘Raise Your Hands!’ has that the ability to lift the spirits of pagans and Christians alike.

‘Dancing On The Inside’ is soothing jazz even as it takes on the discreet challenges that Whirlpool along with Ron Miles had set up for themselves.

The musical communion between Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp continues to progress into something more and more magical. You have to hear it to believe it.

With an imaginative mind and worldly experience, fresh and appealing ideas can still be mined within the realm of fusion jazz. Like, for instance, Michael Cain’s ‘Sola.’

With the release of their inspirational first album ‘Abundance’, the soul-funk-rock jam band the Nth Power has been a triumphant musical story so far.

The Will Mason’s Ensemble’s ‘Beams of the Huge Night’ is what the Sun Ra Arkestra might have sounded like had they gone in a rock direction.

The name has changed but the product is basically the same. They didn’t mess with a good thing, so there’s a lot to recommend about ‘Huntertones.’

‘Waking Days’ is Jeff Crosby’s best thus far and one of the best singer-songwriter albums you’re likely to come across this year.

Mose Allison’s ‘American Legend, Live In California’ reminds us that we’re lucky to have him because he’s the first and the last of the line.

As a subversive within the musical realm, Aram Bajakian connected with a subversive director and like the film, effectively said much without any words at all.