Robert Finley stopped to talk about different things but mostly, he just played, accompanied only by the rattling window unit.

‘The Remains’ documents the unstoppable exuberance of an exciting – and sadly short-lived – young band.

‘Invisible Threads’ offered me the first chance to listen to saxophonist and clarinet player John Surman in a long time – and all I can say is, “wow.”

Some might recognize a couple of the New Zealand garage-rock groups on ‘How Is the Air Up There?’ The rest may be new to most, like me.

After a long fermenting period, Roscoe Mitchell and Matthew Shipp’s ‘Accelerated Projection’ is nevertheless just as relevant today as it did when the music was pulled from thin air more than twelve years before release.

As the Time’s Up / #metoo women’s movement rages on, Mike Tiano notes that John Lennon and Yoko Ono boldly addressed this issue decades ago.

“Shock to the System” almost seems like a leftover from Yes’ ‘Big Generator’ era, instead of a tune begun by Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe.

Anna Nalick joined Kristina Mondo to discuss the best piece of advice she was ever given, her dream collaborator and her very first song-writing experience.

Quoan’s ‘Fine Dining’ is a feast of so many ways two horns and a rhythm section can generate excitement and keep us guessing what happens next.

Toto’s “Struck By Lightning” has a tough attitude that wouldn’t have been out of place on 1984’s ‘Isolation’ or 1992’s ‘Kingdom of Desire.’ Yet it also offers something different.