The Beatles premiered their blatantly weird, critically savaged ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ film 55 years ago today on the BBC.

He departed much too early, but fortunately Donny Hathaway left us with several memorable songs – including this one.

Even now, no one else in jazz compares to Moppa Elliot’s returning Mostly Other People Do the Killing. Audacity with the chops to make it work remains the basic recipe.

‘Contending and Contention’ is a harmonic, vocal and sonic journey, held together by its message – and Evie Asio’s distinct sound.

Dan Weiss’ innate understanding of tradition picked up from key influences made it possible to move forward in the salient, discriminating way that he did for ‘Dedication.’

Preston Frazier’s Best of 2022 list includes studio projects from David Paich, Monkey House, Ben Craven, Adrian Quesada and others.

Some might quibble over whether this is contemporary, smooth or crossover jazz. It’s actually a hybrid from Everette Harp, Jeff Lorber and Paul Jackson Jr.

Grandmaster of magic and suspense Christopher Lee said his favorite role was a merry jaunt as Lord SummerIsle in ‘The Wicker Man.’

It’s no match for ‘Slave to the Grind,’ of course, but ‘The Gang’s All Here’ certainly belongs in the conversation with Skid Row’s early albums.

Ivo Perelman and Joe Morris are hardly the first saxophone-guitar duo, but they take that combination to its highest possible level with ‘Elliptic Time.’