Les McCann’s free-form soul-jazz experiment ‘Invitation to Openness’ is the sound of someone loosing himself from the bonds of expectation.

Released as part of ‘Tug of War’ in April 1982, “Take It Away” is McCartney’s last best pop hit – but there was a darker undercurrent at work.

“Oh Daddy” got Adrian Belew a solo deal with Atlantic, who released ‘Mr. Music Head’ on April 28, 1989. The worry was that he’d be forever saddled with it.

JD Allen’s “A Throng of Millions Can Be One,” just one of many standout moments on ‘Bloom,’ feels like the birth of a new jazz hymn.

Graham Parker and the Rumour are all R&B-kissed coolness and trenchant aloofness here. In other words, they’re just what you want them to be.

Listen as Frank Sinatra sustains the words until you hear the cracks in his voice and, you become certain, his heart.

Otis Taylor’s “Cold at Midnight,” a white-knuckle ride into the very heart of worry, advances the forthcoming ‘Hey Joe Opus / Red Meat.’

Cyrus Chestnut doesn’t supercede the definitive take by Bill Evans’ Trio. Still, I found myself enjoying the new corners he and his trio explored.

The Rolling Stones’ ‘Sticky Fingers,’ released on April 23, 1971, might just be better – shhhhh! – than the far-more-heralded album that followed it.

A highlight of ‘Ultimate Sinatra,’ everything is in place on Frank Sinatra’s Count Basie collaboration “Best is Yet to Come.” And then it surprises you.