The first masterpiece of what was only termed trip-hop much later, Blue Lines filtered American hip-hop through the lens of British club culture, a stylish, nocturnal sense of scene that encompassed music from rare groove to dub to dance. The album balances dark, diva-led club jams along the lines of Soul II Soul with some of the best British rap (vocals and production) heard up to that point, occasionally on the same track. The opener "Safe from Harm" is the best example, with diva vocalist Shara Nelson trading off lines with the group's own monotone (yet effective) rapping. Even more than hip-hop or dance, however, dub is the big touchstone on Blue Lines. Most of the productions aren't quite as earthy as you'd expect, but the influence is palpable in the atmospherics of the songs, like the faraway electric piano on "One Love" (with beautiful vocals from the near-legendary Horace Andy). One track, "Five Man Army," makes the dub inspiration explicit, with a clattering percussion line, moderate reverb on the guitar and drums, and Andy's exquisite falsetto flitting over the chorus. Blue Lines isn't all darkness, either -- "Be Thankful for What You've Got" is quite close to the smooth soul tune conjured by its title, and "Unfinished Sympathy" -- the group's first classic production -- is a tremendously moving fusion of up-tempo hip-hop and dancefloor jam with slow-moving, syrupy strings. Flaunting both their range and their tremendously evocative productions, Massive Attack recorded one of the best dance albums of all time. © John Bush /TiVo

In 1992, on the cusp of her 40th birthday, Lucinda Williams recorded a remarkable fourth album: Sweet Old World. A perfect treaty of country rock crossed with blues, which reaffirmed her status of Queen of Americana, a status she would again confirm in 1998 with her masterpiece Car Wheels on a Gravel Road… 25 years later the songwriter from Louisiana had the amusing idea of recording the whole Sweet Old World again, renamed This Sweet Old World for the occasion. Surrounded by guitarist Stuart Mathis, bassist David Sutton, drummer Butch Norton and, on the steel-guitar, the great Greg Leisz (who also worked on the 1992 album), Lucinda Williams allows us to marvel once again at the handling and content of these incisive songs but with a more contemporary sound. With a few alterations to lyrics here and there and changes made in the track listing, this reinterpretation is nicely complemented by a few original titles. © MZ/Qobuz

Though early comparisons were made to Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega's true antecedents were Janis Ian and Leonard Cohen. Like Ian, she sings with a precise, frequently half-spoken phrasing that gives her lyrics an intensity that seems to suggest an unsteady control consciously held over emotional chaos. Like Cohen, Vega observes the world in poetic metaphor, her cold urban landscapes reflecting a troubled sense of love and loss. The key track is "Small Blue Thing," in which the singer pictures herself as an object "Like a marble/or an eye," "made of china/made of glass," "lost inside your pocket," and "turning in your hand." The sharply picked acoustic guitar and other isolated musical elements echo the closely observed scenes -- everything seems to be in tight close-up and sharp focus. Often, the singer seems to be using the songs to measure an emotional distance; sometimes, as in "Marlene on the Wall," she observes her own actions from a remove. In "Freeze Tag," she tells a companion, "I will be Dietrich/and you can be Dean"; in "Marlene," a poster of the aloof movie star "watches from the wall," observing the singer's succession of lovers, and she tries to emulate her heroine's persona, telling the current one, "Even if I am in love with you/all this to say, what's it to you?" The ten songs on Suzanne Vega constitute the self-analysis of a young woman who desires possession without offering commitment; no wonder that, upon its release, it was taken to heart by young women across the country and in Europe. © William Ruhlmann /TiVo

Over 18 years and three previous albums, drummer Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band has kept its core quintet in saxophonists Myron Walden and Melvin Butler, pianist Jon Cowherd, and bassist Chris Thomas. Landmarks sees the band returning to Blue Note after a brief sojourn with Verve for 2008's Seasons of Changes. The only fluctuations for the group have been in the guitar chair, and the departing Kurt Rosenwinkel has been replaced by either Marvin Sewell or Jeff Parker for this date. The group's raison d'etre has always been to tell narrative musical stories, through jazz based on root American forms. They do so exceptionally here. The Fellowship Band's M.O. has never been about solo virtuosity (though its members possess it abundantly) so much as group interplay. Interestingly, the title track (which follows a short flute-like Mellotron solo intro by Cowherd) commences with a folk-inspired melodic bass solo by Thomas with the pianist accompanying. The band doesn't enter until about 2:30, iterating a song-ish theme followed by economic yet soulful soprano and bass clarinet solos. Cowherd restates the theme before extending his solo in narrative yet questing fashion while Blade dialogues underneath with Thomas in circular rhythm. On "State Lines," Sewell plays an unaccompanied, ambient slide guitar solo with the Delta blues in full view. The 12-minute "Ark. La.Tex." commences on a slowly evolving five-note melodic theme that recalls Jim Pepper's Native American jazz motifs. Blade's tom- toms and the saxophonists gradually expand that theme in rounds with lilting lyric asides and modal considerations until it opens wide. Thomas and Blade move afield as Butler quotes loosely from "A Love Supreme" at the beginning of his tenor solo and the tune gains in momentum with Cowherd's continued comping while subtly exploring the melody. Its theme eventually returns after two more group lyric sidebars. Cowherd's pump organ introduces "Shenandoah," performed with hymn-like restraint -- in striking contrast to their live version. "He Died Fighting" commences with a Blade solo. Its raspy alto and tenor contrast with Sewell's lyrical guitar; it is positively songlike in construction and flow, with a killer bridge interlude. The first 40 seconds of "Friends Call Her Dot" feature Walden's bass clarinet completely solo before Butler and Parker join him in the four-chord motif, driven by Blade's confident understatement. Cowherd and Walden slip off and dazzle with counterpoint before the pianist delivers a dazzling bluesy solo rippling with imagination. Where "Bonnie Be Good" is a slow but gradually dynamic piece that melds modalism and lyric harmony in a folk-like structure (with gorgeous chord voicings from Parker), the short closer "Embers" evokes country music with its circular line via the prismatic lens of gospel. On Landmarks, the Fellowship Band continues its exploration of American folk styles in a highly original, thoroughly modern jazz, rich in harmonic inquiry and rhythmic attraction, with compositions that speak from the mysterious heart of song itself.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Among the most flexible of jazz guitarists, Larry Coryell performs ten unaccompanied and largely acoustic solos and plays four duets with fellow guitarist Brian Keane (who has "A Piece for Larry" to himself). The intimate selections often come across as improvised classical music (although all but a couple of Ravel themes were composed by one of the two guitarists), with Coryell emphasizing the beauty of his tone and the melodic side of his style. This CD reissue was originally issued by the German String label.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

Composer John Luther Adams writes music of environmental inspiration, often of quite a direct sort. One might wonder how it translates to the medium of the string quartet, often thought of as abstract, but the format focuses the mind on the slightly shifting phases and intervals that are the meat of Adams' minimalist style. The first work here, Lines Made by Walking, is explicitly programmatic: it depicts scenes from a hike and thus consists of (musical) lines made by walking. It is, however, as spare in its mode of expression as any other minimalist composition, with falling musical figures in all three movements that flatten out a bit as the hiker reaches a ridgeline in the middle movement. The second work, untouched, has the more abstract movement titles "Rising," "Crossing," and "Falling"; the work explores open string sonorities and harmonics. In its slow evolutions, it is of a piece with Lines Made by Walking, and the listener without guidance might not guess which piece had a specific nature program. The JACK Quartet conveys the monumental quality of Adams' music well, and listeners who enjoy the string quartets of Philip Glass will likely take naturally to this pair. © TiVo

The sprightly electro-funk jam band Vida Blue released a pair of studio albums and one live set in the front half of the 2000s before their helmsman, Page McConnell, retired the project and resumed his primary role as keyboardist for Phish. Formed in 2001 during a Phish hiatus, Vida Blue's original lineup was essentially a power trio with the fleet-fingered McConnell joined by bassist Oteil Burbridge (the Allman Brothers Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit) and drummer Russell Batiste (the Funky Meters). They enjoyed some success on the jam circuit for a few years, then played their last show together at Bonnaroo in the summer of 2004. Following a 15-year gap, Vida Blue make an unlikely return, and this time as a quartet. Newcomer Adam Zimmon joins the core trio on guitar for 2019's Crossing Lines, adding new dimensions while respectfully adhering to the spaciousness of their original setup. Of the album's eight generally lengthy cuts, only two are instrumentals (the dubby "Weepa" and the Meters-esque "Real Underground Soul Sound"), marking a trend that favors McConnell's more structured, lyric-driven songwriting. Opener "Analog Delay" is a rather hard-hitting funk-rock track built around a big, loping electronic groove. It's about as heavy as Vida Blue get, with the album's midsection given over to more laid-back fare like the low-key funk of "Where Did It Go" and contemplative electric piano-driven cuts like "Phaidon" and "Maybe." The 11-minute closer, "If I Told You," is a colorful, lightly psychedelic journey whose bookend verses sandwich an expansive instrumental section, some of which features the Spam Allstars, the Afro-Cuban ensemble who were an integral part of Vida Blue's second album. As on earlier releases, the musicianship and interplay between these musicians is excellent, and while Crossing Lines doesn't necessarily feel essential, it has its moments and marks a worthy third chapter in the band's canon. © Timothy Monger /TiVo

Piano and trumpet duets are relatively rare. In 1928, while recording Weather Bird, Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines kicked things off, followed much later by Chet Baker and Paul Bley (with Diane in 1985), Tom Harrell and Jacky Terrasson (Moon and Sand in 1991), Martial Solal and Eric le Lann (Portrait in Black and White in 2000), Martial Solal and Dave Douglas (Rue de Seine in 2006), Uri Caine and Paolo Fresu (Things in 2006), Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani (Rava Plays Rava in 1999 and The Third Man in 2007), Oscar Peterson on five albums (with Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Clark Terry, Jon Faddis and Harry “Sweets” Edison), Clark Terry’s One On One in 2000 (with fourteen different pianists!) and, most recently, Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith (A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke in 2016)... Avishai Cohen and Yonathan Avishai have known each other since their teens in Tel Aviv. The pianist even featured on the trumpeter’s two ECM albums, Into the Silence and Cross My Palm With Silver. Their innate complicity allows them to improvise freely, playfully, and intensely on Playing the Room, their first work as a duo. As the title suggests, the two Israelis also incorporate the room – in this case the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI studio in Lugano – into their sound and they make full use of its resonant acoustics. They each sign a theme in turn before embarking on an eclectic repertoire by John Coltrane (Cresent), Duke Ellington (Azalea), Abdullah Ibrahim (Kofifi Blue), Ornette Coleman (Dee Dee), Milt Jackson (Ralph’s New Blues), Alexander Argov (Shir Eres) and Stevie Wonder (Sir Duke). And they transform this heterogeneous programme into utterly moving chamber jazz. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Joe Lovano heads a lineup with pianist Michel Petrucciani, bassist Dave Holland, and late drummer Ed Blackwell. It's hard-edged, explosive playing all around, with Blackwell laying down his patented bombs while Petrucciani and Holland converge behind Lovano's dynamic solos.© Ron Wynn /TiVo

Andrew Hill has been, in the gentlest of cases, an idiosyncratic player, composer, and bandleader. But often, reviews of his work have been quite strident and refer to him as an iconoclast. That's okay; some critics thought of Monk and Herbie Nichols that way, too. Time Lines has Hill back -- for the third time in his long career -- with Blue Note, the label that gave birth to his enduring classics like Black Fire and Judgment!. But Hill is still every bit the creative and technically gifted musician he was back in the day; perhaps more so. His band features seasoned veteran Charles Tolliver on trumpet, saxophonist Greg Tardy (who also triples on clarinet and bass clarinet, and beautifully, to say the least), and a rhythm section composed of bassist John Herbert and drummer Eric McPherson. The tunes reflect Hill's ranging interests as a composer, and they are demanding in that listeners must locate themselves within them, and yet must also meet the composer's criteria. None of these compositions are brief. They are almost all in the eight- to nine-minute range. Check the opener, "Malachi," dedicated to Art Ensemble of Chicago bassist Malachi Favors. Hill's chords lay down a series of colors, slowly, purposefully, without artifice or idiomatic device; he calls the other players in a few at a time before letting them drop out while his piano meanders through the emotions he finds in his own harmonic inventions. In other places, such as on the South African-tinged title track, one can hear the song-like structures of Abdullah Ibrahim, but the knottiness of Hill's own conceptual melodic sense moves somewhere else. He intercepts, interjects, and dictates the lengths of solos. All the while he explores the edges of each tune, finding new chords to color the melody he's playing with his right hand. "Ry Round 1" has some interesting front line play between the horns, as Hill plays chordal counterpoint to accent the swing in the tune. Tardy's bass clarinet playing on "For Emilio" is utterly lovely and engaging, and his solo in the middle is bright -- full of nuance and color. He is a master of the instrument, and while he's accompanied beautifully by Herbert, he is continually inviting the rest of the band in to track the lyric. As usual, Hill plays all around the lyric -- through it, on top of it, and underneath it -- bringing out its subtleties in the process. Hill's gift lies in his ability to employ the tradition exactly as he means to, yet he also seems to look for the mystery inherent in the improvisation and the dialogue of musicians with one another. The balladic genius in "Whitsuntide" is all the more so because, in various places, such as in Tardy's tenor solo, the tune threatens to break out into something else and Hill responds by giving him large modal chords to play off of, but then leads him back. Time Lines is yet another landmark in one of the most astonishing careers in the history of jazz.© Thom Jurek /TiVo