John Coltrane's matchup with singer Johnny Hartman, although quite unexpected, works extremely well. Hartman was in prime form on the six ballads, and his versions of "Lush Life" and "My One and Only Love" have never been topped. Coltrane's playing throughout the session is beautiful, sympathetic, and still exploratory; he sticks exclusively to tenor on the date. At only half an hour, one wishes there were twice as much music, but what is here is classic, essential for all jazz collections. © Scott Yanow /TiVo

John Coltrane's matchup with singer Johnny Hartman, although quite unexpected, works extremely well. Hartman was in prime form on the six ballads, and his versions of "Lush Life" and "My One and Only Love" have never been topped. Coltrane's playing throughout the session is beautiful, sympathetic, and still exploratory; he sticks exclusively to tenor on the date. At only half an hour, one wishes there were twice as much music, but what is here is classic, essential for all jazz collections. © Scott Yanow /TiVo

45 years after his first album, Stanley Clarke shows that he is still an untouchable virtuoso on the bass, electric and acoustic guitar, with an artistic vision that is completely his own. Supported by friends as varied as rapper Doug E. Fresh and trumpet player Mark Isham and accompanied by a band featuring Cameron Graves and Beka Gochiashvili on keyboards and Mike Mitchell on drums, the bass ace unfurls all his know-how on this record, whether he’s throwing himself into a torrid funky swerve or revisiting a Bach suite! There’s an impressive eclecticism throughout, though this former member of Return to Forever never ceases to be himself. What’s more, Stanley Clarke doesn't forget to pay tribute to some recently deceased colleagues: George Duke, Prince, Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, Darryl Brown, Tom Petty, Chuck Berry, Larry Coryell and Al Jarreau. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

"It's kind of unbelievable to me that I’m still recording. I never thought I would still be singing at my age, and people seem to really want to hear me, they know me, they give me love - I'm just overwhelmed, really. I thank God every night before I go to bed and then again every morning for waking up." Few people would have imagined that at 79 years old Mavis Staples would still be reaching a wide audience and recording albums. Her inner strength is fully intact and this live performance at the Union Chapel in London just goes to prove it. Trump's America acts as a good source of inspiration and a powerful fuel for this voice that sings about God, love, and all the injustices and evils that surround us. She’s just as politically engaged as she was during The Staple Singers’ heyday (who were led by Pops Staples, her illustrious father) when the band released several protest songs for the Civil Rights Movement. Here, the gospel queen essentially sings songs from albums that she has released on the label ANTI since 2007. From Love and Trust by Ben Harper to Funkadelic's Can You Get to That and What You Gonna Do (which she sang during the sixties with The Staple Singers), from Let's Do It Again by Curtis Mayfield to Slippery People by Talking Heads, Mavis Staples’ voice turns everything it touches into gold. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Keith Jarrett has recorded quite a few albums with his "Standards Trio," which also features bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, and virtually all of their releases are enjoyable. The music that they create is in some ways an update of the type of interplay that took place between Bill Evans and his sidemen, where all three musicians often act as equals (although Jarrett, like Evans, has most of the solo space). An uptempo "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" is a surprising highpoint of this disc but also quite memorable are "All of You," "Old Folks" and "How About You?"; none of the eight performances from the concert appearance are throwaways. Jarrett's vocal sounds are more restrained than usual while his piano playing is in peak form.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

Only a little more than a year after releasing two EPs -- a self-titled one, and Of Light -- Seattle's Shabazz Palaces signed to Sub Pop for their full-length debut. Even on a high-profile label, former Digable Planets member Ishmael Butler (formerly Butterfly) maintains a shroud of mystique, rapping under the facade of Palaceer Lazaro and purposely avoiding publicity, interviews, and liner credits. Considering his long-term time in the game, his wordplay is still surprisingly relevant, and, masked as Lazaro, he reinvents himself by adding an air of sophistication to the persona of a streetwise gangster. Jazz references are no longer the norm and Butler steers away from the blaxploitation slang and rhymes about being an insect or a creamy spy, but he still has a distinctive, surreal style of flowing. Compared to former albums by Digable Planets, Cherrywine, Camp Lo (Butler guested on some of their tracks), or even on the prior Shabazz Palaces EPs (which were pretty dark to begin with), Black Up is a much harder-edged album. There are no obvious singles, and the beats are murky, splintered, and synthesized, reminiscent of the space-age rap of acts like Deltron 3030, Kool Keith, and Dälek. In a year when minimal production is on the upswing -- a trend highlighted by the enormous buzz surrounding Odd Future and Tyler, the Creator's bare-boned productions -- Shabazz Palaces seems perfectly in tune with a modern underground movement that embraces the most ominous and difficult aspects of hip-hop. As the mainstream becomes more and more predictable, Shabazz Palaces’ inscrutability is a welcome change. Because the beats are so abstract, roots take precedent, and a strong presence on the microphone becomes the most important aspect. Butler fills this role with ease. His smooth, sparkling rhymes glue Knife Knights' watery environment together to create a provocative listen from start to finish.© Jason Lymangrover /TiVo

Mariah Carey's first proper album since 2009 is a couple covers away from being as nostalgic as the Glitter soundtrack. Its title -- well, the part that precedes the ellipses -- is taken from a self-portrait, reproduced on the back, drawn at the age of three and a half. "I'll just sit right here and sing that good old school shit to ya," she sings on "Dedicated," a song seasoned with a Wu-Tang sample, a Nas throwback verse, and reminiscent chatter. Like many other songs on the album, flashbacks are laced through the music as well as in the lyrics, with Carey reflecting upon happier moments in a relationship while either pining or scolding. The feel-good "You Don't Know What to Do," one of a few songs made with Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, cleverly interpolates Inner Life's 1979 disco classic "I'm Caught Up (In a One Night Love Affair)" and has Carey channeling the group's Jocelyn Brown throughout, especially in the intro. In sharp contrast with Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, a set produced strictly by Carey, Tricky Stewart, and the-Dream, this involves numerous co-writers and co-producers who bring distinct material, from the dusty and dreamy feel of "#Beautiful" (with Miguel) to the pumping, Eddie Kendricks-sampling "Meteorite" (a Q-Tip co-production). Additional co-producers Hit-Boy and Mike WiLL Made-It provide up-to-date elements, while the latter half involves a couple of gospel-flavored standouts, the latter of which is an inspired tribute to the Reverend James Cleveland. Carey unfortunately doesn't feel nostalgic for the succinctness of her early albums, but this shows that she's still capable of delivering 40 minutes of strong, supremely voiced R&B when she's up for it. © Andy Kellman /TiVo

By the time the Mamas & the Papas recorded and released their third album, the group was continuing, in the words of singer Denny Doherty, "on its own momentum." Acrimonious personnel changes, rock stardom, fame, money, and drugs (among other factors) were taking their toll on the group's chemistry. Fortunately, this momentum is precisely the reason that the album succeeds. Buttressed by the singles "Creeque Alley" (the sometimes hilarious story of how the group came together), "Look Through My Window," and the stupendous remake of "Dedicated to the One I Love," the album has some exquisite moments. "Look Through My Window" is also one of the group's most realized recordings, and the cover of "Twist and Shout" is an absolute killer. Much of the record, frankly, doesn't sound too different than the group's first two albums, but with the songwriting, vocal, and production excellence, why tamper with genius? The group felt so too, which is why this album is Michelle Phillips' personal favorite. It's not too hard to see why.© Matthew Greenwald /TiVo

A poorly put-together compilation, Approaching Standards serves only to illuminate Hargrove's failure to understand ballad material on his earlier recordings. Ballads dominate the album, accounting for seven of the album's ten tracks; Hargrove generally interprets them in a cool, emotionally detached manner which can be quite off-putting. Compiled from four albums whose recording dates span from 1989 to 1993, Approaching Standards somewhat more encouragingly also documents Hargrove's growth as a musician. "Everything I Have is Yours/Dedicated to You," taken from the 1993 recording Of Kindred Souls, finds Hargrove in a more mature frame of mind, and points toward the much better albums he would soon make.© Dan Cross /TiVo

Throughout her career, Linda Ronstadt has always interpreted rock and pop classics, but Dedicated to the One I Love is different from the rest of her albums -- this time around, she reinterprets the oldies as children's lullabies. All of the songs are given lush, sweet, and soft arrangements, even when that approach is ludicrous; it might be a cute idea to deliver Queen's "We Will Rock You" as a rock-a-bye chant, but in practice it is simply ridiculous. Fortunately, most of the album relies on songs -- "Be My Baby," "In My Room" -- that can be sung as lullabies, and she sings them very well. Of course, the appeal of Dedicated to the One I Love is limited -- only baby boomer parents will really find this interesting -- but fans that find the concept intriguing won't be disappointed by the results.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Recorded on September 8, 1974, this set features Robert Wyatt (post-accident) with a slew of mates, including Ivor Cutler! Introduced by John Peel and recorded by the BBC -- only a little over half the concert survives -- this is a wild, freewheeling document featuring Wyatt, Cutler, and Julie Tippetts on vocals; Dave Stewart and Tippetts on keyboards; alternate drummers Nick Mason and Laurie Allan; Hugh Hopper on bass; Fred Frith on guitar, violin, and viola; the late Mongezi Feza on trumpet; the late great Gary Windo on reeds; and guitarist Mike Oldfield. It's quite a lineup and an awesomely inspiring performance. Wyatt is in excellent form here, and the bandmembers, who are a bit ragged in places, are nonetheless tight and full of fire. From "Dedicated to You But You Weren't Listening" and "Memories" to "Alfie," "Instant Pussy," "Mind of a Child," and "Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road," this set is alternately an early tribute recording to Wyatt and a fine get-together of friends from the Canterbury scene. Sonically, the recording is very present, though a bit overloaded in places, but the music more than compensates for this. All Wyatt fans will need this, as it is as close to an essential document of 1970s experimental/prog as one is likely to find. © Thom Jurek /TiVo

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They weren't the most important folk-rock group of the mid-'60s; the Byrds and others produced more enduring music. Yet the Mamas & the Papas were undoubtedly the most commercially successful folk-rock group of their time, racking up an astonishing nine Top 30 hits in little more than a year and a half. This 43-song double-CD is by far the most comprehensive document of their legacy. It draws most heavily from their two 1966 albums (nine songs originate from their debut album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, alone), when John Phillips' songwriting talent had yet to exhaust itself. Beyond the hits, the material is variable. Quite a few album tracks -- especially "Got a Feelin'," "Straight Shooter," "Go Where You Wanna Go," "Once Was a Time I Thought," and their cover of Lennon/McCartney's "I Call Your Name" -- were strong enough to have been hits under their own steam. Their slowed-down, California-ized versions of rock oldies were more problematic. And there's no doubt that their later material is less spirited and memorable than their initial burst of glory. The set includes various late-'60s and '70s solo recordings by each of the group's members (including small hit singles by John Phillips and Cass Elliot). Perhaps the most intriguing rarities are from the members' pre-Mamas days. These include commercial folk by the Big Three (featuring Cass Elliot) and primitive pop-folk-rock by the Mugwumps (including Elliott, Denny Doherty, and future Lovin' Spoonful member Zal Yanovsky).© Richie Unterberger /TiVo

At age 25, Freddie Hubbard made inroads into modern jazz most trumpeters could not imagine, much less come through with. As a soloist, one of Hubbard's crowning achievements in his early period was this recording on which he teamed with Wayne Shorter, marginally as a performer but prominent in the role of arranger/conductor for his first time ever. Utilizing a septet, 16-piece big band, and orchestra plus stings to play concise, tight tunes, Shorter provides the backdrop to employ Hubbard's bold toned trumpet and all of its devices in a full display of his powerful melodic talents. Yeoman Reggie Workman plays bass on all selections, with drummer Louis Hayes in the seven-piece combo, and great work from Philly Joe Jones in the larger bands. Interestingly enough, the three tracks with the smaller ensemble are the most interesting, due to the presence of Eric Dolphy, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, and Shorter on the front line. "Clarence's Place" is a post-bop jewel with spiky brass accents and Dolphy's ribald and outre alto sax solo contrasting Shorter's relatively reserved tenor, "Dedicated to You" is a wisp of a tune, while "Body & Soul," an atypical choice for the opening selection, is a straight read of the classic ballad with a chart that sounds larger than the small horn section, and a wavering flute via Dolphy. The big band does an unusual soul-jazz treatment of the Brazilian number "Manha de Carnaval" flavored by Robert Northern's French horn, while "Aries" is a hard bop show stopper with two-note accents buoying Hubbard's great lyrical lines, and goes further into hard bop with "Thermo" as the horns demand attention with the trumpeter as an afterthought. The string section, ten pieces strong, joins the big band on the film noir type Duke Ellington piece "Chocolate Shake," the stock "I Got It Bad," and "Skylark," with its soft clarion intro bubbling underneath with the violins, violas, and cellos. The manner in which this recording is programmed is thoughtful in that it lends to the diversity of the project, but is seamless from track to track. Dan Morgenstern's hefty liner notes also explain the concept behind this ambitious project, one which did not compare to any of Hubbard's other recordings in his career. Therefore it stands alone as one of the most unique productions in his substantive discography, and a quite credible initial go-round for Shorter as an orchestrator. © Michael G. Nastos /TiVo