Whitney Houston became an international star with this album. It sold more than ten million copies around the world, yielded a string of number one hit singles across the board like "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," "Didn't We Almost Have It All," and "Love Will Save the Day," and established Houston as the era's top female star. She later went on to more than solidify that status, with other hit albums and a budding film career. While this is a far cry from soul, it's the ultimate in polished, super-produced urban contemporary material.© Ron Wynn /TiVo

As big a hit as it was -- and it was a multi-platinum blockbuster, spinning off several chart-toppers -- it’s not easy to think of Whitney Houston’s 1985 debut as the dawning of a new era, but it was. Arriving in the thick of MTV, when the slick sounds of yacht-soul were fading, Whitney Houston is the foundation of diva-pop, straddling clean, cheery R&B and big ballads designed with the adult contemporary audience in mind. Houston’s background lay in the former -- actually, it was even riskier, encompassing a stint with the experimental Bill Laswell outfit Material -- and her benefactor Clive Davis knew all about selling records to the masses. Appealing as this album is, Davis may never have imagined how Whitney Houston would shift tastes, pushing toward skyscraping ballads where the singer’s affectations, not the songs, were paramount -- a move that later led to hollow records, but on Whitney Houston the songs were as important as the immaculate productions. Certainly, the showstopping “Greatest Love of All” provided the blueprint for decades of divas, but it’s the only overblown moment here, with the rest of the ballads -- notably “Saving All My Love for You” and “You Give Good Love” -- burning slowly and seductively, but what really impresses some 20-plus years on are the lighter tracks, particularly the breakthrough single “How Will I Know” and the unheralded “Thinking About You,” a dance/R&B hit co-written by Kashif that remains one of Whitney’s purest pop pleasures. These joyful, rhythmic moments faded away from Houston’s later work -- and also rarely surfaced on the records of those who followed her -- but their presence on this debut turns this into a fully rounded record, the rare debut that manages to telegraph every aspect of an artist's career in a mere ten songs. [The 2010 25th anniversary edition of Whitney Houston is expanded with five bonus tracks -- remixes of “Thinking About You,” “Someone for Me,” “How Will I Know,” a live version of “Greatest Love of All” from 1990, and a superfluous a cappella mix of “How Will I Know” -- and a bonus DVD containing music videos from the album, new interviews, and -- best of all -- Whitney’s star-making 1983 performance on The Merv Griffin Show.]© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

In the 1980s, tenor saxophonist Houston Person and bassist Ron Carter recorded a pair of unlikely but successful duo albums. Person, who has mostly been heard through the years with organ groups, piano trios, and accompanying the late singer Etta Jones, has a large tone worthy of Gene Ammons, while Ron Carter (who has played with everyone) clearly had a good time interacting with Person in the sparse format. In 2000, Person and Carter recorded their third duet album, and the results are at least as rewarding as their first two collaborations. On such songs as "Doxy," "Dear Old Stockholm," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," and "Mack the Knife," Person and Carter swing hard and sound at their most playful and creative in each other's company. They both sound inspired by this setting (where every sound counts) and play with full confidence; there is not a single hesitant moment. This is a particularly memorable and enjoyable effort that features the two musicians at their best.© Scott Yanow /TiVo

A couple of months after pianist Esbjörn Svensson passed away in 2008 after a freak diving accident, what was thought to be the band's final album, Leucocyte, was released. It was considered final because the pianist had been involved in its mixing and sequencing as he had each of their previous 11 albums. The release of 301 comes as a surprise. The material included here was chosen from nine hours of tape recorded during the Leucocyte sessions -- which was, interestingly, originally conceived as a double album. The band fully expected another album would be culled from the remaining material. E.S.T. cut Leucocyte while on tour, having no compositions; what emerged came came out of individual ideas or group jams, making this set feel very much like an extension of the previous recording. The band's surviving members, bassist Dan Berglund and drummer Magnus Öström, along with regular sound engineer Åke Linton, all participated in 301's assemblage (named for the 301 Studios in Sydney). While it may have been sequenced or even mixed a bit differently had Svensson lived, everything here comes together as a compelling whole. Svensson was always keen to embrace more electronic sounds alongside his explorations of post-bop, and they are present here in tracks such as the formlessly experimental noise of "Houston, The 5th," the spacious electronic ambience that constantly yet hesitantly adorns the the backdrop (and even Svensson's piano occasionally) on the gorgeous, sinister "Inner City, City Lights," and in Berglund's blasting, fuzzed-out, phase-shifting basslines on the lengthy "Three Falling Free Part II." But the trio's jazz chops are abundant throughout. Opener "Behind the Stars" is a lovely, lilting, solo piano ballad. Another highlight is the stretched, swinging, balancing act of harmonic engagement in the nearly 14 minute "The Left Lane," while there's yet another shimmering blues in closer "The Childhood Dream." Ultimately, 301 proves that E.S.T. ended the way they came in, as a committed jazz group constantly seeking new ways of expanding the piano trio format as well the parameters of the music itself. This is not only a fine addition to their catalog, it is one of the finest entries in it.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

The natural wear and tear of a couple? Houston Person and Ron Carter wouldn’t know… A quarter of a century after the beginning of their collaboration, the tenor saxophonist and the double bassist (both now in their eighties) continue their beautiful partnership. For Remember Love, they climb up the Everest of the American Songbook; they’re themes that have been played a thousand times by the whole world, yet the warmth of the duo’s interpretation makes them fascinating. Person’s tenor is a summit of gentleness and languor. Carter’s feline double bass scales the steep paths. We find here two wise old men playing with pure musical velvet. It’s no reinvention of the menu of the day, but beautiful all the same… © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

In a late-career twist, the "Chuck E.'s in Love" singer hones in on well-known pop-jazz and rock songs from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. She brilliantly upgrades Bad Company's self-referential track with a more literal interpretation of lyrics like "A destiny, oh it's the rising sun / I was born, a shotgun in my hands," stripping away the cock-rock veneer for a haunted desert breeze. Steve Miller's "Quicksilver Girl" becomes a shimmering lullabye in Jones' hands, while the cloying Skeeter Davis classic "End of the World" gets a moody, Randy Newman-esque makeover. At other moments — "My Father's Gun" by Elton John, "Lonely People" by America — the singer stays pretty true to the originals, just letting her voice pour over them like honey. One of Jones' neatest tricks is pulling away the ring-a-ding jokiness of two tracks made famous by Dean Martin ("Houston" and "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You") and imbuing both with pure, sweet warmth. It can sound a little confused when consumed in one setting, but broken up for a cocktail-party playlist, it's pure pleasure. © Qobuz

I Wish You Love: More from The Bodyguard is a compilation album assembling various recordings from American singer Whitney Houston. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the movie The Bodyguard, the collection features previously unheard, live, and alternate versions of the soundtrack material the singer provided.© Rob Wacey /TiVo

The Art & Soul of Houston Person is a unique compilation. The great saxophonist has recorded as a leader for labels such as Prestige, 20th Century, Muse, Savant, and is currently with High Note, where this appears. His tenure at Prestige is the only one longer than this one. As such, this massive, three-disc collection is drawn from a dozen High Note albums cut in as many years. The unifying factor in these cuts is that they were not chosen randomly to include simply stellar performances, but from his wide-ranging interpretations on standards; in addition, they were all recorded by Rudy Van Gelder at his studios in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. There are 30 performances in all, including four that open disc one which are all new takes on tunes he'd tracked previously, but this time out with his current quartet of pianist John di Martino, bassist Jon Burr, and drummer Jerome Jennings. Some of the other players on this comp include pianists Bill Charlap, Stan Hope, and Richard Wyands, bassists Ray Drummond, Ron Carter, Per-Ola Gadd, Peter Washington, and George Kaye, drummers Grady Tate, Chip White, and Kenny Washington, and guitarists Russell Malone and Paul Bollenback. The readings of these tunes make for a very unified collection because no matter who the personnel are and what gifts they bring to the table, Person has a way of playing songs that not only retain their melody, but their melodic integrity; his is simply not interested in employing them as frameworks for showboat improvisation. His own inventiveness is in how warm and dignified a melodist he is. He sings through the horn with the emotional commitment of Ben Webster, the soul of Gene Ammons, and the studied elegance of Paul Quinichette and Frank Wess. Listeners will have a great time picking their favorites out of this morass of excellent material, but it is safe to say that Person makes virtually all of it compelling -- there isn't a dull second here. Whether it's "Sentimental Journey,"and "All The Things You Are," or "Blue Moon" and "Mack the Knife," these sides are drenched in classy sophistication and down-home soul. Highly recommended.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Saxophonist Houston Person and bassist Ron Carter have a duo partnership that goes back at least as far as their two 1990 recordings, Something in Common and Now's the Time! Since those albums, the legendary artists have released several more duo collaborations, each one a thoughtful and minimalist production showcasing their masterful command of jazz standards, blues, and bop. The duo's 2016 effort, the aptly titled Chemistry, is no exception and once again finds Person and Carter communing over a well-curated set of jazz standards. As on their previous albums, Chemistry is a deceptively simple conceit; just two jazz journeymen playing conversational duets on well-known jazz songs. At face value, that is certainly what you get. The deception enters into the equation with just how masterful and nuanced Person and Carter are in each song. Whether it's the way Carter anchors the duo's yearning reading of "But Beautiful" with his languorous, doomy basslines, or the way Person's languorous rubato introduction joins up with Carter on "Fools Rush In," they never fail to find surprising and deeply emotive ways to interpret each song. Similarly, cuts like the poignant "Blame It on My Youth" and the dewy-eyed "I Can't Get Started" are endearing romantic numbers that cradle the listener in the warmth of Person and Carter's warm tones. Elsewhere, they deliver a gleeful version of Thelonious Monk's "Blue Monk," and summon the memory of Carter's former boss, trumpeter Miles Davis, with their jaunty take on "Bye Bye Blackbird." Ultimately, Chemistry is a lovely, heartfelt album of well-loved standards imbued with the duo's decades of experience.© Matt Collar /TiVo