A guitar virtuoso and genius of instrumental composition, Joe Satriani explores deeper waters with a haunting yet richly entailed work of stripped-down blues-rock and improvisational jazz. This record, self-titled as Joe Satriani, puts the guitar wizard into a streaming new light of musical impression, as his efforts point toward a sincere evolutionary progression in composition and arrangement. With a collective of the most witty, crafty, and enticing musicians in jazz and blues, Satriani blends soaring, scintillating scale passages with pulsating, engaging melodic lines. With the help of his main group during these sessions -- Andy Fairweather Low on rhythm guitar, Nathan East on bass, and Manu Katche on drums -- Satriani reaches further into his musical self to bring out soulful grooves and mesmerizing yet catchy riffs, creating a relaxed, yet gripping intensity to these jams. Spontaneous in meter, rhythm, and melody, Satriani never fails to let the listener in on his enchanting and seemingly overabundant sense of creativity. Perhaps the only weakness throughout the majority of the album's 12 tracks is his intention to strip down and use only the effects of his Marshall amps, therefore, sadly diminishing his trademark flair for the highly alluring sonic territory he covered on his critically acclaimed Surfing With the Alien, Flying in a Blue Dream, and Time Machine. Still, with all due respect, his plethora of extremely gifted backup musicians sincerely adds a diverse range of textures and colors, bringing out a much-needed live feel to an otherwise bland album of blues-oriented jazz-rock. Perhaps the highlight of the record in the punch and volume of the progressive-oriented blues jam, "Killer Bee Bop" is a tune drenched with well-placed percussion and racing guitar lines. Because he is not afraid to seek the darker and once-unapproachable territories of guitar rock to find vibrant and refreshingly new sounds, Satriani puts forth once again a successful album, painting a mixture of blues and jazz in a variety of meters and keys. The single "(You're) My World," released over the airwaves as radio-friendly material in early 1995, is a misleading example of Joe Satriani's real development during the production of this record. A slow listen to the material on this release will captivate the listener's spirit for this guitar hero and reveal Joe Satriani's true nature, in that he and his Ibanez instrument are one and the same.© Shawn Haney /TiVo

Recorded in 1964 immediately after leaving the Miles Davis Quintet, Sam Rivers' Fuchsia Swing Song is one of the more auspicious debuts the label released in the mid-'60s. Rivers was a seasoned session player (his excellent work on Larry Young's Into Somethin' is a case in point), and a former member of Herb Pomeroy's Big Band before he went out with Davis. By the time of his debut, Rivers had been deep under the influence of Coltrane and Coleman, but wasn't willing to give up the blues. Hence the sound on Fuchsia Swing Song is that of an artist at once self-assured and in transition. Using a rhythm section that included Tony Williams (whose Life Time he had guested on), pianist Jaki Byard, and bassist Ron Carter, Rivers took the hard bop and blues of his roots and poured them through the avant-garde collander. The title, opening track is a case in point. Rivers opens with an angular figure that is quickly translated by the band into sweeping, bopping blues. Rivers legato is lightning quick and his phrasing touches upon Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Coleman, and Coltrane, but his embouchure is his own. He strikes the balance and then takes off on both sides of the aisle. Byard's builds in minor key, rhythmic figures just behind the tenor. "Downstairs Blues Upstairs" sounds, initially anyway, like it might have come out of the Davis book so deep is its blue root. But courtesy of Byard and Williams, Rivers goes to the left after only four choruses, moving onto the ledge a bit at a time, running knotty arpeggios through the center of the melody and increasingly bending his notes into succeeding intervals while shifting keys and times signatures, but he never goes completely over the ledge. The most difficult cut on the date is "Luminous Monolith," showcases a swing-like figure introducing the melody. Eight bars in, the syncopation of the rhythm sections begins to stutter step around the time, as Byard makes harmonic adjustments with dense chords for Rivers to play off. This is a highly recommended date. Other than on 1965's Contours, Rivers never played quite like this again.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

This release by French-Canadian violinist Angèle Dubeau falls into a category that hardly existed at the turn of the century, but now has grown increasingly common: the solo recording devoted to music by minimalist composers. These have grown more common, but Dubeau and her all-female ensemble La Pietà have made it into something of a specialty, releasing albums devoted to John Adams, Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, and Ludovico Einaudi. This one, taking up music by Max Richter, adds a sort of double wrinkle, for some of Richter's compositions are based on (or, to use his word, "recomposed") existing works, some quite familiar. Thus making a violin version is a sort of double recomposition. This said, the album is consistent with what Dubeau has done in the past. A major unsung contributor is her co-arranger François Vallières; the two neatly answer the question of how you can make a virtuoso violin album out of the generally basic, melodic material of minimalism. Dubeau's violin weaves gracefully around the ensemble, sometimes barely audible, sometimes coming more to the foreground, sometimes adding an eerie element with harmonics. What you're getting here is ambient, minimalist textures, with little variety in mood and tempo, but the effects are quite subtle within this frame. You could try this out if you've seen Dubeau's recordings notching strong sales in Canada and elsewhere, and have wondered what they're all about. © James Manheim /TiVo

Patty Griffin made a strong statement when she decided to give her name to her tenth album. Was it a way to make her songs even more intense? Maybe. But when one discovers that the songwriter had just won her battle with breast cancer when she wrote the album, the decision feels even stronger. In her record, Griffin compares the disease that she fought with the social and political sickness that is currently destroying America. The record is raw, and the gravity of its main themes work in favor of the magnificence of this piece of Americana. Recorded in her house in Austin, Texas, the album embraces many genres, from blues to gospel, country music, New Orleans swing, and Irish traditional songs. As always with Patty Griffin, realistic descriptions go hand in hand with pure poetry, and the artist’s intimate confessions give way to groovy tunes. For her simple and beautiful record, Griffin has called up her long-term and faithful companions. David Pulkingham is on the guitar, Conrad Choucroun on the drums, Lindsey Verrill on cello, Stephen Barber on piano and as special guest on two songs (Coins and What Now) her ex-husband and Led Zeppelin master Robert Plant. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

The second installment in Yep Roc's mammoth Robyn Hitchcock reissue series introduces the Egyptians (bass player Andy Metcalfe and drummer Morris Windsor) into the mix, collecting Fegmania!, the live Gotta Let This Hen Out!, and Element of Light, along with a double disc of B-sides called A Bad Case of History. Luminous Groove, like its 2007 predecessor, I Wanna Go Backwards, makes available all of its components (with the exception of the "rarities" compilation) separately, which may be maddening to longtime fans who already replaced their original copies with the early-'90s Rhino reissues and just want the bonus stuff. Like the Rhino releases, each album is stocked with B-sides, most of which fall in the "demo" or "typically surreal" categories -- Hitchcock seemingly records every idea he has, making the prospect for bonus cuts on future reissues mind-boggling. The two remastered studio albums represent a creative peak for the notoriously eccentric Englishman, laying the foundation for his more commercial A&M years, but it's the Bad Case of History overview that makes Luminous Groove worth the price for "a cardboard box with five CDs stuffed in it." Unlike I Wanna Go Backwards' bonus disc, which grabbed tracks from previously released collections (specifically 1995's You & Oblivion), History revels in its obscurity, boasting 15 unreleased studio tracks (many of which, like a laconic dream pop rendition of the beloved Highland ballad "Wild Mountain Thyme" and a sneering punk rock face-peeler called "Zipper in My Spine," are absolute gems) and 17 mid-'90s live cuts that dip into A&M territory. Sure, it's a typically "Hitchcockian" mess of competing genres, melodic left turns, and obscure references to fish and fowl, but it only reinforces his "outsider" cultural significance, and dutifully whets the appetite for this tasty meal's third course.© James Christopher Monger /TiVo

After the disappointing showing of their 1991 album Angel Rat, Voivod took two years to produce a follow-up, 1993's The Outer Limits. And although the band offers several strong compositions, it soon becomes apparent that Voivod had already peaked artistically on their three preceding albums. Perhaps the band's chemistry was knocked off balance by the defection of original bassist Jean-Yves Theriault after Angel Rat's completion. Present is the group's second Pink Floyd cover, the Roger Waters composition "The Nile Song" (they had covered "Astronomy Domine" earlier). The opening track, "Fix My Heart," is one of the album's best, since the band sounds inspired and focused, which isn't the case on some of the album's other material. You'll also find the ambitious track "Jack Luminous" here, which twists and turns for nearly 18 minutes, recalling the days long gone when prog rock ruled the earth (especially Yes, Jethro Tull, etc.). The Outer Limits would also prove to be original vocalist Denis Belanger's last album with the group; he left after the following tour's completion.© Greg Prato /TiVo