Bruno Mars’ debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans made the talented singer/writer/producer into a star, he racked up hit singles, hosted Saturday Night Live, and became something of a romantic icon thanks to loverman anthems like “Just the Way You Are” and “Grenade.” On the way to writing and recording his second album, Unorthodox Jukebox, something seems to have gone sour for Mars. Where on his debut he sang about falling on a grenade for his girl, on this record he’s more likely to throw her on top of a grenade. Between the songs about how he can’t help but succumb to the dubious charms of young girls (“Young Girls”), the “B” who stole his money and left him broke (“Natalie”), and the type of charmer who can only be made happy by fat stacks of money (“Money Make Her Smile”), Mars’ opinion of the opposite sex seems to have taken a nosedive. Add in the song about taking cocaine and having a romantic evening so violent the cops are called (“Gorilla”) and it’s clear that the heart of the album is a cold, dark one. That the rest of the songs have some of the easy-going charm of Doo-Wops, like the lilting reggae come-on “Show Me” or the MJ-inspired disco jam "Treasure,” isn’t quite enough to overcome the queasy feeling that comes with even a cursory listen to the lyrics. It’s too bad, because at his best, like on the single “Locked Out of Heaven,” which sounds like a breezy mashup of “Beat It,” the Police, and Dire Straits, or on the Sam Cooke-inspired album-closing ballad "If I Knew," Mars’ light vocal delivery and way with a hook is quite appealing. The record sounds good, too, with able production help from heavy hitters like Mark Ronson, Diplo, Emile Haynie, and his own crew, the Smeezingtons. Too bad it’s a step back from Doo-Wops in so many ways, leaving people who saw promise in his debut shaking their heads in disappointment and hoping Mars can sort out his feelings about women and get back to being a sweet romancer, instead of an icky hater.© Tim Sendra /TiVo

Acoustic, electric, electronic… Bugge Wesseltof takes his piano in every possible direction. And although he made his name combining jazz and electro, the Norwegian musician and founder of the Jazzland label regularly goes back to basics. It is the case here with Everybody Loves Angels in which, alone with his Steinway, he reinterprets widely different artists such as Johann Sebastian Bach, the Beatles, Paul Simon, Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Bruno Mars! Recorded on Lofoten in a wood cathedral, this album is viscerally inspired by nature. As always with Wesseltoft, silence plays a key role in improvisations. Everything is therefore set for pure beauty to ooze from every note played. Carefully weighed, cherished and delivered with rare gentleness. A truly moving album. © MD/Qobuz

Bruno Mars’ debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans made the talented singer/writer/producer into a star, he racked up hit singles, hosted Saturday Night Live, and became something of a romantic icon thanks to loverman anthems like “Just the Way You Are” and “Grenade.” On the way to writing and recording his second album, Unorthodox Jukebox, something seems to have gone sour for Mars. Where on his debut he sang about falling on a grenade for his girl, on this record he’s more likely to throw her on top of a grenade. Between the songs about how he can’t help but succumb to the dubious charms of young girls (“Young Girls”), the “B” who stole his money and left him broke (“Natalie”), and the type of charmer who can only be made happy by fat stacks of money (“Money Make Her Smile”), Mars’ opinion of the opposite sex seems to have taken a nosedive. Add in the song about taking cocaine and having a romantic evening so violent the cops are called (“Gorilla”) and it’s clear that the heart of the album is a cold, dark one. That the rest of the songs have some of the easy-going charm of Doo-Wops, like the lilting reggae come-on “Show Me” or the MJ-inspired disco jam "Treasure,” isn’t quite enough to overcome the queasy feeling that comes with even a cursory listen to the lyrics. It’s too bad, because at his best, like on the single “Locked Out of Heaven,” which sounds like a breezy mashup of “Beat It,” the Police, and Dire Straits, or on the Sam Cooke-inspired album-closing ballad "If I Knew," Mars’ light vocal delivery and way with a hook is quite appealing. The record sounds good, too, with able production help from heavy hitters like Mark Ronson, Diplo, Emile Haynie, and his own crew, the Smeezingtons. Too bad it’s a step back from Doo-Wops in so many ways, leaving people who saw promise in his debut shaking their heads in disappointment and hoping Mars can sort out his feelings about women and get back to being a sweet romancer, instead of an icky hater.© Tim Sendra /TiVo

The first single from Bruno Mars' second album, Unorthodox Jukebox, "Locked Out of Heaven" features Mars' typically charming croon pleading for love over musical backing that sounds like a breezy mashup of the tightly danceable beat of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," the reggae-lite basslines of Sting while in the Police, and the processed guitar tone of '80s-era Dire Straits. The song was the product of a songwriting collaboration between Mars, Philip Lawrence, and Ari Levine, and was produced by Mark Ronson, Jeff Bhasker, Emile Haynie, and the Smeezingtons (Mars' own production team).© Tim Sendra /TiVo

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Shift, Logan Richardson's Blue Note debut, fulfills the promise offered on the alto saxophonist's two previous albums. On 2007's Cerebral Flow and 2008's Ethos, he seemed more invested in compositional acumen than improvisational flow and was somewhat restrained. Not so here. Richardson surrounds himself with a heavyweight band that no doubt tested his mettle: drummer Nasheet Waits, Jason Moran on piano and Rhodes, bassist Harish Raghavan, and guitarist Pat Metheny -- who makes a rare appearance in a sideman role. Ten of these 11 tunes are the saxophonist's, all artfully articulating his complex harmonic and rhythmic ideas that bridge the frontiers of modern creative jazz and his native Kansas City's traditions. All are deeply melodic, yet refuse to be reined in by rhythmic constraints. "Mind Free" begins tentatively with luxuriant atmospheric textures, but unhurriedly opens onto wide harmonic vistas while never losing an innate sense of groove. Metheny joins in unwrapping the melodic line before Richardson's solo -- equal parts post-bop, soul, and blues -- flows with strident yet breezy confidence. Moran's solo gently teases open the harmony before giving way to Metheny's more aggressive, knotty extrapolations. "Creeper" initially offers a lithe Latin tinge. Moran, playing Rhodes, colors in Richardson's soulful lyric as Metheny lays down chunky chords and vamps before Waits adds double-timed breaks and, with Raghavan driving the accents, prompts the band on toward more open terrain. "Slow" begins as a dirge but transforms -- in no small part due to Metheny's gritty, rockist soloing -- into a sprint, with fleet-fingered runs from Moran as the rhythm section whirls around the three principals. The denser "Imagine" offers multiple melodic lines, all enfolding one another from the inside; the interplay between Richardson and the guitarist is breathtaking. Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven" -- the lone cover -- is inside out, full of shadows and crevices painted by Moran's spaced-out chords and runs. The collective finds itself illuminating the tune's dark harmonics and discovers new expression there. Closer "Untitled" commences as a midtempo ballad with glorious playing from Raghavan and Waits. As Richardson and Metheny play two phrases in repetition, Moran adds dimension and texture; his playing is at once silky, ambiguous, and exploratory. It creates a bridge between Metheny's increasingly taut, rock-flavored roughness and Richardson's innate bluesy swing. Eventually, they end up somewhere else together, a pronounced elastic beat providing support, so the inexact yet hummable structure accompanies the fine soloing even as the tune collapses on itself. Richardson clearly challenged himself with these sidemen. Individually and collectively they offer him a force of reckoning. On Shift, Richardson brings his best game, particularly as a composer and arranger. His democratic songs and charts allow each man to be fully himself while being an irreplaceable part of the collective.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

The first single from Bruno Mars' second album, Unorthodox Jukebox, "Locked Out of Heaven" features Mars' typically charming croon pleading for love over musical backing that sounds like a breezy mashup of the tightly danceable beat of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," the reggae-lite basslines of Sting while in the Police, and the processed guitar tone of '80s-era Dire Straits. The song was the product of a songwriting collaboration between Mars, Philip Lawrence, and Ari Levine, and was produced by Mark Ronson, Jeff Bhasker, Emile Haynie, and the Smeezingtons (Mars' own production team).© Tim Sendra /TiVo

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