Brandon Fields The Traveler (1988) {nova}

A talented altoist influenced by David Sanborn, Brandon Fields has the versatility to be able to play both R&B/crossover and hard bop. Fields grew up in Orange County, CA, and started playing alto when he was ten. A freelance musician since he was a teenager, Fields moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and has worked steadily ever since. He toured with George Benson in 1985, was a regular member of the Rippingtons, has long been a busy session player, and recorded CDs as a leader for Nova and Positive.

Although they only attained the huge success of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys for a short time in the mid-'60s, time has judged the Byrds to be nearly as influential as those groups in the long run. They were not solely responsible for devising folk-rock, but they were certainly more responsible than any other single act (Dylan included) for melding the innovations and energy of the British Invasion with the best lyrical and musical elements of contemporary folk music. The jangling, 12-string guitar sound of leader Roger McGuinn's Rickenbacker was permanently absorbed into the vocabulary of rock. They also played a vital role in pioneering psychedelic rock and country-rock, the unifying element being their angelic harmonies and restless eclecticism…

The Japanese instrumental duo Gontiti fuse smooth jazz, easy listening and subtle Eastern influences into a lounge music style that has enjoyed lasting popularity at home while also finding an international audience. Their 1988 album In the Garden begins on a high note with "Andersen's Garden," in which melodic acoustic guitar figures play over a light bossa nova beat. The sound is something out of time and space - it could have been recorded anywhere, at any time in the last 40 years. Unfortunately, the rest of the album isn't as distinctive as that and gravitates toward slick, Western-style smooth jazz with synthesizers, drum machines, and burping fretless bass guitars. Gonzalez Mikami and Titi Matsumura's acoustic guitars dominate "Ferris Wheel" and the harmonics-laden "Acoustic Eel," but other songs, such as "Bandit in the Midnight" and "Homemade Grief," mix horns, strings and electric drums into rhythmic smooth jazz confections…

Brandon Flowers' solo debut, 2010's Flamingo, seemed to make the case that the line between a Killers album and a Flowers album was blurry at best. Largely a continuation of the anthemic Springsteen-influenced sound of the Killers' 2006 effort Sam's Town, Flamingo also revealed Flowers' inclination toward glossy, synth-heavy, '80s adult-contemporary productions. For his sophomore solo outing, 2015's The Desired Effect, the line between the man and his band begins to sharpen. Produced by Ariel Rechtshaid (Madonna, Vampire Weekend, HAIM), the album finally finds Flowers achieving an unmistakable sound of his own, with the kind of effortless sophistication that a seasoned musician hopes for.

On their Impulse! debut album, Washington DC’s experimental jazz punk triothe Messthetics (drummer Brendan Canty and Joe Lally of iconic punk band Fugazi, with guitarist Anthony Pirog) join forces with acclaimed jazz tenor saxophonist, composer and bandleader James Brandon Lewis. Together, they widen the reach of decisive instrumental music through their overlapping of jazz, punk, funk, aggression and innovation.