Dr. Z

Bonnie Raitt may have switched producers for her second album Give It Up, hiring Michael Cuscuna, but she hasn't switched her style, sticking with the thoroughly engaging blend of folk, blues, R&B, and Californian soft rock. If anything, she's strengthened her formula here, making the divisions between the genres nearly indistinguishable. Take the title track, for instance. It opens with a bluesy acoustic guitar before kicking into a New Orleans brass band about halfway through – and the great thing about it is that Raitt makes the switch sound natural, even inevitable, never forced. And that's just the tip of the iceberg here, since Give It Up is filled with great songs, delivered in familiar, yet always surprising, ways by Raitt and her skilled band. For those that want to pigeonhole her as a white blues singer, she delivers the lovely "Nothing Seems to Matter," a gentle mid-tempo number that's as mellow as Linda Ronstadt and far more seductive. That's the key to Give It Up: Yes, Raitt can be earthy and sexy, but she balances it with an inviting sensuality that makes the record glow.

Occasionally an artist appears with talent that transcends the scope of normality and now we have this phenomenal new pianist named Hiromi Uehara from Shizuoka, Japan that explodes on the music seen with unheralded momentum fusing the gap of jazz, classical and rock. At 24 “Hiromi” makes her debut on Telarc Jazz titled “Another Mind” produced by legendary pianist Ahmad Jamal & Richard Evans.

Pianist Oscar Peterson is frequently astounding on this solo set. After nearly 20 years of mostly performing with trios, Peterson sounds quite liberated in this setting, throwing in some hot stride, unexpected changes in tempos and keys, and surprises whenever he thinks of them. "Give Me the Simple Life," "Honeysuckle Rose," and the ironically titled "A Little Jazz Exercise" are quite remarkable, yet Peterson also leaves space for some sensitive ballads.

Released in 1988, Descanso Dominical is the second Ariola release from La Movida Madrileña trio Mecano. Produced by the bandmembers themselves, it's a combination of melodic synth pop anthems and unique social commentary, including "Los Amantes," described as the first Spanish gay anthem, and "El Blues del Esclavo," which addresses the abolition of slavery…

Occasionally an artist appears with talent that transcends the scope of normality and now we have this phenomenal new pianist named Hiromi Uehara from Shizuoka, Japan that explodes on the music seen with unheralded momentum fusing the gap of jazz, classical and rock. At 24 “Hiromi” makes her debut on Telarc Jazz titled “Another Mind” produced by legendary pianist Ahmad Jamal & Richard Evans.

The leader of this unique instrumental trio is the Swiss composer and pianist Thierry Lang, age 56. He has been playing piano since 5 and at 7 he decided to dedicate his life to music. When studying classic (up to 21) at 15 Thierry heard Bill Evans whose work became for Thierry a model of synthesis of jazz and classical music. He finally fell in love with jazz after he heard music of Erroll Garner and Oscar Peterson.

Though he's skirted around in various genres, for Full Circle, as the title suggests, David Benoit returns to where he started: contemporary jazz. With the same set of musicians in the same studio as the ones who were used on the 1985 release This Side Up, Benoit plays his piano expertly through all ten tracks on the album (and only one, "Aqua de Beber," by Jobim and de Moraes, is a cover). It is, in short, smooth jazz at its finest, which means a lot of horns, a happily funky bass, pretty breaks, and a whole lot of production.