Dr. Z

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got became Sinéad O'Connor's popular breakthrough on the strength of the stunning Prince cover "Nothing Compares 2 U," which topped the pop charts for a month. But even its remarkable intimacy wasn't adequate preparation for the harrowing confessionals that composed the majority of the album…

Guitarist Steve Khan sounds quite laid-back throughout this set, even when soloing at his most passionate. He is featured in a wide variety of material and fares quite well in each setting. With bassist John Patitucci sometimes taking solo honors, Khan explores a Latinized version of "I Mean You" and an obscure Ornette Coleman tune ("Mr. and Mrs. People"), has features for flugelhornist Randy Brecker ("Face Value") and bass clarinetist Bob Mintzer (the Bitches Brew-inspired "El Faquir"), and modernizes one of his father's songs ("You're My Girl").

Companion was recorded in a special three-night series of shows in July, 1999 at Chicago's famed Green Mill jazz club — an unusually short amount of time to produce a live album. To mine as much material as possible from those nights the performances were run more like recording sessions than live shows, with the crowd reverently hushed. Patricia Barber is in her element and the only thing that seems to have suffered for the recording circumstances is the album's length — at seven songs and 40 minutes, it walks the line between standard EP and full-length size. One surmises that it might have been longer had there been more album-quality material from the performances. Recalling the energy that was present on her critically worshipped Cafe Blue album, there is an ease and creativity on Companion which makes her fans' devotion understandable.

Every new release by the Polish Diva Anna Maria Jopek is a celebration of Culture and a major musical event on an international scale, especially so when it involves a revered Jazz superstar like saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Jopek, famous for her consistent independent Artistic vision, managed to create her own universe, where she does not need to compare or compete with the rest of the world, which enables her complete freedom of expression and self-determination, which only very few Artists worldwide were able to achieve over time.

The rare sequel that improves upon its predecessor, Rocky II expands on the uplifting approach exemplified by Bill Conti's immortal "Gonna Fly Now" to create a score that's both more cohesive and more emotional. Writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone affords Conti a wider emotional berth this time around, allowing for poignant, melancholy themes like "Vigil" alongside fist-pumping anthems like the climactic "Overture" – as before, Conti employs little more than solo piano, a small string ensemble, and a potent brass section, and it's to the composer's enormous credit that he can forge such larger-than-life music from relatively few instrumental elements. "Gonna Fly Now" even reappears, this time with a children's choir in tow, and sounds better than ever. Not even Frank Stallone's "Two Kinds of Love" can torpedo this one.

The Greatest Singer-Songwriter Hits is a new compilation concept with the greatest hits and names in the singer-songwriter genre, which recently make the nice weather in the sales charts. This 2CD contains the greatest hits of the current generation of singer-songwriters, including: Dotan, Hozier, Paolo Nutini, Ben Howard, James Bay, Jonathan Jeremiah, Father John Misty, … and talent of us like Milow, Tom Helsen, Marco Z or Bony King and more…

The Miles Davis Quintet only recorded new material during 1965-68 but in their live performances they still played some of the trumpeter's older standards. Until recent times, few of the live sessions by the Quintet made it onto record but this very valuable CD features the group in late 1967 playing such songs (for nearly the final time) as "'Round Midnight," "No Blues," "I Fall in Love Too Easily," "Walkin'" and "Green Dolphin Street" in addition to the newer songs "Mascalero" and "Riot." It is utterly fascinating to hear the Quintet at that late date stretching out on these veteran songs and coming up with fresh new ideas one more time. This Italian import is well worth searching for; it fills an important gap in jazz history.