Fight J. Todd Adams

The great baritonist Pepper Adams is teamed up with the adventurous trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and veteran pianist Hank Jones for this live quintet date. Wheeler, although often associated with the avant-garde, has never had any difficulty playing changes and his strong style clearly inspired Adams. Together they perform three of the baritonist's originals, Thad Jones "Tis," Wheeler's "Old Ballad," and the standard "Alone Together."

Composed in 1993, the John Adams Violin Concerto is already a contemporary classic. Some reviewers say it is the best violin concerto written in the past 50 years. This new recording by Leila Josefowicz is the last word on what are now many recordings by some of the world's finest players. She first recorded the Violin Concerto in 2002 with John Adams, the composer, conducting. What makes this new recording the best? Josefowicz "owns" the piece having performed it in concert over 100 times since the premiere!

The centerpiece and title track of Mary J. Blige’s 14th album is an emotional display of self-love—the kind of song that, after three decades of heartbreak anthems, feels like the soft landing spot she’s been searching for this entire time. “All the times that I hated myself, all the times that I wanted to be someone else, all the times that I should’ve been gentle with me,” she sings in the second verse. “I wake up every morning and tell myself, ‘Good morning gorgeous.’” Across the album, her voice sounds just as convincing as it has all these years, contoured in soul and grit. Her lyrics, though, beautifully reflect her life experiences, evolved and brimming with wisdom.

Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Malmsteen first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 21 studio albums in a career spanning over 40 years. In 2009, Time magazine rated Malmsteen as number 9 among the 11 greatest electric guitar players of all time.

Two of the most masterful crafters of sophisticated art rock united on stage for a series of special live engagements in 2005, Joe Jackson and Todd Rundgren.

Todd Rundgren may be best known for his eclectic work as a solo artist and as a member of Utopia, but he's also produced some of the most acclaimed, influential, and successful rock releases since the early '70s. As with his own music career, Rundgren has never been afraid to take on a wide variety of musical styles, and he applies the same rule to his role as producer, as evidenced by the 18-track compilation An Elpee's Worth of Productions. A selection from each album he's been involved in as a producer is included here, which makes it quite a varied sampler.

Todd Rundgren considered 1966 the beginning of his professional musical career, largely because the Nazz formed around that time. As a celebration, he recorded Faithful. Presumably, Faithful celebrates the past and the future by juxtaposing a side of original pop material with a side of covers. Actually, "covers" isn't accurate – the six oldies that comprise the entirety of side one are re-creations, with Rundgren "faithfully" replicating the sound and feel of the Yardbirds ("Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"), Bob Dylan ("Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine"), Jimi Hendrix ("If Six Was Nine"), the Beach Boys ("Good Vibrations") and the Beatles "("Rain," "Strawberry Fields Forever"). All of this is entertaining, to a certain extent, especially since it's remarkable how close Rundgren comes to duplicating the very feel of the originals.