Plumb

Andy and the Australian mandolin maestro Luke Plumb (Shooglenifty) have teamed up to record a bold new duo album, “Precious Heroes”.

The final version of drummer/composer Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition bands sports a unique sound, on the verge of M-Base, and artfully driven due to saxophonists Greg Osby and Gary Thomas. Their tart sweet sounds are as much a part of the identity of this group as anything, and DeJohnette adds his own personal brand of funk and swing to the proceeding, making for an exciting and vital original music. Bassist Lonnie Plaxico, straight off the bandstand with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, keeps things briskly moving along, while Michael Cain plays a lot of acoustic piano, and some modified electric keyboards, to further separate this Special Edition from the others.

Is it really a musical?! The 33rd Guided By Voices album, Earth Man Blues, is a magical cinematic rock album, full of dramatic and surreal twists and turns. Lyrics and liner notes trace the growth of young Harold Admore Harold through a coming of age and a reckoning with darkness. Vivid scenes appear: snapshots of youth, fantastical nightmares, unknown worlds.

These discs come from LPs recorded in the 1970s – unfortunately the reader of the booklet does not learn exactly where or when from the booklet, which is also something of a graphic design catastrophe. The Hilliard Ensemble, formed in 1974, took a great leap forward in the investigation and performance of English Renaissance music. It took its name not from baritone and leader Paul Hillier but from that of an Elizabethan portraitist, Nicholas Hilliard. These discs cover a couple of generations' worth of English madrigals and other songs, interspersed with instrumental works and a few songs from other countries.