Big 1986

With their ringing, bagpipe-like guitars and the anthemic songs of frontman Stuart Adamson, Scotland's Big Country emerged as one of the most distinctive and promising new rock bands of the early '80s, scoring a major hit with their debut album, The Crossing; though the group's critical and commercial fortunes dimmed in the years to follow, they nevertheless outlasted virtually all of their contemporaries, releasing new material into the next century.

Saxophonist David Murray continues his cross genre initiatives on this undeniably exciting, 2003 release Now Is Another Time. With this effort, the artist enlists his longtime running mates, trumpeter Hugh Ragin and baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett to complement a huge cast of Cuban musicians. This large ensemble Latin jazz extravaganza packs a mighty blow, from beginning to end. Here, the band churns out radiant, multi-layered horn arrangements atop the Cuban masters' sweltering percussion grooves and the soloists' blaring exchanges.

This CD reissue dates from Thad Jones' single year of leadership of the Count Basie Orchestra before his health began to fail. Caterina Valente (best known as a pop singer) has a warm voice and sounds comfortable singing in a jazz-influenced middle-of-the-road style. There is little improvisation on the date and Thad Jones' arrangements leave surprisingly little space for solos; his only appearance on cornet is on "Solitude."

"In the Uncommon Market," of course, refers to Europe, where Norman Granz caught the Ellington band numerous times with his tape machines in the 1960s. But it could also refer to the unusual repertoire featured on this collection, with only one standard, "In a Sentimental Mood," in a shelfful of out of the way Ellingtonia. These tracks, of indeterminate date, come from Ellington band concerts in Stockholm, Sweden, and Pastacitta, Italy, supplemented by some rare trio selections recorded in a museum in St. Paul-de-Vence, France, for a short film on Duke and the painter Joan Miró. The famous reed players are out in full cry; clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton thrives over the cool vamp of "Silk Lace," Johnny Hodges croons and sighs as only Johnny Hodges could in the lovely Shakespearian ballad "Star-Crossed Lovers"…