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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").

Still trying to recover from the effects of a devastating 1995 stroke, Les McCann relaxed and put out a playful jazz/funk album with a cast of dozens that in some ways harkens back to some of his Atlantic sides from the 1970s. Unlike his other post-stroke albums, he doesn't play any keyboards here, leaving them in the hands of Ricky Peterson, with an emphasis on the Hammond B3. Rather, McCann is content just to sing and rap – again, a throwback and fallback to records made a quarter-century before. At 66, McCann sounds considerably different – older and a little shakier on the ballads, but still sly and willing. The grooves are OK in a minimally updated '70s funk manner, but the material, coming from a variety of sources, is rather ordinary as a whole.

This version of the Zawinul Syndicate could swing harder than any Zawinul-led unit since the heyday of Weather Report, as this two-CD set – taken from three concerts in Berlin and Trier, Germany – triumphantly illustrates. Small wonder, for the lineup of the Syndicate looks almost like a Weather Report alumni gathering, with Zawinul, the brilliant percussionist Manolo Badrena from the 1977 Heavy Weather band, and bassist Victor Bailey, from the great '80s global-funk edition forming a quorum, with Paco Sery on drums and Gary Poulson on guitar filling out the ranks.

One has to give high marks to guitarist and composer Frank Gambale. While an unabashed jazz-rock fusioneer, Gambale has always made music that was as interested in lyricism and inventive harmonic interplay as complex riffs and arpeggios. Gambale is a composer of the first order and, as he has gotten older, his writing style has become increasingly engaging melodically; his sense of harmonic architecture is full of shapes and colors and is weighted by use of the imagination that indulges flights of whimsy. He also understands on a cellular level the importance of ensemble communication. Accompanied by Billy Cobham on drums and either Ric Fierabracci or Steve Billman on bass, Gambale offers listeners 12 new cuts.

Drummer Dennis Chambers is a first-call session ace who is comfortable within a variety of settings and/or genres. He has also evolved into one of the most admired drummers on the globe due to his high-powered polyrhythmic funk beats and supercharged sense of swing. In short, he's a dynamo! With his second solo release, he enlists his former boss, guitarist John Scofield, amid jazz superstars such as brothers Michael (sax) and Randy (trumpet) Brecker among others. Here, Chambers drives it all home via his now infamous attack, consisting of complexly woven tom fills and snappy, funk-drenched rhythms. Much of the credit should be directed towards arranger/producer/keyboardist Jim Beard, who once again demonstrates his prowess for achieving the desired effects.

This Zawinul's 2002 solo effort seems to be a summarization of his recent jazz/fusion/world music stylizations, witnessed by his Zawinul Syndicate band. As this solo effort offers more of the same. Here, the keyboardist enlists a multinational cast of percussionists (including ex-Weather Report personnel), vocalists, and soloists for an album that more or less mirrors his recent output.