Saturday Night is

Toni Harper's final RCA session pairs the singer with arranger Marty Paich to create the richly atmospheric after-hours album that she was born to make. By alternating between pop standards and jazz originals, Night Mood underscores the complete breadth of Harper's talents. Even better than her sophisticated and poignant interpretations of chestnuts like "Round Midnight" and "My Ship" is a swinging rendition of "Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night of the Week" that deserves serious consideration as the song's definitive treatment. Paich's soulful arrangements further enhance the dusky beauty of Harper's vocals, even making room for some lovely alto saxophone solos courtesy of the great Art Pepper.

John McLaughlin brought his revived Indo-jazz project Shakti to Bombay (Mumbai) in late 2000, and the result is this live disc, which features only four compositions but runs over an hour in length. (The title is a deliberate play on 1980's Friday Night in San Francisco.) McLaughlin's electric guitar and Zakir Hussain's tabla remain at the core of the group's sound. U. Shrinivas (on mandolin) and V. Selvaganesh (on kanjira, ghatam, and mridangam, all Indian percussion instruments) remain from the previous album, but there are also a number of Indian guest musicians, giving the music many added dimensions. The most remarkable guests are Debashish Bhattacharya on Hindustani slide guitar, Shankar Mahadevan on vocals, and Shiv Kumar Sharma on santur, an Indian hammered dulcimer…