Beautiful Scars was more than worth the wait. The album's cast, is, as usual, full of all-stars: Steve Swallow, Robby Ameen, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Milton Cardona, Fernando Saunders, Ron Blake, Alfredo Triff, Yosvany Terry Cabrera, Dafnis Prieto, Pedro Martinez, Bryan Carrott, and himself of course. His guest vocalists are an amazing, unlikely batch who work together in many ways: Ross, Xiomara Laugart, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Leijia Hanrahan, Lindsay Marcus. Some friends help out in various places: Billy Bang, Anthony Cox, Richie Flores, Mario Rivera, and the great guitarist Leo Nocentelli. The music is, for lack of a better word "Exotic": here, jazz meets many Latin rhythms, meets organic breakbeats and folk musics from all over the world in this heady stew of lyrics born of raw eros, politics, spirituality, and art-poetry.

Woodwind multi-instrumentalist Roxy Coss swings her way into the hearts and minds of jazz fans everywhere with "Chasing the Unicorn, her first release for Posi-Tone. Coss plays and composes in a voice which distinguishes her from her peers, and illuminates a path rife with intrigue. She raises the bar with an exciting and bold program of original compositions and arrangements and takes us along on a melodic adventure through a harmonic wonderland of her own creation. Also traveling along on this musical journey is the sturdy and inventive companion rhythm section of pianist Glenn Zaleski, guitarist Alex Wintz, bassist Rick Rosato and drummer Jimmy Macbride.

Bassist Peter Brendler keeps moving forward and encourages everyone to open their ears and listen to the "Message In Motion, his second album as a leader for Posi-Tone. This exciting chord-less quartet date includes front line performances by saxophonist Rich Perry and trumpeter Peter Evans. Both musicians move freely over the joyful combination of Brendler's solid harmonic foundation and the subtle metrics of drummer Vinnie Sperrazza. The album features several of Brendler's new original compositions and is additionally highlighted by the contributions of special guest guitarist Ben Monder, who brings his unique approach to his instrument into the mix on four tracks.

Saxophonist extraordinaire Ralph Bowen takes everyone back to school and puts on a master class displaying his exceptional knowledge of everything jazz. With a tour de force collection of hard hitting performances, Bowen s sixth release for Posi-Tone features the happening rhythm section of pianist Jim Ridl, bassist Kenny Davis, and drummer Cliff Almond. All of the musicians in the band do some heavy lifting behind the sensational melodicism and harmonic inventions of Bowen s impressive program of compositions and arrangements.

Fire On The Floor is the album that Beth Hart needed to make. Likewise, it’s a record that you need to hear. “I’m so pleased with it,” she concludes. “I recently had to organise the sequence of the record, and while I was doing that, I was thinking to myself, ‘Y’know, this is pretty frickin’ good…!'”

Trombonist David Gibson is clearly a man on a mission with "Inner Agent, his fourth album for Posi-Tone. Gibson searches the voices within himself to discover his bliss and shows a renewed sense of purpose. The album features a diverse cornucopia of supporting talent: Freddie Hendrix, Theo Hill, Alexander Claffy, Kush Abadey, Doug Webb, and Caleb Curtis. While the session showcases an exciting program of new compositions and arrangements as a swinging affair firmly grounded in the tradition, Gibson continues to reach ever higher for the blue skies of a brighter tomorrow. Serious enthusiasts and casual listeners will certainly agree that David Gibson's new album succeeds in delivering a compelling and engaging message that speaks directly to everyone s own "Inner Agent."

Pianist Theo Hill unleashes a coruscating burst of passionate creativity on Promethean, a hard hitting trio date that features the solid harmonic foundation of bassist Yasushi Nakamura and the bombastically explosive metrics of drummer Mark Whitfield Jr. Listeners are invited to fasten their seat belts and take a trip when the bandleader steers his group into an innovative exploration of the pantheon of musical inspirations. Bursting into flames and rising like the phoenix, Mr. Hill shares with us his stolen sparks of heaven to captivate our attention with his heartfelt musical tale of stunning melodicism. Featuring a soulfully interpretative program of compositions across a variety of styles, sounds, and moods, Promethean succeeds as a scintillating performance that will certainly spark flames of delight in the hearts of straight-forward jazz enthusiasts everywhere.

"The big task for Alice in Chains on their 2009 comeback Black Gives Way to Blue was to prove they could carry on battered and bruised, missing Layne Staley but still in touch with their core. They had to demonstrate the band had a reason to exist, and Black Gives Way to Blue achieved this goal, paving the way for another record just like it. Enter The Devil Put the Dinosaurs Here, a record that is pretty close to identical to Black Gives Way to Blue in its sound, attack, and feel. Where it differs is in the latter, as the overall album feels lighter and, at times, the individual songs do, too.

Available for the first time on HighResAudio, this set from the Sony Classical Masters Series features George Szell conducting the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra in Wagner's Overture.

The time when performers and composers had personal mottoes – Wieniawski's "Il faut risquer" (I must risk it), Joachim's "Frei aber einsam" (Free but lonely), Brahms' "Frei aber froh" (Free but happy) – is long since past, but still such mottoes are more than just biographical curiosities: there are at least two very well-recognized musical encryptions of those mottoes. Schumann, Albert Dietrich, and Brahms put their collective talents together to compose the "F-A-E" Sonata as a gift for Joachim, and, when Brahms came up with his own motto, he decided to use the pitches of its initials – F-A-F – as the motto theme for his Symphony No. 3 in F, Op. 90.

Available for the first time on HighResAudio, this set from the Sony Classical Masters Series features George Szell conducting the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 in D Minor.

Brahms's Hungarian Dances were the model for these Slavonic Dances by Antonín Dvorák. Brahms, however, was a German writing in the Gypsy style, while Dvorák composed using elements from his native land. Indeed, much of Dvorák's work – including his symphonies, string quartets, and operas – has a folklike character. There are two sets of eight dances, and what's most remarkable about them is their wide range of emotions.

Hitchcock made his first recordings, in 1961, for Don Law at Columbia Records but failed to gain his first chart entries, ‘She’s Looking Good’ and ‘Rings’, until he moved to the Epic label in 1967. (He was seemingly the first country singer on that label). After two more minor hits, he made the Top 17 with ‘Honey I’m Home’ (his biggest hit) in 1969. After ‘Call Me Gone’ the next year, he did just that and departed to GRT, where he managed only two Top 60 entries before, in 1973 and 1974, achieving three minor hits on Cinnamon. In 1978, he moved labels again to MMI, where he managed to chart ‘Falling’ (number 100) and a duet with Sue Richards, ‘Finders Keepers Losers Weepers’ (number 85). His final chart entry, ‘She Sings Amazing Grace’, arrived in 1981 on the Ramblin’ label but he later recorded an album for Audiograph Alive.

Born Jim Haun in Bingham, Utah. A child singer with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, he went on to study voice at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and perform with the Beverly Hills Opera Company. Nonetheless, he remained a struggling woodworker studying voice. Rouvaun was a virtual unknown until February 5, 1967, when he appeared in Las Vegas as the headline singer leading the 100-person Frederick Apcar French stage review Casino De Paris at the Dunes Hotel. His first record label, KALAMO, described him on his debut album cover as "The World's Greatest Singer".

Kansas City's Shy Boys make bright indie-pop filled with a capella harmonies, jangly lines, and earnest lyrics (Kevin Morby calls them "the heartland’s answer to The Beach Boys had Alex Chilton been on guitar.") Comprised of two brothers and former choir boys Collin and Kyle Rausch and their best friends, the band has displayed a musical kinship and keen sense of melody since their debut in 2014. This new collection, named after their “bum den" on Bell Street in Kansas City, took shape when Collin moved back into his suburban childhood home. Songs recount personal anecdotes—a neighbor's underloved dog, the time the drummer/bassist got robbed—that will "warm your cold heart," says Pitchfork. Out on Polyvinyl Records.