Although Chuck Rainey was among New York's most ubiquitous and in-demand R&B and pop session players of the 1960s and '70s, he didn't record very many albums on his own. The Chuck Rainey Coalition gives us a glimpse of the electric bassist in the driver's seat. Rainey doesn't do that much stretching, and most of the time, this collection of instrumental jazz/R&B simmers without really igniting. Nonetheless, there are a few cuts that stand out. Rainey really digs into a funky interpretation of the "Theme from Peter Gunn," and his soul-minded arrangement of "Harlem Nocturne" is fairly imaginative. Meanwhile, uptempo tunes like "Get It Together," "It's Gonna Rain" and "The Lone Stranger" are kind of catchy, though hardly mind-blowing. Overall, this isn't a bad album, but it could have been much better.

A year after Thad Jones' decision to end his musical partnership with drummer Mel Lewis, Lewis' jazz orchestra was changing its sound. Valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer became the big band's chief arranger for a time, and his charts show the influence of modern classical music while usually still swinging. This hard to find album features the orchestra playing live at their home base (the Village Vanguard), and such soloists as pianist Jim McNeely and Dick Oatts on alto and soprano; flugelhornist Clark Terry, and Brookmeyer himself are featured on the nearly 16-minute "El Co" and "The Fan Club." Worthwhile if not essential music.

Fantastic – and about as great as you'd imagine! The cool Latiny vibes of Cal Tjader meet the great compositions of Burt Bacharach, and the result is a shimmering set of tracks that forever defines the sound of groovy 60s! While the idea of vibraphonist Cal Tjader playing a set of Burt Bacharach tunes has very little potential in the first place, a disappointingly low level of achievement is reached on this rather sad set. Clearly recorded due to the influence of the commercial success of Wes Montgomery's A&M recordings, this date, originally made for Skye, is quite a dud.

Drake’s calling card has become “Best I Ever Had”, a likable, breezy summery pop song that’s managed to ascend to Hot 97 omnipresence without any sort of label backing, a very serious achievement. It’s a Nerf-heavy declaration of lust with a nice sentiment behind it, Drake telling the song’s second-person subject that she’s prettiest with no makeup, that she’s the fucking best lay he ever had. It also contains the one and only slick punchline Drake offers on the whole hour-plus mixtape: “When my album drops, bitches’ll buy it for the picture/And niggas’ll buy it, too, and claim they got it for they sister.”

Seiko Matsuda's second full album of authentic jazz projects! As a member and producer of 'Take 6', Marvin Warren has been awarded the 5th Grammy Award as a producer, and a jazz album full of gems full of famous songs is completed.