Kazumi Watanabe was only 17 when his debut Infinite was released in 1971, with his display of guitar skills establishing him as a young prodigy. As the late 70's continued, Watanabe created over a dozen jazz fusion albums, while also performing guitar segments on other musicians' albums. He travelled with Yellow Magic Orchestra on their tour in 1979 and was a key collaborator with many of the musicians involved, in particular with Ryuichi Sakamoto…

During the late '50s, Ella Fitzgerald continued her Song Book records with Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, releasing a series of albums featuring 59 songs written by George and Ira Gershwin…

The third time proved to be the charm for Uriah Heep: on Look at Yourself, the group perfects its fusion of heavy metal power and prog rock majesty, and the result is one of the best albums in the Heep catalog. The gauntlet is thrown down on the title track, a powerful rocker that layers its relentless hard rock attack with ornate vocal harmonies and quicksilver organ runs before climaxing with a tribal-sounding drum jam…

Bill Bruford ended his brief affair with U.K. and condensed his original outfit to a quartet, releasing a second album of sinewy, celebratory jazz/rock fusion, One of a Kind. Good-humored twists and turns abound in the music, punctuated by Bruford's steadying if slightly subversive rhythms, Allan Holdsworth's flashes of fire, Jeff Berlin's insistent bass, and Dave Stewart's remarkably colorful keyboards…