Overtime is really two CDs in one. On the instrumentals, particularly "Bass City" and "Blue in Green," guitarist Lee Ritenour sounds a lot like Wes Montgomery and he leads his group (which features either Ernie Watts or Eric Marienthal on tenor) through some relatively straight-ahead numbers filled with soulful and creative playing. However the five vocals numbers are much more in the R&B/smooth vein and are largely throwaways despite the occasional presence of Ivan Lins. Clearly Ritenour was going for variety on this project but will probably only satisfy his greatest fans. The jazz listeners will be turned off by the vocals and the pop/smooth fans will probably only tolerate some of the more adventurous originals. Ritenour sounds fine in both settings but probably should have recorded twice as much music and split this CD into two.

Ritenour and Grusin are back with Amparo, which interprets classical standards, includes two originals, and overall is inspired by a romantic South American sensibility. Do they pull it off? Yes, with a big assist from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, as Grusin transcribes and arranges Faure, Ravel, Albinoni and Handel, all of whom, if they were alive today, might also be composing the lush movie scores that Grusin composes with ease.

Correlations, available now via Smoke Sessions Records, introduces the new band with a set of inspired new tunes and classic compositions from jazz masters who’ve pointed the way for Davis and his cohort to follow, galvanized by tradition but boldly pushing forward. That adventurousness is just one of the connections that binds these six artists together, one of many correlations that give the album and the sextet their name. Produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith.

Dennis Coffey’s first recording date was in the 1950s, when he was only 15. Years later, he would become a member of The Funk Brothers, playing on hits like Edwin Starr’s “War” and laying down the solo on The Temptations’ “Ball Of Confusion.” He also performed on tracks with Parliament/Funkadelic, Wilson Pickett, Chairmen Of The Board, and produced Cold Fact for Rodriguez. That’s some resume!

The forthcoming fifth album by the international phenomenon that is Mother’s Cake sees the psych-rock trio present itself in suitably appropriate fashion: sky high, far out yet still very much down to earth. In preparation for over a year and recorded during a series of sleep-deprived three day sessions, the group concentrate on the essentials on the ten new songs that comprise ‘Cyberfunk!’, bundling their raw live energy into a dynamically dense release that sounds like vintage madness of the best possible kind and fits the moment in perfect fashion.

Justin K Broadrick returns as Jesu with Terminus, the first full length stand alone album from Jesu since 2013's Every Day I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came, and follows the experimental Jesu EP Never. Terminus thematically was inspired by the concepts of rejection, dependency, nostalgia, and ultimate loneliness. Musically exploring the entire gamut of the Jesu oeuvre since it's initial inception; dream pop, shoegaze, electronica and non aligned/non genre specific heaviness.

GoGo Penguin are an English band from Manchester, England, featuring pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka, and drummer Rob Turner.
The band's music features break-beats, minimalist piano melodies, powerful basslines, drums inspired from electronica and anthemic riffs. They compose and perform as a unit. Their music incorporates elements of electronica, trip-hop, jazz, rock and classical music.

Critics have described GoGo Penguin's music with references to Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Massive Attack, Brian Eno, modern classical composers Shostakovich and Debussy, or contemporary minimal music composers like Philip Glass.

Esperanza Spalding's fourth album, Radio Music Society (a companion piece to Chamber Music Society in name only) is one of enormous ambition – polished production, sophisticated, busy charts, and classy songwriting – that consciously juxtaposes neo-soul and adult-oriented jazz-tinged pop. It employs a stellar cast, largely of jazz musicians, to pull it off. She produced the set, with help from Q-Tip on a couple of numbers, and wrote all but two songs here: a cover of "I Can't Help It" (a Michael Jackson cover written by Stevie Wonder) and Wayne Shorter's "Endangered Species." There are truckloads of players, including three different all-star drummers in Terri Lyne Carrington, Jack DeJohnette, and Billy Hart, saxophonist Joe Lovano, and guitarists Jef Lee Johnson and Lionel Loueke on "Black Gold".

For his second release "GROOVE WARRIOR" on ESC Records, Guitarist Dean Brown has again put together a stellar group of musicians. Besides his critically aclaimed debut CD "HERE", he is best known for his work with Marcus Miller, Billy Cobham, David Sanborn, The Brecker Bros. and a veritable who's who in the electric jazz world. Dean has spent the last 20 years performing worldwide and has recorded on over 100 albums, including 4 Grammy Award winners.

Percussionist Jim Brock gets first billing on this CD that he co-leads with Van Manakas, but Manakas' guitar is the main solo voice, he contributed all nine originals, and he is largely responsible for the date's success. The music ranges from being classical-oriented to funky to atmospheric, and there is even a slight amount of straight-ahead jazz. Manakas dominates the proceedings and is joined on various selections by Brock (whose colorful sounds from his percussion set uplift the music), keyboardist Gary Marcus, electric bassist Steve Kim, drummer Rick Dior, Phil Thompson on reeds, and Alan Kaufman on accordion. This intriguing set is worth giving a few listens to.