After years spent emphasizing her compositions and bandleading abilities, in the late '80s, Carla Bley finally started featuring her own piano playing to a much greater degree. A melodic but explorative player, Bley (whose use of space sometimes recalls Thelonious Monk) interacts closely with the electric bass of Steve Swallow on this excellent duet session, performing six of her originals and two of Swallow's. ~Scott Yanow, rovi

Make a Scene is the fourth studio album from English singer/songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor, released in Russia on April 18, 2011 by Universal Records

This is the third and final collection to feature the team of Nat King Cole and Gordon Jenkins (arranger). Their earlier collaborations yielded the uniformly superior chart-topper Love Is the Thing (1957) and follow-up The Very Thought of You (1958). As the moniker suggests, there is a perceptible poignancy and longing weaved throughout Jenkins' arrangements. The opener "Where Did Everyone Go?" possesses a solitude accentuated by responsive instrumentation that supports, yet never intrudes. ~ CDUniverse

Tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson deserves a lot of credit for stretching himself on this release. Although he can sound very close to Joe Henderson at times, on this set he interprets a wide-ranging repertoire that allows him to avoid falling into the revivalist hard bop category. In addition to a pair of originals (the medium-uptempo blues "Hamlet's Favorite Son" and "Assessment" which is dedicated to Elvin Jones) ~ AllMusic