Spike Lee's powerful rumination on the last 24 hours of freedom of a young convicted felon (Edward Norton) before he serves a seven-year prison sentence that will forever change his life is charged with melancholy regrets–and slim hopes of redemption. Longtime Lee collaborator Terence Blanchard's haunting score was deservedly nominated for a Golden Globe for the stark, sophisticated way it colors a challenging story with music that's at once haunting and achingly introspective. Blanchard's orchestral music here may at first seem like his most obvious bowing to symphonic film-scoring traditions. But as it masterfully turns on a difficult emotional axis of despair and apprehension, its sad string passages and wordless arias can evoke both the Celtic and the Middle Eastern, then melt into loping jazz signatures in a heartbeat. It's a brooding, elegantly sophisticated soundtrack that pays only occasional tribute to Blanchard's rich jazz accomplishments, but one that dramatically underscores his true range and dramatic potential as a film composer.

Easily the greatest album ever by funky drummer Harvey Mason – and quite possibly the only one to live up to the rhythmic complexity that Mason brought to countless other fusion sessions for other groups in the 70s! The tracks are all spacious and snapping with brilliantly funky touches – a sound that resonates with Mason's contributions to Johnny Hammond's Gears album, but which comes off slightly differently here, thanks to a stronger focus on the drums. Keyboards are still a prime element of the set – played here by Herbie Hancock, Dave Grusin, and Jerry Peters – the latter 2 of whom helped out on arrangements for the record – and other players include an all-star lineup of 70s jazz funk legends such as Blue Mitchell, Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson, Hubert Laws, and others.

A wonderful collector's edition of jazz pianists' records in almost all styles from the first ragtimes to modern jazz.

Marie Davidson's first album for Ninja Tune is far more outgoing than her previous releases, in addition to being more introspective. Earlier albums such as Perte D'Identité were filled with seductive, deadpan spoken lyrics in French and English over murky, lo-fi darkwave tracks, with the tempo significantly increasing on 2016's Adieux au Dancefloor, as well as the albums Essaie Pas (Davidson's duo with partner Pierre Guerineau) released on DFA.

Don't take the title Desperate Man too seriously. Eric Church doesn't sound at the end of his rope on his sixth album; he sounds settled in his skin, assured that he doesn't have to try too hard. Which isn't to say he doesn't try on Desperate Man – quite the opposite, actually.

Richmond, VA's heavy, psychedelic quartet Windhand have crafted a record brilliant in scope, powerful in execution, and perfect for an era of increasingly blurry yet still heavy borders. Produced by Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High On Fire).

Will Hoge didn't really need to release a new album in 2018. His most recent, Anchors, came out last August, reaching No. 6 on Billboard Heatseekers and the Top 20 on the Indie Chart. He'd toured the United States and Europe, and could've settled in from there. But there was something he couldn't stop thinking about: his children. Border police. Political corruption. Anti-intellectualism. Poverty. Gun control. A broken education system. Indifference to others' suffering. Each of these things weighed on Hoge, and he confronts them all head-on in My American Dream.

Groovy Meditation es un conjunto de composiciones de ambiente fluido constante e ininterrumpido que favorece el ritmo por el ritmo sin descomponerse. Groove sin concesiones a la galería y que sorprende por la ausencia de un órgano Hammond que hubiera completado la obra de manera redonda. “Puntos Suspensivos” es un claro ejemplo de lo comentado y un argumento válido y definitivo en el devenir del disco. Un cuarteto de músicos españoles disfrazados para realizar música negro-americana, dinámica, contundente, sólida y sin fisuras y muy propia de series policiacas de los años 70 del pasado siglo, algo que se muestra en temas como “Los Inspectores”, “28Th street Crime” o “Toño Otero In The House” (homenaje al saxofonista gallego).

“Stardust Birthday Party is about what is happening underneath all of this life stuff. My path inward. The details of my path are pointless because everyone’s path is different. It is about me sitting with myself for the first time and confronting the big question, ‘What am I, really?’ It’s about the love and compassion for all things that enters when you find out you are nothing and everything. I think at one point I wanted to change the world, but now I know I can only change myself, or rather just strip away everything that is not me to reveal the only thing that’s ever been there. And that’s what this album is about.”