KBCS (Bellevue, WA)
- Shining In The Distance-The Stray Birds (Appealing vocal harmonies and fiddling from the band's release, "Magic Fire," due out Friday. The tune's title could just as easily have been, "Is It Not Time?")
- Common Unity-Chaos In The CBD featuring Archie Pelago (The saxophone floats over a subtle dance/trance groove.)
- Wade In The Water-Kirk Whalum featuring George Duke & Paul Jackson, Jr. (An inspired 13 minutes and change. I hear elements of Al Jarreau in the scatting. This version also integrates "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" into the mix seamlessly.)
- Franz Joseph Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major (Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Jahja Ling, conductor; Rolf Smedvig, trumpet) (Contains one of the most engaging, heroic-sounding first movements of any concerto. Smedvig plays with a clear, resounding tone.)
- Blue Star Linoleum-Devils Wielding Scimitars (Don't let the band name throw you off. This is a catchy vocals-and-guitar-driven track from 1990 that should be better known. This is approximately what 10,000 Maniacs or possibly Blondie might have sounded like if they'd gone in a somewhat harder direction.)
