The third album from power-Bronx Latino rapper Fat Joe tones down his once-prevalent gangsta leans -- they're still there, though, from the album's title to rhythmic gunshot bursts guiding the cuts -- and builds up his hood and familial loyalties through a series of melodically enticing (and vaguely Wu-Tang-ish) songs. Like he did on Big Punisher's album from the same year, Capital Punishment, Fat Joe works Don Cartagena's slinky street beats into a semi-sublime hip-hop opera that's...   [ read more ]

CD $9.48

A pianoless trio of bassist Michael Moore with Ken Peplowski (tenor sax/clarinet) and Tom Melito (drums) scan the legacy of jazz from the early '20s through the Swing Era, big band, and bop tunes up to compositions by Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and Clare Fischer. Everything revolves around the probing basslines of Moore, a very formidable interpreter and soloist who is generally underappreciated in the general scheme of jazz. Peplowski is not so unsung, and shine...   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

Clarinetist Frank Glover is one whose modernity is clear and present, but there are elements of classical and Latin musics lined in the threads of it. One of the more literate, thoughtful, and accessible players of the noble wooden instrument, Glover and his able accompanists run through some original material that speaks to the heart and head simultaneously. This is clever jazz, but not overly intellectualized, spare while avoiding clichTs, and joyous instead of giddy. Most of it is quartet music fe...   [ read more ]

CD $16.13