 11-03-09: From Brasil to BlaxploitationBy
Rick Sawyer
Old and new favorites dominate this week’s new release round-up. Two smoking live sets from venerable figures in contemporary jazz offer the latest disproof of the music’s demise. A collection of soundtrack music from the 1970s challenges the myth of “blaxploitation,” and a pair of releases from young musicians in Brazil and Texas promises the world a bright and funky future.  Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American OriginalBy
Rick Sawyer
Robin D.G. Kelley’s massive new biography Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original is first and foremost a demystification of the composer’s life. Kelley, who holds a chair at the University of Southern California, spent 14 years researching the book, and it’s the most comprehensive biography yet of its subject.  The Action is Here! A Look at Rhino’s Latest Nuggets TriumphBy
Rick Sawyer
If the box set is about to die, at least it’s going out with a bang. Where the Action Is! is one of the best designed box sets in the history of the product.  The Sounds of Soft MachineBy
Rick Sawyer
Soft Machine was the product of the same remarkable cultural shift that gave us electric Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix, the moment when the formalistic silos that held different genres of music suddenly collapsed and rock, jazz, blues, Indian music, and modern classical could mix with whatever happened to be on the turntable. 
The World Mourns “La Negra”
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Buffers, Bridges & Bubbles
Love is Strange
The Birds, the Bees & Me
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