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Fantastic sounds from Monday Michiru – quite possibly her greatest album in years, and one that really draws together all the best elements of her style! The vocals are wonderful – soaring, fluid, and filled with soul – almost more confident than ever – and set to these small group jazz arrangements that still bounce around with lots of contemporary rhythms – yet all played live, almost in a clubjazz mode – which makes for a perfect backdrop for Monday's lyrics! As always, the vibe is righteous, and the spirit is totally uplifting – the kind of amazing music that's held us rapt, watching her career for the past two decades – never disappointed, and always blown away by the rich progression in her music. Monday plays a bit of flute on the record, Ed Motta sings guest vocals on a version of the Milton Nascimento classic "Bridges" – and other titles include "Adventures", "What Is In A Soul", "Map Of The Soul", "What Defines You", "Brasilianos", "Til Morning Comes Again", and "The Elusive Song".

A loving look at the Adventure Music label – served up in a 3CD set that offers a heck of a lot of great music for a very low price, all hand-picked by the lovely Monday Michiru! Adventure's been one of the best sources for Brazilian music and acoustic sounds for the past decade – a label with a really strong dedication to a few sorts of styles – like some of the best mixes of jazz, bossa, and choro modes recorded in Brazil – or the wonderful post-folk acoustic underground that's risen up in the US. The package really spans the full scope of the label's music – and offers up a whopping 44 tracks in all – all to introduce you to their efforts. Our hat's off to Monday for the track selection – and the package features work by Hamilton De Holanda, Ricardo Silveira, Daniel Santiago, Muiza Adnet, Mike Marshall, Jovino Santos Neto, Moacir Santos, Antonio Arnedo, Maria Marquez, Clarice Assad, Tom Lellis, Eva Scow, Gui Mallon, Toninho Horta, Florencia Ruiz, Alex Hargreaves, Philippe Baden Powell, and others!

Quasimode are definitely cooking on this sweet little set – picking up a rich array of influences they've never had before – including bits of Latin rhythms, and some soul music as well! A few of the cuts feature vocals – but in ways that are more straight soul than the group's previous experiments with jazz singers – yet the backings are still tightly jazzy, and played mostly live, in a bold flurry of trumpet, tenor, trombone, piano, bass, and drums – plus some occasional Fender Rhodes as well! The Latin elements really help expand the sound, and flesh out the positive vibe of the record – a soaring, sunny vision that reminds us of the jazzy joy we first found in the music of Monday Michiru. Most of the album's still instrumental, and titles include "Febre Samba", "Summer Madness", "Another Sky", "Leaving Town", "Soul Cookin", "Let's Get Down Together", "El Paso Twist", and "Still In The Night". Also features a bonus DVD – with the video for "Summer Madness", and concert footage of the tracks "Relight My Fire", "No More Sadness", and "The Man From Nagpur" – plus bonus footage as well!

One of the most beautiful albums we've ever heard from Toshiko Akioshi – a wonderfully sensitive trio session that's quite different than her more bop-oriented work of the 50s! The mid 60s album features a fair bit of tunes pulled from traditional and Japanese sources – a few of the lullabies hinted at in the title, and a few more tracks with some slightly Eastern-styled themes. Toshiko's piano, while bold at times, also has a sensitivity that hadn't often shown up in her work by this point – a new sort of gentleness that's open to light colors and tones that really flesh out the album beautifully. Bass is by Yasuo Arakawa and drums are by Kanji Harada – and that's a young Monday Michiru sitting on the piano on the cover (and the album was also one of the last to bill Toshiko as "Mariano", referring to Monday's father Charlie.) Titles include "Mari To Tonosama", "The March", "Angel's Lullaby", "Tuppen Och Honan", "London Bridge", "Cancion De Extremadura", "Kanchororin Bushi", "I Ken Pien Tan", and "Chocho".

A wonderful record from Khari of Jiva – a set that's as warmly beautiful as you'd expect from the cover! Khari's got all the sweet, soulful touches we love in his music with Jiva – and the set's also got the Brazilian jazz elements that you'd expect from the Antonio Carlos Jobim homage on the cover – particularly the CTI-era Jobim, as there's some wonderful production to the set – and a vibe that's jazzier overall, and more sophisticated than even the great grooves of Jiva! Khari's got plenty of great guests, too – including India Arie, Russell Gunn, Monday Michiru, Sabrina Malheiros, and Incognito – all a perfect choice for the warm, sunny groove of the set! The whole thing's wonderful – maybe even the best thing so far from Khari – and titles include "Clementine Sun", "Coolamon Waltz", "Never In Your Sun", "Belle Of Byron Bay", "The Dove", "Ninos", "How Can We Go Wrong", and "Major Bossa".