The first thing that comes to mind when listening to Tiger Walk is the pair of instrumental albums recorded by Jeff Beck in the mid-'70s, Blow by Blow and Wired. Like those two recordings, this outing showcases a fiery, inventive electric guitarist in a rock and jazz-rock setting. Robben Ford, known in recent years for his blues work with his band, the Blue Line, eschews vocals here, teaming up with keyboard funk master Bernie Worrell for some chunky, funky, wah-wah-laden grooves. This music, led by Ford's blazing guitar lines, is more appropriately categorized as instrumental rock than jazz, but the rhythms recall James Brown and Worrell's alma mater, the P-Funk gang, as often as they do those of a hard rock band. Tenor saxophonist Bob Malach turns in a couple of solid solos, and the rhythm section of drummer Steve Jordan and bassist Charlie Drayton cooks throughout.

X-Legged Sally (XLS) is a Belgian avant-garde rock/jazz-band founded in 1988 by composer Peter Vermeersch, and disbanded in 1997. They were one of the first bands from Belgium to combine a set of very different musical styles (jazz, rock, improvisation and classical), becoming a starting point for the Belgian indie music scene that developed in the nineties. Initially, X-Legged Sally was formed to compose and perform the music Peter Vermeersch wrote for dance productions, such as Immer das Selbe Gelogen (Always the Same Lies), released as a live cd in 1991. Vermeersch' composing style was becoming too demanding for the constraints of sheet music such as was used in his earlier band Maximalist! From the beginning, improvisation played an important role in XLS' songs. The first X-Legged Sally concert took place in November 1988. Soon, XLS became a band in its own right, although there would be cooperations with dance ensembles throughout the existence of the group.

Joni Mitchell reached her commercial high point with Court and Spark, a remarkably deft fusion of folk, pop, and jazz which stands as her best-selling work to date. While as unified and insightful as Blue, the album – a concept record exploring the roles of honesty and trust in relationships, romantic and otherwise – moves away from confessional songwriting into evocative character studies: the hit "Free Man in Paris," written about David Geffen, is a not-so-subtle dig at the machinations of the music industry, while "Raised on Robbery" offers an acutely funny look at the predatory environment of the singles bar scene. Much of Court and Spark is devoted to wary love songs: both the title cut and "Help Me," the record's most successful single, carefully measure the risks of romance, while "People's Parties" and "The Same Situation" are fraught with worry and self-doubt (standing in direct opposition to the music, which is smart, smooth, and assured from the first note to the last).

The first 10 years of Magma were celebrated with the music written by Christian Vander on three memorable evenings in June 1980 at the Olympia theatre in Paris. This retrospective, reuniting most of the musicians who had performed in the group, was issued as two albums, Retrospektïẁ 1/2 (Double) and Retrospektïẁ 3 (Single). Issued first, Retrospektïẁ 3 comprises 3 titles, Retrovision, a long piece in the style of the album Attahk, in which the vocalists Stella Vander, Guy Khalifa and Maria Popkiewicz turn in a blazing performance over a driving rhythm section, followed by a supercharged version of Hhai, in which the trio Lockwood/Paganotti/Widemann works miracles. And finally La Dawotsin, where, in a more muted register, Christian Vander’s voice triumphs through its mastery and profound sensibility.

Tonton Macoute was a progressive jazz/rock band formed in the UK in 1971 from the remaining 4 musicians of Windmill after the death of lead singer/guitarist Dick Scott in a road accident whilst on tour. Both bands were managed by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikely (Matthews Southern Comfort/The Herd/and Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Titch). The personnel consisted of Paul French-vox and keys, Dave Knowles- vox, sax and flute, Chris Gavin (Gavin Wilkinson)-guitar and bass, and Nigel Reveler-drums and percussion, Paul went on to form Voyager who charted in 1979 with a song entitled Halfway Hotel. They released 3 albums too, before disbanding in 1982. They have recently reformed to release the album Eyecontact. He performs regularly at The Piano, 106 Kensington High St.

Amidst their pop/rock, blues, and folk-rock, Manfred Mann peppered their early recordings with jazzy instrumentals that faintly suggested a jazz-rock direction. Soul of Mann, never issued in the U.S., is a compilation of most of these early instrumental efforts, which originally appeared on various singles, EPs, and LPs between 1963 and 1966 (though one song, "L.S.D.," and is actually a blues-rocker with a Paul Jones vocal). Instrumentals were not the band's forte, but this collection is more interesting than you might think. No one would put Manfred Mann on the level of a jazz artist like Oscar Peterson, but these cuts are executed with a surprising amount of style and wit.

Great new project of the spanish guitar player Angel Ontalva, recorded in Russia under the name of No Grooves. Blood Moon Tonight is a 2nd volume of octoberXart Russian series, a collaboration with the Siberia-based label AKT Produkt. Recorded live in studio in Tomsk in the Fall of 2016.

Panko from West Berlin (not to be confused with the much later East-German band Pankow) musically reminds of Xhol Caravan or the early Embryo. The band mostly played long jazzy instrumental pieces, dominated by flute and alto saxophone, at times interrupted by mainly English vocals and some follies. The band existed from the late sixties 'til the end of 1972. During its active career the group didn't release any material, although they definitelty had much potential. In 1983 their drummer (at last) released the cassette 'Weil Es So Schön Perlt'. This tape featured live recordings of good sound quality, dating from June 1971. Now here's a great CD-edition of that tape, enriched with two bonus tracks.

The Collectors' Colosseum is a compilation album by Colosseum that was released in England in 1971. Colosseum are an English jazz rock band, mixing blues, rock and jazz-based improvisation. Colin Larkin wrote that "the commercial acceptance of jazz rock in the UK" was mainly due to the band. Between 1975 and 1978 a separate band Colosseum II existed playing progressive rock.

After the departure in autumn of 1974 of Jannick TOP and most of the other members of the band, MAGMA rose phoenix-like from the ashes with a new, hot, line-up which saw the musical opportunity lying before it. After long rehearsals Christian VANDER realised that he had yet another exceptional groupand the decision was taken to record the first MAGMA live album. The recording, made in June 1975 at the Taverne de l’Olympia, perfectly demonstrates the incredible impact made by MAGMA. Absolutely dedicated to the music of Christian VANDER, who by that time had reached the summit of his art, the band plays as if it were one man and sweeps all before it in its triumphant passage.

Due to COVID-19, the French avant-garde band Magma was unable to perform live, so they decided to dive into the studio to create new material. This resulted in a brand new album titled Kãrtëhl, a collective album such as they have not made in a long time. The band reformed in 2020 and added new musicians to the lineup, which created opportunities for new innovative compositions. After the rather dark 2019 Zëss, this new work Kãrtëhl features bright and resolutely optimistic collective new work, the result of an “Operation Kartëhl”. Kãrtëhl includes 6 new tracks and an additional 2 bonus tracks, which are demos from Christian Vander's personal collection, recorded at home in 1978.

Whether you get it or you don’t, Magma’s music is still growing stronger and stronger each day to blow those doors down with a giant battering ram ready to burst through. Sung in the styles of the Kobaïan language created by founder Christian Vander, they created forms of Jazz, Opera, Classical, Soul, Avant-Rock, and Progressive music for fifty-two years. This year Magma have released their 19th release from AKT series which covers their archival and musical live recordings. This 2-CD set consists of performances they did for their aborted French tour in Bourdeaux, Toulouse, and Perpignan on March 6, 7, and 8th before everything shut down due to the pandemic and COVID-19.