BEATrio (2025), by Bela Fleck, Edmar Castaneda, Antonio Sanchez

I’m not a fan of the banjo, and I’m even less of a fan of the harp, but these completely disparate instruments are two of the three unlikely ingredients – including drums and percussion – that make up this thoroughly engrossing and immersive album that sounds nothing like typical, traditional banjo or harp music.

The trio consists of banjo player extraordinaire Bela Fleck, harpist Edmar Castaneda, and drummer/percussionist Antonio Sanchez.

 

Fleck, of course, is an internationally renowned multiple Grammy Award nominee and winner and the leader of the jazz/world/new age fusion super group Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Fleck is to the banjo what Andy Summers and Pat Metheny are to the guitar.

 

The harp sounds like a harp, but Castaneda plays it like I’ve never heard it played before, unleashing a dynamic range of tones and a lot of bouncy and snappy rhythms.

 

And longtime Pat Metheny collaborator Sanchez brings it all together with kinetic drums and percussion that keep everything moving.

 

I’m not sure if BEATrio is just the name of the album, the name of the group, or both, but one thing I know for certain is that this is one of the tightest, most energetic, and most exhilarating fusion bands on record.

 

--Raj Manoharan

Standards from film (2022), by Mike Moreno

While I’m not enough of a connoisseur of classic film to get the audio clip references as well as be familiar with the songs themselves, what I do know is that acclaimed and accomplished jazz guitarist Mike Moreno has definitely tapped into a vibe that is classic and vintage and classy and elegant. The result is one of his strongest sets yet.

 

Moreno’s earlier releases in the late 2000s and 2010s already demonstrated his technical proficiency on the fret board, and this album continues to evidence a steady hand and assured confidence in his playing and phrasing, presenting him as the venerable jazz guitar master that he most certainly is now. He is definitely on the level of guitar greats such as Andy Summers and Pat Metheny.

 

Moreno is supported by an equally talented group of amazing and wondrous musicians. Sullivan Fortner conjures rapturous swirls on piano, Matt Brewer anchors deep grooves and rhythms on bass, and Obed Calvaire keeps the beat palpable with floating drums and percussion. They absolutely contribute both individually and collectively to the overall atmosphere of this session. This is one of Moreno’s best bands on record.

 

The art of jazz guitar is alive and well in the highly capable hands of Mike Moreno.

 

--Raj Manoharan

Lotus Dream (2025), by Shambhu

Shambhu’s tenth album finds the guitarist doing what he does best – soothing listeners’ souls with gentle and peaceful acoustic guitar compositions that center them in their inner selves and take them to another level of sensory enlightenment.

However, Shambhu goes a bit further than usual, bringing a lot of piano as well as electric guitar into the mix, along with bass and synthesizers.

 

The result is an album that goes into Andy Summers, Pat Metheny, and Eric Johnson territory, all the while retaining Shambhu’s unique sensibilities.

 

Shambhu plays all the instruments on the album, with the exception of “Resilience,” which features electric and Nashville guitars by jazz guitarist Leo Steinriede.

 

The combination of acoustic and electric guitars and keyboards and synthesizers truly results in a sonic utopia of dreamy luminescence and transcendent bliss.

 

This is one of the best albums of its kind.

 

--Raj Manoharan

Happy Birthday, Andy Summers!

On New Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31, 2025, Andy Summers – my favorite guitarist and musician of all time – will turn 83 years old.

I first became acquainted with the music of Summers in 1983 at the age of 10 in a Catholic elementary school classroom when I heard a hypnotic and futuristic-sounding pop/rock song emanating from the radio of Candy, my substitute teacher. When I asked what the song was and who recorded it, I was promptly informed that it was “Spirits in the Material World” by The Police. I was instantly hooked, so much so that that Christmas, my parents got me a vinyl copy of Synchronicity, The Police’s fifth and final studio album and one of the biggest hits of the year. The Police have since remained my favorite rock band of all time.

Summers was the guitarist for the mega-popular group, who were active in the late 1970s and early 1980s and reunited for a 30th anniversary tour in 2007 and 2008. Being a good decade older than his bandmates Sting and Stewart Copeland, Summers began his professional recording career in the early 1960s, playing for Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band (which later became the psychedelic but short-lived Dantalian’s Chariot), Eric Burdon’s New Animals, and Soft Machine. After formally studying guitar at California State University, Northridge, from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, Summers returned to England and plied his trade as a session guitarist for Joan Armatrading, Neil Sedaka, Kevin Coyne, and Deep Purple’s Jon Lord before achieving monumental success and international stardom with The Police.

After the dissolution of The Police in the early 1980s, Summers scored some Hollywood films (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Weekend at Bernie’s) and recorded one rock vocal album before establishing himself as an acclaimed and accomplished contemporary instrumental guitarist across a variety of styles, including jazz, fusion, new age, and world music.

I was privileged to interview Summers by telephone in Fall 2000 for the January 2001 issue of DirecTV: The Guide. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that Summers posted a notice of the interview in the news section of his Web site. Later, I met Summers in person during his book tour in Fall 2006, just a few months before The Police reunited for a 30th anniversary reunion tour, which I was fortunate to attend twice, first at Giants Stadium in August 2007 and then at PNC Bank Arts Center in August 2008.

I highly recommend the following Andy Summers solo albums: XYZ, Mysterious Barricades, The Golden Wire, Charming Snakes, World Gone Strange, Synaesthesia, Earth + Sky, Harmonics of the Night, and Vertiginous Canyons.

--Raj Manoharan

More Amor: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery (2025), by Chicago Jazz Orchestra Featuring Bobby Broom; Jeff Lindberg – Artistic Director

This is one of those CDs that as soon as I heard it on the radio, I knew I had to have it.

I heard the title track, “More, More, Amor,” on WBGO Radio 88.3 FM. Later that night, I listened to the entire album on YouTube before ultimately purchasing the download from Amazon and the physical CD from the Chicago Jazz Orchestra directly.

 

This is a recording not only of classic tunes composed by iconic jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, but also standards that he had recorded, such as “What the World Needs Now Is Love” by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, “Somewhere” by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, and “Dreamsville” by Henry Mancini, Jay Livingston, and Raymond Evans.

 

Of course, the album also includes the requisite Montgomery tracks “Four on Six” and “West Coast Blues,” among others.

 

As you would expect, the Chicago Jazz Orchestra gives the record the vintage feel of the classic swinging sound of big-time jazz bands from the 1940s to the 1970s, all the while sounding modern and contemporary.

 

And Chicago-based guitarist Bobby Broom is the perfect complement to the Chicago Jazz Orchestra’s bedrock of sound, bringing popping electric bop to the proceedings with his nimble and tactile playing.

 

I’m surprised I haven’t come across Bobby Broom before. He’s been around for over 45 years, and going by his albums streaming on his website, he’s one of the best jazz guitarists out there and particularly adept at crafting catchy covers of pop and rock classics.

 

This is one of the best orchestral, jazz, and guitar albums available, and aficionados and casual fans of any of those three categories will find something of auditory delight here.

 

--Raj Manoharan

Orchestralli (2004), by Stewart Copeland

This live CD captures Police founder and drummer Stewart Copeland touring Italy in 2003 with an orchestra and a percussion ensemble performing symphonic versions of his music from Rumble Fish and The Equalizer, as well as his other original works.

The music is jazzier than usual for Copeland, which is not at all a bad thing, but it is ironic, especially considering that Copeland called out his former Police band mate, guitarist Andy Summers, a couple of decades earlier for making jazzy records. In addition to the prominent saxophone, parts of the album have a Kenny G vibe to them, which is not a knock against Stewart Copeland – or Kenny G!

 

Jazz or no jazz, this is a very engaging and exuberant concert. The sound fidelity and quality are excellent, with the intricate and expert playing of the orchestra and the percussion ensemble coming through loud and clear.

 

Of course, Copeland’s unbridled energy on the drums, percussion, and especially the hi-hat make this a rousing and dynamic performance.

 

--Raj Manoharan

Spyro (2022), by Stewart Copeland

WOW! Stewart Copeland has had a long and varied career – being the founder and drummer of The Police, composing film and television soundtracks, recording globally sourced solo albums, and writing operas and orchestral symphonies – but his work for the Spyro videogame series is perhaps one of his best and most beloved accomplishments. Just by virtue of the game’s massive worldwide popularity, this is obviously Copeland’s widest exposure since The Police, and his brilliant work here is worthy of that opportune spotlight.

The soundtrack was released officially for the first time in 2022 a year prior to the game’s 25^th anniversary, enabling people like me who are not videogame fans or enthusiasts to fully immerse themselves in the immense, thrilling, and engrossing sonic environments of the score.

 

The tracks contain elements of all of Copeland’s work up to that point and then some. Copeland’s compositional quirkiness shines through alongside mainstream themes that are grand and epic in scope.

 

All of the tunes are composed and generated entirely with keyboards and synthesizer samples. Naturally, the drum and percussion sounds are intense and give the album a kinetically propulsive edge.

 

Copeland’s Spyro music is to videogames what Jan Hammer’s Miami Vice music is to television and as such is a kindred spirit to that latter work.

 

For those not familiar with Stewart Copeland’s talents beyond The Police, Spyro is probably the best introduction to all of his wondrous musical idiosyncrasies.

 

--Raj Manoharan