Sleep Dirt is an album by Frank Zappa released in January 1979, on his own DiscReet Records label. It reached #175 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States. Zappa's original title for the album was Hot Rats III.

Released in 1976, Jeff Beck's Wired contains some of the best jazz-rock fusion of the period. Wired is generally more muscular, albeit less-unique than its predecessor, Blow by Blow. Joining keyboardist Max Middleton, drummer Richard Bailey, and producer George Martin from the Blow by Blow sessions are drummer Narada Michael Walden, bassist Wilbur Bascomb, and keyboardist Jan Hammer.

After teaming up with Herbie Hancock for the jazz-flavored The Swing of Delight album, Carlos Santana reentered the pop/rock realm with the rest of his band for 1981's Zebop!. He still managed to include a little bit of his famed Latino sound into a few of the tracks ("E Papa Re," "American Gypsy"), albeit only slightly, but Zebop!'s overall feel is that of commercial rock, with the guitar arriving at the forefront through most of the cuts. Santana does a marvelous job at covering Russ Ballard's "Winning," taking it to number 17 on the charts, while "The Sensitive Kind" is built around the same type of radio-friendly structure yet it stalled at number 56. Zebop!'s formula is simple, and all of the songs carry an appeal that is aimed at a wider and more marketable audience base, with "Changes," "Searchin," and "I Love You Much Too Much" coming through as efficient yet not overly extravagant rock & roll efforts. The album's adjustable rhythms and accommodating structures kept the band alive as the decade rolled over, peaking at number 33 in the U.K. but cracking the Top Ten in the United States, which eventually led to Zebop! going gold. Actually, "Winning" followed in the same footsteps as Santana's last couple of Top 40 singles in "You Know That I Love You" from 1980 and "Stormy" from 1979. Shango, the album that came after Zebop!, gave them another hit with "Hold On," sung by bandmember Alex Ligertwood. © Mike DeGagne

Since he had joined Santana in 1972, keyboard player Tom Coster had been Carlos Santana's right-hand man, playing, co-writing, co-producing, and generally taking the place of founding member Greg Rolie. But Coster left the band in the spring of 1978, to be replaced by keyboardist/guitarist Chris Solberg and keyboardist Chris Rhyme. Despite the change, the band soldiered on, and with Inner Secrets, they scored three chart singles: the disco-ish "One Chain (Don't Make No Prison)" (#59), "Stormy" (#32), and a cover of Buddy Holly's "Well All Right" (#69), done in the Blind Faith arrangement. (There seems to be a Steve Winwood fixation here. The album also featured a cover of Traffic's "Dealer.") The singles kept the album on the charts longer than any Santana LP since 1971, but it was still a minor disappointment after Moonflower, and in retrospect seems like one of the band's more compromised efforts.

With their 8th studio album GURU GURU continued to explore Latin/Fusion sound that they started on the previous efforts. The music is ever more complex with increasing use of assorted percussions, keyboards, synths and saxophones, courtesy mainly of multi- instrumentalist Rolland Schaeffer. With its frequent take on light samba/bossa nova sound, at times it is close to easy-listening Muzak. What keeps it back on track is omnipresent Mani's humour and satire, which reminds us that we are not listening to some Brazilian "riviera-style" samba/jazz.

There have been quite a few changes for the Norwegian jazz rock band Red Kite. As the band explains: What can we say? It's been a weird time. A lot has happened, and none of it good!

Three complete shows from the Vault based on appearances made in and around the Vaultmeister's home town of Erie, PA: Edinboro College and Gannon University '74 and Erie County Fieldhouse '76.

Franks Wild Years is the tenth studio album by Tom Waits, released 1987 on Island Records. Subtitled "Un Operachi Romantico in Two Acts", the album contains songs written by Waits and collaborators (mainly his wife, Kathleen Brennan) for a play of the same name.

Danish quintet David Miilmann Group return with You Belong, their third album and a vibrant, uplifting statement built around guitarist David Miilmann’s distinctive slide guitar voice. Rooted in soul and blues but shaped within a genre-defying jazz context, the band brings a life-affirming energy to music that moves between groove, melody, and open improvisation with ease.

Bruce Hornsby laid out details of Spirit Trail 25th Anniversary Edition, a reissue of his famed 1998 double album set to arrive via Zappo Productions/Thirty Tigers on October 27.

Iconic drummer Simon Phillips is known worldwide for appearances with Toto, The Who, Jeff Beck, Al Di Meola, Hiromi, Stanley Clarke and his own group, Protocol. Simon continues to evolve as a composer on the exciting new Protocol 6 album.

Cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Optimal in Germany, these releases feature glossy gatefold packaging with “tip-on” jackets and newly written liner notes. They are limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies and available today exclusively at Rhino.com and select Warner Music Group stores internationally.

Kronstad 23 return with Dødehavet, the Norwegian quartet’s third album and first release on Batov Records. Continuing their instinctive, analogue-led approach, the record sits between cinematic jazz and psychedelic rock, threaded with Scandinavian folk and wider global influences. Recorded live to tape with minimal preparation and no modern studio intervention, Dødehavet captures a band working on feel, interaction and momentum rather than polish or precision.

Electric guitarist and composer David Torn announces "now i imagine a place not the same," an expansive new double LP out May 29 via Kou Records. Produced by Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Thurston Moore), the album revisits the raw electricity of Torn’s early processing language while carrying it forward with the perspective of decades of exploration. Visceral yet weightless, it deepens his long-standing dialogue between alternate tunings, looping systems, and touch-sensitive electronics. Melody, noise, and atmosphere move through one another in a continuously shifting field of tone.

Ah, Les Vaches! is the 12th Bushman's Revenge album. The title means Ah, the cows, which supposedly were the dying words of the great composer, eccentric, and all around hero to the band, Erik Satie. The band started out in 2003, and made their first record 20 years ago. So yeah, it's been a minute! So what's new? Well, they have a new member, the one and only Tor Egil Kreken - bass player, session ace, and all 'round musician  extraordinaire.