Having put the Akoustic/Elektric band to bed, Chick Corea didn't delve into another group project right away, opting instead to get in touch with himself on the solo Expressions.

Comparing early Al di Meola dates like Land of the Midnight Sun and Casino to his albums of the 1990s, it's clear how much his playing has softened.

This recently reissued 1985 date has plenty of electric bombast, along with ample examples of DiMeola's piercing acoustic style.

This is the best of DiMeola's years with the Manhattan label, which only included three releases: Ciello E Terra, Soaring Through a Dream, Tirami Su.

If anyone could be described as the Hungarian equivalent of Enya, it would be Marta Sebestyen. Many of the songs on this best-of CD, which was released in 1992 and focuses on her innovations of the mid- to late 1980s, have a tranquil quality not unlike what you'd find on one of Enya's albums.

Velez's first commercial recording, Handdance spotlights his skills on instruments ranging from tambourine to frame drums to mbira; backed by accompanist Layne Redmond, his focus is more on the skill of his performance than its emotional depth, but this is still a compelling debut nonetheless.

Back in the wildly creative period of the psychedelic '60s, surrealist/avant-garde artist Brion Gysin took his friend Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones into the Moroccan foothills to hear and record The Master Musicians of a village called Joujouka. For a week they were possessed by a seductive form of trance music that has facilitated astral travel and celestial visitations for centuries.

When listening to this album, one is struck immediately by the unique sound. The powerful, resonating nyatiti (a stringed instrument similar to the lyre) and Ogada's reflective, subdued vocals are unlike anything you've ever heard.

The Edinburgh-based eleven-piece band are an increasingly important name on the UK’s World Music scene, having stolen the show at gigs and festivals throughout the world with their unprecedented high-energy fusion of Latin and Celtic sounds and rhythms.

Boban Markovic', the King of Gypsy brass bands, returns with a new album of original material accompanied by his son Marko, a 17-year old trumpet-blowing prodigy.

Sanacore was Almamegretta's breakthrough album in Italy and made some international noise later when the moody, mysterious opener, "O Sciore Cchiu` Felice," popped up on the soundtrack of The Cell starring Jennifer Lopez.

Gardens of Eden is a multidimensional tool of anthology guaranteed to whisk even the most hardcore urbanites into the folds of Shangri-la. This collection of music from around the world is built around the theme of paradise on earth; the highly detailed liner notes include an overview of environmental organizations pledged to preserve vanishing resources.

With the release of this songbook collection, Charlie Parker achieves instrumentally what labelmate Ella Fitzgerald (and, of course, Frank Sinatra) did vocally: join an elite group of first-rate Cole Porter interpreters.