Guardian Music — The Kinks singer, who is curating this year's Southbank-based festival, has ambitious plans for the programme of diverse actsRay Davies has revealed his lineup for the 2011 Meltdown festival and said the bill is "about Britain – we're trying to cov... more info

Guardian Music — (Blue Note)Less capricious than Django Bates's tribute to Charlie Parker last year, but just as inspired and rich in references, Joe Lovano's Bird Songs is not just a stunning celebration of Parker's music, but a salute to the sax giants – Sonny Ro... more info

Guardian Music — PJ Harvey, LondonThough at times she's had a strangely mid-Atlantic kind of persona (part queen of the Delta blues, part farmer's wife), recently Polly Harvey has focused her attention closer to home. Her 2007 album White Chalk found her haunting Bri... more info

Guardian Music — (Central Control)This vibrant album is the BBC's Jazz on 3 recording of Matana Roberts's performance at Vortex in London in April 2009. The independence with which the young Chicagoan has developed a 1960s free-jazz sax approach (inspired by Coltrane... more info

Totally Fuzzy — Jizzrelics said... Ornette Coleman - New York is Now! http://jizzrelics.blogspot.com thank you! matori_deda_strale said... 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 641. QUEEN LATIFAH – All Hail The Queen (1989) 642. SPACEMEN 3 – Playing With F... more info

Guardian Music — Whether deliberately dissonant or simply playing out of tune, there's a thrilling world of uneasy listening out thereCaroleBristol identified three separate topics within this week's theme: "records that deliberately use dissonance", "records that ha... more info

Guardian Music — About Group, featuring Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor and Spiritualized's John Coxon, to showcase 'instinctive group interplay' on new LPMembers of Hot Chip and Spiritualized have teamed up for a second album as About Group. Recorded in just one day, Start... more info

Guardian Music — MoletoneIf jazz is a niche taste, then the piano/bass duo playing in the ballpark of the keyboard genius Bill Evans is a niche within a niche. But pairing pianist Barry Green and bassist Dave Green (they are not related) gives this subtle format theÂ... more info

Guardian Music — (Jazzwerkstatt)Despite the 80-year-old Ornette Coleman's advice to the other players here ("Fellers, can you hear me? Forget the note and get to the idea"), much of this sprawling but unique session is more conventionally song-based than the great sa... more info

Guardian Music — These days, no one would blink an eye at the thought of a jazz opera. But in 1971, Carla Bley's genre-spanning mix of poetry, country and Indian music was unprecedentedIn the eclectic 21st century, the idea of an opera drawing on sources as diverse a... more info