Various Jazz Artists including Muggsy Spanier, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Meade Lux Lewis, Colman Hawkins, Fats Waller, Artie Shaw, Jelly Roll Marin, Ella Fitzgerald, Lester Young, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum and Carmen McRae

Following a tide of critical acclaim and numerous appearances on every other chill-out compilation since records began, Groove Armada's Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) has an awful lot to live up to. Vertigo, released in February 2000, was a phenomenal success, critically and commercially, spawning hits like "If Everybody Looked the Same" and the sun-drenched "At the River." Having found their niche in downbeat, Groove Armada explore the style even further on Country. The opening track, "Suntoucher," is a slow-burning dub plate, featuring Jeru The Damaja, which breaks out a supercool horn riff midway through. It's a fantastic start to the album, but it does begin to feel a little long as the song unspools. Even the slightly more uptempo numbers, like first single "Superstylin'" and "Fogma," don't rush into anything, building slowly before the bass hook and drums kick in with a lukewarm impact. Goodbye Country is another musical triumph for Groove Armada, with every track as good as the one before. Still, it's a shame they veer so strongly in a downbeat direction, as they mostly leave behind the quirky house style that helped distinguish their earlier work. —David Trueman

Mike Skinner, the musical mastermind behind The Streets, once again melds hip-hop, dub, ska, UK garage beats, and his unique rhyme style to deliver a sound like nothing else. Instead of the snapshot imagery of the last album, "Original Pirate Material", "A Grand..." is one continuous narrative, following Skinner through a day of victories, defeats, and battles.

Largely the conceit of co-writer/star John Cusack, "Grosse Point Blank" is oft compared to Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," which brings to mind that old adage about apples and oranges. Cusack's film is, in its own right, the morally bleaker (and funnier) of the two—a shaggy dog tale about a neurotic young hitman returning home for his tenth high school reunion. The first in what appears to be a slew of films ready to cash in on '80s nostalgia (gen-Xers apparently having learned little from the Baby Boomers they sneer at), "Grosse Point"'s song score covers the decade like a shotgun blast, from the Violent Femmes bouncy "Blister" to Guns 'n' Roses overwrought "Live and Let Die". Minus points: the Clash is represented, but not Joe Strummer's incidental score. —Jerry McCulley

Hawaiian slack-key guitar began evolving in the 1830s, when Spanish and Mexican cowboys brought guitars to the cattle ranches of the Big Island. It became a recognizable style around the turn of the century. The term refers to the practice of slacking some strings from standard tunings to create open tunings; the thumb provides the bass line while the other fingers play melody and improvise. It might thus remind some listeners of the fingerpicking of a country master like Doc Watson, but the style has a wind-blown, wide-open quality all its own. Traditionally an accompanying instrument in a group setting, slack key has recently moved out front, and this all-instrumentals CD shows why. From the light touch of Moses Kahumoku or Leonard Kwan to the bluesiness of George Keo or Ray Kane to the pop feel of Keola Beamer, it offers the best possible introduction to the music. —John Morthland