Eric Johnson (3.5 stars)
Bloom
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True to his reputation, Grammy-winning guitarist Bloom stretches his talents over a multitude of genres in Bloom, starting out with some great rock and moving through country and into jazz over 16 tracks. He's best when he doesn't sing, as he does in the cover of Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages"; he's a touch blasé when he hits the slow "Sad Legacy"; but he's amazing with straight-up flaunting of guitar talent in "Summer Jam" and the title track, "Bloom"—full of unbelievable blues-rock licks on top of hard rhythm.
The Slow Poisoner (4 stars)
Melodrama
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Andrew Poisoner bills himself as "a one-man surrealistic rock & roll band" and it makes sense, not simply because he's the last survivor of a band once called The Slow Poisoners, but because the songs are sprinkled with visions four-eyed birds and star flower pines, whatever those are. But from the sound of things on Melodrama, Poisoner isn't really a surrealist but a talented satirist playing at surrealism. Most of the songs are tuneful, accessible rock in the late-Beatles/Bowie mode, with a built-in wink, subtle in "Star Flower Pine" and right on the surface in the Mexican folk-metal hybrid "¡Todo Es Mal!" The wink is appealing, though the album is at its best when the simple beauty of the songs takes over, as in "The Girl Who Lives Inside the House that Never Was."
Jaguares (2 stars)
Cronicas de un Laberinto
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The latest release from hard-rocking Mexican band Jaguares is full of that relentless heavy metal sound, the flailing guitars in the background hitting every note, it seems, but the blue ones. But once you get over the novelty of grinding guitars mixed with Spanish vocals, all you're left with are grinding guitars. Fortunately when the band slows down on tracks like "Fenomeno" or "Madera" or "Esta Muy Claro," they get a gritty rainfall rhythm going. On "Hay Amores Que Matan," they shift into an easy, propulsive pop vibe that's much more authentic than the Rob Thomas-Santana pairing a few years ago.
The Ramsey Lewis Trio (4 stars)
Time Flies
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Brahms as hepcat, shades on, cigarette dangling. Just another hybrid aural image painted by storied jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis on leadoff track "Poco Allegretto From Symphony No. 3 in F Major"—transitioning from strict classical interpretation to joyous jazz improvisation as if stylistic transitions were superfluous. Then the Ram Man and the boys go gloriously time-trippin' over career gems stretching back to the 40-year-old breakout album, The In Crowd, retracing every stop on their musical highway, from R&B to funk to fusion to gutbucket gospel—even spending "Midnight at the Oasis"—in a celebratory nostalgia-wallow. And why not? As jazz gods go, this god's still got his groove on.