Herb Alpert Is ... by Herb Alpert: An accessory to the authorized documentary of the same name, Herb Alpert Is … begins with its subject’s swinging instrumental ’60s, continues with his chart-topping ’70s (both “This Guy’s in Love With You” and “Rise” reached No. 1), and proceeds to the dapper Miles Davis–lite funk of his ’80s and ’90s (choicest cut: “Sneakin’ In”). It winds down with 11 21st-century recordings featuring a little bit of everything (Edith Piaf, Michael Jackson, Irving Berlin, “Wade in the Water”). Once in a while, he or others sing.

The Omnibus by Roland Chadwick & the Modern Guitar Trio: The ensemble’s name implies four classical guitarists, but the cover—accurately—shows three. And they’re enough. Although Roland Chadwick composed all 19 pieces himself, he, Vincent Lindsey-Clark, and Roland Gallery interact with a riveting sensitivity to their melodies, to each other, and to the slyer implications of the titles. “Stumbler’s Waltz” suggests even people with two left feet might have a future on the dance floor.

The late Ravi Zacharias liked to recount the time that a philosophy professor tried to convince him of the superiority of Eastern both/and logic over Western either/or. “Are you telling me,” Zacharias finally said, “that when I am studying Hinduism I either use both/and system of logic or nothing else?”

The professor responded, “The either/or does seem to emerge, doesn’t it?”

More Alive Vol. 1 by Melanie Penn: Part Scriptural pep talk, part praise and worship, part vulnerable self-revelation (“Avenue of the Americas” will bring you up short), Penn’s latest showcases the results of her efforts to stay positive and productive during the lockdown.

It’s a wonderful moment to be a jazz fan—and not because of the never-ending flow of worthwhile new releases.

Making this moment wonderful are new, previously unreleased live albums by Thelonious Monk and Ella Fitzgerald.

Monk’s is called Monk Palo Alto (Impulse!), and the story behind it is almost as good as its music.

Wrong Way Up by Eno/Cale: So long were the avant-garde/underground shadows that Brian Eno and John Cale cast at the time of this electro-pop hookfest’s first appearance that not even the version of “Spinning Away” recorded 10 years later by the proven hit-makers Sugar Ray could gain chart traction. Five years later, the electro-pop hookfest’s 15th-anniversary edition fared no better.

“I felt a need to revisit a classical work in my own manner,” says the composer Pierre Henry in the 2007 documentary Pierre Henry: The Art of Sounds. “It was at that time that I chose to write a 10th Symphony inspired by Beethoven’s nine symphonies.”