What am I listening to these days?

• A new Carnatic music CD by flautist N. Ramani with the great percussionist Trichy Sankaran, who blows my mind.

• Herbie Hancock, The Complete Warner Brothers Recordings. The sextet -- what a band!

• Doudou Ndiaye Rose -- project for "Real World" records, Senegalese percussionist/composer Doudou assembled an ensemble of 50 Muslim drummers and 80 Catholic singers assembled on l'Isle Goree. Great stuff except for the part where producer Eric Serra laid down some cheesy synth pads. Otherwise it takes me back to my 10 days in Senegal with Steve Coleman, where we worked with some Sabar drummers like the ones on this album. They do lots of speech-derived rhythms that are unfathomable to me.

• The Quintet (Bird, Diz, Max, Bud, Mingus), Live at Massey Hall. I'm trying to get with Bird's mastery of rhythm, phrasing, balance. Plus Bud's amazing rhythmic feel and sound.

• Wu Tang Clan, Wu Tang Forever. Everything produced by RZA kills me. Some of the other stuff is weak, though.

• Jimi Hendrix, Band of Gypsies. The maestro of guitar technology. He drove his system into chaotic regimes, massaged the sound into a voice that cried out to you. And he had something to say to begin with. Featuring the pioneering, explosive Buddy Miles with the intense, deep groove. Imagine hearing these guys when it was new, back in 1970 -- such an innovative sound, so raw and fresh! Amazing. More on Hendrix by Matt Wright.

• Jelly Roll Morton, The complete piano rolls. Somebody translated the rolls to MIDI files, so they made a digital recording of a Yamaha Disklavier acoustic grand piano playing this stuff. Anyway, it's good to connect with Jelly's approach to the piano. I'm intrigued by the percussive chordal passages and by the formal structures, especially the way the tunes end. There's also a lot of humor in the pieces, and what do you expect from a guy called Jelly Roll?

• Duke Ellington, Black, Brown, and Beige. What colors! How did he find so many ways to recontextualize his old material? It was like he was always able to create a new arrangement that challenged your understanding of the song, putting it in a different light. He milked that orchestra for every timbral combination imaginable.

• Omar Sosa -- This slammin' Cubano piano genius (currently in SF) plays some ridiculously amazing Latin jazz, and his band has my friends Rahsaan Fredericks (bass) and Elliot Humberto Kavee, one of this nation's greatest drummers, as well as Jesus Diaz (perc.) and Sheldon Brown (saxophone). His new album also features rapper Will Power. The exciting compositions are all over the place musically -- Omar had no qualms about letting all of his influences speak true. And when it breaks down to the trio of Omar, Rahsaan, and Elliot, watch out! In a mostly dull Bay Area music scene, this stuff stands WAY out as some of the best new music around.

• Sultan Khan, sarangi, with Zakir Hussain, tabla. A fantastic duo concert by the best in the business, which I keep listening to when I'm eating dinner at 2 am and need something to focus on.

Some all-time favorites

• Duke Ellington, Money Jungle, The Unknown Session, The River.
• Cecil Taylor, Silent Tongues, Garden.
• Sudha Raghunathan, San Marga.
• Randy Weston, Blues to Africa.
• Sun Ra, St. Louis Blues.
• Thelonious Monk, Complete Riverside Recordings, Complete Black Lion Recordings.
• Andrew Hill, Complete Blue Note Recordings.
• Art Tatum, Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces.
• Duke Ellington.
• Prince, everything up to & including Lovesexy and The Black Album.
• John Coltrane, Giant Steps, Live in Seattle, Interstellar Space.
• Trichy Sankaran, Laya Vinyas.
• U. Srinivas, Mandolin Ecstasy.
• Mustapha Tete Addy, Royal Drums of Ghana.
• Eric Dolphy, Out to Lunch.