What happens when you gather thirty one jazz musicians including MIles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Mann, Phil Woods, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Ben Webster, Hank Jones, Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, Milt Hinton and many other jazz greats (including a baritone sax role for Teo Macero) in Columbia's iconic 30th Street Studio?

Arlo Guthrie is a registered Republican (though of the ultra-rare libertarian/progressive strain). That leaves Ry Cooder to carry on his dad's uncompromising protest song tradition and he does so with musical and lyrical conviction on this album aimed at the upcoming election that's no more likely to date than has "This Land is Your Land."

This is crazy! Why did it take so long for this to be officially issued? Whatever. It's Muddy Waters and his band live in Chicago, 1981 at the tiny Checkerboard Lounge, with Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Stones pianist Ian Stewart in the audience. Oh, and Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Lefty Dizz.

Of course while it looks spontaneous, obviously the plan was for the Rolling Stones to join in on stage, since a video crew was on hand and someone who knew what he was doing was on the mixing board recording the evening.

Conceptually, Harry Belafonte singing the blues probably strikes some as inauthentic. After all, Belafonte's introduction to American audiences was as "the king of calypso" singing "Matilda" and "The Banana Boat Song" that much later was used by The New York Yankees and Ray Davies as a crowd rouser.