Top 5 Barry Harris with Chuck Israels and Mel Brown (Friday, Feb. 15, at Jimmy Mak’s) Pianist Barry Harris, still sharp and dextrous at 83, is one of the last great bebop innovators we have, and bass   More

Top 5 Warm weather I love the hot tropical weather we get in New Orleans. I couldn’t ever live anywhere cold. Po’boys on every cornerI grew up on these. Can’t live without my hometown cuisine. Seco   More

Top 5 Forever Changes, LoveThis album took me years to understand properly. The denseness of it is something that can’t be digested on the first listen. Arrangement, melody, lyrics, instrumentation—   More

Top 5 Nirvana (2/09/1990, Pine Street Theatre)Appended to Sub Pop’s 20th anniversary edition of Bleach in 2009, this show captures an epochal band winding down the “regional upstarts” phase of its   More

Top 5 Sun Angle Initially sounding like “a sped-up Can,” Fimbres describes the material on the band’s upcoming debut—recorded in a cabin in Zigzag, Ore., under certain, um, mycological influenc   More

Top 5 Various Artists, Gem Drops I-II Featuring tracks from crew members, affiliates and like-minded fellow travelers, either of these interchangeable compilations makes an ideal entry point for wading   More

Top 5 Unknown Mortal Orchestra, II (2/5, Jagjaguwar) The mystery is gone, but Ruban Nielson’s once-enigmatic post-Mint Chicks project is still one of Portland’s singular bands. Based on the new alb   More

Top 5 King Khan and the Shrines @ Dante’s (MusicfestNW, 9/6) This was the only time I’ve ever felt like hurrying toward Dante’s. What made this show killer was the pure inhibition that the Shrine   More

Top 5 The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) This Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass gem reminds me of my own life. Heat Miser and Snow Miser are always on my shoulders whenever I am contemplating heavy decis   More

Top 5 The Amboy Dukes, “Baby, Please Don’t Go” Legendary blues song recorded by Big Joe Williams in 1935 that would go on to be covered by countless musicians, in a variety of styles. One of my f   More