THE BLUESMASTERS FEATURING MICKEY THOMAS—In the last few years Mickey Thomas has been jumping around from project to project, but this might be something he should consider developing. He sounds as natural as he did back when he was with Elvin, and his maturity as a vocalist shines through his knowing readings of these fine songs. The Bluesmasters is a band with a future, if its members want one.

PEGGY LEE, Let’s Love & 2 Shows Nightly—A pair of reissues shows one of the 20th Century’s great popular artists both at her best (2 Shows Nightly) and ill served (Let’s Love).

JIMMY WARREN BAND, No More Promises—People working hard and barely making ends meet, if at all, is a recurring refrain of No More Promises, and them’s the blues, as surely as the turning of the earth.

STAX NUMBER ONES—Stax Number Ones is not marketed as a summer album, but you will have to look long and hard for any collection more perfectly and evocatively evoking the lazy, hazy days than the 15 incredible tracks on this CD. But it’s about more than music.