Matthew Shipp
In the recesses of New York's musical underworld, Howard Mandel meets a piano player coming into his prime. Is this the new face of the Great Black Music?

Invisible Jukebox: Julian Cope
England's coolest arch-drude gets vexed over tracks by The Fall, Kevin Ayers, A Certain Radio, Scott Walker, Stockhausen, Sly & The Family Stone and more. Tested by Mike Barnes

The Primer: Field Recordings
Taking the pith helmet out of the history of World Music, Richard Henderson charts a beginner's route through field recordings of Balinese gamelan, Tibetan monks, rainforest pygmies and more

Lalo Schifrin
Hollywood's most prolific composer, whose scores include Bullitt, ,Enter The Dragon and Mission: Impossible, reveals the secrets of his demented art to Daniel Pemberton

Global Ear: Havana
With Cuba virtually alone in the Communist world, a new breed of musicians, from female rappers to streetwise agit-salsa groups, is telling it like it is. Holger Hiller gets close, but no cigar

Bites
Req Brighton beatcomber Uri Caine Classical music makeovers Xper.Xr. Honk Kong Phooey Schizoid Multiple personality disorders Label lore: Composers Recordings Inc

Fred Frith
Whatever you do, don't mention Henry Cow to the itinerant British guitarist and Naked City bassist, whose career encompasses experimental rock, film scores and free improvisation. By Mike Barnes

Hugh Davies
With his miked-up encyclopedia, multishozyg, springboards and aeolian harps, this veteran of the Music Improvisation Company is the masterbuilder of instrument inventors. By Rob Young

The Secret History of Film Music
How the European avant garde became Hollywood's academy of peril, adding the shock of dissonance and atonality to such horror classics as Psycho and The Creature from The Black Lagoon. By Philip Brophy