Resembling a slick, satin Satan in a pinstripe suit, with delectable but doomed dolls draping his silky shoulders, Jimmy expertly exudes a sleek, sensuous, sinister, star-crossed style no matter what medium he’s mastering. Requiem for a Shadow Bride is a criminally cool companion piece to his exotic extravaganza Torchin’ at Tallulah’s.

Delco Nightingale (love that moody moniker) is a gritty, witty punk-rockabilly-jazz fusion band from Philly, featuring vivaciously vampy vocalist Erin Berry, with badass backup provided by guitarist Greg Phoenix, upright bassist Sawyer Thomas and drummer Eddie Everett. They already have a large, devoted following, turning on today’s jaded, melody-challenged kids to genuine swing/jazz standards.

Combining Billie Holiday’s gift for meticulous but effortlessly poetic phrasing with Anita O’Day’s swingin’ sassiness, June Christy’s cocktail coolness, Patsy Cline’s rural romanticism, and Sarah Vaughn’s sophisticated sultriness, New York jazz/blues singer Tara O’Grady is indeed a musical force of nature to reckon with, and I reckon you’ll indeed be snappin’, swingin’ ‘n’ swayin’ to her self-made slice of sonic sensuality Good Things Come to Those Who Wait.

There must be a cosmic confluence of sonic symmetry in the universe when two uniquely compelling albums by unlikely artists are released within a few weeks of each other. One is Music is Better Than Words, vintage tunes from the songbooks of lyrical luminaries such as Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Lowe, beautifully sung by the brilliantly subversive creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane. The other is the latest mind-blowing “concept” album from that redoubtable human pop culture machine, William Shatner, called Seeking Major Tom.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then The Modern Pin-Up (Flo Publishing) is the Encyclopedia Britannica of 21st century cheesecake, expertly exposing a thriving subculture of sensuous sirens that excel at exuding eroticism without coming off as sleazy or salacious.

The Lost Patrol: Rocket Surgery
The Lost Patrol is the great unsung band of New Jersey. While not nearly as famous as fellow native musicians Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi, these consistently compelling melody-makers deserve a much wider audience, though their rabid cult following continues to multiply.

A picture is worth a thousand words, the old saying goes, which makes this eye-poppingly colorful tome, jam-packed with classic celebrity photographs and profiles from the halcyon days of early rock ‘n’ roll radio, a virtual encyclopedia of iconic imagery.

Thirty-four years ago, on August 16, 1977, Elvis Aaron Presley went to the bathroom in his Graceland estate, and hasn’t been seen since. However, he has been heard, a lot, as RCA has continuously rock ‘n’ rolled out both re-released and unreleased tracks from perhaps the most storied and eclectic canon in pop music history. Elvis sang the musical gamut from country to blues to R&B to rock to pop to gospel to ballads to opera (sort of), reveling in his vocal range and giving his generations of fans, which continue to propagate, an eternal supply of songs from Beyond, with something to appeal to almost any tastes.