On his latest tour, the former Return to Forever fusion-jazz guitarist covers the Beatles and Argentine tango composer-accordionist Astor Piazzolla in an acoustic trio with piano and accordion, while liberally sprinkling in songs from his latest disc, Opus. It’s lush, heavily filigreed music all around, with a technical bravura that creeps to the precipice of being “too smooth” without tumbling over. —Britt Robson
With a voice rich in shadowy tones floating on exquisite instrumental work, Cape Verdean singer Lucibela is the essential heir to revered “barefoot diva” Cesária Évora. Lisbon-based, 32-year-old Lucibela, on her first U.S. tour, caresses the seductive sense of saudade (poignant, bittersweet yearning) inherent in sensuous mornas while swaying and skipping through the more energetic, equally sublime coladras. Her debut album, Laço Umbilical (now expanded and renamed Ti Jon Poca) simmers with the islands’ sublime traditions plus touches of bossa nova and raï.—Rick Mason
In English or Spanish, the dance-inducing global quartet Jenny and the Mexicats (previously Pachucos y la Princesa) is not your typical flamenco-rockabilly-folk-reggae-jazz-cumbia-merengue outfit. The decade-old band formed in Madrid with English singer/guitarist Jenny Ball (also a wicked jazz/mariachi trumpeter), Spanish cajón percussionist David Gonzalez Bernardos, plus Mexicans Luis “Icho” Díaz (double bass) and Alfonso “Pantera” Acosta (ace flamenco guitarist). Now Mexico City-based, their sizzling, border-defying guiso joyfully defies trumped-up walls.—Rick Mason