With the rising costs of cd's name 5 artists whos new music you would purchase without hearing any samples or written reviews of.
This is probably too easy and, of course, relative to everyones budget.

Rippingtons
Spyro Gyra
Steve Reid
Keiko Matsui
Warren Hill
Brian Bromberg (sorry that's 6)

OK, here's my list.

The Rippingtons
Spyro Gyra
Victor Wooten
Metro
Fourplay
There's so so many more to choose from. As a bassist, I love Brian Bromberg. Nice choice

DW

I am going to throw out a few names of not well known artists and their cd's. All I ask is to give me a yea or nay
Greg Karukas
Marcus Miller
Vital Information
Brian Culbertson
Bobby Lyle
Peter Horvath
Ricky Peterson
Dean James
Dave Weckl
Ed Calle
Dirk Richter
Mitchel Forman
Sam Riney
Kim Pensyl
Urban Knights
Dotsero
Five after Four
Doky Brothers
Shakatak
Ray Obiedo
I will post some more at a later date Have fun!!

1)Dylan
2)Led Zeppelin/Page&Plant
3)Spyro Gyra
4)Ronnie Montrose
5)Pat Metheny Group
6)Rob Mullins
7)Rippingtons
8)Joe Satriani
9)Brian Hughes
10)Danny Donnelly(one of my best friends who just recently won first prize at a songwriters convention, and who co-hosted the after hours all star jazz jam at the Maui Jazz Fest in May...featured some Spyro Gyra members, Towere of Power, and Jeff Kashiwa and Steve Reid).

Peace!
Paul

1)Dylan
2)Led Zeppelin/Page&Plant
3)Spyro Gyra
4)Ronnie Montrose
5)Pat Metheny Group
6)Rob Mullins
7)Rippingtons
8)Joe Satriani
9)Brian Hughes
10)Danny Donnelly(one of my best friends who just recently won first prize at a songwriters convention, and who co-hosted the after hours all star jazz jam at the Maui Jazz Fest in May...featured some Spyro Gyra members, Tower of Power, and Jeff Kashiwa and Steve Reid).

Peace!
Paul

Impossible to pick only five, but I've pruned my list to these:
1)Lee Ritenour
2)Mike Stern
3)Leni Stern
4)Robben Ford
5)Eric Marienthal
6)Al Jarreau
7)Nancy Wilson (the vocalist, not the "Heart" sister)
8)Cecilia Bartoli
9)Steely Dan
10)Sting
This is too hard!!!

Here are a few more.

Larry Coryell
Flim & the BB's
Tom Coster
Frank Gambale
Tim Eyermann
Alphonse Mouzon
Bob Berg
Marc Russo
Charles Blenzig
Steve Khan
Mann Brothers
Dave Valentine
Tom Ranier
Jim Beard
Akira Jimbo
Michael Paulo
Jeff Linsky
Oyate
Alex Acuna

Let's keep it going.

David,

Some of the artists you named are among my favorites.

Dave Weckl(He is very popular in Japan.)
Marcus Miller(Not my favorite, but he is the most selling bassist here now.)
Boby Lyle(I love the song 'Jubilee'!)
Mitchel Forman & Alex Acuna remind me of Lee Ritenour's old album. When you talk about Lee, 'Gentle Thoughts' is a must.
Eric Marienthal and Franc Ganbale (of course Dave Weckl also) were well known especially when they played as Chick Corea Elektric Band, right? Eric is my favorite saxophonist.
Bob Berg(Do you know the songs 'Chromazone' and 'After All' performed with Mike Stern? They are amazing! So cool!)
Sam Riney(He often joined the recording with Eric Marienthal and David Benoit. Very soft sound...)
Urban Knights(I like the first album, but are they still performing as a group?)

And here are some I want to put into the list of my favorites;

Rippingtons
Nelson Rangell
Joe Sample
Yutaka Yokokura(I don't know which record company he made a contract with after GRP...)
Steve Laury(once in Fattburger.)
Dimension(Japanese fusion band, pretty cool! I recommend their recent albums.)

It is so fun to talk this kind of things. Yes, I like this topic!

Mayumi

Many of you have very diverse tastes (and large budgets) Ha! Ha! Good feedback. Posts such as this is where we expand our horizons.

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let's see if I can crank out a few more.

Norman Brown
Hiroshima
Avenue Blue
Tom Grant
Chris Botti
Boy Katindig
Bob Mamet
John Pattitucci
Jason Miles
Kilauea
Tribal Tech
Ricardo Silveira
Billy Cobham
Pocket Change
Porcupine
Jeff Richman
David Murray
Phillipe Saisse
Ed Hamilton
Freddie Ravel
East Bounce
T-Square
Man, I could go on and on and on and....................