Album: Herbie Hancock, The Imagine Project (Sony)

Herbie Hancock's new project involves collaborations with a swathe of guests – mostly vocalists like Chaka Khan, James Morrison and Seal, but also more intriguing musical cross-fertilisations.

The best are "Tamatant Tilay/Exodus", a great alliance of desert blues and reggae on which Hancock braids together Tinariwen, Los Lobos and K'naan, and "The Song Goes On", an Indo-jazz fusion in which Wayne Shorter's sax traces exploratory lines with Anoushka Shankar's sitar. Less satisfying are John Legend and P!nk's sombre "Don't Give Up" and an "Imagine" on which Seal, P!nk, India.Arie, Oumou Sangaré and Jeff Beck jostle for the kind of shared space which The Chieftains, Toumani Diabaté and Lisa Hannigan find so readily on a subtly textured "Times They Are A-Changin'".

DOWNLOAD THIS Tamatant Tilay/Exodus; The Song Goes On; The Times They Are A-Changin'