Recorded live in 2011 at a series of all-star concerts in New York City to celebrate Chick Corea's 70th birthday, the almost four hours of performances on this three album box set find Corea collaborating with 10 different bands and a total of 28 musicians, including Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, John McLaughlin, Stanley Clarke and Bobby McFerrin.

The idea here was to put two masters together - one classical cellist, one improvisational singer/sound-effects performer - and voilà! instant amazing, unique, hip - and, hopefully, hit - record. The intriguing setup was to see what would happen when each led the other through the unfamiliar territory of his own specialty. The success of this recording lies not so much in the music or even in the overall performances, but in the fascinating and fun opportunity to sit in on the musicians' good-natured, respectful give-and-take, to witness an uncommon form of artistic chemistry that allows each performer to expand his vision and even his technique. On one hand we get Bobby McFerrin's impressionistic, improvisatory jazz/pop; on the other we enjoy Yo-Yo Ma's highly refined, formalized musicianship.

Bobby McFerrin brings it all back home with "Spirityouall", re-imagining Americana with beloved spirituals and original songs. Bobby invites us along on his everyday search for grace, wisdom, and freedom, embracing bluegrass and the baroque, heartfelt lyrics and wordless melodies, joy and sorrow. He throws some unexpected new ingredients into the melting pot and invites us to sing together through life's trials and triumphs. Across genres, across boundaries, across generations, spirityouall raises the roof with joyful grooves.

Classic Yo-Yo is a greatest-hits collection for the famous Yo-Yo Ma, something he's fully entitled to after two decades of runaway success. It's "Classic Yo-Yo" in the sense that it presents well-loved and presumably durable selections from a variety of Yo-Yo Ma albums, not because it inclines toward Ma's straight-ahead classical recordings. In fact the division between classical and crossover pieces on the disc is about 50/50, and they tend to alternate. The transition from Bach to Astor Piazzolla works OK, but that from Appalachian Journey mastermind Edgar Meyer to Brahms might be a bit jarring. A greatest-hits album is a tough item for Ma because his recordings are so different from one another and involve such a variety of other musicians. As Ma himself says in an interview included in the liner material, "Collaboration is the best part of what I do, it's what I enjoy most about being a musician".