Various

Afrodelic Roots drummer said it best when he recently proclaimed respected DJ and steady BBC Radio One personality Gilles Peterson our generation’s John Peel. For over five years now, Peterson’s weekly worldwide program has been one of the planet’s premier sources for progressive, beat-oriented music, mixing everything from forward reaching hip-hop, soul and jazz, to various forms of groove-centric electronic music. The most coveted moment of any edition has almost always been the featured artist live set, and after half a decade of sitting on these precious one-off recordings, Peterson is finally opening up the vault with his new BBC Sessions series. Stunning renditions by a diverse cabal of artists that includes the Roots, Zero 7, Nitin Sawhney, Björk and Matthew Herbert fill the two discs of this first edition, in a true testament to the respect each holds for the DJ. A couple of choice moments come by way of Roots Manuva, who completely turns it out with a classical piano and synth drum version of "Dreamy Days,” and Matthew Herbert, who somehow manages to improve on the studio version of "The Audience” with the help of his big band, receiving a raucous ovation from Beeb message board workers for his effort.