{Saxophonist/composer/painter John Lurie recommends five great records, listed below, following the intro. This piece was originally published in 1998, when he and his Lounge Lizards were still active.}

Beyond hipster enclaves in New York, San Francisco, London and Tokyo, the name John Lurie will likely be recognized as belonging to the actor who played wiseguy characters in Jim Jarmusch's mid-'80s cult classics Stranger Than Paradise and Down By Law. Night owls might also know Lurie as that guy who took his celebrity pals like Tom Waits and Willem Dafoe on absurd angling expeditions in the "Fishing With John" series running on the Independent Film Channel. Soundtrack buffs might realize that Lurie composes film scores, as in those for the Jarmusch films and such indie hits as Manny & Lo -- as well for the occasional Hollywood blockbuster, like Get Shorty. But not nearly enough will know that Lurie is a saxophonist or that his band, the Lounge Lizards, has been one of the most engaging jazz collectives of the past two decades. Of all Lurie's pursuits, though, the Lounge Lizards is one the closest to his Bohemian heart, and he has put out the group's first new studio album in nine years -- the bewitching Queen of All Ears -- on his own label to prove it.

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