‘KRAFT’ is the stimulating debut release by Baltimore-area improvisation specialists Mike Kuhl, Dave Ballou, John Dierker and Luke Stewart.

Tyler Mitchell and Marshall Allen are a couple of guys from the Sun Ra orbit who got together for some music that lives up to the cosmic audaciousness of their mutual mentor.

‘The Art Spirit’ does a pretty good job showing what Ben Goldberg, Nels Cline and Tom Rainey are capable of individually and a great job showing what they can do collectively with no premeditation.

A lot of jazz records are about compositions and chops. Michael Bisio and Matthew Shipp’s ‘Flow of Everything’ is more about the connectedness between two very creative musicians.

The soulful guitar/organ jazz thing is perfectly suited for a saxophone pedigree like Nick Hempton, and with ‘Slick’ featuring guitar great Peter Bernstein, he keeps those good vibes going.

Here is “I Didn’t Mean It,” a new smooth groovin’ single from jazz-pop songstress Lindsey Webster with a nice assist from Brian Culbertson’s trombone.

Steven Bernstein’s MTO and Catherine Russell convert Allen Toussaint’s R&B classic “Yes We Can” into a joyful, New Orleans jazz funeral parade.

‘Inimitable’ is an intimate solo acoustic bass recording where Michael Bisio seemed to have plowed ahead and played with a lot of heart and instinct with not too much forethought.

On Burnt Belief’s ‘Mutual Isolation,’ the music takes another step forward in the band’s progression with a relative ‘back to basics’ approach. That’s all due to the limitless creativity and musicianship of Colin Edwin and Jon Durant.

Asked to pick five favorite Yuletide songs (and only five), our panel of holly-jolly musical enthusiasts offered some occasionally offbeat suggestions.