Michael Formanek is once again leading a high-powered quartet, and ‘As Things Do’ is as fresh, thoughtful and vigorous as anything he’s ever done.

Pianist and composer David Ake continues to make his infrequent releases count. ‘Green Thumb’ is plenty good enough the savor until Mr. Ake is ready to make another quality collection of modern and mainstream jazz.

Whether under a freeway or in the studio, Tony Malaby can make good art out of his surroundings and does so again with ‘The Cave of Winds.’

Ivo Perelman and his all-star saxophone cohorts have rewritten the rules of the saxophone quartet with ‘(D)IVO.’

Ben Monder, Tony Malaby and Tom Rainey are superb jazz musicians but for the live improv set ‘Live At The 55 Bar,’ they were clearly reaching for something beyond the bounds of jazz or any other genre.

Tony Malaby’s ‘Turnpike Diaries Volume 1’ features these seasoned masters stretching out under an expressway over two long jams as few can do in such a coordinated way, each able to sense what the song is headed and react with infallible instincts.

Just as his instincts on bass are superb, Mark Helias showed good instincts about cutting loose this long, forgotten recording of an Open Loose club date when all cylinders were firing.

Satoko Fujii doesn’t play an instrument in her orchestra; she conducts it. Still, there is hardly a more accurate manifestation of her genius artistry.

feature photo: Bryan Murray Now boasting a remarkable ten albums over twenty years, Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York today takes another step forward with Fukushima (Libra Records), the first new recordings from Satoko Fujii’s American large ensemble project since 2014’s Shiki. The best big band leaders know how to exploitRead More

In the exclusive premiere of Eivind Opsvik’s “Brraps!”, the guy making those deft moves on the double bass is the same one wearing a raincoat making deft dance moves in his living room.