The ever-discerning Carla Bley herself is a fan of the Bley tribute ‘The New National Anthem,’ and with the sheer joy on display that went into making this record, it’s not hard to figure why.

”This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People’ is a set of performances that succeed because the Toxic musicians place all trust on instinct and the instincts of others.

“Alchemy Melt (With Tilt)” is an album’s worth of ideas from a single song and there are a dozen other songs on Kate Gentile’s ‘Mannequins.’

The international element is strong on ‘Spirit’ like a lot of jazz albums these days but Zem Audu is long beyond that concept of throwing together different ingredients and has mastered making his stew simmer with sophistication.

Through death comes transformation. Gato Libre is a band whose body has changed, but its original heart perseveres.

Intelligent, driven and mellifluous, Rose’s lifelong relentless pursuit of excellence within jazz comes out on ‘Within and Without,’ starting with the attractively propulsive number “Afensou.”

This album seductively demonstrates a strong continuity of the free jazz heritage from its mid-’60s flowering to guys like Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp and Andrew Cyrille.

The combination of Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, John Medeski and Larry Grenadier is capable of so much; but ‘Hudson’ delivers in that it doesn’t kowtow to expectations of what kind of music these four legends should make.

As a composite of ideas and influences introduced elsewhere, ‘Vol 1: The Humanities’ is a fine entry point to Ben Goldberg’s catalog that dilutes none of his expansive artfulness.

Bill Laswell and the cast of characters assembled for this 57-minute jam aren’t the ordinary type.