When great musicians from different bands and projects get together for the express purpose of making music without the restrictions they usually face elsewhere, it should bring out the best in all of them. That’s just what happened with the guys in Modus Factor on their inaugural effort ‘The Picasso Zone.’

On ‘Live At The Barn,’ The Wood Brothers brought Little Feat attitude with Taj Mahal worldliness and soul to Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble Woodstock barn last summer.

Here’s an exclusive stream of “Flying Carpet”, from the Matthew Shipp Trio album ‘Piano Song’ to be released January 27, 2017 on Thirsty Ear Records.

A mere two months following yet another highly thought-of ensemble record, guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson has returned.

Dialectical Imagination’s ‘The Angle and the Brute Sing Songs of Rapture’ is a presentation of music that’s informed by deft musicianship but rides on waves of passion.

Another exclusive stream from Chicago-based tenor sax master Nate Lepine’s debut album.

Led Bib is once again making their own statement about how to mash together jazz with rock with ‘Umbrella Weather.’ And as loose and randy as the music may be, it never loses its soul.

As a celebration of the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Toyko’s fallen guitarist Kelly Churko, ‘Peace’ couldn’t be any more true to his memory and the fearlessness he brought to this band.

‘Piano Song’ leaves one last example on Thirsty Ear Records of the high standard set by its A&R guy Matthew Shipp for other artists to strive toward.

Through 12new compositions Michael Dease convincingly conveys the history in the context of social upheaval and displacement with ‘All These Hands’.