On ‘Juba Lee,’ Avram Fefer’s Quartet picks right up where 2019’s ‘Testament’ left off, resulting in another excellent entry from the underrated saxophonist, composer and leader.

Mia Garcia and Hailey Niswanger of OHMA made a pure chilled vibe record with ‘Between All Things,’ arguably the best such record of 2022.

Hal Galper’s ‘Ivory Forest Redux’ easily justifies the decision to polish up these recordings and take them back out of obscurity. Artists well-known and should be better-known all shine on it.

Getting it right instead of getting it sooner paid off handsomely for Trevor Dunn and his Trio-Convulsant on ‘Séances.’

The post-rock gem ‘Everywhen We Go’ by Mike Baggetta, mike watt and Jim Keltner is stimulating because everyone brings their considerable talents to bear on these songs.

He departed much too early, but fortunately Donny Hathaway left us with several memorable songs – including this one.

Even now, no one else in jazz compares to Moppa Elliot’s returning Mostly Other People Do the Killing. Audacity with the chops to make it work remains the basic recipe.

Dan Weiss’ innate understanding of tradition picked up from key influences made it possible to move forward in the salient, discriminating way that he did for ‘Dedication.’

Some might quibble over whether this is contemporary, smooth or crossover jazz. It’s actually a hybrid from Everette Harp, Jeff Lorber and Paul Jackson Jr.

Ivo Perelman and Joe Morris are hardly the first saxophone-guitar duo, but they take that combination to its highest possible level with ‘Elliptic Time.’