The disparate artistry of Will Bernard comes into sharper focus on ‘Pond Life’ because he pulls all those threads together into one tidy package.

All that hype surrounding a child who plays a sophisticated music form like an old veteran is real, but now that Joey Alexander is no longer child and finding his own identity, the hype feels even more real than before with the all-originals ‘Origin.’

Times have changed but in adapting to it on ‘I Hope I Know,’ Seth Walker shows that his mastery of Americana music is just as it was during the ‘old’ times.

Brandon Seabrook never undertakes paths chosen by others, but rarely has he had such willing and able partners in crime to carry out his scintillating eccentricities as Gerald Clever and Cooper-Moore.

Living up to its name, Jacob Garchik’s ‘Assembly’ artfully puts together improvised parts to create structured pieces, only to place it back against its loose origins.

With ‘Threesome, Vol. 3,’ the Lickerish Quartet once again comes up with songs that are designed complex but come off catchy and frictionless.

There are no egos at all involved with the talented quartet Kind Folk, just a cooperative spirit that makes ‘Head Towards the Center’ truly better than the sum of its parts.

He may not be from NOLA, but James Blood Ulmer proved 15 years ago this week that he was a true New Orleanian at heart.

‘Tangled’ is a second live document of the phenomenal sax-drum telepathy between Tim Berne and Nasheet Waits.

With ‘Thisness,’ Miles Okazuki and his nimble, astute and funky quartet take yet another significant artistic step forward.