When Brandon Seabrook does a solo banjo and guitar project as he did with ‘Object of Unknown Function,’ there’s even more of his uniqueness to ponder, appreciate and – yes – enjoy.

‘The Data’ is some of Matthew Shipp’s most heartfelt and ardent of his solo piano albums, informed with a lifetime of jazz and classical studies behind it.

A band that pairs a Fender Rhodes player with a pianist and no bass perhaps shouldn’t work, but with sheer flair that not only overcome that challenge, Kira Kira utterly thrives in it.

The Necks’ ‘Bleed’ is briefer but there remains plenty of time to insert many small intriguing new twists into their incomparable brand of modern, minimalist music.

Throughout ‘Luminary,’ Tonino Miano often takes chances and stretches out while somehow making the music very melodic and pretty at the same time.

Thumbscrew’s elusive sound radically mixes studied with spontaneity and incorporating fresh novel ideas each time around, with ‘Wingbeats’ representing yet another step forward.

As Toto’s sophomore album ‘Hydra’ arrived 45 years ago this week, snooty critics were dutifully annoyed. But they were building toward something big.

Here is the video premiere of “Vesper Flights,” from the Joel Frahm Trio’s upcoming album ‘Lumination.’

Jupiter, the band, and ‘Jupiter,’ the album, feels like the start of a long run of some meaningfully explosive genre bending.

‘Dog Days of Summer’ might be called “jazz-rock,” but like anything else Satoko Fujii undertakes, she does jazz-rock on her own, uncompromising terms.