Teeming with guitars, Wadada Leo Smith’s ‘Najwa’ is one of those particularly bright moments in a catalog full of them.

Steely Dan’s “Black Friday” might feel a bit on the nose this morning, but what else comes to mind on the first day of the Christmas shopping season?

At a young seventy-six years old, Jerry Granelli still pushes forward even when his muse beckons him back, as it does for the Bill Frisell/Robben Ford reunion ‘Dance Hall.’

Vinnie Sperrazza and his audacious crew once again stretch jazz across multiple red lines and force people to rethink what defines that idiom.

Right at the time southeastern Texas was beset by a major hurricane in late summer of 2017, the Wood Brothers recorded a song that perfectly captures that catastrophic time in their signature folksy manner.

Dan Blacksberg’s ‘Radiant Others’ is a fresh, nontraditional take on traditional melodies that happens to be Jewish in origin. You don’t need to be an ethnomusicologist to enjoy this one.

Rez Abbasi and his potent Invocation band have demonstrated with ‘Unfiltered Universe’ that creativity and originality is more than just ideas and knowledge, it’s about vision.

Always putting spirituality above improvisation, Brian Blade and The Fellowship Band connects to listeners in a way uncommon for jazz musicians, and ‘Body And Shadow’ continues a remarkable consistency of mission and quality spanning two decades.

Marcus Randolph’s debut album ‘Transplant’ is heartfelt but also very loose, and it’s both of those qualities together make it a fun listen.

Tim Kuhl’s new single “The Neon Design” begins tamely and ends a little ferociously.