The upheaval seen in Washington and elsewhere since 2016 has amped up the political awareness of a lot of people, and Dave Douglas is no exception.

Chad Taylor’s first solo album shows you stuff you won’t hear on all the numerous, critically acclaimed projects he became involved with.

The freewheeling ‘Lebroba’ is a solid entry in Andrew Cyrille’s lengthy catalog, and could be considered a solid entry in the catalogs of Wadada Leo Smith and Bill Frisell, too.

This completes a year-long celebration of Satoko Fujii’s 60th birthday with the same inventiveness, grace and genius shown throughout the entire series.

Casey Golden still has a knack for subtly subverting jazz from within by bringing in indie-rock sensibilities.

A quarter century of musical association between Matthew Shipp and Mat Maneri continues with ‘Conference of the Mat/ts.’

Makaya McCraven’s ‘Universal Beings’ is a handmade mishmash of sounds that isn’t alien, but is never completely familiar, either.

Wendy Eisenberg is elbowing her way to the vanguard of guitarists who radically rethink the guitar as Machinic Unconscious Trio proves that she can shine in the company of New York’s best.

Wendy Eisenberg’s singular style is vividly evident even when she is alone on acoustic guitar spinning out these wonderful, abstract shapes on ‘Its Shape Is Your Touch.’

Ivo Perelman’s ‘String 1’ with Mat Maneri, Jason Hwang and Mark Feldman is a quest to fully realize the juxtaposition of wind and vibrations and take it as far as it can go.