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.

Jason Stein’s ‘Lucille!’ is another fun-filled jazz history lesson on the connection between Charlie Parker and Ornette Coleman.

On ‘Live In Baltimore,’ drummer Jeff Cosgrove doesn’t disrupt Ivo Perelman’s and Matthew Shipp’s simpatico; he enhances it.

For ‘Masonic Lawn,’ Hammond uses Resonator guitars to hold an extemporaneous musical dialogue with Bafus.

After the septet outing ‘Loafer’s Hollow’, Moppa Elliot makes “less is more” the mantra for the trio feature ‘Paint’. Which only goes to show that size really doesn’t matter with Mostly Other People Do The Killing; only gumption does.

Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition’s the original mission of melding modern group-level stream-of-consciousness with contemporary raga remains intact, ‘Agrima’ builds on those original ideas, too.

Chris Comb’s ‘Combsy’ is strongly recommended for those who like the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, but this fuller impression of Combs’ offbeat musical personality is a treat all unto itself.

The things that an autistic person like Noah Jack can achieve can astound you. Listening to “Neighborhood” is all the proof you need of that.