There is no trio like Gordon Grdina’s Nomad Trio, where the vast talents of Grdina, Matt Mitchell and Jim Black are pushed to their limits and the best of each comes forth as a result.

Keeping musicians on their toes always brings out the best jazz. That’s what Ben Goldberg sought out to accomplish with ‘Vol 2: Hard Science’ and he got just the results he was looking for.

‘Spontaneous folk music’ accurately speaks to the unpretentious nature of the music that Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker and Steve Hirsh made.

Now on its ninth album ‘Sleeping Cat,’ Natsuki Tamura’s Gato Libre has never really been about jazz; it’s folk music with an open mind.

With the inspired assortment of musicians backing bandleader Mike Rivard, Club d’Elf’s ‘You Never Know’ sounds like the go-to world fusion album of 2022.

Like the cello trailblazers before him, George Crotty shows us the vast potential of his instrument, and he applies that potential globally while making it sound great for his Trio’s second album ‘Chronotope.’

The new and stimulating all-woman collective Esthesis Quartet has quickly established a signature sound that’s as pleasing as it is intrepid.

Kirk Knuffke has long been called a rising-star cornet player but ‘Gravity Without Airs’ is not the work of an ascending artist but a completely developed musician.

Nick Millevoi and Rob Stabinsky are plenty capable of making serious music but Grassy Sound is about them having fun.

‘Don’t Know’ is the Claudio Scolari Project’s third album in as many years, as the improvisational, familial quartet continues a roll that they don’t seem to want to slow down.