Breaking up ‘Off the Record’ into four EPs afforded Makaya McCraven the opportunity to construct discreet ‘suites’ whereby he uses his studio sorcery to provide the connective tissue between these primal jams.

Matthew Lux’s debut ‘Contra/Fact’ contains a good deal of delightful surprises but given his credentials, such surprises are to be expected.

It’s probably a little too hyperbolic to call Mke Reed’s ‘Flesh & Bone’ the most important release of the year. At the same time, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of its message at this critical time.

In thirty-five short minutes, Jaimie Branch said a lot about what she’s offering to the realm of outward-bound jazz. If ‘Fly or Die’ is only her Chapter One, I can hardly wait to hear the rest of this book.

Paying homage to a Charles Mingus masterpiece with inspired original material is just what you’d expect from the ever-curious, ever-expansive alto saxophonist Greg Ward.