With Neil Podgurski and Brian Settles by Chad Taylor’s side, ‘The Daily Biological’ manages to cover a lot of fertile ground found in Taylor’s artistry.

Some current notables from Chicago’s progressive music scene got together and formed 85bears, named after the town’s the most celebrated football team.

Here is the streaming premiere of “Batida” by the re-formed Chicago Underground Quartet.

‘Testament’ leaves me wondering why Avram Fefer isn’t more widely noticed. He consistently brings the goods in composition, technique and sidemen – and delivers.

Divergent, fearless, unpredictable and vulnerable, Jaimie Branch has made good on the great promise of ‘Fly or Die’ by soaring again on ‘Fly or Die II: bird dogs of paradise.’

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

With the unusual structure of the electro-acoustic trio Hearts & MInds come opportunities to implement ideas you couldn’t really pull off in a ‘normal’ trio setting. ‘Electroradiance’ adroitly exploits those opportunities.

The fourth Frequency Response release from Tom Abbs could well be his last for a long time; the man’s got things to do. If that’s the case, it’s all the more reason to savor ‘Hawthorne.’

Full of vigor and moxie from start to finish, ‘Sing Me Some Cry’ harnesses the savvy of its participants, but that vast potential is reached only because Eric Revis has the insight to get so much out of them, and they in turn get the most out of Revis’ compositions.

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.