‘5’ is a “new” set of old recordings by Tim Berne’s Bloodcount featuring the special sauce that guitarist Marc Ducret added to this supergroup quartet from the ’90s.

‘Attention Spam’ is a reminder that the special makeup of Tim Berne’s Bloodcount made the music itself special and this latest output is a precious capture from those short few years the ensemble was active.

There’s a lot of appealing melodicism built into harmolodics, and the ‘Broken Shadows’ quartet of Tim Berne, Chris Speed, Reid Anderson and Dave King succeed in driving that point home.

The two long pieces of ‘inSOMNIA’ could be regarded as jazz symphonies, but Tim Berne applies his small-ensemble principles to them and we discover just how utterly scalable his ideas truly are.

Progressive music has moved in the direction suggested long ago by ‘Junk Magic’ but as Craig Taborn revisits these ideas, it’s clear they remain unique in an increasingly crowded field.

Matt Mayhall went for an instinctual approach on ‘Fanatics,’ took a few chances and with the right guys to assist him, emerges triumphal.

Thus far for the drummer, composer and bandleader Vinnie Sperrazza, it’s two albums, two different approaches, same high quality level jazz. The consistent ‘Juxtaposition’ justifies keeping Sperrazza on the watch list.

Bandleader, drummer and composer John Hollenbeck has been able to keep his Claudia Quintet viable long after its original formation in the late 90s by continually tossing new challenges at it. You May Also Like: GEORGE [John Hollenbeck] – ‘Letters to George’ (2023) Brian Landrus – ‘For Now’ (2020)

Curtis Hasselbring heads up a couple of bands and on the spy-themed Number Stations he rubs them together and watches the sparks fly. You May Also Like: Chris Lightcap – Superette (2018) Tomas Fujiwara, Ben Goldberg + Mary Halvorson – The Out Louds (2016) Mary Halvorson – ‘Cloudward’ (2024)