Aaron Parks has the songwriting and playing chops to make a solid jazz record whenever he wants to. This time, he went beyond that realm.

Across five tracks of varying length is a showcase not just for the finesse of Sabir Mateen, Patrick Holmes and Federico Ughi but also the ingenuity and diverse talents of Mateen himself.

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

Cobbling together something new from things old is not a Jeff Parker invention. But his unique take on this approach makes ‘Suite For Max Brown’ so much more accessible.

Here is the streaming premiere of “Peaceable” by Quin Kirchner, Daniel Van Duerm, Matthew Lux w/guest Jaimie Branch.

With ‘Alula,’ the ever-thirsty Caroline Davis thrust herself into the company of vital artists at the frontier of jazz.

Joanna Duda’s inventively experimental ‘Keen’ does pretty well at disinfecting your brain of preconceived notions of music.

The supremely creative ‘Sun of Goldfinger’ is unlike anything else out there – apart from other David Torn records.

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 word ‘Mahobin’ means ‘thermos bottle’ but also ‘magic bottle’ in Japanese, and the magic made for ‘Live at Big Apple in Kobe’ that retained its passion throughout meant that this fledgling group had lived up to both meanings of the name.