James Brandon Lewis typically alters his approach from album to album but with his forceful new quartet, the second go-around ‘Code of Being’ is not a bad idea at all.

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.

This is obviously not music for all tastes but if you know about Fred Frith and Ikue Mori, then you know how good they are at making noise; for ‘A Mountain Doesn’t Know It’s Tall’ they make beautiful noise together.

Dave Gisler’s highly improvisational trio is a natural in a live setting. Add the like-minded trumpeter Jaimie Branch to the mix, and those qualities are taken up a couple of notches.

Tim Berne’s constructions become illusions in the hands of this band. Getting yourself lost in these deceptions is so much fun.

‘Molecular’ uses the double helix DNA component structure as a compass to guide James Brandon Lewis’ own harmonic map.

OM have been at the forefront of improvised music for almost 50 years, and ‘It’s About Time’ shows they’re still doing it as well as ever.

Aruan Ortiz’s bold new conception for Afro-Cuban jazz continues by delving deeper into the rhythmic patterns and turning them inside-out.

‘The Fantastic Mrs. 10’ boils down to Matt Mitchell’s simple words: Tim Berne’s designs provide a context for insanity. Sweet insanity.

While the tactics might be altered for each time out, Aruán Ortiz’s sophisticated, ultra-modern style of composing, arranging and improvising emerges each time.