“I’m not too much of a fan,” free-form legend John Russell admits, “of the ‘jazz’ label.”

Never mind the studio setting, the highly lyrical and entrancing beauty of Fred Hersch’s piano and his empathetic rhythm section makes this another winning outing for this trio.

Ready or not, here comes 2013’s Monk International Competition saxophone winner Melissa Aldana. ‘Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio’ marks a solid first step in the post-Big Win phase of her young career.

It was a long stretch between Gene Segal’s first and second albums but ‘Mental Images’ assures that the intervening time was time was spent.

Michael Dease’s big band take on “Roppongi” breathes new life into this little-noticed Randy Brecker gem.

Wolfgang Muthspiel has just begun with ECM but ‘Driftwood’ has the style and sonority of an old vet with the label. This sounds like the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

‘Lookin’ Up!’ is simply damned good, no-nonsense, straight-ahead jazz carried out with veteran proficiency.

‘Mise En Abîme’ would be a stunning achievement for just about anybody else; for Steve Lehman, it’s just his still-evolving musical personality racing out beyond jazz’s frontiers and daring anyone to try and catch up.

Scott Feiner successfully introduces the pandeiro into electric jazz fusion to produce a breezy concoction that goes down as easy as rum punch, and is just as intoxicating.

It’s fair to state that if you appreciate all that’s distinctive about ECM Records, you’re gonna really like Jacob Young’s Forever Young. And what’s not to like about that, anyway?