Simon Phillips, Poco and Oz Noy are part of the latest edition of Five for the Road, an occasional look at music that’s been in my car lately.

Steven Bernstein’s MTO and Catherine Russell convert Allen Toussaint’s R&B classic “Yes We Can” into a joyful, New Orleans jazz funeral parade.

Gregg Belisle-Chi has mastered Berne’s idiosyncratic language and on ‘Mars’ he helps to place some of those brilliant puzzle pieces together alongside the creator.

‘Inimitable’ is an intimate solo acoustic bass recording where Michael Bisio seemed to have plowed ahead and played with a lot of heart and instinct with not too much forethought.

The deeply underrated Nancy Wilson nails the sense of hopeful anxiety that surrounds Dec. 31 every year.

‘Smoke Sessions’ is one of Nicholas Payton’s standouts because in paying homage to some of his idols, Payton does so in an offhand manner that reveals his own inimitable musical personality.

Every Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber project was treated as a major work by the late Greg Tate, and with ‘Angels Over Oakanda,’ he leaves intact his legacy of leading a band of boundless imagination and chops.

Preston Frazier’s Best of 2021 jazz favorites also include terrific releases by Peter DiCarlo, Dan Wilson, Nate Smith, David Garfield and Andrew Green.

In the 45 years since Pat Metheny’s debut album arrived, I haven’t gone many weeks (if even days) without listening. Yet there are still new revelations.

Playing in the most exposed settings is a Catherine Sikora hallmark, her latest being ‘corners,’ a series of concerts by one, for one. Her fearlessness never lets her — nor the listener — down.