Take away the fussy orchestral arrangements from these vintage songs and you’re left with what made Bob James a long-time great. He still is.

Rich Halley’s ‘Boomslang’ is a mixture between of Halley-written material and group improvisations, and both approaches work equally well.

Here is the video premiere of the totally improvised piece “Zion” by piano maestro Nick Maclean.

Ivo Perelman tends to draw out all the interesting little characteristics from his musical partners, even first time musical collaborators like Vijay Iyer for their totally improvised encounter ‘Tale Nine.’

Terrific new vinyl reissues of ’60s-era albums by Herbie Hancock and Eric Dolphy represent two very distinct sides of the classic Blue Note period.

Listening to Matthew Shipp create on unaccompanied piano is like peering into the soul of a man. ‘Codebreaker’ exposes the soul of an artist absorbing decades of accomplishment but still capable of decades more.

The video debuting here takes us on a whirlwind tour of Carn Davidson 9’s upcoming new album ‘The History of Us’ and the driving force behind it.

Highly individual artists on their own when they got together the first time, Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson forge a highly individual piano/guitar duo for ‘Searching for the Disappeared Hour.’

From two very fertile musical minds come endless ways to approach a duet. with ‘Any News,’ Satoko Fujii and Alister Spence don’t even need to plug in and be in the same room to make theirs compelling.

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.