John Escreet’s first trio album ‘Seismic Shift’ is that rare record where both massive chops and innovative harmonic ideas both come in spades.

Here is the video premiere of ‘Rebirth’ by Noam Lemish, from the pianist, composer and bandleader’s upcoming orchestral-jazz record ‘Twelve.’

Jeff Berlin, Ben Sidran, Jeff Denson and others are part of the latest edition of Five for the Road, an occasional look at music that’s been in my car lately.

Thumbscrew continues to perform greater than the sum of its considerable parts, as ‘Multicolored Midnight’ retains all the freshness of their first time together.

Here is the video premiere of “Mad Nomad,” from the appealing world-music quartet So Long Seven.

Here is the video premiere of the chilled ethno-jazz jam “Not Yet” from Dan Kurfirst’s Arkinetics.

Issued 15 years ago this week, ‘River: The Joni Letters’ took flight by celebrating Joni Mitchell without making Herbie Hancock a sideman on his own LP.

Here is the video premiere of “Ruth’s Rosa” by acclaimed drummer, composer and bandleader Ernesto Cervini.

If you’re looking for a guitar / piano / acoustic bass combo that breaks all the rules, there’s probably only Gordon Grdina, Matthew Shipp and Mark Helias.

Michael Formanek’s composing prowess had set a high standard for this ensemble. Sometimes, though, you just gotta let guys run off the leash. And, as we now know with ‘Other Zones,’ he did.