Steve Gadd, Peter Erskine and Jay Leonhart are featured in Five for the Road, an occasional look at music that’s been in my car lately.

If Jasen Weaver’s ‘The Voscoville’ is any indication, we are definitely going to be hearing more from this exceptional developing jazz talent.

The term “code girl” came randomly out of the mouth of Halvorson’s primary mentor Anthony Braxton but it could have easily been directed at Halvorson herself

You won’t gain any academic knowledge about the human heart from listening to ‘Heart Tonic,’ but it’s clear Caroline Davis invested all of hers.

‘Jazz: Outside the Box’ is a fascinating and often exhilarating look at Los Angeles-based keyboardist David Garfield’s vision of straight-ahead jazz.

If “Walk It Off” is any indication, the forthcoming ‘#3’ will be another feather in the Guatemalan-born, Texas-based Leslie Johnson’s cap.

You know that great musicianship and creativity are always in store for Avi Granite 6’s strong return but little else can be anticipated, and that’s the main joy of ‘Orbit.’

A melding of klezmer, jazz and not a little bit of funk, Big Brooklyn’s ‘Purpose’ is a hugely engaging debut – and the first, hopefully, of many more to come.

Bill Frisell is never more Bill than when it’s only Bill, and no one else. ‘Music IS’ features only Frisell’s music, as his deftly looped samples become a second instrument.

‘Oneness’ means a singular mind driving two instruments into a spiritual musical communion.