Thumbscrew’s elusive sound radically mixes studied with spontaneity and incorporating fresh novel ideas each time around, with ‘Wingbeats’ representing yet another step forward.

Emphasizing a loosely-structured, open approach, the Tomeka Reid Quartet builds on the success of the prior two outings with ‘3+3.’

‘Cloudward’ offers a rare chance to see how Mary Halvorson’s music evolves when everything else is kept the same.

Illegal Crowns’ new album ‘Unclosing’ is maximal jazz from a band full of advanced composers and prodigious improvisers.

Musicians capable of anything deserve to play in a setting where anything goes. Thankfully, Tomas Fujiwara is allowing us to hear that with ‘March On.’

Getting it right instead of getting it sooner paid off handsomely for Trevor Dunn and his Trio-Convulsant on ‘Séances.’

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

Tomas Fujiwara’s twin trios double the chops and double the fun with the welcome Triple Double followup, ‘March.’

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.’

Even the most forward-thinking musicians dig simply constructed chorales. Ben Goldberg is another one who does, but for ‘Everything Happens To Be.,’ he also digs deeper.