Extraordinary music usually results when extraordinary musicians like Nels Cline and Ben Monder step out of their comfort zones and put themselves in challenging situations that gives them no other out but to lean on their innate sense of creativity.

FISHBLOT’s ‘small talk’ culls together music from Danny Fisher-Lochhead / Ryan Blotnick sessions that is easily relatable but impossible to categorize.

Steely Dan closes the ‘Northeast Corridor’ live album with a genteel performance of a blues-jazz song Joe Williams made famous.

With ‘Oddly Enough,’ Gordon Grdina’s own stringed-based expedition into the works of one of current jazz’s most esoteric composers sheds yet more light on the character, shape and genius contained in these scores.

The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio’s ‘Cold as Weiss’ doesn’t mess with the soul-funk-jazz formula of maximal instrumental party music straight out of the ‘Mad Men’ era; it’s just adding more of that same sweetness.

Here is the video premiere of “The Gigue Is Up” by the amazing Jeff Gauthier/Maggie Parkins string duo, The Smudges.

St. Louis-based guitarist Scott T. Jones has recently made a record that fully captures the spirit, style and finesse of the late British axe maestro Allan Holdsworth.

When left entirely to his own devices (literally), Natsuki Tamura’s imagination runs wild. With ‘Summer Tree,’ he gave himself more places for his imagination to run, thanks to multi-tracking.

‘KRAFT’ is the stimulating debut release by Baltimore-area improvisation specialists Mike Kuhl, Dave Ballou, John Dierker and Luke Stewart.

Tyler Mitchell and Marshall Allen are a couple of guys from the Sun Ra orbit who got together for some music that lives up to the cosmic audaciousness of their mutual mentor.