With ‘The Woods,’ the sagacious guitarist from Maine Ryan Blotnick has consolidated all his strengths into his most consistent effort yet.

Bassist Michael Formanek who has a reputation for consistently coming up with novel creative approaches to jazz just put his imagination into overdrive for ‘New Digs.’

For the solo piano ‘New Vienna’, Keith Jarrett strove for the purest form of musical expression and once again for one of the final times, he got there.

Through imaginative composing and arranging combined with telepathic interaction, Alister Spence and his Trio make cutting-edge jazz out of an old format with ‘Gather.’

Jazz is supposed to be the music of discovery, and ‘Wood Blues’ captures the free jazz quartet [ahmed] in the very act of discovery.

By distilling from ambitious artists like the Coltranes, Anthony Braxton, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor and others, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten was able to achieve his own, far-flung ambitions with ‘Breezy.’

Recorded in 1966 at their peaks, ‘Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs’ finds jazz giants McCoy Tyner and Joe Henderson freed from studio constrictions.

Jazz pianist and composer Luther Allison makes his first splash as a leader with his introductory, Memphis Mafia-inspired album ‘I Owe It All to You.’

As an advanced bassist and composer, Kim Cass with his star colleagues meet his challenges head-on, making ‘Levs’ such a breathtaking ride.

By painting impressionistic portraits out of cues and basic figures for ‘Words Unspoken,’ John Surman got the best contributions from his quartet.