The bop delight ‘Past Present’ is a new classic to go alongside those vintage John Scofield Quartet classics.

Full of moments of beauty and offbeat explorations, Kari Ikonen Trio’s ‘Beauteous Tales and Offbeat Stories’ goes beyond their sublime prior release ‘Bright’.

Trying to make sense of the surprises that lurk around every corner on Halvorson’s solo guitar outing ‘Meltframe’ is much of the fun in listening to this.

Master bassist Michael Bisio and his Accortet flat out thrive in unusual settings and while they often stretch out, they never lose their grip on tradition.

Kait Dunton’s creative, embraceable, contemporary take on the ol’ acoustic jazz trio makes the jazz idiom fresh and exciting again.

Bassist Harvie S and guitarist Sheryl Bailey’s ‘Plucky Strum’ shows how chops can be played unselfishly to make the other musician — and the music itself — sound at its best.

Here is a review of Ben Goldberg’s ‘Orphic Machine’, his salute to the influence of his old college professor, the late poet Allen Grossman. Goldberg, once again sublimely assimilates so many disparate influences, and is able to distill them into a product he projects through his own, kaleidoscopic lens.

Here’s a review of Syberen van Munster’s debut album ‘Plunge For Distance,’ a sophisticated work that gently combines Old and New Worlds.

‘To Duke’ is a madly clever tribute to Duke Ellington from the Matthew Shipp Trio.

Here is a review of ‘Bird Calls,’ a creative tribute by alto sax great Rudresh Mahanthappa to his primary inspiration Charlie Parker.