... LP, Vinyl record album

Jane Ira Bloom on soprano saxophone live electronics, Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn & trumpet, Ron Horton on trumpet, Kenny Werner on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, Michael Formanek on bass & Jerry Granelli on drums & elektro acoustic percussion. CD

Jane Ira Bloom on soprano saxophone & live electronics, Fred Hersch on piano, Mark Dresser on bass & Bobby Previte on drums. CD

Thomas Chapin on alto & mezzo sax & flute, Tom Harrell on trumpets & flugelhorn, Peter Madsen on piano, Kiyoto Fujiwara on bass & Reggie Nicholson on drums. CD

Features Dave Douglas on trumpet, Brad Schoeppach on guitar, and Jim Black on drums and percussion! CD

Features Ray Drummond on bass, Craig Handy on tenor and soprano, Stephen Scott on piano, and Billy Hart on drums! CD

Every album made as a leader by bassist Ray Drummond is a treasure – and this album's no exception! The set features Drummond working with a bit more electricity than usual – thanks to the presence of guitarist John Scofield – but most of the instrumentation has that soaring, soulful quality that Drummond first started bringing to albums in the 80s – a great evolution of the styles of the soul jazz underground of the 70s, taken away into a special corner of the jazz world at the time – kept alive and flowering through efforts of a handful of players like Ray! Other players include Randy Brecker on trumpet, Kenny Barron on piano, and Marvin Smitty Smith on drums – and Thomas Chapin plays flutes on a few of the album's best tracks. Titles include a stellar reading of Stanley Cowell's "Equipoise" – which gets a cool ringing treatment from the mix of guitar and flute – and other titles include "Blues In The Closet", "Sakura", "Sail Away", "A Blues From The Sketchpad", and "Gloria's Step". CD

A great flowering as a leader for bassist Ray Drummond – a session that features some of his own beautiful compositions, played by a very tight, soulful group of musicians! Ray's on acoustic bass, very strongly in the lead – and other players include Joe Lovano and Craig Handy on saxes and flute – each featured in a different channel – plus Danilo Perez on piano, and both Marvin Smitty Smith and Mor Thiam on drums and percussion, again split between different channels of the recording! This split/speaker approach makes for a very spacious sound – one that really grabs us with an evocative, organic sound, especially on the Drummond originals. Titles include "Susanita", "Penta-Major", "Quads", "Prelude", "Blues African", and "Excursion" – a suite in 5 parts. CD

Art Farmer blows here with a great group – Slide Hampton on trombone, Ron Blake on tenor and soprano, and Geoff Keezer on piano! CD

A quintet session. Tracks include "Count Up", "Sheer Lunacy", "Inner Urge", "Bells", and "Elvinesque". CD

Features guest trombone from Robin Eubanks. CD

Features Handy on tenor, Charles Fambrough on bass, Ralph Peterson on drums and pianist David Kikoski in the role of "plus one". CD

A quartet session featuring McCaslin on tenor, Ben Monder on guitar, Scott Colley on bass, and Jim Black on drums. Tracks are mostly originals, plus the Anderson/Weill composition "September Song". CD

With Theo Bleckmann, Skuli Sverrisson and Jim Black. Titles include "Mistral", "Luteous Pangolin", "Ellenville", "Sunny Manitoba", "Hatchet Face", 'Etching", "Windowpane" and "You Are My Sunshine". CD

Features Adrienne Wilson on flute and vocals – plus George Cables on piano and guest saxophone from Bobby Watson. CD

With Bob Minzter on soprano & tenor sax & flute, Steve Nelson on vibes, Romero Lubambo on guitar, David Finck on bass, Jose Pienasola on bass, Ignacio Berroa on drums & Giovanni on Hidalgo on congas. CD

Jane Ira Bloom on soprano saxophone & lve electronics, Vincent Bourgeyx on piano, Mark Dresser on bass & Bobby Previte on drums. CD

The Lost Tribe is Adam Rogers on guitar, David Binney on alto, Fima Ephron on bass, and Ben Perowsky on drums. CD

A great introduction to the work of Jazztronik – one of the greatest groups from Japan in recent years! The package pulls together tunes from the expensive import Set Free, plus other singles and assorted bits – into one tasty 12 track set that offers up the Japanese Jazztronik groove at a price that's a lot more affordable for those of us on the lower end of the economic spectrum! Keyboardist Ryo Nozaki is at the helm of all tracks – working beautifully in both acoustic and electric shades of tone – and some tracks feature full arrangements with lots of jazzy instrumentation, while others kick back into a more atmospheric groove. Titles include "Muddy Muddy", "Samurai", "The Piano", "Dance With Me (dub)", "Colour Of Days", "Livin High", "Arabesque", "Nana", "Things We Like", "Phoenix", and "Froro". CD

Duke and Billy Strayhorn take on The Nutcracker Suite – getting more than a few nice jazzy changes out of Tchaikovsky's famous ballet! As Jimmy Smith and others have also shown, the Nutcracker's got some pretty nice themes to improvise around – and Ellington's group here is filled with strong players who can do a lot in a small space – Harry Carney, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Ray Nance, Juan Tizol, and others – making the material a very good fit for the record. Titles include "Toot Toot Tootie Toot", "Entr'Acte", "Sugar Rum Cherry", "The Volga Vouty", "Arabesque Cookie", and "Chinoiserie". LP, Vinyl record album