Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. 
Drummer Jack Kilby formed his band the Front Line in 2014 in New York City. It includes members from New York, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. Kilby and bassist Kris Monson both grew up in northern Virginia and attended the University of Virginia where they met veteran trumpeter John D’earth, who directs the UVA Jazz Ensemble and is a centerpiece of Charlottesville’s music scene. There they also met saxophonist Charles Owens, who went on to spend a dozen years in New York City performing with some of the world’s finest musicians. The group’s sextet formation was solidified upon Kilby meeting trombonist Elad Cohen in New York. D.C. native and master pianist Allyn Johnson rounds out the rhythm section for the band’s debut release, “Love is a Song Anyone Can Sing.”
Born in Israel in 1979, pianist Ehud Asherie lived in Italy for six years before his family moved to New York. Largely self-taught, or rather, “old-schooled,” he learned the ropes at Smalls, spending much of his early teens becoming a fixture of the late-night jam sessions held at this now legendary Greenwich Village club. He has since worked with a broad range of musicians including Cecile McLorin Salvant, Wycliffe Gordon, John Pizzarellli and Charles McPherson. On his new release, “Wild Man Blues,” Ehud dips into the fertile fields of early New Orleans jazz, swing, bebop and the Great American songbook, as well as a deep passion for the music of Brazil.
Also this week, alto saxophonist Steve Slagle expands his discography with his premiere recording featuring his talent on the flute with “Spirit Calls”;
guitarist Doug MacDonald unveils his third organ project, “Organisms”;
and trumpeter James Suggs makes his recording debut with “You’re Gonna Hear From Me,” with special guest Houston Person on tenor sax.