Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Celebrating a half-century of life and a quarter century of trailblazing music, Venezuelan-born turned San Francisco Bay Area-based pianist, composer, educator and bandleader Edward Simon releases a two-disc career retrospective, “25 Years.” Brimming with arrestingly beautiful music drawn from 13 albums spanning 1995-2018, the disc features a brilliant cadre of Simon’s closest collaborators including tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, altoist David Binney, bassists Scott Colley, John Patitucci and Ben Street and drummers Brian Blade and Adam Cruz.
Leon Lee Dorsey’s new release, “Thank You, Mr. Mabern!” is a posthumous release featuring and in honor of jazz luminary Harold Mabern. The album echoes the sentiments of jazz fans everywhere in appreciation for Mabern’s prolific 60 years. The Memphis-born pianist was characterized musically by an authentic soul-infused jazz and deep blues swing. This, coupled with a profound command of the Great American Songbook, amassed the admiration of generations of musicians, including bassist-producer Leon Lee Dorsey.
Also this week, guitarist and composer Henry Robinett and his quartet release “Jazz Standards, Volume 2: Then Again,” a previously unreleased set from 2000;
clarinetist Joe Traina releases his fifth recording as a leader, “Tip of the Hat,” which pays tribute to Artie Shaw, Bennie Goodman, Duke Ellington and Chet Baker;
and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet with Wynton Marsalis unveils “The Democracy Suite.”