Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Posi-Tone Records continues its Blue Moods series with an interpretive exploration of compositions by the iconic and legendary Miles Davis. Drawing upon the breadth of Davis’s output as a composer, “Directions and Expressions” balances atmosphere and intensity, space and momentum, distilling both subtlety and fire with a contemporary vibrance that highlights the enduring strength of the compositions. The all-star ensemble includes saxophonist Diego Rivera, vibraphonist Ben Gillece, pianist Art Hirahara and bassist Boris Kozlov.
Since his debut album in 1985, pianist and composer Billy Childs has garnered six Grammy Awards and an astounding seventeen nominations, most recently winning Best Jazz Album for “Winds of Change” in 2023. “Triumvirate,” Childs’ first trio recording in 25 years, harnesses the energy and creative prowess of his touring group—bassist Matt Penman and drummer Ari Hoenig—into a masterclass of material revisited from his earliest recordings, within an intimate setting of equal parts lineage and evolution.
Also this week, prolific trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas unveils “Transcend,” featuring his all-star GIFTS Quintet on a program of original compositions alongside three Duke Ellington works; trumpeter and composer Jared Hall celebrates the grounding power of family, shared history, and the joy of reconnecting with the people and experiences that shaped him on “Hometown”; and bassist Nat Reeves, who has uplifted the music of Sonny Stitt, Jackie McLean, Kenny Garrett, Benny Golson and other giants of jazz, reflects on a 50-year career with “Now In Time.”