Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
The quartet that saxophonist Branford Marsalis has led for the past three decades has always been a model of daring, no-apologies artistry, of ever-widening horizons and deepening collective identity. With like-minded support from pianist Joey Calderazzo and bassist Eric Revis (each with 20 years of service to the group) and drummer Justin Faulkner (the “rookie” who has been aboard since 2009), the band has long been a model of how to sustain and enlarge a musical outlook that is both historically and stylistically inclusive. Successive recordings have revealed new plateaus, and “The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul,” the band’s first since 2016 and first pure quartet effort since 2012, captures a new emphasis on both how to express and how to document the music.
Six talented female musicians join together to deliver an entertaining and melodically engaging debut as the new collective Lioness roars into action with “Pride & Joy.” The record features the front line talents of alto saxophonist Alexa Tarantino, tenor saxophonist Jenny Hill, and baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian, along with the talented rhythm section of guitarist Amanda Monaco, organist Akiko Tsuruga and drummer Allison Miller. Four of the six, incidentally, have appeared at the Iowa City Jazz Festival in recent years. With a dazzling combination of talents and an evocative program of originals and musical selections by other female composers, the ear-catching performances are sure to bring bright moments to jazz fans everywhere.
Also this week, Five Play, the sister group of the world renowned Diva Jazz Orchestra, unveils its fifth release, “Live From the Firehouse Stage”;
bassist Pete Coco pays homage to his mentors and influences on his debut disc, “Lined With a Groove,” with fresh arrangements of tunes by bassists Ron Carter, Milt Hinton, Ray Brown, Charlie Haden and Paul Chambers;
and New Orleans icon Herlin Riley offers up “Perpetual Optimism,” an album made against the backdrop of serving as caregiver and then saying farewell to both of his parents