Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
“Makram” is the latest album from vibraphonist Joe Locke. Featuring a selection of new compositions and a return to his celebrated quartet (pianist Jim Ridl, bassist Lorin Cohen and drummer Samvel Sarkisyan), the disc is the latest addition to Locke’s extensive leader discography, an album the incorporates soul, swing, and world-music influences. It was titled after the talented Lebanese bassist Makram Aboul Hosn.
Darmon Meader, vocalist, saxophonist, arranger, composer and founding member of New York Voices, releases his second solo project, “Losing My Mind.” The recording represents his solo vocal sensibilities through a variety of compositions and orchestrations. The repertoire includes classics from the Great American Songbook, Stephen Sondheim, Ivan Lins, “old-school pop tunes as well as a couple of original compositions. Orchestrations range from quartet to full big band and feature a host of musical partners and friends, including a guest appearance by his NYV bandmates.
Also this week, singer Libby York, who over a 40-year career has worked with jazz luminaries like Warren Vache, Frank Wess, and Russell Malone, offers up her fifth disc as a leader, “Dream Land”;
Brad Mehldau presents the music of the Fab Four in a solo piano setting on “Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau plays the Beatles”;
and French-Canadian trumpeter and composer Rachel Therrien presents a new Latin jazz project, “Mi Hogar.”