Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify. 
Wayne Escoffery reaching is 40th birthday marked a period of big change for the award-winning saxophonist both artistically and in his personal life. He had reached a crossroads. Escoffery had spent a happy and successful decade in the band of trumpeter Tom Harrell but felt that it was time for him to step out more as a leader. At the end of 2016, he assembled a quartet of jazz’s most elite musicians that would record a live album, headline New York’s legendary Village Vanguard, and tour steadily for the next year. Escoffery presents this great quartet on an evocative new studio record, “Vortex,” which reflects the current dizzying maelstrom of racism, bigotry and hate in the U.S. and the saxophonist’s renewed commitment to his responsibilities and artistic goals. Joining him are pianist David Kikoski, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Ralph Peterson Jr.
Saxophonists Dave Liebman and Mike Murley have performed together for more than a decade. Their second release, “Live at the U of T,” featuring bassist Jim Vivian and drummer Terry Clarke, came about as a result of Liebman’s appointment as Visiting Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Music. The natural rapport between the musicians on the recording is immediately apparent. Murley studied with Liebman in the 1980s at the Banff Jazz Workshop and in New York City. He and Vivian have worked frequently with Liebman over the years, primarily in the Toronto area but also at recording sessions and concerts in Halifax and Montreal. Clarke and Liebman are both veterans of the international jazz scene dating back to the late 1960s and their musical chemistry was instantaneous.
Also this week, marimba/vibes veteran Steve Hobbs honors his mentor and late friend Bobby Hutcherson with “Tribute to Bobby”.
Legendary organist Dr. Lonnie Smith and his trio are captured live at New York’s Jazz Standard for “All in My Mind”.
Pianist and composer Lisa Hilton is joined by saxophonist JD Allen, trumpeter Terell Stafford, bassist Greg August and drummer Rudy Royston for her 20th disc, “Escapism.”