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For their seventh outing together as a close-knit, collaborative rhythm tandem, bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and drummer Mike Clark tapped pianist Michael Wolff as third man on “A Letter to Bill Evans.” Wolff, who previously appeared with Dorsey and Clark on 2020’s “Play Sgt. Pepper,” was indeed the perfect choice to complete the triumvirate on this heartfelt tribute to the late, great pianist-composer known for his contributions to Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” as well as his hugely influential trio albums with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. While the music on the new disc captures the spirit of the great pianist, Wolff/Clark/Dorsey take some liberties with this classic Evans material, interpreting it through their collective musical lens.

Following up on his ambitious JUNO Award-nominated 2022 album, Toronto drummer and composer Ernesto Cervini announces the release of “A Canadian Songbook,” a vivid, fiery, insightful exploration of music composed by Canadians. This outing finds Cervini returning to the helm of his accomplished and long-running sextet Turboprop, with a thick, contrapuntal three-horn sound that’s been developing over the course of three previous albums dating back to 2015.

Also this week, with his alto soaring over a sax trio format on “For All We Know,” Jim Snidero demonstrates why he is a critical link in the alto saxophone lineage; “Being” is Madison, WI-based pianist Chris Rottmayer’s fourth album release and contains all original compositions performed by his quartet; and guitar virtuoso Julian Lage returns with “Speak to Me,” joined by his longtime trio mates Jorge Roeder on bass and Dave King on drum and contributions from saxophonist Levon Henry and keyboardist Patrick Warren.