Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
In recent years, pianist Lynne Arriale’s compositions and albums have reflected current social issues, highlighting the worldwide immigration crises and the life-changing events wrought by Covid-19. On “Being Human,” her 17^th album as a leader, Ms. Arriale presents a suite of 10 original compositions celebrating the ways that our lives are enriched by acts of passion, courage, love, persistence, heart, soul, curiosity, faith and joy. Many of the songs are dedicated to people who’ve inspired her, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai.

When South African-born bassist Yosef-Gutman Levitt made the journey to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music, he encountered a number of likeminded souls there, including guitarist Lionel Loueke, who had come to Berklee from his West African home of Benin via Paris. After moving to New York, the two continued to nourish their musical bond with a weekly gig in Brooklyn. Their paths then diverged: Loueke became one of the most sought-after musicians of his time, signing to Blue Note Records and joining the bands of Terence Blanchard and Herbie Hancock among others. Levitt left the music business, eventually moving to Jerusalem in 2009 following a spiritual rebirth. By 2018, he returned to music and began to refine a distinctive voice on the five-string acoustic bass guitar. Reuniting after many years, Levitt is excited to share his new album with Loueke, “Soul Song.”

Also this week, Daggerboard returns with “Escapement,” featuring a legendary lineup including Mike Clark, Gregory Howe, Erik Jekebson and Henry ‘The Skipper’ Franklin; “Gin” is pianist Jill McCarron’s second release as a leader, featuring her three-part “The Gin Suite” along with arrangements of select jazz classics from Horace Silver, Bill Evans, Kenny Dorham and others; and Toronto-based composer, arranger and bassist Mike Downes, whom Pat Metheny cites as one of his favorite bass players, presents “The Way In,” his first recording for piano, guitar and bass trio.