Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify 
 During the course of a career spanning over four decades, bass luminary Ben Wolfe had earned his stature as one of the forefront composers of our time. Ben Ratliff of the New York Times describes his work as “Mingus and Miles meet Bartok and Bernard Hermann.” Wolfe’s tenth album as a bandleader is another stellar recorded document of the artist’s compositional prowess, taking listeners on a sonic journey of retrospection, insightfulness and exuberance. The gathering of musicians includes trumpeter Nicholas Payton, saxophonists Nicole Glover and Immanuel Wilkins, and vibraphonist Joel Ross.

     Rachael & Vilray—the duo of singer/songwriter Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive) and guitarist/singer/songwriter Vilray—return with their second studio album, “I Love a Love Song.” The pair first met as students at the New England Conservatory of Music in 2003. Price recalls he had a nimble mind and quick wit when it came to lyrics. It was more than a decade later that they began to collaborate. She had been on the road much of each year with Lake Street Dive and he had been developing his own solo act, just voice and guitar. The new disc expands the duo format, adding bassist David Piltch, drummer Joe LaBarbera, and keyboardist Larry Goldings.

 Also this week, saxophonist and composer Lakecia Benjamin unveils her fourth studio release, “Phoenix,” produced by Terri Lyne Carrington and featuring special guests Dianne Reeves, Patrice Rushen, and Wayne Shorter;

  jazz-funk bassist Richie Goods and in-demand vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu expand their collaborative musical relationship with “Connected Vol. 1”;

  and guitarist/composer Jim Witzel puts his own spin on the organ trio format of the ‘50s and ‘60s with “Feelin’ It.”

    Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify 
In the spring of 2020, Dave Stryker’s long-standing trio of organist Jared Gold and drummer McClenty Hunter was booked to play a concert out of town. Due to the pandemic, in lieu of traveling they were given the opportunity to tape a show that could be streamed by the venue. Inspired by getting the chance to play together again after eight months in lockdown and knowing they would be in the studio, the guitarist was motivated to write an album of new music—his first to feature this trio exclusively. “Prime” was recorded live in studio with just one take per song and no overdubbing.

     Bill Mays has long been regarded as a musician’s musician among jazz cognoscenti. For 15 years he worked in the studios of Hollywood and with the West Coast’s leading musicians, from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa. Mays moved to the East Coast in 1984 to focus on his jazz playing, becoming a fixture on the New York scene, including long stints with Gerry Mulligan and Phil Woods. The trio has been Mays’ go-to ensemble for many years. For his 40^th recording as a leader, “Autumn Serenade,” he recruited two musicians with whom he has shared more than 35 years of musical experience: bassist Dean Johnson and drummer Ron Vincent.

Also this week, saxophonist, composer and arranger John C. Gardner leads his Philly-based “Gardyn Jazz Orchestra” in a program of tunes honoring the memory of the family members, mentors and friends lost over the last couple of years;

 trumpeter and composer John Bailey, who has had long-running stints in the bands of Woody Herman, Ray Charles, and Ray Barretto, unveils his third album as a leader, “Time Bandits”;

      and veteran guitarist Ed Cherry was recorded at GB’s Juke Joint in New York City for his new disc, “Are We There Yet?”