Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
 “Songs from My Father” is the much-anticipated new album from renowned musical polymath Gerry Gibbs. On his thirteenth release as a leader, the drummer and bandleader presents a double-disc masterwork featuring four iterations of his acclaimed Thrasher Dream Trio. Gibbs and his band of jazz titans pay homage to the musical legacy of Gerry’s 96-year-old father, Terry Gibbs, one of the last living architects of bebop and innovators of the vibraphone. Gerry arranged 18 tunes from his father’s vast discography and went on a nationwide trek to capture recordings alongside a long list of his friends and collaborators like Ron Carter, Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, Patrice Rushen, Larry Goldings, Geoff Keezer and Christian McBride. Also included is the last recorded performance of Chick Corea.

     For five years in the mid-1980s, the 1369 Club in Cambridge, MA, was a thriving, vibrant and colorful home to a diverse clientele of both jazz “newbies” and the cognoscenti. The roster of performers was equally diverse, made up of top local and national jazz artists. For three nights in 1985, the awe-inspiring triumvirate of guitarist and Miles Davis alumnus Mike Stern, bassist Harvie S and Boston-based drummer Alan Dawson held court, delivering performances of great intensity, virtuosity and unforgettable excitement. A compilation of some of those performances are available now for the first time on “Going for It.”

 Also this week, pianist Bobby West, a mainstay on L.A.’s jazz scene since the ‘70s, pays tribute to the vibrant cultural and artistic heart of Los Angeles’ African-American community on his debut “Leimert Park After Dark”;

Billy Test, a Pennsylvania native who currently holds the piano chair in the Grammy Award-winning WDR Big Band of Koln, Germany, makes his debut as a leader with the new trio disc, “Coming Down Roses”;

    and guitarist Leni Stern again fronts her cross-cultural New York quartet on “Dance,” colored with a blend of international rhythms, richly harmonized vocals and Stern’s jazzy six-string lyricism.

Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify

     Antonio Carlos Jobim has been one of the brightest, most influential stars in the jazz firmament since winning multiple Grammy Awards for the 1965 release of “Getz/Gilberto.’ His music has been enjoyed by millions of people around the world and recorded countless times by musicians across many different genres. His songs are so ubiquitous that it is very difficult to find a fresh approach to his music. It takes an artist of the caliber of Antonio Adolfo to layer Jobim’s music with a new sensibility and truly transform it into a personal statement. On “Jobim Forever,” the pianist imbues nine of Jobim’s iconic tunes from the 1960s with his own unique artistry.

     “Sophisticated Lady” is the eagerly-awaited new album by New York City staple Hilary Kole. The celebrated lady of song launched her performing career as the youngest singer ever to grace the stage at NYC’s legendary Rainbow Room. For a year-and-a-half, Kole performed six nights a week at the storied venue, cutting her teeth as a working musician alongside a slew of great players. Adorned by her soulful vocal sensibilities and a stellar band, the latest release is a collection of mature, nuanced renditions of eleven archetypal songs from the jazz idiom.

Also this week, guitarist Andre Ferreri gets back to the traditional jazz and swing that shifted his sensibilities early on from ‘70s classic rock to modern and traditional jazz on “Numero Uno”;

Minneapolis-based Jenny Klukken releases her debut album, “Color in Motion,” featuring her virtuosity on the marimba and her creative compositional skills;

     and trombonists Wayne Coniglio and Scott Whitfield pay homage to the ‘bone legends of the past on “Faster Friends.”