Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Pianist Jeremy Monteiro considers himself a very fortunate man. Renowned as one of the premier jazz pianists in Singapore, he is presently entering his 45^th year of a career spanning concerts, education, and music administration. He has played and recorded with many of the world’s greatest jazz artists, including Benny Golson, James Moody, Michael Brecker, Herbie Mann, Ernie Watts and Charlie Haden. Monteiro’s latest album, “Live at No Black Tie,” finds the pianist at the helm of another all-star trio. Bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Lewis Nash rank among New York City’s most in-demand jazz musicians. They made to trip to Kuala Lampur to work and record with Monteiro.

     Rale Micic is a unique voice in jazz guitar. He combines a melodic approach and an intricate insight into harmonies, with a sort of deep personal story from his native Serbia. He has played with such artists as Tom Harrell, Perter Bernstein, and Eric Alexander, but it’s the striking originality with which he plays his own music that really distinguishes him from other jazz guitar talents.  His new recording, “Only Love Will Stay,” with Jared Gold on keys and Geoff Clapp and Johnathan Blake on drums, is both relaxed and substantial, joyful and chill, starring the filigreed sounds of Micic’s Sadowsky archtop.

Also this week, trumpeter John DePaola, who is a member of Rodney Whitaker’s Phillips Center Jazz Orchestra and has performed with the likes of Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra, includes a soulful collection of jazz standards, popular songs from ‘Rale Micic”;

the Spike Wilner Trio has partnered with Cory Weeds and the Cellar Music Group for “Aliens and Wizards”;

 and bassist and vocalist Nicki Parrott explores some new musical horizons with keyboardist Larry Fuller, drummer Lewis Nash and saxophonist Harry Allen her new album, “If You Could Read My Mind.”