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.”

    Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
 The new album, “Mike Drop,” demonstrates the mastery of two jazz veterans—iconic jazz drumming legend Mike Clark and renowned saxophonist Michael Zilber. Between Clark’s straight-ahead post-bop drumming and Zilber’s raw and refined sax mastery, the clarity and brilliance of this release is the rewarding product of a ten year-long friendship between the artists and an inspiring week of performances in the Bay Area. The disc, recorded in Oakland in 2018, features a blend of the tunes drawn from the group’s successful series of gigs in the region that year.

     When Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Leo Sidran wrote the song “Trying Times” in early 2020, he had no idea just how prescient it would turn out to be. When Covid came, he settled into domestic life, and set about writing a collection of songs that offered an intimate look at family life during the pandemic year. The resulting disc, “The Art of Conversation,” is his seventh solo album, and rests on a foundation of Sidran’s one-man-band production style of playing drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, vibes and singing. The record, however, also counts on over 60 collaborators from around the world.

Also this week, the Tom Kubis Big Band has baseball on its mind with “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”;

Chicago guitarist Kyle Asche and his organ trio return for their highly anticipated third CD, “Five Down Blues”;

     and pianist Art Hirahara turns his musical aspirations toward an “Open Sky” for his sixth release, featuring bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Rudy Royston.