Multi-Grammy nominated vocal artist Nnenna Freelon is back, delivering her eleventh album after a decade-long hiatus from the studio. With “Time Traveler,” she offers a celebration of love and a prayer of hope for those living with loss. The sessions for the disc stretched over two years, from 2018-2020, coinciding with the loss of Freelon’s soulmate and husband of forty years, Phil Freelon, to ALS. She draws from her and Phil’s shared love of jazz and rhythm & blues, including a medley of Marvin Gaye classics, several standards and her self-penned title song.

     “Transmigration” is the sophomore album from Lebanese bassist and composer Makram Aboul Hosn, recorded in Beirut just three days after the port explosion which was watched from around the world. In fact, the dramatic events of August 2020 were just one of a series of catastrophes to hit that country, following economic crash, mass protests and, of course, Covid-19. Originally scheduled to take place at a European studio with an international line-up, Makram decided instead to invest in the local Beirut scene, bringing together some of the city’s leading jazz musicians along with a handful of guests, including U.S. vibraphonist Joe Locke.

 Also this week, internationally renowned Cuban pianist Miguel de Armas, who moved to Canada in 2011 and formed his quartet in 2013, offers up a fusion of Afro Cuban music with pop, Latin jazz, calypso and classical influences on “Continuous”;

 guitarist Adam Moezinia and his trio are rooted in the jazz tradition but venture beyond to incorporate influences of folk and world music into their sound on “Folk Element Trio”;

     and Chicago-based saxophonist Shawn Maxwell offers up a program of tunes written during the pandemic and recorded remotely for “Expectation & Experience.”

     Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
After appearing on a number of universally acclaimed jazz recordings last year, including those by Jazzmeia Horn, Charles Tolliver, and Gregory Tardy, multi-faceted pianist, composer and arranger Keith Brown fulfills a long-held artistic vision on “African Ripples.” The music, Brown explains, “was composed and collected to convey my personal experiences through Black music and how it has rippled out in so many different directions.” On this long-awaited third release, he introduces a new iteration of his trio now anchored by bassist Dezron Douglas and rotating drummers Darrell Green and Terreon Gully. Trumpeter Russell Gunn and saxophonist Anthony Ware are also utilized on several tunes.

     Morris Goldberg performs nine attractive originals that pay tribute to his South African heritage and his love of melodic jazz on “Ojoyo Plays Safrojazz.” The saxophonist, penny whistle master and composer was born and raised in Cape Town, learning from an early age how to blend together bebop with music that reflected his African heritage. For his 1959 debut, he took part in one of the very first jazz sessions recorded in South Africa. He started working with Hugh Masekela in 1965, an association that lasted for decades. In 1996, Goldberg formed Ojoyo as a vehicle for his compositions, a group that continues to the present time. “Ojoyo Plays Safrojazz” is the 25^th anniversary reissue of the band’s first album, which has been enhance by remastering.

 Also this week, the Dave Weckl Band reunites for a special performance in the drummer’s hometown for “Live in St. Louis,” the band’s first album since 2005;

 organist Brian Charette features his innovative sextet consisting of the keyboardist, a drummer and four horns on “Power from the Air”;

     and singer Freda Payne is featured in duets with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kurt Elling and Johnny Mathis on “Let There Be Love.”