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Alvin Queen arrived on the jazz scene in the late 1960s and quickly became known as the drummer for icons, including Horace Silver, the Brecker Brothers, George Benson and Tom Harrell. He’s perhaps best known as the longtime rhythmic anchor in Oscar Peterson’s final trio, remaining in the group until the pianist’s passing in 2007. Alvin is now based in Europe, and for his new album, “Night Train to Copenhagen,” chose two young and extraordinary musicians—Sweden’s Calle Brickman on piano and the Danish bassist Tobias Dall, shining examples of the strength found in a younger generation of jazz musicians on the present-day Copenhagen scene. Most of the repertoire selected for the disc is borrowed from two of Peterson’s most popular recordings, reimagined through modern arrangements.

     Two leading lights of the British jazz scene—composer, arranger and trombonist Callum Au and internationally admired singer Claire Martin—join forces for a new album, “ Songs and Stories,” which is Ms. Martin’s first big band or large orchestral recording. The album, featuring a total of 82 exceptional musicians from the U.K., Europe and the U.S., is a stunningly arranged selection of jazz standards and American Songbook classics, given compelling, sensitive, modern orchestral and big band treatments.

 Also this week, standing on the shoulders of the Montreal jazz guitarists who came before him, Sam Kirmayer mines the depths of his city’s strong jazz lineage with “In This Moment”;

Grammy-nominated saxophonist  and composer Melissa Aldana joins the Blue Note Records family with the release of “12 Stars,” her debut as a leader for the legendary label following her appearance on the 2020 album by the collective Artemis;

    and Juan Carlos Quintero swaps his customary nylon strings for an electric guitar and turns to the standard repertoire, American and Latin, on “Table for Five!”