Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify  
New Orleans-born saxophonist, educator and composer Gregory Tardy is one of the most versatile jazz musicians of his generation, equally comfortable in a variety of musical and improvisational situations. His performance schedule has taken him all over the world, playing at all the major jazz festivals and on some of the biggest stages in jazz.  In 1992, he started playing with the legendary drummer, Elvin Jones, and recorded the first of his 15 CDs as a leader. As a sought after sideman Gregory has played with many prominent artists including Andrew Hill, Tom Harrell, Wynton Marsalis, Jay McShann, Roy Hargrove, Betty Carter, and many more. For his new CD, “If Time Could Stand Still,” he’s joined by bassist Alexander Claffey, drummer Willie Jones III, and special guest Alex Norris on trumpet.

     Forty-one years after their first down beat, the Toronto based world-jazz nonet Manteca is still creating, still exploring, and still a force of joyous sonic invention. The Toronto Star called their last recording “gut grabbing innovation.” “The Twelfth of Never” is the Juno Award-winning collective’s 12^th CD. A collection of eight original compositions by Doug Wilde, Matt Zimbel and Jason Loge, the disc is by turns tender and cutting—a tour de force by one of Canada’s most storied bands. Laurie Brown of CBC Radio describes it as “cinematic, introspective, atmospheric and moody—mysterious even. The playing is exceptional and the sound is remarkable.”

Also this week, legendary pianist Chick Corea explores the lineage of great composers from Mozart to Monk, Jobim to Stevie Wonder on a new live set, “Plays”;

Denver based trumpeter Ron Miles’ new release, “Rainbow Sign,” features guitarist Bill Frisell and pianist Jason Moran;

      and Japanese-born New York City-based pianist Rina has assembled a trio with bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Jerome Jennings for her debut release, “Rina.”

     Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify    
Specific reasons led to the piano-less quartet becoming a vehicle for the more explorative jazz practitioners of the 1950s and ‘60s, namely directness of group sound and the increased interplay between ensemble members. It was during a regular visit to Uruguay’s Punta del Este Jazz Festival that trumpeter Diego Urcola was asked to present a musical tribute to the revered Gerry Mulligan Quartet that featured Chet Baker. During the quartet’s performance, Urcola invited Paquito D’Rivera to the stage, and the idea of recording in a piano-less quartet was cemented by the resounding performance. On the new recording, “El Duelo,” the trumpeter recruits D’Rivera to join him in that very rare, and exposed, playing scenario.

     Art Van Damme was the pacesetter among jazz accordionists. In 1947, he began leading a group that was inspired by the George Shearing Quintet, but with his accordion in place of the piano. Over its 35-year existence, the Art Van Damme Quintet made dozens of popular recordings. Now, in the centennial year of Van Damme’s birth, the LA Jazz Quintet has been organized with Kenny Kotwitz, one of Van Damme’s few students, providing colorful arrangements in addition to his accordion for the new CD, “When Lights Are Low.” The Quintet also features guitarist John Chiodini, bassist Chuck Berghofer, drummer Kendal Kay and vibraphonist Nick Mancini.

Also this week, master saxophonist , composer and bebop luminary Charles McPherson presents “Jazz Dance Suites,” capturing his groundbreaking collaboration with the San Diego Ballet;

Taiwanese vibraphonist Chien Chien Lu, best known to date for recording and touring with the Jeremy Pelt Quintet, releases her genre-melding debut as a leader, “The Path”;

     and Tom Guarna, a guitarist praised by DownBeat for the “emotion, tension, surprise and passion” in his music, has assembled another “dream team” of a band for his latest, “Spirit Science.”