Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Grammy nominated trombonist/composer Marshall Gilkes integrates myriad influences into a singular and distinctive voice, combining the spontaneous invention of jazz with the elegant architecture of classical composition and virtuosic technique with passionate emotion. His sound can be heard in the lush impressionism of the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the unique Slide Monsters Trombone Quartet, and on Monday nights at the world famous Village Vanguard as lead trombonist with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Gilkes has released six albums as a leader. The latest, “Waiting to Continue,” showcases Gilkes playing and writing in a trio setting, with bandmates Yasushi Nakamura on bass and Clarence Penn on drums.  

     Baritone saxophonist Claire Daly celebrates the music and the influence of the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk with all the enthusiasm promised by the title “Rah! Rah!,” her new album. Blind, eclectic, and larger than life, multi-reedist Kirk was also the musician who inspired the 18-year-old Daly’s direction in the music. “He was such a force of nature,” she recalls. “He made me so happy, and still does.” The quartet date features pianist Eli Yamin, bassist Dave Hofstra and drummer Peter Grant. It includes eight tunes from Kirk’s repertoire, as well as two original compositions in which Daly reworks a pair of Kirk’s seminal pieces.

Also this week, Alex Wintz’s sophomore release, “Live to Tape,” juxtaposes a modern musical approach with  the recording techniques of the Blue Note era, a modern celebration of the hallmark recordings that had a large impact on the guitarist’s musical upbringing;

bassist/composer Brandi Disterheft is joined by two iconic octogenarian masters—virtuoso tenor saxophonist George Coleman and the definitive Brazilian drummer Portinho—and world class pianist Klaus Mueller on her fifth album, “Surfboard”;

      and the young, Brooklyn-based vibraphonist/composer  Joel Ross offers up his sophomore release, “Who Are You?”