Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
 “Listening to Jihye Lee and her mic-drop orchestra is like watching your life flash before your eyes. You see it all: the richness of spirit one can attain, all the sadness one can espouse, all the waltzing mischief to which one can aspire.” That’s what All About Jazz says about the bandleader and composer, a Korean native who is a refreshing new force in contemporary jazz, and her new CD, “Daring Mind.” Ms. Lee’s colorful and diverse artistic statement reflects her “struggles, doubts, joys and hopes while living in the amazing city of New York.”

     “Lovesome Thing” is Anais Reno’s first album, recorded in 2020 when she was 16. By then, the award-winning Ms. Reno had already won acclaim for her dedication to the Great American Songbook. Living in New York City, she began singing when she was eight, and since the age of ten has performed with an array of noted jazz artists at venues including Birdland, Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center. She is currently a senior drama major at Manhattan’s LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.

Also this week, the Echo Park Project, a veteran band from the Los Angeles salsa scene, releases its sixth CD, “It’s My Turn”;

singer and pianist Norah Jones was recorded live in the U.S., Europe and South America for “…’Till We Meet Again”;

     and organist Kendall Carter is joined by guitarist Dave Stryker on his debut, “Introducing Kendall Carter.”