Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.      

New York-based Ray Blue has been an important tenor saxophonist on the jazz scene for the past 20 years, leading his own ensembles on a regular basis since 2001. Among those he’s worked with over the years include Eddie Henderson, the Charlie Persip Super Band, Wycliffe Gordon, Steve Turre and the Sun Ra Arkestra. He’s also been an influential educator and is the founder of Cross-Cultural Connection, a non-profit organization that promotes jazz culture, performance and education. With family ties in Eastern Iowa, Ray also makes it to the Corridor several times a year to perform with various groups. His new CD, “Work,” mixes together three of his originals with surprising versions of standards and lesser known but superior jazz songs.

     While it’s been ten years since Christian Jacob’s last trio album, the French-born 7-time Grammy nominee has devoted that time to some pretty exciting projects, including scoring two major motion pictures for director Clint Eastwood. He and his trio mates, bassist Trey Henry and drummer Ray Brinker, started out as the rhythm section in Maynard Ferguson’s big band and have been the backing ensemble for singer Tierney Sutton for over twenty years. Now with “The Originals,” Christian returns to the jazz trio setting with a captivating collection of original compositions. Presented in a story-like fashion, each selection draws the listener into the trio’s musical wonderland. A beautifully orchestrated string section adds depth to eight of the pieces.

Also this week, Newhall, Iowa native Chad Eby, now on the jazz faculty at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, teams up with pianist and vocalist Ariel Pocock as “BFFs”;

saxophonist Eric Wyatt injects his passion for bebop and affection for geniuses like Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker and Pharaoh Sanders on his seventh recording as a bandleader, “The Golden Rule: For Sonny.”

bassist Leon Lee Dorsey, guitarist Greg Skaff and drummer Mike Clark form the trio DSC for “Monk Time”.

   Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.   

Miles Davis shocked the music world in 1985 when he left Columbia Records after 30 years to join Warner Bros. Records. In October of that year, he began recording the album “Rubberband” in Los Angeles. The musical direction Davis was taking during the sessions marked a radical departure, with the inclusion of funk and soul grooves and plans to feature guest vocalists Al Jarreau and Chaka Khan. Eventually the album was shelved and Davis went on to record “Tutu,” leaving the “Rubberband” songs unheard and untouched for over 30 years. Now the entire 11-song album makes its debut, finished by the original producers with an original Davis painting as the cover art.

     Throughout his career, master conguero Poncho Sanchez has held aloft the torch lit by such Latin jazz innovators as Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente and Cal Tjader, embraced by each of those icons and entrusted to carry forward the traditions of the music. But Sanchez’s influences are numerous, and John Coltrane looms large in his pantheon alongside those pioneers. On his first album in seven years, Poncho celebrates the life and music of the iconic saxophonist. “Trane’s Delight” pays tribute with Latin-tinged reimaginings of Coltrane’s classics as well as new pieces composed in honor of late jazz legend.

Also this week, Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, who delighted at this summer’s Iowa City Jazz Festival, offer up their exuberant blend of Afro-Cuban and jazz fusion on their third release, “On Firm Ground”.

Pianist/composer Masa Ishikawa, a native of Fukushima, Japan, and the newest addition to the University of Iowa jazz faculty, unveils his first jazz CD, “Dialogue”.

and vocalist Mark Winkler pays homage to one of America’s great tunesmiths and master lyricists with “I’m With You: Mark Winkler Sings Bobby Troup.”