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

The art form commonly referred to as Latin jazz is a musical expression of the heart and soul of New York, an exciting reflection of the rhythms and spirit of the city’s merging of Latino and African-American cultures. The music of Bill O’Connell is a product of that environment. Since the 1970s, when he first joined Mongo Santamaria’s band, O’Connell has continually proven himself not only as a highly skilled pianist, but as an outstanding composer-arranger as well. His Afro Caribbean Ensemble makes its recording debut on the new CD, “Wind off the Hudson,” as the star-studded roster performs O’Connell’s tricky arrangements with virtuoso aplomb. O’Connell explains, “I’ve been planning on this recording for the better part of the past decade.”

 Now in the middle of a towering career as founder and leader of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, musical director for Ruben Blades, and pianist, arranger and producer for some of the biggest names in contemporary Latin music, three-time Grammy winner Oscar Hernandez turns to his working quintet to presents “Love the Moment.” Pulling from several lifetimes worth of musical experiences, Hernandez penned ten originals to perform with his Los Angeles-based ensemble, featuring the legendary saxophonist Justo Almario and special guests, San Diego trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos and violinist Dayre Santamaria, along with drummer Jimmy Branly, bassist Oscar Cartaya, and percussionist Christian Moraga.

 Also this week, the Flying Horse Big Band of the University of Central Florida unveils its sixth release, “Good News!”;

vocalist Nicolas Bearde celebrates the 100^th anniversary this year of Nat King Cole’s birth with “I Remember You: the Music of Nat King Cole”;

    and guitarist Corey Christiansen borrows inspiration from the music that influenced him from Africa, through Cuba and into the States on “La Proxima.”

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

Ask Jimmy Cobb how it feels to have spent over seven decades as one of jazz’s pillars and he responds in typically effacing fashion, “I didn’t really expect to be alive all these years later—I’m thankful I’ve been able to be here this long.” Starting with his first recordings with Earl Bostic at the tender age of 21 to his new album, “This I Dig of You,” Cobb has been a musician unmatched in technique and experience.  Sixty years ago, of course, Cobb played on what would become the most indelible record in jazz history, “Kind of Blue.” The new recording, with a band of Cobb’s longtime collaborators—pianist Harold Mabern, guitarist Peter Bernstein, and bassist John Webber—pays tribute to that seminal album by proving that it’s still not yet history. The 90-year-old drummer, after all, is as vital and thoughtful as he ever was.

     In the two years since Jazzmeia Horn bowed with her first album, she’s been busy on the road, honing her vocal skills, writing songs of personal relevance and social message, and perfecting a fearless approach to improvisation and performance in general. The convergence of this drive and development has resulted in what is sure to be hailed as one of the most courageous recordings of 2019, “Love and Liberation,” filled with songs of daring musicality, emotional power, and messages of immediate relevancy. Blessed with a fitting name for her chosen path—it was Horn’s jazz-loving, piano-playing grandmother who chose “Jazzmeia”—the singer won the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in 2015, the most coveted award a jazz musician can hope to attain. Part of her prize was a recording contract, which led to her Grammy-nominated “A Social Call” and now “Love and Liberation.”

 Also this week, 18-year-old keyboard prodigy and composer Matthew Whitaker combines original compositions and covers of songs that have influenced him for his debut, “Now Hear This”;

drummer Mike Clark is joined by bassist Christian McBride, trumpeter Randy Brecker and saxophonist Donald Harrison,Jr. for “Indigo Blue,” recorded live at the Iridium in New York;

      and drummer Vince Ector delivers his fourth disc as a leader, “Theme for Ms. P,” the first with his Organatomy Trio featuring saxophonist Bruce Williams, guitarist Paul Bollenback and organist Pat Bianchi.