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

     “I learned a lot about phrasing from Frank,” Willie Nelson said in a recent interview. “He didn’t worry about behind the beat or in front of the beat, or whatever—he could sing it either way, and that’s the feel you have to have.” That’s the attitude Willie brings to “My Way,” an album of standards and classics made famous by Frank Sinatra. Two iconic avatars on the American pop culture landscape, Frank and Willie express the range of romantic emotion—from the intoxicating thrill of falling in love to the crushing hangover of heartbreak—the songs that speak directly to the listener. Recorded in the spirit of Willie’s legendary “Stardust” album, “My Way” plays homage to one of his heroes.

     Having first come to prominence as a member of the funk-jazz collective Fat Mama, Brooklyn-based pianist Erik Deutsch has toured and recorded with some of the country’s most prominent pop and jazz artists including Charlie Hunter, Norah Jones, Theo Bleckman and Steve Bernstein. A prolific composer and bandleader, Erik’s five studio albums have received critical acclaim by Rolling Stone and Jazz Times. Relix magazine named his fourth album one of 2015’s best discs, and he was recently voted the #5 Rising Star Organist in Downbeat magazine’s annual poll. For the last two years, he has been a full-time member of the pioneering jam band Leftover Salmon. Erik’s new CD, “Falling Flowers,” is a funky, energetic romp through the worlds of jazz, soul, blues, dub and funk.

Also this week, Bay Area trumpeter Erik Jekabson unveils his second album as a leader, “Erik Jekabson Sextet.”

Saxophonist Stephen Martin comes out of the exceptional Kansas City jazz scene with his debut release, “Vision.”

 Trumpeter Mike Vax leads the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra on a live set, “Flyin’ Through Florida.”