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

With his Caribbean heritage, classical training and a unique rhythmic and melodic approach to jazz improvisation, Nestor Torres’ talkative and mellifluous flute sound remains in a class all by itself. Now, with his 15^th album release, “Jazz Flute Traditions,” the Latin Grammy Award-winner shows his deep respect and knowledge for the traditions of jazz and Latin jazz in its purest forms. The disc pays homage to legendary pioneers like Herbie Mann and Eric Dolphy, as well as Torres’ idol and mentor, Hubert Laws. The tribute expands further, from Frank Wes and Moe Koffman, who were playing the instrument when it was still showing up in the ‘miscellaneous’ categories of major 1950’s jazz polls, to revolutionaries such as Yusef Lateef and Esy Morales.

     Drums from Martinique and Cuba mingle with rhythms of Turkey and Bulgaria in the jazz world of percussionist and composer Julian Gerstin on his new CD, “The One Who Makes You Happy.” Living in Martinique for two years, Julian studied the unusual tanbou drum, played with both hands and one foot. To bring this instrument home, he composes music that combines rhythmic drive with lyrical melodies and jazz inventiveness. He draws also on his experience traveling and working with musicians from Cuba, Brazil, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Egypt. To bring these compositions to life, Julian has assembled creative like-minded musicians. Clarinetist Anna Patton has a grounding in Bulgarian and Macedonian music as well as jazz. Trumpeter Don Anderson is a salsa veteran while pianist Eugene Uman has worked extensively in Columbia. Bassist Wes Brown has spanned the history of jazz styles, working with giants from Earl Hines to Wadada Leo Smith.

               Also this week, saxophonist Vincent Herring offers up a tonic to help calm the turbulence of modern life with “Hard Times,” featuring a core quartet of pianist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Carl Allen and bassist Yasushi Nakamura, with special guests Steve Turre on trombone and guitarist Russell Malone; Toronto-based pianist Teri Parker debuts with her trio on “In the Past”.

French horn ace Ken Wiley presents a dozen moody, atmospheric themes on “Urban Horn Project.”

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

Drummer Mark Giuliana has been in the vanguard of drummers creating a new vernacular on the instrument, blending virtuosity on acoustic drums with artfully deployed electronic beats and processing. He was chosen as Best Jazz Drummer in Modern Drummer magazine’s Readers Poll this year, while DownBeat dubbed him a Rising Star in its Critics Poll. Along with leading his own groups, Giuliana has appeared on a string of acclaimed recordings with others, including Brad Mehldau, John Scofield, Lionel Loueke, and Donny McCaslin, and was a prime mover of David Bowie’s multiple Grammy Award-winning swan song. The drummer’s new CD, “Jersey,” is the second release from the Mark Giuliana Quartet.

Hilario Duran makes a triumphant musical homecoming on his new CD, “Contumbao.” Internationally recognized as a jazz pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader of the highest order, the Cuban-Canadian has been based in Toronto for the past two decades, but his musical heart and soul have remained closely connected to the land of his birth. Last November, Duran returned to Havana and set up shop in the famed EGREM recording studio, the most storied such facility on the island where, in the 1980s, he had recorded hundreds of sessions with other artists and his band Perspectiva. A cast of musical heavyweights worked  their magic on 11 new original Duran compositions.

Also this week is a second batch of previously unreleased recordings from the Woody Shaw-Louis Hayes Quintet, “The Tour Volume two,” recorded on a European tour between 1976 and 1977.

A reunion of composer/arranger Vince Mendoza and the WDR Big Band of Cologne, “Homecoming,” recorded live in concert in 2014. 

The fourth release from the Verve Jazz Ensemble, “Swing-a-Nova,” featuring guest trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt.