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

“The Questions,” Kurt Elling’s newest studio recording, is his musical response to this moment in history and the widespread anxiety of our times. It touches artfully on challenges—personal, political, global, spiritual, and existential—and on hopes and aspirations for the future. Elling offers a vibrant and surprising choice of songs, from Bob Dylan and Paul Simon classics to jazz, Broadway, and the Great American Songbook, plus two new originals. NEA Jazz Master and celebrated saxophonist Branford Marsalis co-produced the disc with Elling and performs on three tracks.

“Say It” is the new disc from pianist composer and vocalist John Proulx, his fourth CD as a leader. He recorded his previous three albums for MaxJazz Records, but after the owner of the label passed away, he decided it was time to expand his horizons and take his career along a new and exciting path by producing “Say It” independently. The ten songs on this project are a mix of lesser-known jazz standards and jazz interpretations of pop songs by a diverse group of composers. Proulx chose the songs because they are beautifully constructed both melodically and lyrically, lending themselves to a fresh, new sound with updated modern jazz arrangements.

Also this week, West Coast pianist George Kahn presents new originals dedicated to jazz greats like Dave Brubeck, Wynton Kelly and Joe Sample on his ninth album, “Straight Ahead”.

The Eastern Iowa quartet Koplant No offers up another batch of compelling originals on their third CD, “Elker”.

Trumpeter and composer Josh Lawrence unveils the second release with his band Color Theory, “Contrast.”

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

Pianist Manuel Valera’s new trio CD, “The Planets,” draws upon and interprets the wisdom of the late Russian composer Nicolas Slonimsky whose “Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns,” originally published in 1947, became a seminal opus for musicians, composers, and educators. The likes of Arnold Schoenberg, Freddie Hubbard and John Coltrane cogitated Slonimsky’s analysis of pandiatonic progressions, double notes, and palindromic canons. Valera assumes the mantle of understanding and translating this iconic work for a new generation. Almost every piece is named for a celestial body, a planet or star in our galaxy, with Valera characterizing each with an impressionistic rendering.

For their second recording, the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra went into the legendary Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, for a marathon two-day session, capturing the band’s eclectic spirit through nine original compositions along with an arrangement of McCoy Tyner’s “Senor Carlos.” Led by trumpeter Erik Jekabson, the band has held down a Sunday night gig for three years at Doc’s Lab in San Francisco’s vibrant North Beach neighborhood. Building a formidable book of originals and creative arrangements, a dynamic group aesthetic, and a loyal fan-base ready for anything, the ESO takes chances and explores options while never veering from their pursuit of heart, soul and groove.

Also this week, “Here’s to Life” is the newest from As Is, featuring guitarist Alan Schulman and vocalist Stacey Shulman, with an eclectic mix of tunes. 

Pianist Emmet Cohen’s “Masters Legacy Series Volume 2” is a collaboration and celebration with the great bassist, composer and arranger Ron Carter. 

Legendary reedman Ken Peplowski features a collection of some of his favorite big band arrangements on “Sunrise.”