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

A decorated veteran of the Betty Carter Trio, pianist Cyrus Chestnut came out of the experience relatively unscathed with a style and directive clearly his own It’s one steeped in the gospel church traditions of his native Baltimore, but also enlivened by an open ear aimed at a multitude of other influences. He has enjoyed stints with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Freddie Hubbard and Joe Lovano. He also speaks fondly of his valuable tenures with vocalists Jon Hendricks and Joe Williams. For his new disc, “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit,” Cyrus offers an imaginative set list with his longtime friends Buster Williams and Lenny White and together they breathe new life into the venerable jazz piano trio format.

Dobro player Jerry Douglas was a teenager playing in a band in Lexington, Kentucky, the first time he heard Weather Report and Chick Corea—on the same day. More than 40 years later, he remembers the moment vividly. “It blew by head off,” he says. “And I thought, ‘Well, there’s where I could go with all this stuff runnin’ around in my head.” ‘All this stuff’ is the remarkable music Douglas has made on Dobro and lap steel in a career that’s earned him world renown as the top purveyor of his craft. He is a 14 time Grammy winner who has appeared on at least 2000 recordings, including with jazz notables Bill Frisell and Charlie Haden, among others. On his new CD, “What If,” Douglas decisively merges those jazz inclinations with the bluegrass, country, blues, swing, rock and soul he’s spent his life absorbing and performing.

Also this week, saxophonist Marcus Monteiro covers material from such disparate sources as Horace Silver, Michael Jackson and Soundgarden on his new quartet release, “Another Part of Me”.  

Bassist and vocalist Katie Thiroux is joined by veteran reed man Ken Peplowski on “Off Beat”.

Pianist Jon Davis is joined by bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Mark Ferber on his latest trio outing, “Happy Juice.”

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

Though he was only 43 years old when he passed away in 1975, Oliver Nelson left behind a body of work that is staggering in its breadth and depth. He’s revered for his work with Monk, Basie, Clark Terry and Jimmy Smith, his soundtrack work for television and movies, as well as his own classic albums. More than 40 years later, his influence as a composer and arranger is still felt, although Nelson’s name isn’t mentioned as often as his innovations. Bandleader/composer John Vanore is determined to change that with “Stolen Moments: Celebrating Oliver Nelson,” the first large ensemble recording of Nelson’s music in decades. Vanore revisits nine pieces that were either composed or arranged by Nelson over the course of his prolific career.

For his new CD, “To Love and Be Loved,” Harold Mabern reunites with 88-year-old drumming legend Jimmy Cobb, with whom he first played in Miles Davis’s band during a brief but memorable stint in 1963. The rhythm section is completed by the impeccably swinging Nat Reeves, while the frontline features Mabern’s prize student and frequent collaborator Eric Alexander on tenor saxophone and, on three tracks, another Mabern protégé, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix. In discussing his reimagining of classic tunes and the inspiration for the album, Mabern quotes an unlikely mentor for a jazz musician: Albert Einstein. The famed physicist once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Also this week, saxophonist Jeff Coffin unveils his twelfth album as a leader, “Next Time Yellow,” his first full-length group recording produced in his home studio. 

Brian McCarthy explores music from the Civil War era for his new nonet recording, “The Better Angels of Our Nature”.

Trumpeter Farnell Newton offers up his second release as a leader, “Back to Earth.”