Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify
Fueled by the musically eclectic, disciplined and packed days of being the music director for the Airmen of Note, trombonist/composer Ben Patterson and his tight circle of D.C.-area colleagues have carried that energy on ever since. Over the last decade, guitarist Shawn Purcell, pianist Harry Appelman and drummer Todd Harrison have been central to seeing through Patterson’s vison, always there to support but also to spur him to places unexpected. On the new CD “Stretch,” bassist Miles Brown joins the team as they careen through a wide-ranging set of ten originals, several reflecting influences on Patterson’s music, such as Michael Brecker, Tower of Power, John Scofield and Pat Metheny.

With “Mezzanine,” Quebec’s Greenhouse Ensemble presents the culmination of several years of sonic exploration and collaborative compositions. The seven members of the band reunited in July 2025 to craft a deeply expressive and unique body of work that weaves their diverse influences into a fresh, cinematic jazz aesthetic. Rooted in contemporary jazz and infused with elements of traditional Quebecois folk music, the album also ventures into more experimental territory through sonic manipulation and the use of new textures. The result is a mature, cohesive collective voice, both intimate and expansive.

Also this week, Atlanta-based bass player and composer David Penn, who has worked over the years with Betty Carter, Charlie Persip, Billy Harper and others, unveils his second release as a leader, “Next Step”; Washington D.C.-based baritone saxophonist, composer and bandleader Leigh Pilzer, who has performed with the Diva Jazz Orchestra, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra, turns to the trio format on “Keep Holding On”; and “Bellflower” is largely the reflection of trumpeter Jun Iida’s move 3 years ago from Seattle to New York, the music played, relationships made, and the many roads travelled.