Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube, Spotify, and SoundCloud.
Considering vibraphonist Tom Collier performed his first concert at age 5, it’s safe to say most memories of his youth contain powerful musical imagery. For his latest recording, “Across the Bridge,” Collier is paired with two of the most important guitarists in jazz, Bill Frisell and Larry Coryell, as he reflects on his early years when his family lived on the other side of the West Seattle Bridge. Through a set of nine originals inspired by places and recollections, they rekindle some of that youthful fire along with bassist Dan Dean, Collier’s musical partner over the last 50 years, and drummers John Bishop and Ted Poor.
Fans who have experienced the Sean Dobbins Trio live will recognize their new CD as
an opportunity to capture the group’s aptitude for storytelling through music. Originally arranged for a quintet, the Organ Quartet brings a bluesy soulfulness to the songs on “The Journey.” As one of the most notable jazz drummers in Detroit, Dobbins pulled together a collaboration from the cream of the city’s jazz elite to create a mix of familiar tunes interpreted in delightfully unexpected ways. Members include veteran B3 player Chris Codfish and guitarist Ralph Tope. Rounding out the group is saxophonist Marcus Elliot, a leader in the pack of Detroit’s new generation of young jazz musicians.
Also this week, singer and harmonica ace 
Ron Sunshine hits the sweet
spot between rhythm and blues and jazz on “Bring It Home”; trumpeter Will 
Caviness captures the essence of the great 2- and 3-horn bands led by Blakey, Adderly and Silver with “A Walk”; and veteran New York guitarist Frank Kohl offers up his third disc as a leader, “Invisible Man,” featuring former Jim Hall bassist Steve LaSpina.