Jerry Weldon - The Summit - "Keep it swinging; that's the main thing" is not only tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon's description of the music on this album from his new band but also can stand as his musical life motto. The band heard here reflects his love of the hard swinging, hard bop bands of the mid-20th Century, most notably Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (especially when it was a sextet with trumpet, tenor sax and trombone) and The Jazztet (of Benny Golson and Art Farmer). Weldon has put together a band of younger, but veteran, jazz musicians; Alonzo Demetrius, trumpet; Peter Lin, trombone; Mike Bond, piano; Jason Clotter, bass, and Carmen Intorre Jr., drums. This album was recorded live before an enthusiastic crowd at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in New Jersey.
Grant Stewart - Next Spring - World-renowned tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart is known for his rich tone, swinging phrasing, and deep connection to the jazz tradition. Next Spring is his 5th album for Cellar Music. He is joined by three of his favorite players; Tardo Hammer on piano, Paul Sikivie on bass and Phil Stewart on drums.
Joe Magnarelli - Decidedly So - Decidedly So by trumpeter Joe Magnarelli features trombone dynamo Steve Davis, pianist Jeremy Manasia, bassist Clovis Nicolas & drummer Rodney Green. For his third release for Cory Weeds' Cellar Live label, Joe features trombone dynamo Steve Davis in the frontline, backed by a snap-crackle rhythm section of pianist Jeremy Manasia, bassist Clovis Nicolas, and drummer Rodney Green. They investigate a solid, appealing mix of originals and standards with elan that makes for deeply enjoyable listening.
Emmet Cohen, DownBeat Magazine's 2025 Pianist of the Year and critically acclaimed composer and bandleader, has been busy. Busy touring a Miles Davis & John Coltrane tribute to sold-out audiences across the world, busy running Live from Emmet's Place as the "most highly watched regular online jazz show in the world," and busy recording his new album, Universal Truth. With Joe Farnsworth, Yasushi Nakamura, Jeremy Pelt, Tivon Pennicott and guests Ron Carter and George Coleman, Emmet brings his celebrated tribute to the studio, pairing timeless classics ("Well You Needn't," "My Funny Valentine") with new originals that honor jazz's royalty while boldly carrying their tradition forward.
Spyro Gyra - Live In Leverkusen 2022 - This fantastic live album from the Leverkusen Jazz Days on November 7, 2022, features one of the most successful U.S. jazz fusion bands, Spyro Gyra. For Spyro Gyra's performance at the Leverkusen Jazz Days on November 7, 2022, the band's lineup consisted of Jay Beckenstein (saxophone), Tom Schuman (keyboards, piano), Julio Fernandez (guitars), Scott Ambush (bass), and Lionel Cordew (drums, percussion). "Art manifests itself in a variety of styles and contexts. That's why we started making music in the first place, " is Spyro Gyra's philosophy. And the band's live program that evening in Leverkusen was just as diverse, including their big hits "Shaker Song" and "Morning Dance.
On Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione, Braun performs every track on the same Couesnon flugelhorn he played as a student at the Eastman School of Music and with the band Auracle-fitted with the cherished Giardinelli mouthpiece gifted to him by the legend himself during a meeting at the 2007 Long Beach Jazz Festival. The collection features an extraordinary roster of collaborators including original Mangione guitarist Grant Geissman, saxophonists Richard Elliot and Tom Scott, keyboardist Philippe Saisse, and flutist Steve Kujala.
Blessed with a captivating, richly sonorous singing voice, Japan-born, Seattle-based Valerie Joyce recorded two albums for audiophile label Chesky Records in the 2000s. The first of them, 2005's critically acclaimed New York Blue, featured the young singer supported by a crack Big Apple jazz band: formidable pianist Andy Ezrin, alternating bassists John Hebert and Tim Lefebvre, and drum stalwart Gene Jackson. They are augmented on some tracks by the veteran session musician Lawrence Feldman's smoky saxophone. Joyce's intriguing repertoire blends deft interpretations of well-known evergreens from The Great American Songbook ('Darn That Dream') with jazz standards (Miles Davis' 'Blue In Green'), jazz-tinged R&B ('Fever'), rock (Jimi Hendrix's 'Little Wing'), and pop (The Beatles' 'Golden Slumbers'). Bolstered with new liner notes featuring a recent interview with Valerie Joyce, New York Blue is reissued in 2026 as part of the Chesky Original Masters series on 180g One Step Pressing Vinyl LP and SACD Hybrid Stereo.
Swiss pianist and composer Sylvie Courvoisier has been a defining figure on the contemporary jazz scene for 20 years and is at the epicenter of the New York music scene. She was also recently awarded the prestigious Swiss Grand Prix Musik 2025. She now follows up on the acclaimed recent releases - her solo album To be Other-Wise, and the atmospherically multi-layered duo album Angel Falls with the legendary Wadada Leo Smith - with a live album from her much-lauded trio with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Recorded during a European tour in February 2025, the album presents the quintessence of this outstanding trio. With each concert, with each album, the trio's working method becomes more defined. In deep musical trust with each other, the three exceptional musicians celebrate a detailed and precise music that is both ambiguous and wide open. "And that's what this album shows now. This joy, diversity, subtlety, this desire. (...) Losing oneself in the music, the delicious moment that unfolds heavenly. But so cunning, so complex, so pointed, as only true virtuosos can be," writes Ulrich Stock in the liner notes.
John McNeil (March 23, 1948 – September 27, 2024) launched his professional career with debut LP "Embarkation” SCS 1099) on SteepleChase in 1978 a few hours before he turned 30.
Age 30 was his goal to release his first and he remarked “I just made it!”
John McNeil’s There Is No Greater Love (SCCD 34007) unveils a previously unheard 1983 Odense, Denmark session, capturing the trumpeter at a creative peak during his extensive Scandinavian tour. Joined by Danish masters Jesper Lundgaard (bass) and Aage Tanggaard (drums), McNeil delivers a warm, incisive set blending standards, bebop classics, and his own “Out”. His bright, agile phrasing — long praised for its roots in Miles, Hubbard, and the Parker lineage—meets a deeply swinging Nordic rhythm team. This newly discovered trio date highlights McNeil’s lyrical clarity, spontaneous invention, and enduring place in the modern jazz tradition.
The Guesthouse is about collaboration, inclusion, and the essence of welcoming which is the essence of an open door. It's my most ambitious project to date, sonically and compositionally. It involves so many incredibly talented people: some are in the front, playing music together with me, offering their insight, time, effort, and love, and some incredibly talented and hardworking people are behind the scenes, facilitating, allowing, and inspiring me to keep pushing forward. Musically speaking, the color palette on The Guesthouse is huge. It introduces many musical guests that I admire deeply: MARO, Immanuel Wilkins, Michael Mayo, and many more. It includes lyric writing for the first time, electronic instruments, guitars, trumpets, flutes, flamenco musicians, in-depth production work, my quartet, solo piano, odd meter explorations, improvisations, songs with no time, strings, two pianos conversing and more and more and more.. I dove as deep as I could into these deep waters. The result is my attempt to turn the creative chaos that lives in mind mind into one coherent artistic statement, always having a simple melody as a thread that tells the story of this collective. Shai Maestro Shai Maestro (b. 1987) is one of the most inventive and influential pianists of his generation. Since debuting with his own trio in 2011, he has developed a distinctive musical voice that is fluid, expressive, and profoundly lyrical. His artistry has made him a defining figure in contemporary jazz, merging improvisation, composition, and global influences into a sound that is both cinematic and deeply personal. Maestro began studying classical piano at the age of five and discovered jazz at eight through the recordings of Keith Jarrett and Oscar Peterson. At nineteen, he joined bassist Avishai Cohen's trio, co-writing the acclaimed Gently Disturbed and performing worldwide. In 2011, he formed his own trio, recording six albums that solidified his reputation as a singular voice in modern jazz. His years with ECM Records, under the guidance of Manfred Eicher, placed him among the lineage of pianists such as Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley, and Chick Corea. With drummer Ofri Nehemya and bassist Jorge Roeder, he recorded his first ECM album "The Dream Thief", later joined by trumpeter Philip Dizack for the second - "Human", both expanding the expressive language of the modern jazz quartet. Today, Maestro continues to evolve artistically with a new quartet featuring keyboardist Gadi Lehavi, drummer Ofri Nehemya, and bassist Jorge Roeder. Gadi, the new wild card in the group, brings a distinctive energy and vision; his presence as another pianist opens fresh possibilities for dialogue, texture, and experimentation between two keyboards. This lineup functions as a powerful, cohesive engine driving Maestro's musical exploration, blending jazz improvisation with modern production into a sound that is organic, cinematic, and forward-looking. In 2025, Maestro signed a long-term partnership with the Paris-based label naive records, a defining milestone that opened an expansive new chapter in his artistic life. The collaboration with naive marked a moment of renewal and bold creative ambition, setting the stage for a period of profound exploration. The first fruit of this partnership was his solo piano album, Solo: Miniatures & Tales. Introspective and deeply personal, it revealed the most intimate side of Maestro's artistry; a work of quiet reflection, nuance, and restraint. This album stands in deliberate contrast to the broader, outward-looking vision of his forthcoming project, The Guesthouse, highlighting the duality at the heart of Maestro's creative world: the tension between introspection and expansion. In March 2026, Maestro will release The Guesthouse, a record that features Portuguese singer MARO alongside Immanuel Wilkins, and Michael Mayo. The album represents a bold leap forward, combining the sensitivity of modern jazz with electronic sound design and the harmonic depth of classical music. The Guesthouse creates a lush, cinematic space where boundaries dissolve, embodying Maestro's exploration of openness and collaboration.
Guitarist John Hart returns to the classic guitar-bass-drums trio format for his seventh SteepleChase release. After several adventurous outings, New Mantra marks a melodic homecoming, reuniting Hart with longtime collaborators Bill Moring and Tim Horner.
Known for his lyrical phrasing and harmonic depth, Hart emphasizes melody and clarity, crafting originals like “Think” and “Abyss” alongside fresh takes on standards such as “Stella by Starlight” and “Some Other Time.” With over 100 sideman credits and decades of leadership, Hart continues to shape modern jazz guitar — blending tradition, intellect, and soul in every note.
“Resonance resonates…and how. Mucho bravos to John Hart and his bandmates for providing jazz guitar fans with a refreshing and inspired offering which exhibits the time-honoured legacy of the instrument.” (UK JazzNews on SCCD 31948 Resonance)
Saxophonist Sigurdur Flosason has been one of Icelands most active jazz musicians for the past decades. Through out his career he's cooperated with some of Scandinavia's finest musicians. On his latest release, Blue shoes, his partners are Danes Kjeld Lauritsen on Hammond organ and Kristian Leth on drums, both of whom he has cooperated with on previous releases. New to the mix is the outstanding Swedish guitarist Erik Soderlind. On a few tracks they are joined by Danish percussion master Birger Sulsbruck. The music, all Flosason's originals, is a cross between jazz and blues with a personal and nordic twist. The album was recorded at Village recording in Copenhagen during the summer of 2025. Sigurdur Flosason has recorded over thirty CDs and is a multiple winner of the Icelandic music awards.
Eternal Child, Avishai Cohen's new album, will be released in May and showcases the full depth of his artistry as a bassist and composer. Years later, he reunites with drummer Jeff Ballard on selected tracks, recalling their strong musical connection forged alongside Chick Corea. Recorded at the renowned Studio de Meudon in Paris, Eternal Child stands as a major new chapter in Cohen's work.
Multi-award-winning saxophonist/composer Julian Arguelles approaches each new project with nothing to prove, his international reputation already documented through a formidable discography. Yet there's still an appeal in the classic album format: a band of players, time booked in the studio, a set of compositions, all combining to create an artistic palette with clearly defined boundaries. With Echo Fields Julian returns to a line-up that offers the simplest soundscape but the richest possibilities for deep improvisation - the chordless trio. The restrictions paradoxically act as a spur to creativity, and the choice of players reveals the breadth of Julian's ambition. Larry Grenadier on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums both stand in the top tier of international artists with a matchless ability to capture each nuance of the compositions and develop them into genuine spontaneous group improvisation. Echo Fields is the sound of three masters at work, rich in melody, full of rhythmic vitality, with a real sense of urgency and of music that just has to be played.
