During his 13-year association with Criss Cross, which includes six prior leader dates and another five with the nonpareil hard bop collective One for All, trumpeter Jim Rotondi has consistently maintained high standards of excellence in his playing and writing. The Move is no exception - Rotondi's strong sextet, all long-time colleagues (Ralph Bowen, tenor sax; Mike DiRubbo, alto sax; David Hazeltine, piano; John Webber, bass; Joe Farnsworth, drums), play the stimulating charts with heat, creative spirit, and deep craft, each member stamping themselves as personal voices in the mainstream jazz timeline.

On his sixth session as a leader for Criss Cross Jazz, One for All trumpeter Jim Rotondi pushes the hard bop envelope, broadening the music's horizons with a new quintet that utilizes veteran vibraphonist Steve Nelson in place of the usual piano. Criss Cross. 2006.

It's been ten years now since Jesse Van Ruller won the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition (the first European artist to do so), and yet audiences have yet to fully appreciate his immense talents. Criss Cross. 2006.

A versatile trumpeter able to navigate in both the Jazz and Latin music fields, Grammy Award winner Brian Lynch returns to the Criss Cross fold with ConClave Volume 2, a tour-de-force for his revamped Spheres of Influence ensemble. Up-and-comers Yosvany Terry on alto, Manuel Valera on piano, with bassist Luques Curtis, drummer Justin Brown, and percussionist Pedro Martinez make the scene for a diverse set of mainly Lynch originals. Mixing the Afro-Cuban beat with touches of samba and funk, Lynch comes up with his best concoction to date of spicy Latin sounds.

On Walk in the Woods, his latest Criss Cross leader date, Walt Weiskopfupholds the high standards he's set on his previous nine albums for the label. Here he leads a hand-picked octet, each of the five horns is a veteran section player with extraordinary improvisational skills, including Criss Cross veterans Andy Fusco and Gary Smulyan, propelled by a rhythm section comprising the extraordinary young drummer Kendrick Scott, best known as Terence Blanchard's drummer, and the harmonically informed pianist and bassist Peter Zak and Doug Weiss, through a suite of eight heady originals and a rearranged standard.

Kendrick Scott is one of the most sought-after drummers in the jazz world and has distinguished himself for several years with Terence Blanchard's Grammy-winning ensemble. Recently, in the fall of 2008 he toured the world as part of Herbie Hancock's famous band. He is the founder of World Culture Music, an artist collective and record label out of New York. Kendrick now makes his Criss Cross leader debut with Reverence, a stirring quintet session featuring Moreno on guitar, Blanchard band mate Derrick Hodge on bass, and the prodigious up-and-comers Walter Smith on tenor and Gerald Clayton on piano. Together, Kendrick and the band put their own stamp on classics by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ornette Coleman and more.

No New York area organist of the present day is more in demand than Gary Versace, who makes his Criss Cross debut with a quartet comprised of Criss Cross Label veterans: tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin, guitarist Adam Rogers, and drummer Clarence Penn. Versace guides his group of New York cutting-edge players through a program of eight originals with strong melodies, challenging harmonic structures, and intoxicating grooves.

For Ralph Bowen's fourth date he returns to the organ combo format that made 2002's Soul Proprietor a significant departure and to the tenor saxophonist's catalog. Returning from that session are trumpeter John Swana, organist Sam Yahel, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Dana Hall. Bowen's muse is an advanced take on the freewheeling implications of John Coltrane's pioneering vernacular. He tackles the framework of the organ group with a fresh outlook that has more to do with the late 60s work of Larry Young than the approach of Jimmy Smith. In addition to the four of his own originals, Bowen puts a new spin on Woody Shaw's "Rahsaan's Run", Joe Henderson's "Step Lightly", and U2's "Drowning Man".

For his fourth Criss Cross leader date, alto saxophonist-composer David Binney convenes his primary New York working quartet of the 2000's (pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Eivind Opsvik, and drummer Dan Weiss), adds to the mix guitar hero Wayne Krantz, with whom he works frequently in an electronica-oriented group, and augments the proceedings with several appearances by British pianist-composer John Escreet, a frequent partner in recent years. The leader plays with deep emotion and the concision of an old master; it's as strong a date as any in Binney's now sizable discography.

Pianist David Kikoski, who's partnered so ably on past Criss Cross albums with horn men like Alex Sipiagin, Seamus Blake, Conrad Herwig and Wycliffe Gordon, is perhaps best known for a series of compelling trio albums he's recorded for the label over the past decade. Now along comes Almost Standards, on which he mixes it up with bassist Eric Revis (Betty Carter, Louis Hayes, Billy Harper and a bunch of Marsalis family members), and much-in-demand drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts (Branford Marsalis), and an invigorating presence on two earlier Kikoski CDs. The new album's a mix of material serving as takeoff points this time out: harmonically intriguing tunes that are already standards or probably ought to be.

A veteran of the groups of Nicholas Payton and Adonis Rose, saxophonistTim Warfield breaks significantly from the format of the four previous Criss Cross sides. One for Shirley pays homage to the legendary organist Shirley Scott, with whom Warfield played on numerous occasions back in the early 90's. Terell Stafford makes for a perfect front-line partner, the trumpeter obviously comfortable in the organ combo format thanks to his current work in Matt Wilson's Arts and Crafts. Rising Organ star Pat Bianchi tips his hat to Scott, but does so in a way that proves he's an individualist worthy of wider recognition. On drums the great Byron Landham. Daniel G. Sadownick plays congas and percussion.

When it comes to New York's top-shelf gigs, few pianists get the job done like David Hazeltine. Much sought for his sensitivity as an accompanist, Hazeltine is also an inventive composer and arranger who is able to bring a fresh approach to the mainstream. For his eighth set as a leader for Criss Cross, the pianist brings his talents to the fore with three originals, including a dedicatory for Cedar. Rounding out the set are a few select standards including a new twist on Dizzy Gillespie's Tin Tin Deo. Longtime collaborators Eric Alexander (tenor sax), John Webber (bass), and Joe Farnsworth (drums) mix it up with expert vibist Steve Nelson for a colorful set that puts all of Hazeltine's wares on full display.

With Generations, his eighth Criss Cross outing as a leader, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin honors the legacy of the great Woody Shaw, with five stellar pieces from Shaw's repertoire and balancing the program with four originals. The quartet lineup here Sipiagin, guitarist Adam Rogers, bassist Boris Kozlov, drummer Antonio Sanchez at one time formed the core of the brilliant Michael Brecker Sextet. Together, these four players bring years worth of mutual collaborative experience to the music at hand. Woody Shaw himself appeared just once on Criss Cross, lending his extraordinary horn voice to Introducing Kenny Garrett (CRC 1014) in 1985. Shaw's influence has long been implicit in Sipiagin's playing - not only in the Russian-born trumpeter's work as a leader, but also in his scorching solos with Dave Holland's Big Band and Octet, the Mingus Big Band, the late Michael Brecker's Sextet and Quindectet and many more. With Generations Sipiagin makes his debt to Shaw more explicit, but he approaches these canonical works with his own individuality and imagination foremost in mind, in the determined spirit of Shaw's song title: Beyond All Limits.

For his sixth Criss Cross release, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin focuses more heavily on his own writing than on 2005's Returning. Clearly rooted in the jazz tradition, Sipiagin's compositions continue to evolve his distinctly modernistic approach to harmony, meter and form. Eminently approachable despite their inherent depth and complexity, Sipiagin's five compositions remain as focused and lyrical as his playing. Sipiagin reinvents Thelonious Monk's Epistrophy and Bill Evans' rarely covered Orbit (Unless It's You), both seamlessly fitting within his musical universe while remaining true to their essence. Prints is a definitive statement from an artist whose star continues to rise.

A fixture on the New York scene since 2003, when he accepted a scholarship at the Julliard School of Music, Norwegian guitarist Lage Lund, who won the prestigious Thelenoious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2005, displays what the the fuss is about on his Criss Cross debut. Featuring tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland, pianist Danny Grissett, bassist Orlando LeFleming and drummer Kendrick Scott.

Embarking on his fourth project for Criss Cross, guitarist Adam Rogers departs from the quartet and quintet formats he explored on prior outings. This time his preference is a pared-down trio session. The virtuosic bass playing of Scott Colley, who has appeared on every Rogers led session to date, provides aesthetic continuity. On drums is the sought-after Bill Stewart, an incisive and unpredictable musician who has graced Criss Cross sessions by Peter Bernstein, Jesse Van Ruller and Jonathan Kreisberg. Included are such standards as "Without a Song," "I Loves You, Porgy," "Night and Day" and "Young and Foolish." Rogers preserves the integrity of these timeless melodies even as he mines them for new harmonic and formal insights. Rogers also premieres four original compositions.

On his sixth Criss Cross leader date, saxophonist Tim Warfield reconvenes his bandmates - trumpeter extraordinaire Terell Stafford, Hammond B3 master Pat Bianchi, and Joey de Francesco's drummer-of-choice Byron Landham - from the 2007 date One for Shirley (CRC 1304) for an informed, soulful exploration of American songbook repertoire. A life-long Pennsylvanian, Warfield learned how to navigate such terrain during a long association with the legendary Philadelphia keyboardist Shirley Scott. He applies those lessons to great effect, unfailingly channeling technicalderring-do towards imperatives of emotional expression and swing.

On Wycliffe Gordon's eighth effort as a leader for Criss Cross the multi-talented former Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra trombonist who they call Cone teams up with versatile trumpeter Terell Stafford (aka Staff) in a brassy quintet with a smoking rhythm section that features label regulars, pianist Mike LeDonne and Kenny Washington (back from Gordon's previous date) and the gifted young bassist David Wong, making his first Criss Cross appearance. The players all shine, both individually and as a cohesive unit, on a appealing swing-to-bop program comprised of jazz originals and classics, standards and blues.

Quartet albums with trumpet as a lead voice are rare and only the most skilled improvisers can tackle such a challenge. In the tradition of iconic masterpieces as Lee Morgan's "Candy" or Kenny Dorham's "Quiet Kenny," Joe Magnarelli leads a quartet with pianist Gary Versace, bassist Paul Gill, and drummer Anthony Reedus through a diverse set that includes three Monk classics. Guitarist Peter Bernstein adds additional color on a few tracks, contributing to Magnarelli's most mature statement to date.

On his third Criss Cross date, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene presents a recital of originals and standards as Evidence and My Ideal, with a band of young New York A-listers: Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), Xavier Davis (piano), Reuben Rogers (bass), and Eric Harland (drums). Mixing an individual harmonic palette with an up-to-the-second rhythmic sensibility and an open mind, Greene and company produce a worthy follow up to 2004's Forever, a strong quartet session with Jeff "Tain" Watts.

Wycliffe Gordon's sixth effort for Criss Cross features the trombonist with the biggest sound around in a program comprised predominantly of original blues. Gordon demonstrates his mastery of that most versatile African American art form, playing slow, fast, sad, reverent and raucous variations, accompanied by his regular working trio of Jazz Messengers alumnus Johnny O'Neal at the piano and the New Orleans rhythm team of bassist Reginald Veal, and drummer Herlin Riley. Joining the quartet, making his Criss Cross debut, is Muskegon Heights and Michigan tenor saxophonist Stacy Dillard, whose deep dark soulful tone perfectly complements the similarly endowed leader.

On his second Criss Cross date, Herlin Riley, drummer with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra since 1992, assembles an all-star lineup from different eras of the band. The front line comprises Criss Cross veteran Wycliffe Gordon on trombone, Victor Goines on saxes and clarinet, and Wynton Marsalis, Riley's employer since 1988, on trumpet, with bassist Reginald Veal and pianist Eric Lewis, the band's youngster, rounding out the group. The sound is New Orleans, modern, touching on the legacy of such original Crescent City thinkers as James Black, Alvin Batiste and Ellis Marsalis; the execution is replete with nuance and sublime grooves.

In the grand tradition of such inspired pairings as Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis or Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, tenor titans Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart team up again as Reeds and Deeds for a new outing that again highlights the saxophonists' complementary styles. Ably supported by David Hazeltine, John Webber, and Joe Farnsworth the pair covers a smart mix of standards from the bossa strains of "Black Orpheus" to the soulful Ammons classic "Hittin the Jug."

Nurtured on bebop during long tenures with Art Blakey, Horace Silver and Phil Woods, trumpeter Brian Lynch has learned Latin music from the inside-out during two decades with Eddie Palmieri. Here Lynch and a state-of-the-art ensemble (Criss Cross veteran Ralph Bowen on tenor sax; Venezuelan pianist Luis Perdomo, piano; Russian bassist Boris Kozlov; Cubans Ernesto Simpson on trap drums and Roberto Quintero, percussion) perform 7 Lynch originals that blend the leader's ultra-sophisticated harmonic language with idiomatic Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and the standard "Invitation."

Grant Stewart's third Criss Cross date as a leader features the spirited interplay between the tenor saxophonist and his longtime band mate, guitarist Joe Cohn. Stewart's brawny, expressive solos contrast nicely with Cohn's fleet yet temperate lines. Supported by an active rhythm section, including star pianist Bill Charlap, bassist Paul Gill, and drummer Willie Jones III, Stewart and Cohn burn through a program of standards, plus an original composition by Cohn's father, jazz great Al Cohn.