This is pianist David Kikoski's seventh and perhaps most ambitious recording for Criss Cross. Helping the leader navigate seven harmonically rich originals with melodies that stick are tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake, who performed on two previous Kikoski quartet sessions, and the incomparable bass-drum team of Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart, each a musician with tonal personalities defined by limitless imagination. All are in peak form.

Burnouts, ballads and the blues coexist felicitously on drummer Adonis Rose's third Criss Cross date, on the Verge. As he did on Song for Donise and the Unity, the New Orleans born drummer deploys former boss Nicholas Payton and ex-Payton Quintet members, tenorist Tim Warfield and bassist Reuben Rogers, augmenting the group with pianist Aaron Goldberg and vibraphonist Warren Wolf, his former front-line partners in Payton's quintet. Rose knits together the proceedings with fluid, precisely executed grooves, dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's.

Like a well - wrought character in a Hollywood movie, Standards From Film, guitarist Mike Moreno's fourth Criss Cross album, exists atop a solid, cogent back story. Recorded in December 2021, when the world and New York City - Houston-born Moreno's home for more than two decades - were no longer on COVID lockdown, it documents the leader's exhaustive investigations into the provenance of ten iconic standards that, as he puts it, "are the summer jazz workshop tunes" - they say you have to learn these songs if you want to be a jazz musician. You learn them very young or in the beginning days of your journey into this music. The album was recorded December 22, 2021 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in NY. Recording engineer Mike Marciano also did the editing, mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NY. Vinyl remastering has also been done by Mike Marciano at Systems Two In NY. The album originally has been released on CD October 22, 2022 (Criss Cross 1410 CD)

On his Criss Cross debut New Adventures, Victor Goines, a long standing member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Director of the Jazz Department at New York's prestigious Juilliard School of Music, presented his swaggering, romantic approach to the tenor saxophone and his pure melodic concept on the soprano. On Love Dance, the excellent follow-up, joined by pianist Peter Martin, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson, each an A-lister of modern swing, Goines focuses more on the clarinet, which he plays with assured virtuosity and creative flair. He developed an international reputation on the instrument during his tenure with the Wynton Marsalis Septet, but also uncorks a series of authoritative tenor improvisations.

Pianist David Hazeltine has a history with Criss Cross. To be specific, between 1995 and 2010, Gerry Teekens, the label's founder, presented eight albums on which Hazeltine led trios, quartets and quintets featuring his impeccable, individualistic pianism, original compositions and arrangements; another five with the cooperative all-star sextet One For All (tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, trombonist Steve Davis, trumpeter Jim Rotondi, bassists Peter Washington or John Webber, and drummer Joe Farnsworth), whose grooving, harmonically acute charts bear his stamp; and another 17 as a sideman with the aforementioned luminaries, trumpeter Brian Lynch, alto saxophonist Jim Snidero, and other high-level jazzfolk who now hold pride of place in the hardcore jazz ecosystem.Hazeltine returns to the fold with Blues For Gerry, his first Criss Cross leader date since Inversions (2010, Criss 1326), a lovely quintet date that included Alexander and vibraphonist Steve Nelson. Recorded in a single six-hour session on December 1, 2022, it's his third state of the art trio recital for Criss Cross with modern masters Peter Washington and Joe Farnsworth, following the equally accomplished Perambulation (2005, Criss 1276) and Close To You (2003, Criss 1247).The album was recorded December 1, 2022 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in NY. Recording engineer Mike Marciano also did the editing, mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NY. Photography by Anna Yatskevich.

Brazilian influenced rhythms, loose-limbed swing and secondline groove are all part of Joel Weiskopf's fourth Criss Cross session as a leader. His incisive piano improvisations are enhanced by two of the label's star sidemen, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Eric Harland, each of whom also take advantage of a plentiful amount of solo space. The program includes Weiskopf's melodically opulent compositions, the standard You Must Believe in Spring, the spiritual Wondrous Love, and a rousing rendition of Martin Luther's hymn a Mighty Fortress.

For his debut recording, Los Angeles-born pianist Danny Grissett, who played frequently in 2004-05 with such artists as Vincent Herring, Tom Harrell and Nicholas Payton, displays his mastery of the piano trio function. Joined by Vicente Archer (bass), his frequent partner in Payton's quartet, and drummer Kendrick Scott, best known for his work with Terence Blanchard in recent years, Grissett uncorks a polished set of standards (Autumn Nocturne, Everything Happens to Me, Moment's Notice, You Must Believe in Spring) and well-wrought originals.

John Escreet's Criss Cross debut is one of the singular recordings in the Criss Cross catalog. Out of Doncaster, England, and a New Yorker since 2006, the 26-year-old pianist-composer deploys the talents of New York first-callers David Binney, who incorporates live electronics into the flow as well as his alto sax, Eivind Opsvik on bass, and Nasheet Waits on drums. Synthesizing a broad template of sources into his own sonic vision, Escreet presents a stimulating, kinetic, heady program that solidifies his reputation as a musical ground breaker rooted in the verities of groove and high craft.

INTRODUCING OPUS 5

On his Criss Cross leader debut, Transitions, guitarist David Gilmore pays tribute to recently deceased masters Bobby Hutcherson, Toots Thielemans and Victor Bailey, the legendary trumpeter Woody Shaw, and living elders Annette Peacock and Hermeto Pascoal, by interpreting their music along with two original compositions. Joined by a top-shelf New York quartet comprising tenor saxophonist Mark Shim, pianist Victor Gould, bassist Carlo DeRosa and drummer E.J. Strickland (vibraphonist Bill Ware plays on Hutcherson's "Farallone"; harmonicist Gregoire Maret plays on Thieleman's "Bluesette"), Gilmore navigates both the acoustic and plugged-in spaces with equal fluency, showcasing his lovely sound, improvisational prowess and focused intention within an array of stylistic formats.

Lovabye follows Groover's formidable first full-length album, Negro Spiritual Songbook, Vol. 2 (The Message), performed by his excellent Boston band in quartet or quintet configurations, contains Groover's arrangements of, as he then wrote, "Black America's praise music through jazz's evolving language to produce a radical theology that connects you to a higher power, ". Recorded in August 2019, it was released two years later, as society unwound from the Covid-19 pandemic. During the lockdown, Groover had generated a group of "love songs and songs of people I love." In spring 2023, he brought this music to Walter Smith III, who Groover had idolized as a teenager, and is now his friend and colleague at Berklee School of Music, their mutual alma mater, where Groover serves as Assistant Chair of the Ensemble Department. "I told Walter I'd like to play with some of my other heroes and peers, " Groover recalls. "He said, 'What's stopping you? The music is there.' Luckily for me, everyone who I wanted to record with was available and happy to do it." The Album was recorded August 16, 2023 at the GSI Studios, NYC. Producer Walter Smith III. Recording engineer Chris Allen. Sound engineer Mike Marciano did the mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NYC. Photography by Saito Ogata.

On his third Criss Cross leader date, Mike Moreno convenes drummer Kendrick Scott, who played on his fellow Houstonian's prior Criss Cross outings (Third Wish and First In Mind) and bassist Doug Weiss, who played on Third Wish. They frame the 39-year-old guitarist's sui generis tonal on a program culled from the corpuses of a multigenerational cohort of heroes: jazz songs by Charlie Parker("Perhaps'), Wayne Shorter ("The Big Push"), Joe Henderson ("Serenity") and Mulgrew Miller ("For Those Who Do"); Songbook gems by Michel Legrand "You Must Believe In Spring"), Johnny Mandel ("A Time For Love") and Vernon Duke ("April In Paris"); plus one apiece by Radiohead ("Glass Eyes") and Lo Borges ("Clube Da Esquina M.1").

Since his first appearance on record (Randy Brecker's album, In the Idiom), pianist David Kikoski has demonstrated an infinite capacity to swing, a rare sensitivity as a ballad interpreter and genuine harmonic savvy as a composer. He delivers once again on all counts on Kayemode.

Like it's predecessor, Painter of Dreams features two highly reworked standards along with six recent melody-forward compositions, to which Tsiganov applies his signature blend of radical reharmonization, mixed meters, shifting tempos, and changing keys. Otherwise, this ambitious recital presents documents several "firsts." For one thing, Tsiganov expands beyond the saxophone-trumpet-piano-bass-drums format, scoring five of the eight selections for either three or four horns. For another, he broadens his tonal palette beyond the almost entirely acoustic soundscape of his prior Criss Cross oeuvre, liberally weaving the Rhodes and Minimoog into the flow, as well as the preternaturally flexible voice of Hiske Oosterwijk, who also contributes two lyrics. Also, for the first time as a leader, Tsiganov augments the luminous trumpeter-flugelhornist (and 13-time Criss Cross leader) Alex Sipiagin on the front line with alto sax titan Miguel Zen�n, who plays for the entirety of the proceedings, and - on three pieces - the transcendent Chris Potter on tenor and soprano saxophones.

In 2021 Criss Cross owner Jerry Teekens called to ascertain Lund's interest in making another album. For Lund, 45 when the Most Peculiar session transpired in June 2022, the offer was an opportunity to reunite with a band he launched in 2014. Pianist Sullivan Fortner (35) and drummer Tyshawn Sorey (41), both among the most gifted practitioners ever to improvise on their respective instruments, contributed their unique mojo to Lund's 2019 Criss-Cross release, Terrible Animals. Virtuoso bassist Matt Brewer (39), played on Lund's first leader date in 2006, had Lund play guitar on his own Criss Cross debut (Mythology-Criss 1373), and recently played on a Lund trio covers recital. The Album was recorded June 17, 2022 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in Astoria, New York. Recording engineer Mike Marciano also did the editing, mixing and mastering at Systems Two Studio in New York. Photography by Anna Yatskevich.

By titling his eighth Criss Cross album Over Here!, trumpeter Jim Rotondi picks up on the sentiments he signified with The Move, his seventh for the label. "It doesn't necessarily mean moving somewhere else, but rather returning home, playing tunes with a lot of straight-ahead swing and interesting chord sequences with guys I'm comfortable with, " Rotondi stated in the liner notes I wrote for that kinetic 2009 recital. The Album was recorded May 10, 2023 at the Artesuono Recording Studio in Udine (Italy). Recording engineer Mike Marciano did the editing, mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NY. Photography by Mauro Cionci

Manuel Valera advises his students at New York University to write music every day. "I tell them that composition is essentially another instrument - the more you practice, the better you get at it," says the 42-year-old piano master, who, by his count, has generated some 200 recorded pieces since he entered the fray in the early aughts. Vessel, Valera's second album for Criss Cross, showcases eight recent works, each "honoring a different person who's influenced my music." Valera made it last December, nine years after presenting another eight originals on In Motion [Criss-Cross 1372] which featured a slamming iteration of his New Cuban Express ensemble, whose eponymous first CD had earned a 2013 Grammy nomination for "Best Latin Jazz Album." The pieces on that straight-eighth oriented session mixed elements from various Afro-Cuban dialects with postbop, fusion jazz, funk and R&B, incorporating intricate beat modulation, odd meters, and intriguing ensemble color. Valera's preternatur

With Sky Continuous, Downbeat Critics Poll Winner 2022 (Rising Star Alto Sax) Noah Preminger, presents his 3rd album as a leader for Criss Cross. Sky Continuous is an exceptionally compelling trio recital with bass virtuoso Kim Cass, who has performed on 10 of Preminger's 11 prior albums (including Criss Cross releases Genuinity and After Life) and drumset Bill Stewart, who had never before shared a bandstand with Preminger. The music, which includes eight Preminger originals, is logically structured but adventurous and open - ended. The Album was recorded November 9, 2021 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in NY. Recording engineer Mike Marciano also did the editing, mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NY.

Since he emigrated to the United States from Russia in 1991, Alex Sipiagin has earned an exalted international reputation as a no-technical-limits improvisor, sustaining a gorgeous sound throughout the trumpet's registral range, navigating harmonic and rhythmic complexity with precision, passion, and abiding lyricism. Most of Sipiagin's 12 previous albums for Criss Cross also showcase his contrapuntal, harmonically comprehensive compositions, full of interesting melodic twists and turns. On them, the projects the same voice that he improvises with but written out for more instruments. For his 13th Criss Cross date, Mel's Vision, the 55-year-old master - joined by A-listers tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, pianist David kikoski, bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Johnathan Blake - contributes two wonderful originals. But Alex addresses the session primarily as an opportunity to focus on interpreting music by others - a song by Potter, a Ukrainian folk song and four rarely covered gems from the jazz canon. The Album was recorded April 22, 2021 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in NY. Recording engineer Mike Marciano also did the editing, mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NY. Photography by Anna Yatskevich

Like a well - wrought character in a Hollywood movie, Standards From Film, guitarist Mike Moreno's fourth Criss Cross album, exists atop a solid, cogent back story. Recorded in December 2021, when the world and New York City - Houston-born Moreno's home for more than two decades - were no longer on COVID lockdown, it documents the leader's exhaustive investigations into the provenance of ten iconic standards that, as he puts it, "are the summer jazz workshop tunes" - they say you have to learn these songs if you want to be a jazz musician. You learn them very young or in the beginning days of your journey into this music. The Album was recorded December 22, 2021 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in NY. Recording engineer Mike Marciano also did the editing, mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NY.

Tenor saxophonist's quartet w. Mike LeDonne on piano, Dennis Irwin on bass, and Kenny Washington on drums, recorded Dec. 17, 1991. (Previously deleted 5/1/08. Original release date: Pre-2000)

Greg Gisbert-tpt, Chris Potter-ts & as, John Campbell-pno, Dwayne Burno-bs, Gregory Hutchinson-dms. (Previously deleted 4/1/12. Original release date: 5/16/94)

For his second Criss Cross leader date, Will Vinson presents one of the most venturesome albums in the label's long and distinguished catalog.Joined by world class partners Antonio Sanchez on drums and Gilad Hekselman on guitar, the alto saxophone master navigates four originals and four pearls from the Great American Songbook with melodic focus, rhythmic legerdemain and an open spirit, matched every step of the way by his ingenious band mates.

Misha Tsiganov, who lived in Leningrad in the former Soviet Union until he emigrated to the U.S. in 1991, has never shied away from a challenge. That's apparent from the level's of complexity that Tsiganov embeds in the 18 arrangements and 9 originals on his three prior Criss Cross Albums. As written in the liner notes for the album Spring Feelings, Tsiganov has established a signature blend of mixed meters, shifting tempos, changing keys and re-harmonization that he deploys in order to insure 'that something is happening', so the listener doesn't fall asleep. Tsiganov's latest, Misha's Wishes, doesn't eschew technical complexity. But the feel of this sophisticated, emotionally nuanced program - performed by old friends Alex Sipiagin, Seamus Blake, Boris Kozlov and Donald Edwards, with whom Misha Tsiganov feels such simpatico is different than it's predecessors. The Album was recorded September 9, 2021 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in NY. Mike Marciano did the editing, mixing and mastering.

Recorded February 5, 1986, vibraphonist's trio w. Cedar Walton, David Williams and Billy Higgins.