On his new recording, Violet Hour Live at Firehouse 12, Cleaver reconvenes this allstar ensemble for a rare performance and live recording at the New Haven, Connecticut venue. Violet Hour was first assembled for Cleaver's 2008 recording Detroit and features some of the most inspiring instrumentalists that have come into the drummer's orbit, most of them also hailing from or having connections to Cleaver's home town of Detroit, the state of Michigan or the Midwest. The ensemble is made up of some of the best and most in demand musicians in jazz, all questing souls who fortunately managed to cross paths in New York City.

The Cuban-American pianist and composer Aruan Ortiz has finally arrived on the international jazz scene, following a few earlier releases. His excellent new album "Hidden Voices" recorded as a trio with bass player Eric Revis and drummer Gerald Cleaver is the proof. Ortiz, who grew up in Santiago de Cuba, has been called the latest Cuban prodigy to arrive in the US. His carefully structured music is an exciting mix of contemporary classical sounds, afro-Cuban rhythms and powerful jazz improvisation. All these elements are fused to make a very individual sound. "I was thinking about this album as a circle with no beginning and no end," says Aruan Ortiz. After working with seven original works as well as tunes by Ornette Coleman and Thelonious Monk, the 42-year-old has turned to a traditional song "Uno, Dos y Tres, Que Paso Mas Chevere," that "everybody in Cuba knows from festivities and carnivals."

Gebhard Ullmann celebrates twenty years of his band Basement Research with a striking new CD. Featuring the renowned multi-instrumentalist as well as trombonist Steve Swell, saxophonist Julian Argüelles, bassist Pascal Niggenkemper, and drummer Gerald Cleaver, the band's seventh CD showcases improvisers at the top of their game, with Ullmann's rich, dynamic compositions.