05/25/13 By Steve Greenlee

Brad Goode
Chicago Red

Brad Goode, an accomplished trumpeter and jazz studies professor at the University of Colorado, has spent most of his career steeped in bop. But on Chicago Red he continues his more modern explorations, begun in 2008 with Polytonal Dance Party and the introduction...

05/25/13 By Christopher Loudon

Maucha Adnet & Helio Alves
Milagre
Zoho

Individually, vocalist Maucha Adnet and pianist Helio Alves boast impressive résumés. She has collaborated with Charlie Byrd, Dori Caymmi, Eliane Elias, Gilberto Gil and Toninho Horta, and spent a decade touring and recording with Antonio Carlos Jobim. He’s...

Jaleel Shaw The Soundtrack of Things to Come

05/24/13 By Philip Booth

The Soundtrack of Things to Come
Jaleel Shaw
Changu

How best to make a musical representation of a visual medium? That, in effect, was one challenge alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw faced when putting together The Soundtrack of Things to Come , the Philadelphia native’s rangy, accomplished third album as a leader...

05/24/13 By Aidan Levy

Thiefs
Thiefs
Melanine Harmonique

Self-described as a “grammatically incoherent jazz bastardization,” the trio Thiefs captures all of the tone of jazz but none of its grammar. Aligned rhythmically with drum-and-bass and modally with trance, the group adheres to so many different genre parameters...

The Magic of 2 Tommy Flanagan/Jaki Byard

05/23/13 By Lloyd Sachs

Tommy Flanagan/Jaki Byard
The Magic of 2

If, as anointed by the title of his acclaimed 1989 album, Tommy Flanagan was a Jazz Poet with his impeccable lyrical touch, Jaki Byard was a jazz prophet with his gift for shaping jazz’s future by gazing into its historical past. Teamed for the first and...

05/22/13 By Christopher Loudon

Ben Sidran
Don't Cry For No Hipster
Nardis

As pianist and vocalist Ben Sidran reminds us in the liner notes, “Anybody who self-identifies as a hipster is, by definition, not one.” Which would mean that Sidran, a card-carrying hipster of the first order, is declassifying himself with this album. Or...

05/22/13 By Aidan Levy

Arturo Stabile
Cuban Crosshatching
Origen

As the title indicates, this is not strictly an Afro-Cuban jazz record, but flits between styles, incorporating straight-ahead and Latin influences. Named for the artistic technique that uses parallel lines to create shading and depth, Arturo Stable’s varied...

05/22/13 By Christopher Loudon

Jan Shapiro
Piano Bar After Hours
Singing Empress

Hundreds of aspiring jazz singers, Tierney Sutton and Luciana Souza among them, have benefitted from Jan Shapiro’s Berklee classes. But Shapiro doesn’t just talk the talk. Before she began teaching full-time, the Missouri native established a solid career...

Live in New York at Jazz Standard Edward Simon Trio

05/21/13 By Thomas Conrad

Edward Simon Trio
Live in New York at Jazz Standard
Sunnyside

Edward Simon has been making good records for 20 years, and has released two previous piano trio albums with John Patitucci and Brian Blade. He has recorded all the tunes here before, at least once. But he has never made an album like At Jazz Standard...

05/21/13 By Mike Joyce

Mark Egan/Karl Latham/John Hart
Unit 1
Wavetone Records

Not that fans who’ve been following bassist Mark Egan’s long and remarkable career need reminding, but this leaderless ensemble’s recording debut is yet another illustration of just how well versed he is in the art of the electric trio. While flashes of...