Now the Swiss pianist returns with Samares, his most diverse, enigmatic, and moody record to date.

In 1993, Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson – a jazz superstar called the Maharaja of the piano by Duke Ellington – suffered a stroke that called into question his ability to keep playing. But by the summer of 1994, he formed a new band, strode back onto European stages, and mounted a resounding comeback.

Ann Arbor and Detroit weren’t the only cities in Michigan that spawned high-octane Midwestern hard rock & roll.

Jazz quartet The Bad Plus continues its aggressive evolution on its latest album_Complex Emotions_.

The band put everything they had into their catchy, well-written songs, playing a classic rock & roll style like they invented it and couldn’t wait to show it off.

The now-retired Jarrett and ECM Records leader Manfred Eicher return to those recordings for another scoop.

It’s a genuine mystery why Edwards hasn’t achieved at least Robyn Hitchock or XTC levels of acclaim.

Pianist and composer Andrew Hill was an iconoclast, a remarkable musician who wrote weird, complex, brilliantly melodic pieces and presented them to musicians who knew exactly how to flow in and outside of the tunes.

Joined by regular partners Aaron Diehl (piano) and Harish Raghavan (bass), Sorey lets his hair down, so to speak, and just plays music he likes, without having the weight of having written them be part of the conversation.

It’s all been building up to this: Planetarium, a three-disk magnum opus, ten years in the making.

Underwater Detection Method puts the man known for quirky postpunk and art rock in the realm of space rock.

Keyboardist/bandleader Henry Hey, guitarist Chris McQueen, and their mates can clearly make anything into jazz.

Wingbeats, the eighth album from jazz trio Thumbscrew, is one of those records about which it’s difficult to write.

Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel returns to his classical roots with Etudes/Multitudes – well, sort of.

Seabrook goes it alone, gathering six- and twelve-string guitars, a tenor banjo, a cassette recorder, and a six-string guitar banjo from the 1920s to create his own eccentric sonic world.

Wilkins’ most ambitious album both in theme and artistic endeavor.

Trumpeter and composer Avishai Cohen continues his winning streak with Ashes to Gold.

Consisting of saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, pianist Craig Taborn, and drummer Ches Smith, Weird of Mouth can’t be anything but a free improvisational jazz trio.

The seventh in a nine album series entitled Man’ish Boy that’s dedicated to exploring mental health in the Black community, Legend of e’Boy (The Hypervigilant Eye) vibrates with an emotional intensity not often found on jazz records.

For the forthright Guilty!!! the subject matter is obvious: the 2024 election, and the madness that’s infused the path to get there.

Though he has a raft of recordings under his own name, saxophonist Eric Person made his bones as a steadfast member of drummer/talent scout Chico Hamilton’s band, as well as a stalwart presence in NYC’s “free funk” scene by way of Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society.

For Element of Light, his fifth album and first for the legendary label Candid, he brings it all together into one direction.

Drawing specifically on the spiritual jazz of Pharoah Sanders and the Coltranes and the European tradition of free improvisation, Flatten paints a landscape that undulates between heaven and hell, with violent sound blasts interrupted by flowing ocean waves.

Downes, Frisell, and Cyrille find a commonality in drone, as each musician channels their instruments into a forward drift towards a universal tone.

One might well wonder why saxophonist Walter Smith III gave his latest album such a literal title.

Saxophonist Miguel Zenon embarks on his most ambitious project yet on his latest album Golden City: no less than a tribute to the city of San Francisco.

Saxophonist Ivo Perelman continues his attempt to be the world’s most prolific free improviser with three new albums that continue established series, both putting the free jazz master in pairs with like-minded colleagues.

Despite coming from an era where his preferred milieu was so cheesy it should have been surrounded by mousetraps, Stern’s career has endured.

Mountains moves from hard bop to postbop to avant-big band and back again, showing off the musicians’ prowess without losing sight of the tune.

Dear Mr. Hill doesn’t showcase a gifted mimic – Wilcox is his own person.

Steve Wynn’s first solo album since 2010, Make It Right is a musical memoir that coincides with the release of I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, his literary one.

The arrangements lean away from the good-time bombast of a lot of big band music, with the horns used less as bludgeoning melody than lush orchestration.

When singer/songwriter/guitarist Michael Chapman died at 80 in 2021, he was working on an album entitled Another Fish, a sequel to his 2015 guitars ‘n’ effects album Fish.

Never an artist lacking ambition, trumpeter Marquis Hill came up with a cool idea for his latest album.

Forward-thinking Chicago flautist Nicole Mitchell and innovative Bamako (Mali) kora player Ballaké Sissoko have created something truly magnificent: a respectful, enthusiastic blend of artistic approaches.

The popularity of jazz polymaths Snarky Puppy made it safe for fusion musicians to get funky again – a situation of which King Llama takes full advantage on their second album fata implexis.

Imaginative and passionate, Zealous Angles is a great example of the kind of record that makes you think, “Daaaamn…I’d forgotten how good this person is.”

These top-flight players trade licks, blend textures, and revel in the spirit of group interplay and the sheer joy of making music together.

German jazz titan ECM continues its Luminessence vinyl reissues series with a pair of guitar gods from the 1970s.

The production quality of the average ECM release would sound great coming from a TDK cassette – on pristine vinyl it sounds as incredible as it does on CD, and in nice, full-size jackets to boot.

The combo of performing expertise and melodic feel might well break the brain of a well-rounded picker, but just as easily speaks to the heart of the non-musician.

Bassist/composer William Parker has music oozing from his soul at all times.

While never shy when it comes to spontaneity, Guidi finds a new kick coming from guest James Brandon Lewis.

The Los Angeleno may draw from tradition, but he doesn’t stick to it – instead he gives his wry tunes an arty spin that far more Sparks than Badfinger, more Bowie than Beatles.

London blends his usual swinging take on Jewish folk melodies with impressions from adventure jazz figures.

With such a solid band with whom to collaborate, Escreet can’t help but bring his triple-A game.

Recorded in Munich in 2004, September Night documents an especially fruitful show.

Nearly fifty years after their supposed heyday, the Hollywood Stars still have plenty left in the tank.