For her new album Plateaux, Clara Haberkamp chooses to work with infinitely subtle, high-caliber performers from a slightly older generation: bassist Oliver Potratz is one of the most sought-after instrumentalists in Germany; Jarle Vespestad has many years of experience with Farmers Market and Tord Gustavsen's trio. Each of them has released over 100 albums.

Keeping a band together, particularly among the mercurial community of jazz musicians, is no small feat. Other gigs beckon. Life outside of making art takes precedence. It’s a reality that makes the continued existence and progression of Portland quintet Blue Cranes feel so momentous. The ensemble — saxophonists Reed Wallsmith and Joe Cunningham, drummer Ji Tanzer, keyboardist Rebecca Sanborn, and bassist Jon Shaw — has been working together in a variety of formats since 2004, creating a solid body of work that has connected them to both the traditional sounds and the future-minded artists of their chosen genre.

The Finnish artist’s solo selection of delicate and ethereal compositions for piano, electronics and the incredible, one-of-a-kind Omniwerk.

​On his third album as a leader, Belgian pianist Joachim Caffonnette deepens and refines his textural approach, carefully balancing between the impressionist influences and the bebop legacy that are typical of his very personal signature. « Extended » is meant as a projection of his writing and his ideals through various instrumental ensembles that stimulate meetings and spontaneity.Here, he surrounds himself with top-notch musicians, including New Orleans-based double bassist Jasen Weaver, Israeli drummer Noam Israeli, who has been based in New York for several years, and guest virtuoso trumpeter Hermon Mehari, originally from Kansas City.

An ECM artist for his entire musical career, US guitarist Ralph Towner has built up a unique body of work in his recordings for the label. Central to his oeuvre are his solo albums, the first of which, Diary, was issued 50 years ago. At First Light extends this great tradition, drawing inspiration from a broad palette of music. “My solo recordings have always included my own compositions in which there are trace elements of the many composers and musicians that have attracted me,” writes Towner in a liner note, citing the influence of, among others, George Gershwin, John Coltrane, John Dowland and Bill Evans: “I feel that At First Light is a good example of shaping this expanse of influences into my personal music.” In addition to his own pieces, Towner also plays Hoagy Carmichael’s “Little Old Lady”, Jule Styne’s “Make Someone Happy” and the traditional tune “Danny Boy.” Recorded at Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano, in February 2022, At First Light was produced by Manfred Eicher.

Since 2014, drummer/bandleader Robert Sput Searight and percussionist Nate Werth have led an incredible collective of musicians brought together as a groove-based funk, hip-hop and jazz group which has amassed a global audience. With Mustard n’Onions – the follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed Swagism – the band brings the funk to new levels with an album of originals featuring bassist MonoNeon (Prince), keyboardist Dominique Xavier Taplin (Toto), saxophonist/arranger Sylvester “Sly5thave'' Onyejiaka and more alongside special guest keyboardist and legend Bernard Wright.

How ‘bout another film? After Rollin', here’s Truffaz again with Clap!, the second installment in his cinema stories, repeating the miracle of substituting his own images for those conjured up by the original soundtracks. Or, as director Bruno Nuyten puts it: “Beyond the memories of the films that are mentioned, Erik Truffaz’s interpretation opens the imagination to other films that have never been made”. Nicely put.

It might be tempting to dismiss this Ralph Towner effort as New Age fluff, but the music is so gorgeous that any such considerations fall to the wayside. Yet the wayside is precisely where Towner sets his sights, which is to say that his interest lies in edges where musical idioms meet. He explores these lines, not unlike the blotted cover, with an ease of diction at the fret board that is recognizable and comforting. Drummer Peter Erskine shares the bill, but Towner adds a few synth touches for broader effect, as in “The Sigh,” which opens the session in a cleft of fluid energy.

The album "Central Park’s Mosaic of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens" is a remarkable convergence of two kindred musical spirits -trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith and newly minted NEA Jazz Master pianist and organist Amina Claudine Myers. This extraordinary collaboration marks the master musicians’ first recorded collaboration, resulting in one of the most anticipated releases of the year. The album is a testament to the enduring power of artistic connection and the evolution of musical mastery.

Creating sublime musical structures over the last five decades, where risk-taking, rhythmic rapport, and giving of oneself to the music are the essence, legendary bassist David Friesen's music continues to reach new pinnacles of profound expression. On disc one, his long-touring, closely knit trio with saxophonist Joe Manis and drummer Charlie Doggett went into a Portland studio to record 13 new works by Friesen. Disc Two, with Manis and Australia-based drummer, Reuben Bradley, is a bristling live performance from Vienna's Porgy & Bess jazz club during their Spring 2019 European tour. Thriving on selfless awareness and their uncanny compatibility, the trio's joyful interactions offer surprise, beauty, and depth at every turn.

Flat Earth Society Orchestra (FES) is approaching a quarter-century of unreliable music production, with a mission that remains burningly topical and a role that is still not played out. On The One, the indomitable Belgian institute takes on the single-mindedness of truth. In a maddening world of jumbling perspectives, bawling personalities and hunger for comprehension, "The One" has become the highest good. One truth, one clarity, one version, one story.

Recorded live at the Frankfurt Art Rock Festival in 1989 and at The Knitting Factory in 1990, this duo performed a handful of times in NYC, at a few festivals in Europe, and one time in Tokyo. Some tunes are stripped down to piano and guitar, others utilize drum machines, samplers and sequencers to fill out the arrangements. The music still sounds fresh, and serves as a portrait of an era, and just how unique this collaboration was.

While the jazz fascists (read: purists) may be screaming "sellout" because Diana Krall decided to record something other than standards this time out, the rest of us can enjoy the considerable fruit of her labors. The Girl in the Other Room is, without question, a jazz record in the same manner her other outings are. The fact that it isn't made up of musty and dusty "classics" may irk the narrow-minded and reactionary, but it doesn't change the fact that this bold recording is a jazz record made with care, creativity, and a wonderfully intimate aesthetic fueling its 12 songs. Produced by Tommy LiPuma and Krall, the non-original material ranges from the Mississippi-fueled jazzed-up blues of Mose Allison's "Stop This World" to contemporary songs that are reinvented in Krall's image by Tom Waits ("Temptation"), Joni Mitchell ("Black Crow"), Chris Smither ("Love Me Like a Man"), and her husband, Elvis Costello ("Almost Blue").