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Grant Stewart Plays The Music of Duke Ellington And Billy Strayhorn (Sharp Nine). If you like the way Sonny Rollins played the tenor saxophone in 1955, you'll like the way Grant Stewart plays it now. Stewart masters the harmony, phrasing and tone that Rollins applied in Work Time and other albums of his classic Prestige period. The similarity is stunning on "Raincheck" and "It Don't Mean a Thing," but the younger man is not a clone. On ballads including "The Star Crossed Lovers," Stewart creates new melodies with thoughtfulness and conviction. His rhythmic urgency is compelling even at slow tempos.

Joe Lovano Us Five, Folk Art (Blue Note). As noted in the Rifftides coverage of the Portland Jazz Festival, the saxophonist's Us Five band is a playground of reaction and interaction among diverse but finely attuned musicians. The ages of the other band members, who include two drummers, no doubt average half of Lovano's. If they provide him inspiration and rhythmic fire, it works both ways. In spirit, the music is based in the post-Coltrane ethos of three decades ago. Lovano's energy, imagination and outsized personality make it distinctive. He dominates, but pianist James Weidman commands attention.

Daryl Sherman, Johnny Mercer: A Centennial Tribute (Arbors). So, you think you know all of Johnny Mercer? If you can recite the words to "The Bathtub Ran Over Again" and "Here Come the British," you probably do. Ms. Sherman also sings Mercer's lyrics to better-known songs, "Midnight Sun" and "Come Rain or Come Shine" among them. She accompanies herself and plays piano solos, with assistance from Jerry Dodgion, Wycliffe Gordon, Howard Alden, Jay Leonhart and Chuck Redd. Marian McPartland and Barbara Carroll make guest appearances in a collection of 14 Mercer songs splendidly performed.

Fred Hersch, Let Yourself Go (Aha!). This skillful documentary delves into what makes Hersch one of the most distinctive pianists of his generation. It includes generous sequences of his playing and his articulate reflections on music. Among other admirers, his teacher, Sophia Rosoff, discusses the "basic emotional rhythm" that sets Hersch apart. The film also explores Hersch's significance as one of the first major jazz artists to go public about his homosexuality and his infection with the HIV virus. For a six-minute trailer, go here.

Miller Williams, Time and the Tilting Earth (Louisiana). I have been a committed Williams fan since I first encountered his poetry in the 1960s. This little volume of new poems from late in his career is essence of Williams, a concentration of his brevity, warmth, wisdom, humor and absolute command of his craft. Williams' sense of wonder extends from the inner being to the cosmos. Much of his work suggests that they may be the same thing.

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam). Can generations nurtured on rock and roll learn to love music by a band configured like one out of the swing era? The answer delivered in this work of imagination, daring and resourcefulness is yes. Argue's textures, harmonies and uses of space and time place him alongside Maria Schneider, Ed Partyka and John Hollenbeck among intriguing young composer-leaders of the new century. His music incorporates funk, spunk and the brashness of punk into crafty uses of inheritances from Gil Evans, Bill Holman and Bob Brookmeyer. His band of young New Yorkers plays beautifully.

Bob Brookmeyer, Music for String Quartet and Orchestra (Challenge). Brookmeyer long since worked himself out of the compulsion to write edgy electronic music and acoustic music that sounds electronic. This gorgeous four-part work finds him in the tonal center of his composer's art. He conducts the formidable Metropole Orchestra and the Gustav Klimt String Quartet in a suite that melds the rhythmic sensibility of Brookmeyer's jazz mastery with his uncommon depth of orchestral understanding. Its range runs from gravity to pure fun. It is not jazz. It is not classical. It is Brookmeyer.

Bobby Sanabria, Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Kenya Revisited Live! (Jazzheads). Percussionist, leader and Latin music maven Sanabria puts the MSM band through the exhilirating paces of influential music recorded by Machito in 1957. Machito's Kenya is regarded as one of the milestones of Afro-Cuban music. Sanabria and company do it justice in this tribute concert before an enthusiastic audience. Candido Camero, who was on the 1957 album, is a guest on congas. On "Oyeme," alto saxophonist Vince Neto does a nice job in the slot originally filled by Cannonball Adderley."

Lenny Breau & Brad Terry Live at the Maine Festival (Art of Life). The genius guitarist and one of Breau's favorite duet partners, clarinetist and whistler Terry, are on camera for "Emily" and "Autumn Leaves" in a 1980 concert. They are heard but not seen for "Limehouse Blues" and "Make Someone Happy." The video quality is subaqueous, but clear enough for you to detect their enjoyment. The sound is okay in the video, excellent in the audio-only portions. The playing is inspired throughout. Bonus features include an interview with Terry and a complete Breau discography.

Ron Forbes-Roberts, One Long Tune: The Life And Music Of Lenny Breau (North Texas). Many guitarists consider Breau the world's greatest player of the instrument. In his short life, he left plenty of recorded confirmation that the claim might be true. Forbes-Roberts, himself a guitarist, traces Breau from his beginning as a child phenomenon to a senseless death in his early forties. He does a first-rate job of melding musical substance with Breau's astonishing story.