Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow, CBTrios (ECM)

Trios concentrates the essence of understanding that Bley, Sheppard and Swallow have developed over two decades of collaboration. She recorded the album’s five pieces in various configurations on earlier albums, but the spare instrumentation of her piano, Sheppard’s saxophones and Swallow’s bass creates space for leisurely exploration of the deep harmonic possibilities in her compositions. Most of all, though, melody is what dominates these performances—intriguing melodies like those of “Utviklingssang,” “Vashkar” and others written by Bley—but also those invented by Sheppard, a great tenor saxophonist. Swallow long since, in effect, remade the electric bass. He solos with the facility of a guitarist and, as in the first movement of “Les Trois Lagons (d’après Henri Matisse),” can create walking bass lines that make you want to dance. This album has become a habit around here.

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Art Tatum, God Is In The House (High Note)

The title comes from what Fats Waller said when he saw Art Tatum walk into a club where Waller was playing. Dan Morgenstern tells the story in his notes for this essential collection, “…he stopped the music and announced: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I play the piano, but God is in the house tonight.’” Tatum was Waller’s primary inspiration. The master had no hesitation about paying obeisance to the student. Using a disc recorder, Jerry Newman captured the incredible pianist in Harlem clubs in 1940 and ‘41. The music on this album is not a recent discovery. Don Schlitten released it as an LP on his Onyx label in 1973. The High Note CD has been available since 1998. I’m recommending it now it out of concern that some of you may have deprived yourselves of these indispensible snapshots of Tatum’s genius.

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Jimmy Greene, Beautiful Life (Mack Avenue)

The album opens with saxophonist Jimmy Greene’s 6-year-old daughter Ana angelically singing “Come Thou Almighty King” at a 2011 family Christmas celebration. A year later Ana was one of the 26 pupils and teachers murdered in the assault on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. In his notes, Mr. Greene stresses that the album is in memory not of how she died, but of “how she lived, lovingly, faithfully and joyfully.” Joining him in the tribute to Ana are pianists Renee Rosnes, Kenny Barron and Cyrus Chestnut; guitarist Pat Metheny; vocalists Kurt Elling, Latanya Farrell and Javier Colon; bassist Christian McBride; drummer Lewis Nash; strings of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra; voice actress Anika Noni Rose; and a children’s choir of Ana’s classmates from the period when the Greenes lived in Winnipeg, Canada. This memorial is indescribably moving and, yes, joyful.

The Pleasures Of Being Out Of Step: Notes On The Life Of Nat Hentoff (First Run Features)

In his 89 years, Nat Hentoff has melded defense of the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution with his love of jazz. His writings on those passions have made him a powerful voice in music journalism and in the turbulent arena populated by those who debate what the American founders intended in the Bill of Rights. This David L. Lewis film presents Hentoff reflecting—often wryly—on his life as a reporter, columnist, critic, writer of books and record producer. It has musicians, politicians, civil libertarians, family, friends and colleagues reflecting on Hentoff and his importance. Lewis integrates music by Ellington, Mingus, Parker and Coltrane, among others. Along the way we meet Lenny Bruce, Bob Dylan, William F. Buckley, Jr., Amiri Baraka, and others whose lives have intersected with Hentoff’s. (DVD release January 6.)

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Edward Simon, Venezuelan Suite (Sunnyside)

Few jazz albums have been devoted to the music of Venezuela. Victor Feldman’s superb The Venezuelan Joropo (1967) was an exception. Latin musicians were impressed with the authenticity that Feldman achieved using Los Angeles colleagues to interpret traditional Venezuelan music. When it comes to authenticity, however, Edward Simon has an advantage. He is a native of Venezuela who has established himself in the US as a versatile pianist, composer and arranger. Venezuelan Suite has four parts named for cities or regions in the country. Each section uses typical rhythms or song forms. “Caracas,” for instance, is a meringue, “Barinas” a joropo, the dance rhythm that also inspired Feldman. The instrumentation incorporates flute, harp and percussion, all essential to Venezuelan music. Simon, tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, flutist Marcos Granados, bass clarinetist John Ellis and drummer Adam Cruz are among the stars of this delightful album.

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Holly Hofmann, Low Life (Capri)

Holly Hofmann made her reputation concentrating on the C flute, an instrument whose flexibility and three-octave range are suited to her customary orientation toward the bop tradition. Here, she sets it aside in favor of its relative the alto flute. Pitched in G, the alto is capable of bewitching resonance and dynamic presence at the low end of its range. Ms. Hofmann takes full advantage of those qualities in a collection that tends toward romanticism tinged with a bluesy, minor sensibility. Her collaborators are pianist Mike Wofford, bassist John Clayton, guitarist Anthony Wilson and drummer Jeff Hamilton. Wilson’s composition “Jack of Hearts” and Clayton’s “Touch The Fog” are highlights. Ms. Hofmann’s deceptively simple-sounding “Lumière de la Vie,” in four time signatures; and Pat Metheny’s modern classic “Farmer’s Trust” linger in the mind. This album casts a spell.

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Alan Broadbent, Just One Of Those Things (Edition Longplay)

This week’s recommendation is included in the December 15, 2014, roundup titled Recent Listening, Vinyly…. To see it, please go here.

Dayna Stephens, Peace (Sunnyside)

With blissful slowness, Stephens explores ballads in the company of superior sidemen. On soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones, he plumbs the emotional and harmonic content of 11 songs. Among them are Horace Silver’s title tune, Dave Brubeck’s “The Duke,” two Ennio Morriconne film themes and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Zingaro.” In “Body and Soul, with spare accompaniment by Larry Grenadier’s bass, Stephens’ baritone playing emphasizes the brilliance of Johnny Green’s melody. The two are equally effective on “Moonglow.” Grenadier, pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Eric Harland enrich “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” On tenor, Stephens gives Astor Piazzolla’s tango “Oblivion” a thoughtful straight reading of the melody and a rangy improvisation, with striking solos by Grenadier and guitarist Julian Lage. Engineered fades on two tracks seem like copouts, but they are minor flaws in the album’s charm.

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Hush Point, Blues And Reds (Sunnyside)

Suspended ageless between neo-traditionalism and the iconoclasm of free jazz, trumpeter John McNeil and alto saxophonist Jeremy Udden continue adventures in the Shangri-La of their pianoless quartet. Blues And Reds picks up more or less where the first Hush Point album left off in 2013, but with even more attention to sound dynamics, and with deepened symbiosis between the horns. Replacing Vinnie Sperrazza, drummer Anthony Pinciotti brings his own brand of intensity. Four of the pieces are by McNeil, five by Udden, one by bassist Aryeh Kobrinsky. Because of the spare instrumentation, listeners may at times remember Gerry Mulligan, Jimmy Giuffre or Ornette Coleman. The music manages to be at once stimulating and relaxing. With its whimsy and precision, Kobrinsky’s title tune is, for lack of a better term, a hoot.

Zoot Sims, Down Home (Bethlehem)

One of the later albums in Bethlehem’s reissue series presents the tenor saxophonist in a rollicking 1960 quartet session. Sims and pianist Dave McKenna were often together in the New York loft scene of the fifties and sixties. Bassist George Tucker broke in with Earl Bostic, Sonny Stitt and John Coltrane. Drummer Dannie Richmond was most often employed with Charles Mingus. What might have seemed an unlikely combination of musicians from different branches of modern jazz melded into a hard-swinging date. The repertoire comes from the Basie book, standard songs and inevitably—given the predelictions of the players—a down-home blues. In another important Bethlehem reissue, Sims joins fellow tenor man Booker Ervin in Ervin’s own album with Tucker, Richmond, pianist Tommy Flanagan and trumpeter Tommy Turrentine. The series is now up to 25 albums.

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Art Jackson: Underground Masterpiece (Independent)

The CD is in general release, and its title claim of masterpiece status could be
questioned. Nonetheless, it is impressive music from contemporary Latin bands arranged and led by Jackson. From track to track, the groups range in size from a percussion-voice trio to a nine-piece ensemble. The musicians include some of the west coast’s most able Latin and studio musicians, among them drummer Alex Acuña, pianist John Beasley, tenor saxophonist Justo Almario and trumpeters Sal Cracchiolo and Bill Ortiz. The Brazilian singer Kátia Moraes makes just one appearance, but she comes close to stealing the show with the intensity of her performance in João Bosco and Aldir Blanc’s modern classic “Incompatibilidade.” Trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos stands out in a kaleidoscopic arrangement of “Love For Sale that borrows from Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez.” Another highlight: Horace Silver’s “Cape Verdean Blues.”

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Dee Daniels, Intimate Conversations (Origin)

Accompanied only by Martin Wind’s forthright bass lines, the singer sets her story-telling course with the imperishable 84-year-old “Exactly Like You.” She and Wind are so convincing again in “I Wish You Love” that this listener found himself wishing for an entire album with just the two of them. However, Daniels is equally effective accompanying herself on piano and coloring “All The Way” with blues feeling as Wycliffe Gordon provides wa-wa trombone commentary. There are other closely held partnerships with clarinetist Ken Peplowski, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, guitarist Russell Malone, electric keyboardist Ted Brancato and tenor saxophonists Houston Person and Bob Kindred. Her and Person’s “A Song For You” may make you forget Leon Russell. Daniels is a superb vocal actress who understands phrasing, vibrato, gospel and the blues. She conducts 10 conversations that are compelling, dramatic and, yes, intimate.

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Ali Jackson, Amalgamations (Sunnyside)

In this appropriately titled collection, the irrepressible drummer and 13 colleagues from the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra and elsewhere combine in groups as small as two. Jackson’s precision and drive stimulate trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, pianist Eldar Djangirov and saxophonists JD Allen and Ted Nash, among others. Performances include the laconic “Done Tol’ You Fo’ Five Times” in which trombonist Vincent Gardner and electric pianist Jonathan Batiste supply Mumbles-ish vocalise. Marsalis blazes through the chords, but not the melody, of “Cherokee” accompanied by Jackson’s brushes and Carlos Henriquez’s acoustic bass. Nash shines in a refractive alto saxophone solo in Joe Henderson’s “Inner Urge.” On tenor sax, Allen and Djangirov glide through Cole Porter’s “I Love You.” Throughout 11 pieces, Jackson is a dynamo—reacting, interacting, inspiring all hands.

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Mark Turner, Lathe Of Heaven (ECM)

The tenor saxophonist bases the CD’s title on an Ursula K. LeGuin sci-fi novel in which dreams seem to change reality. Her story line turns on unclear perceptions, but Turner’s music is unambiguous in its extension of modern mainstream jazz tradition. Though the harmonized lines he plays with trumpeter Avishai Cohen bear intimations of Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter, Turner’s compositions and the emotional unity of the quartet’s playing, particularly in “Sonnet for Stevie,” have individuality rooted in his fealty to maintaining the purity of the blues. Without being depressing, the music has an attractive atmosphere of melancholia. The interaction of Turner, Cohen, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore approaches ESP. This splendid collection is Turner’s first album as a leader since his Dharma Days of 2001. It’s high time.

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The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Over Time: Music of Bob Brookmeyer (Planet Arts)

This is the album Bob Brookmeyer was preparing for the Vanguard orchestra before he died at the end of 2011. As a composer and arranger, Brookmeyer was a creative force in the Vanguard’s predecessor, the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, and its forerunner, the big band co-led by Lewis and Thad Jones. With Jones-Lewis, he was also a principal soloist, on valve trombone. Brookmeyer’s rich history with all of the band’s iterations made him intimately familiar with the styles, capabilities and peculiarities of its members. The album demonstrates not only his understanding of the organization and its players, but also their nonpareil ability to interpret every subtlety, profundity and humorous turn of his writing. Among the superb soloists for whom he made new pieces are Rich Perry, Scott Wendholt, Ralph Lalama, Gary Smulyan and Dick Oatts. Oatts’ alto saxophone solo in Brookmeyer’s brilliant arrangement of “Skylark” is a highlight.

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Tom Harrell, Trip (HighNote)

A dozen compositions by trumpeter Harrell provide a framework for variety and surprise in this recording by the pianoless quartet he calls Trip. The centerpiece, “The Adventures of a Quixotic Character,” is a six-part suite inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ 15th century novel Don Quixote. Harrell’s solo on “The Ingenious Gentleman” is a highlight among highlights. If some of the tracks summon thoughts of Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, it may be more than a coincidence of instrumentation. Growing up in Los Angeles, the eight-year-old Harrell began playing trumpet during the heyday of west coast jazz. For all of their harmonic sophistication and up-to-the-minute hipness, the album’s tracks often evoke the relaxation and complexity of the Mulligan quartet. Throughout, tenor saxophonist Mark Turner’s ear-catching work is on a par with Harrell’s. Ogonna Okegwo is the bassist, Adam Cruz the incisive drummer.

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Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, What’sNext? (Dünya)

Using orchestral techniques that stem in part from his early training as a classical pianist, Sanlikol blends aspects of music of his native Turkey and of Arabic countries into contemporary jazz. A graduate of the Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory, he studied arranging with Bob Brookmeyer, whose influence is one ingredient in Sanlikol’s eclecticism; the audacious “On the Edge of the Extreme Impossible” is a dramatic instance. “Gone Crazy: A Noir Fantasy” would be perfect in the background of a remake of The Maltese Falcon. Despite exotic ingredients—notably Sanlikol’s impassioned vocalise and full-bodied piano in “A Violet Longing”—the music is superior big band jazz flavored with intriguing undercurrents flowing out of the Middle East, and a few synthesizer and guitar touches. It is well played by Boston-area members of Sanlikol’s Dünya musicians’ collective.

Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Spellbound (Status)

Of Sudanese heritage, the bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik (1927-1993) was born Jonathan Timms in Brooklyn. After working with Art Blakey and Thelonious Monk, among others, Abdul-Malik studied music of other cultures. He was among the first to incorporate Middle Eastern and Indian influences into jazz. Except for a straight-ahead blues, this 1965 album consists of themes from movies: “Spellbound,” “Never on Sunday,” “Body and Soul” and “Delilah.” Sudanese oud player Hamza el Din enhances the melding of musical dialects. As mentioned in passing here a few weeks ago, Abdul-Malik and saxophonist Lucky Thompson had in common an appreciation for Paul Neves, a pianist whose work on Spellbound makes it all the more regrettable that he died little known in the 1980s. Neves, cornetist/violinist Ray Nance and saxophonist Seldon Powell are quite at home in the exotic mix. It’s good to have this available again.