Roberto Miranda's Home Music Ensemble, "Live at the Bing Theatre 1985" (Dark Tree). Bassist-composer Miranda took a break from Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra without forsaking the pianist himself or the dank Afro-groove overgrowth of the Ark, especially luminaries Bobby Bradford (vocalic cornet), John Carter (diamondbright clarinet) and James Newton (bonecutting flute). Some Miranda family members staff the 11-piece orchestra, which was already a family anyway. Listen/buy here.
Charles Lloyd & the Marvels, "Tone Poem" (Blue Note). With "Ramblin'," Charles Lloyd disproves the maxim that no one does Ornette as well as Ornette. In full Ripple-slurping hobo mode, Eric Harland's drums and Reuben Rogers' bass clatter-bump down the railroad track as Greg Leisz's steel guitar screams the train whistle, Bill Frisell's electric guitar smokes the pollution and Lloyd's tenor kerouacs the voice of reckless American joy. Genuflections to Monk, Leonard Cohen and Spanish balladry (plus three introspective Lloyd originals) round out the rich universe. Available in audiophile vinyl.
Joe Chambers, "Samba de Maracatu" (Blue Note). The feel -- veteran drummer-vibraphonist Chambers always had it. From bop to samba, Canadian bassist Steve Haines and strangely overlooked North Carolina pianist (& surgeon!) Brad Merritt match his easygoing aesthetic to spitpolish the songs -- a bebopping "You and the Night and the Music," Horace Silver's crepuscular "Ecarole," Chambers' cunningly chorded title track. Most of this record could have been recorded in 1966. Elegant.
Charlie Porter, "Hindsight" (Origin). Contemporary pandemic concept jazz from the Marsalis lineage by Grammy-winning trumpeter Porter, who serves up rushing Mingus bop, after-hours urban recumbency, theoretical fragmentation, a weary requiem -- all with assured polish and a nervous intellectual subcurrent. Recommended track: "In Short Supply," launched by Bassekou Kouyate's rippin blues-inflected n'goni, sustained by Kenneth Salters' syncopated rhythm push, draped with chile-rubbed vocal harmonies and boosted by a mess of energetic solos. Listen/buy here.
Hafez Modirzadeh, "Facets" (Pi). You might flash on Satie, Monk and Cage while falling into the rarefied worlds of prepared piano, spare geometry and prickly beauty created by 88ers Tyshawn Sorey, Craig Taborn and Kris Davis. Meanwhile, alto saxist Modirzadeh floats between the notes of each with the insubstantiality of desert smoke. Deep thought, intense mourning.
Thumbscrew, "Never Is Enough" (Cuneiform). For a few years, this intuitive trio has been marking out original boundaries for improvisational music. Slidiing easily in & out of rhythms, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara explore the impulses of a collective brain with the crucial triangulation of electric guitarist Mary Halvorson, whose spatial and textural dimensions complete a spare & sparky field reminiscent of a Paul Klee painting. Although the mood's usually quiet, the title cut jumps briefly into progressive metal -- you might say unexpectedly, but with Thumbscrew, nothing is expected. Listen/buy here.
Jim McAuley & Mike Cooper, "Fragile Corners" Two acoustic guitarists obsessed with grain and spontaneity share expressions continents apart, though sounding as if they're in the same room. The coarse slides, buzzing plucks and piquant minglings remind us that humans are physical objects vibrating to unseen forces. 20 min. Listen/buy here.