New Releases From New England Jazz Collaborative And More

This playlist demonstrates the global reach of contemporary jazz, featuring international collaborations and artists from diverse musical traditions. The selection spans a wide range of styles and line-ups—from large-ensemble arrangements and acoustic trio interplay to world fusion and intimate duo performances—incorporating recent releases from both independent and established labels across different regions and cultures.

AUDIO

PLAYLIST

1. New England Jazz Collaborative “Another Brighter Day (feat. Mitch Selib, Temidayo Balogun & Lumanyano Mzi)” from Tributaries (ACP Records) 00:00

2. Tony Grey featuring Bob James “Nostalgia” from Nostalgia (Tony Grey Music) 10:00

3. The Holland Court Jazz Trio “Domenica Canta” from Inverted Tango (Composers Concordance Records/Naxos) 16:45

4. Strat Andriotis “Great Forgiveness” from The Wolf Sleeps Alone (Dekble atria Records) 25:11

5. YUGEN “When order fell in love with chaos” from Picture #2 (Filibusta Records) 30:30

6. Ryan Keberle’s Collektiv Do Brasil “Ê Menina” from Here Is Donato! (Alternate Side Records) 36:39

7. Cindy Blackman Santana “Circe” from Coherence (Mack Avenue Records) 41:45

8. Martin Iaies “In an Unknown Mood (feat. Klaus Gesing)” from PEOPLE, PLACES music for large ensemble (Challenge Records) 49:02

9. Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart “Everything That Lives Laments” from Rhombus (Smoke Sessions Records) 57:50

10. Cipher “Shuffle” Cipher (Smeik Records) 1:05:04

11. Chick Corea “Some Time Ago” from Some Time Ago (Live in Bremen 1972) (Moosicus and MIG Music) 1:08:01

12. Ayumi Tanaka, Thomas Morgan, Thomas Strønen “Driftwood” from Windflower (ECM Records) 1:22:54

13. Harry Bartlett and Kurtis Perrie “Banya” from This Is Living (Adhyâropa Records) 1:28:52

14. Mike Clark “Softly As In Morning Sunrise” from Kuon Ganjo (Time Without Beginning) (Wide Hive Records) 1:32:57

15. WEAVE4 “Sospeso” from La gomma di Dante (Parco Della Musica Records) 1:39:41

16. tellKujira “En Greve” from La lucha es un poema colectivo (Superpang Records) 1:42:54

NOTES

1. The debut album from the New England Jazz Collaborative, vividly showcases the panoramic spectrum of approaches to composition represented by its diverse membership, from classic New Orleans swing and elegant balladry to Third Stream fusion and West African highlife. The album features six wide-ranging new pieces by four of the collaborative’s member composers: Jeremy Cohen, Darryl Harper, Matan Rubinstein and Sam Spear.

2. A contemporary jazz and fusion collaboration between virtuoso bassist Tony Grey and multi-Grammy-winning legendary pianist Bob James. Born out of unhurried, organic sessions in James’s home studio, the album bridges generations through a seamless, groove-driven conversation between bass and piano. Blending elements of jazz, world music, and electronica, the nine-track collection is enriched by an international lineup of guest contributors—including percussionist Mino Cinelu, flutist Naveen Kumar, kanjira player V. Selvaganesh, tabla player Karsh Kale, drummers James Johnson III and Stu Haikney, percussionist Joel Polacci, oud player Brandon Terzic, programmer Leon Hughes, and vocalist Ellen Hughes. Moving effortlessly from upbeat, dynamic workouts to tender ballads the album delivers an intimate, deeply melodic, and emotionally rich sonic journey

3. Veteran bassist Frank Wagner and drummer David Meade’s musical relationship began in 1998 with the release of their award winning album Past, Present & Future (Jazzheads) and continued with Wagner’s solo effort Floating Holiday (2018, Meii Records.) Now they’re venturing into new territory with their collaborative band The Holland Court Jazz Trio. The newest member of Wagner and Meade’s group is pianist Dave Marck. His extraordinary touch and creative prowess will inevitably leave a long-lasting impression on the listener. In a departure from the traditional piano trio format, the group is joined by critically acclaimed international jazz violinist Ben Sutin, who provides a fresh new approach to Wagner’s originals and his arrangement of the Jimi Hendrix classic Manic Depression. The phrase Inverted Tango refers to a technique in the traditional Argentine dance form in which the roles of leader and follower are switched. On this album, the members of the Holland Court Jazz Trio take inspiration in this reversal of roles, pressing beyond their familiar comfort zones in pursuit of a fresh new sound. The result is a record that is a musical world unto itself, captivating from start to finish.

4. The Wolf Sleeps Alone features progressive jazz/post-bop on a set of fresh and dynamic songs in a trio with bassist Vince Di Francesco and drummer Alex Karcza .Recorded live at Arc Recording Studio in Hamilton over 3 days by Matt Gauthier, the music flows seamlessly, due in part to the trio playing the songs for 8 months live at venues before any recording was done. Playing a 1964 Gibson Johnny Smith guitar, the tone has that classic jazz sound with unique modern playing to give the music its own voice. Strat Andriotis was born in Greece, moved to Canada with his family when he was four, and has long been a major part of the Canadian creative music scene. Vince Di Francesco is an accomplished bassist who is a graduate of Mohawk and Humber Colleges. Alex Karcza has been a veteran drummer on the scene for decades and has played with Harrison Kennedy.

5. Formed by Katya Fiorentino on piano, Stefano Compagnone on bass, and Maurizio De Tommasi on drums, Yugen creates a refined and cinematic sound world where contemporary jazz meets chamber-like sensitivity, minimalist structures, and subtle electronic textures. Picture #2 is an intimate yet expansive album, built through silence, atmosphere, slow development, and deep trio interplay. Rather than relying on traditional jazz formulas, the group explores space, repetition, and emotional tension, creating music that feels both highly visual and deeply musical.

6. On Here Is Donato!, acclaimed trombonist and composer Ryan Keberle and his São Paulo-based band Collectiv do Brasil – pianist Felipe Silveira, bassist Felipe Brisola, drummer Paulinho Vicente, and Guegué Medeiros (percussion) – celebrate the music of João Donato, one of the most influential voices in Brazilian music. Drawing on the improvisational openness of modern jazz and the rhythmic and melodic richness of MPB (the post–bossa nova movement known as música popular brasileira), the quintet brings warmth, lyricism, rhythmic subtlety, and collective interplay to Donato’s timeless compositions. The result is a vibrant collection that reveals the enduring vitality of Donato’s music.

7. Coherence arrives nearly four decades after Blackman Santana introduced herself as a bandleader with her 1987 debut, Arcane. In the years since, she has released numerous acclaimed recordings, and built one of the most distinctive careers in contemporary music, earning acclaim across jazz, fusion, and rock while continually expanding her voice as a composer, drummer, vocalist, and performer.

   She recorded Coherence at The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas during late 2024 alongside her trusted touring band—Emilio Modeste [saxophone], Aurelien Budynek [guitar], Zaccai Curtis [keyboards], and Felix Pastorius [bass]. At the same time, she assembled an elite cohort of collaborators to round out her vision, including Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin, bassist Matt Garrison, keyboardist, Ray Angry, cellist Dave Eggar, and more.

8. This new work by Argentine guitarist and composer Martín Iaies emerges from a process of change that began several years ago, when he decided in 2019 to migrate from Buenos Aires to Austria. What initially seemed like a geographical displacement gradually became an artistic redefinition as well. The result of

   that transformation runs throughout the entire album. “I arrived in Austria in 2019 feeling like a guitarist who composes, and today, seven years later, I

   think of myself much more as a composer who expresses himself through the guitar,” explains Iaies. This 11-piece ensemble does not appear as a side project to his previous work, but rather as the natural expansion of the same artistic search: an elastic and orchestral version of a musical language already

   present in his quartet albums.

9. When they first took the stage at Augie’s Jazz Bar, organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Peter Bernstein, and drummer Bill Stewart would never have imagined that more than 35 years later they’d not only still be working together, but that they would be considered by many to be the gold standard for the modern jazz organ trio. That ascension hasn’t stopped the trio from searching for ways to delve deeper or to explore new terrain. Their remarkable new album, Rhombus, finds them drawing inspiration from some of the most revered composers in jazz history, artists – many of them pianists - whose music may not seem a natural fit for the organ trio. While the trio’s sound flows outwards from the great tradition of organ trio jazz, this repertoire is brilliantly curated to lead them into the unexpected, ideal territory for their perceptive explorations. Rhombus,released August 7, 2026, from Smoke Sessions Records, includes pieces from such legendary composers as Keith Jarrett, Randy Weston, Abdullah Ibrahim, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, and Irving Berlin.

10. Cipher is a new quartet bringing together four highly active voices on the Norwegian jazz scene: Erlend Kongtorp, Andreas Svabø, Emil Norman and Martin Nodeland. Their self-titled debut album, recorded at Neby Studios in Oslo in June 2025, presents a band built on deep musical familiarity, collective energy, and a shared curiosity for where the music can go. This is the second single from it.

11. A previously unheard solo concert by Chick Corea. Recorded in October 1972 at the Sendesaal of Radio Bremen, the performance feels less like an archival discovery than a missing link. Corea is 31 years old at this point, and audibly in transition. His time with Miles Davis is still recent; Return to Forever is only just taking shape. Much is in motion, not yet settled. That is precisely what gives this concert its particular clarity: in a solo setting, there is nowhere to hide. What occupies him musically is laid bare.

12. Windflower introduces a new trio, with the Japanese pianist Ayumi Tanaka, the US bassist Thomas Morgan and the Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen. Three players well-known to followers of musical directions at ECM, they shape their music together, weaving abstract and lyrical ideas in pieces whose flow and energy are influenced by chamber music and jazz, and by sensibilities of East, West and North. The fragile windflower, or anemone, symbolises the transience of beauty in several cultures, and the need to grasp and cherish the moment. Here, free balladry is to the fore in an album whose luminous music features eight spontaneously composed tracks and an unconstrained arrangement of Tanaka’s tune “La Source”. For Ayumi and her fellow players, the means of creation is secondary to the destination. “I want to compose music which sounds like an improvisation,” she has said, “and to improvise music that sounds like it has been written…”

13. Over two weeks in Etobicoke, Ontario, electronic music producer Kurtis Perrie and jazz and bluegrass guitarist Harry Bartlett brought their compositional voices together while creating This Is Living. With a limited understanding but a keen interest in each other’s musical worlds, Kurtis and Harry made something greater than the sum of its parts. This Is Living is a hypnotic conversation of ideas that are pushed and pulled between two traditions. The music is ethereal yet melodically captivating, carried by a distant pulse and nostalgic ponderings. Kurtis Perrie is a Toronto-based electronic music producer and instrument designer, co- signed by Four Tet, with sync placements including Apple and the NFL. Harry Bartlett is a Nashville-based, award-winning guitarist and composer who has collaborated with artists such as Viktor Krauss and John Mailander.

14. Clark’s latest album flows directly from his nearly seven decades of delivering a wide spectrum of grooves with a glittering roster of jazz luminaries. The album continues a brilliant late-career run by an indefatigable artist on the cusp of 80.

    An all-star quintet session featuring largely the same cast as his acclaimed 2025 Wide Hive album Itai Doshin, Kuon Ganjo is built on a deep matrix of relationships dating back more than half a century. The band comprises Clark, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, tenor saxophonist Craig Handy, pianist and keyboardist Patrice Rushen, and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet.

15. Weave4 is a French-Italian avant-garde jazz collective uniting two generations of acclaimed improvisers—Pianist Benoît Delbecq, drummer Steve Argüelles, saxophonist/clarinetist Francesco Bigoni, and guitarist Francesco Diodati. Formed out of a Parisian residency, the quartet crafts an interactive soundscape where original compositions by all four members blend acoustic and electronic elements into malleable, freely mutating textures that redefine the musical concept of the “unfinished”.

16. Conceived during a residency at IRCAM in Paris, the avant-garde quartet tellKujira’s album La lucha es un poema colectivo (Superpang Records) blends contemporary classical, free jazz, art rock, and electronics through an “imperfect chamber quartet” configuration featuring violist Ambra Chiara Michelangeli, cellist Francesco Guerri, and electric guitarists Francesco Diodati and Stefano Calderano. The release also marks a line-up transition for the ensemble, welcoming violinist Agnese Amico to the permanent fold in place of Michelangeli.