Resonance Records goes out of its way again to unearth yet another significant chapter in jazz history, and once again, it's one that relatively few fans have ever heard. This performance of Jaco Pastorius' Word of Mouth Big Band was captured during George Wein's Kool Jazz Festival at Avery Fisher Hall. It was broadcast on NPR's Jazz Alive program, but this double disc contains the entire performance, with more than 40 minutes of additional music.

Unique in Europe: Under the artistic direction of the Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, six and nine jazz musicians, who were selected by a specialist jury for the Focusyear in the Jazzcampus Basel from applications submitted worldwide, meet to spend a whole year together with the Focusyear with a scholarship to devote the band intensively to the music.

When the British pianist and composer John Taylor died suddenly in 2015, his 1990s work in a trio with the former Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine and bassist Palle Danielsson was treated as something of an afterthought in such a rich career. But the Erskine-led group had a unique sound and repertoire (Taylor’s chemistry of romantic pastoralisms and jazz drive was a key influence), and a rare collaborative alertness. This box packages all four of their ECM recordings between 1992 and 1997. Taylor’s darting, jig-like Clapperclowe sounds wonderful here with Erskine’s warm-toned pattering behind it; the drummer’s faintly Jarrettish On the Lake is a ballad highlight; Taylor’s devotion to Bill Evans’ ambiguously romantic harmonies surfaces frequently…

The music of Herbie Hancock has affected the lives of generations of jazz performers. Like many of these musicians, it was the opportunity to play with the great pianist/composer that introduced the great drummer Mike Clark to the jazz world at large. To show his appreciation, Clark presents a selection of his favorite Hancock pieces performed with a trio on his new recording, Mike Clark Plays Herbie Hancock.

Acclaimed composer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Chambers brings together a global cast of talent on Dance Kobina, a joyous and ruminative gesture from the drummer and vibraphone master. His third release for Blue Note Records — and sonic complement to 2021’s Samba de Maracatu — Dance Kobina spotlights Chambers’ original compositions, explores new music, and delivers a fresh, intimate treatment of enduring tunes — each selection heavily informed or subtly influenced by AfroCuban guaguancó. “To me, all these pieces are connected,” says Chambers, “in many ways.”

The Black Art Jazz Collective was founded in 2012 by Wayne Escoffery and Jeremy Pelt with the aim of honoring and preserving the art of some of the progenitors of jazz who inspired them, hired them and mentored them first hand. And while the band does pay homage to the greats of the past they also continue the evolving tradition of jazz with a body of work that remains firmly entrenched in the modernism of today. From the angular melody of Escoffery's "Involuntary Servitude," to the ingratiating groove of Pelt's "For the Kids," the ensemble extends the range and potential established by their illustrious predecessors with innovative original compositions, solos that run the gamut from thoughtful to virtuosic and a shared sense of purpose that is unique on today's jazz landscape.

With the 1968 album Miles in the Sky, Miles Davis explicitly pushed his second great quintet away from conventional jazz, pushing them toward the jazz-rock hybrid that would later become known as fusion. Here, the music is still in its formative stages, and it's a little more earth-bound than you might expect, especially following on the heels of the shape-shifting, elusive Nefertiti. On Miles in the Sky, much of the rhythms are straightforward, picking up on the direct 4/4 beats of rock, and these are illuminated by Herbie Hancock's electric piano – one of the very first sounds on the record, as a matter of fact – and the guest appearance of guitarist George Benson on "Paraphernalia." All of these additions are tangible and identifiable, and they do result in intriguing music, but the form of the music itself is surprisingly direct, playing as extended grooves. This meanders considerable more than Nefertiti, even if it is significantly less elliptical in its form, because it's primarily four long jams.

New York-based trumpeter, composer and educator Charles Tolliver presents Connect, his first studio album in 13 years.

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity."

Though Gary Versace’s discography has so far been mostly occupied with his B-3 recordings, here his new album, the 5th on SteepleChase is the very first strictly piano trio which reveals Versace’s intuitively intelligent touch and inventiveness on piano. Fellow pianist Andy LaVerne who is the author of the liner notes sums up his commentary in saying, “It’s gratifying and inspiring to witness the ascension of Gary’s musical endeavors and creativity from his wide ranging exemplary sideman work (which includes my piano/ organ trio with five SteepleChase releases), to assuming the helm of his own forward leaning piano trio.”

For the better part of the 50s and 60s, Masayuki Takayanagi was among Japan's best-respected jazz guitarists. But it wasn't until his experiments with tabletop guitar led him down the seductive path of sonic experimentation that he became the stuff of legend. “Ginparis” (literally translated as Silver Paris) was known as the chanson cafe in Tokyo, Ginza, and the performances often centred around chansons but eventually became the session venue for young jazz musicians. They left their mark on a record, Ginpari Session, with Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, Masahiko Togashi on drums, Masaaki Kikuchi and Yosuke Yamashita on piano, Terumasa Hino on trumpets.

Featuring both taut, keenly focused ensemble playing and raucous, spirited soloing, THE INTANGIBLE BETWEEN reflects the ever-growing chemistry Orrin Evans and the core ensemble of the Captain Black Big Band while celebrating bandleader's’ open-door policy toward collaborators new and old. The rotating cast of players, while maintaining the more compact scale introduced on the band’s last album, the Grammy-nominated PRESENCE, also features first-time members alongside veterans that joined the ranks in its earliest days and special guests whose collaborations with Evans stretch back over many years.

The First Ever Live Album from Jason Marsalis! Featuring: Oscar Rossingnoli, Jasen Weaver, Gerald Watkins.