An Avalanche of Listening Choices

Weighing in on a plethora of new recordings that have recently been released

So many great CDs have come across my desk in recent months that it’s downright dizzying. It’s been a veritable embarrassment of riches. I think of that scene from Walt Disney’s Fantasia, the one where Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice is besieged by a never-ending army of walking brooms pouring buckets of water before him until the castle is flooded. Never-ending indeed.

Among the flood of CDs that have crossed my desk since June, I’ve narrowed it down to a half dozen, each a spectacular gem that I highly recommend.

Topping the list, and perhaps most surprising (given my lukewarm reaction to his previous band outings) is Jon Batiste’s Monk Movements (Verve). It’s Volume 4 in the Batiste Piano Series, which was inaugurated in 2024 with Beethoven Blues (Volume 1). Released simultaneously with the more classically influenced Black Mozart (Volume 2) and the more New Agey/Keith Jarrett Koln Concert-ish Monk Meditations (Volume 3), Monk Movements not only showcases the Louisiana-born pianist’s remarkably dextrous command of the keyboard but also his unique ability to imbue this familiar material with his own unique spirit. Batiste’s reimaginings of Monk are not just cleverly thought-out twists and turns on these masterworks — strategically plotted out for maximum eccentricity and dissonance, as A.I might do. His free-associative, highly impresionistic approach is wholly organic and in the moment, and you can hear he’s having fun with it. Just listen to his coversation with himself during “Blue Monk” and the delicate waltz “Ugly Beauty,” where he comments nonverbally on his own playing in the moment with a series of grunts, sly laughs and exultant whoops at what he finds along the way in his search and discovery mission. And his take on “In Walked Bud” opens with some impressionistic classical flourishes before turning into an all-out swinging romp recalling the sheer syncopation and delicious eccentricities of Thelonious Monk himself. And dig him dipping into some stride piano work on his 14-minute “Monk Movement.” Yes, he’s channeling Monk, but it’s coming through a filter that is 100% Batiste.

Linda May Han Oh & Melissa Aldana, Beneath Lifted Skies (Biophilia Records) — In-demand bassist and acclaimed bandleader Oh joins rising star tenor saxophonist Aldana in an intimate duo setting on a program of familiar jazz standards. Their super uptempo take on Charlie Parker’s “Anthropology,” which kicks off the stellar collection in adrenalized fashion, is fueled by Oh’s ferocious, deep-toned walking basslines, which Aldana soars over with boppish aplomb before the two unite at the end on the tune’s notoriously chops-busting head. Elsewhere, they have their way with Bud Powell’s jauntily swinging “Hallucinations,” Charles Mingus’ gorgeous ballad “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love” and John Coltrane’s burning proving ground, “26-2,” flaunting facile chops and an uncanny chemistry along the way. Other copasetic covers include Sam Rivers’ “Cyclic Episode,” Herbie Hancock’s “The Sorcerer,” Thelonious Monk’s bouncing “Introspection” and Gigi Gryce’s buoyant midtempo swinger, “Social Call.” And Oh delivers two stirring solo bass showcases on Wayne Shorter’s “Dance Cadaverous” and Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child.”

Henry Threadgill/Vijay Iyer/Dafnis Prieto, Fifteen (Nonesuch) — Trio collective with saxophonist Threadgill, pianist Iyer and drummer Prieto, each a bandleader in his own right, traversing wide open, highly interactive material like Threagill’s delicate and dissonant “Trio Piece” (with the composer on flute), his angular and driving “Last Night” (with Threadgill on alto) and Iyer’s energized “I Wanted a Map,” fueled by Prieto’s steady backbeat. Threadgill’s delicate rubato number “Where Coconuts Fall” is actually a beautiful showcase for Iyer’s luminous pianism in conversation with Prieto’s coloristic approach on the kit while the drummer’s own “Gently Trapped,” a showcase for Threadgill’s expressive flute playing, is underscored by his deft touch with brushes. On the other side of the dynamic coin from that gentle offering is Iyer’s “Fire City,” an unbridled free-for-all between piano, drums and alto sax. Iyer’s somber “Perfect Victims” builds to a throbbing crescendo. And Prieto’s playful closer, “On the Way,” showcases the trio at its most animated and rhythmically-charged.

Henry Threadgill Zooid, Cut You Where You Was (Pi Recordings) — Threadgill premiered his Zooid ensemble on 2001’s Up Popped the Two Lips. This seventh outing by the adventurous ensemble features longtime Zooid personnel Liberty Ellman on acoustic guitar, Jose Davila on tuba and trombone, Christopher Hoffman on cello and
Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums. Together they create a web of sonic intrigue on the bubbling “Fluoroscope,” which finds Ellman engaging in some contrapuntal cat-and-mouse play with Threadgill’s alto sax, Hoffman’s bowed cello and Davila’s tuba. The three-part suite, “Bingo,” ranges from rubato introspection with the leader on flute (“Part I”) to pungent minimalism (“Part III”). The expansive 12-minute “Red Admiral Moon Rising” opens with a four-minute unaccompanied cello prelude before the full band heads into the chugging, ping-ponging theme, underscored by Davila’s bubbling tuba lines. Ellman and Threadgill each step forward with some searching solos on this fractured funk number. The album closes with five individual gems, each under two minutes and utilizing that distinctive polyphony that has been Zooid’s signature for 25 years.

Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart, Rhombus (Smoke Sessions) — Hammond B-3 organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart met in the late ‘80s at Augie’s, a little jazz bar on Broadway between 105th and 106th where they soon established a regular Thursday night residency. It would close in 1988 and reopen the following year as Smoke, which was owned and operated by Paul Stache, a former bartender at Augie’s. Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart continued to play at this renovated jazz club on the Upper West Side through the years while racking up 15 albums as a trio, from their 1991 debut, Intimacy of the Blues, to their latest, Rhombus. After 35+ years and countless gigs together, it’s understandable how tight their chemistry has become, while their urge to swing and desire to collective explore new avenues in that B-3 trio format have not dissipated. Some of those new avenues on the new album include their takes on Keith Jarrett’s introspective, melancholy “Everything That Lives Laments,” Abdullah Ibrahim’s hymn-like “Mamma” and Wayne Shorter’s plaintive ballad “Penelope.” Uptempo swingers like Bernstein’s “Dissipation Blues” and Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud” are right in that zone that has been their calling card for so many years.

Sullivan Fortner, Leave That In There (Artwork Records) — A bona fide star on the scene, having elevated from rising star status after winning a Grammy last year for Southern Nights, gifted pianist-composer and multi-faced conceptualist Fortner stakes out some more personal, more expansive territory on his sixth album as a leader. Joined by bassist Tyrone Allen II and drummer Kayvon Gordon, the New Orleans native expands the scope of the traditional piano trio by incorporating Hammond B-3 organ and synths along with marimba and bata drums into the mix. The results are often striking, as on the churning, African-flavored opener, “Sugarcane,” the meditative “A Hymn for Linda,” the spacey synth experiments “12 Gallons” and “T295,” along with two swinging piano trio offerings in “Sorcerer’s Stick” and “Number 3” and the Chick Corea flavored “Aria II,” a kind of sequel to the title track of his 2015 debut album. This young man is brimming with ideas and talent, and it’s just got to come out.