Composer, flutist and conductor James Newton is a verifiable legend in the avant-garde music world. Amongst his contemporaries, his name is synonymous with dedicated and adventurous exploration of the deepest expressions through both composition and improvisation. His latest album The Manual of Light is a gorgeous collection of chamber music and solo pieces written over the last decade, book-ended by two stunning renditions of “Amazing Grace” for string orchestra. Enlisting some of Los Angeles’s best instrumentalists to deliver masterful performances of his spiritually rich compositions, Newton’s new opus is a journey into the divine.

Sometimes a mask is as revealing as what lies beneath. Written over eight years, Mask, the new Orenda Records release from composer, bandleader and brass player David Dominique, bounds between styles, strategies, attitudes and textures. Somehow, the project furthers the language Dominique developed on his enthralling 2013 album, Ritual, while offering a perpetual sense of surprise.

The idea for this project started back in 2008. I would take two related bands that I’d been writing for—The Mentones (Tony Atherton, Bill Barrett, Joe Berardi, me) and the Tee-Tot Quartet (Dan Clucas, Scot Ray, Joe Berardi, me)—and combine them. I started to write the music, I started the artwork, I had the album title—but life and the world intervened. 

Then in 2017, I had the opportunity to play a fairly high-profile gig and I asked to do this, my deferred dream band. The presenter put faith in me (thank you, Lisa Mezzacappa!) and Men-Tot Six was back. 

On their debut album Watt Doom, the instrumental group Twin Whales synthesizes disparate landscapes, divergent sonic backgrounds, and a shifting musical direction. Think improvisation, think modularity, think inspiration. Formed in 2015, the group has found a voice in music that they refer to as “pure survival mode” – frenetic and complex stuff that allows for unpredictable stylistic shifts and moments of quiet beauty.

Recorded at the conclusion of a two-week tour of Denmark, Norway, and Germany in January of 2016; U.S. tenor giant Walt Weiskopf has teamed up with three of Europe's finest and most sought-after jazz musicians; pianist Carl Winther, bassist Daniel Franck and drummer Anders Mogensen. The result of this collaboration is great energetic music. Each member of the quartet contributed original compositions to the set; rounded out with Mal Waldron's beautiful "Soul Eyes" and the modern jazz-classic "Bolivia" by the great Cedar Walton.

Critically acclaimed experimental jazz-rock trio Evil Genius returns with their second full-length release, Experiments on Human Subjects on Orenda Records. This new collection utilizes an even broader palette of sonic madness, with more extensive through-composed material and traverses vast stylistic terrain with gleeful perversity and scorched-earth impunity. What remains from their 2015 debut Bitter Human is the group's remarkably nuanced interplay and freedom to glide effortlessly as individual voices united by a common mission. 

Los Angeles-based composer Derrick Spiva Jr. could not have chosen a better name for his malleable ensemble, Bridge to Everywhere. The name embodies his compositional and cultural ethos clearly and succinctly. At a time when our society needs bridges more than ever, Spiva’s music connects music from all over the world with his own American identity. His second album, American Mirror, places rhythmic and melodic foundations from West and North Africa, India, Eastern Europe, and Appalachia seamlessly within the realm of modern American classical music. American Mirror proposes that diverse musical cultures can become even more beautiful when they exist and collaborate together. It is a musical metaphor for how disparate segments of American society, which has roots all over the world, can be truly harmonious. 

For over a decade, The Vinny Golia Sextet has dedicated itself to the compositions of Los Angeles creative music legend and multi-instrumentalist Vinny Golia. Juxtaposing composition with dynamic improvisation, Golia's music engages the mind and the heart, and radiates an enigmatic spirit that has inspired generations of musicians. Trajectory presents an epic collection of music written and performed in every-evolving ways over the last 10+ years, and features an adventurous lineup that shines on Golia’s unique approach to modern jazz language. 

Multi-talented bassist, composer and producer Zack Teran assembles a quartet of like-minded colleagues to present a strong original sound on his debut, Portalis. Teran adroitly balances a rhythmic groove informed by modern electronic music with the harmonic contours of modern jazz and timbral spectrum of mid-2000s indie rock, and vividly channels his impressions from time spent in the mountain landscapes of the American West.