Spent the whole week listening to new jazz. Started with singers, partly by accident, then by chain of reasoning, or maybe because they go fast. Didn't get much in the mail, so for once the queue shrunk, clearing a couple of annoying piles off my desk. It would still take another three, maybe four, such weeks to catch up, but finally making some progress. I have 60% of the next column written, plus enough identified A-list and honorable mention material to fill up the rest. Also have a couple of possible pick hits, but those aren't locked in. Don't know what to do about the dud slot, which is getting to be a huge pet peeve. I should hold off writing more on that until the pending column comes out, but as usual the hint is on Downbeat's cover. I like the magazine, but I think the only duds they've missed so far have been my bottom feeders (Kenny G and Chris Botti) and a couple of longshot pianists (Taylor Eigsti and Matt Savage). I also don't recall picking any after the cover appeared, so chalk it up to karma somehow.

Jazz CG #15 should be out in the Village Voice mid-week. Don't know what the final cuts are, but I cut down the amount I sent in, so it shouldn't be too bad. I still need to trim back the done list (currently 118 deep; probably should be more like 60) and polish off the surplus file. I figure I could start closing out Jazz CG #16 after as little as two more weeks. Historically, I've run a column every three months and slipped a bit lately (13 to 14 was 3 days short of 4 months; 14 to 15 will also be 3 days short of 4 months). Slips getting slotted into the Voice are the main reason -- one that's unlikely to change, so the only way to speed up would be for me to shorten my cycle. The number of good records to write about would support a two month cycle. I don't know whether the Voice would, but I haven't pushed it hard enough yet to force an answer.

One anomaly below is that I spend a lot of time bitching about Flash websites. I suspect that musicians like Flash because it's good for pushing music out -- same reason they like MySpace, which provides them with a Flash widget for music. That's also one of the reasons I hate Flash: I'm always playing something else when I look up a website, and don't want it to start interfering with my sound. There are lots of other things I hate about Flash, but the reason I got rid of it is that it enables viruses that damage my browser and lose me a lot of work. Since the web was invented, there has been a struggle going on between page designers and users over control of the screen. Flash does offer occasionally useful things, but it tips the balance of power way to the side of the design fascists. A lot of my complaints could be lessened by Flash if they just made their widgets more user friendly: let us turn sound off as a default, let us stop an animation, let us kill and cover up a whole widget, give us some more effective control against untoward behavior. Flash doesn't let us do such reasonable things; the only recourse we have is to disable it. The main reason I go to an artist website is to get some info. That can be done better in HTML than in Flash. It's fine with me if you have straight HTML pages with Flash widgets for only the things Flash is good for. It's also OK to have parallel Flash and HTML paths like Dynamod provides. But this idea that everything has to be Flash hurts me, and ultimately hurts you. It's not browsable, not searchable, and downright irritating. Maybe now that I've said this here, I won't have to repeat it over and over again in the notes, as I did here.

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Kat Parra: Azucar de Amor (2008, Patois): Singer, from California, currently somewhere in the Bay Area. Does a mixed bag of Latin music, sambas and mambos, Afro-Cuban and Afro-Peruvian, charangas and danzóns, salsa, with a special interest in Sephardic whatever -- she sings in Ladino, as well as Spanish, Portuguese, French, and (not on her list, but I guess this is a given) English. Second album. It's easier to nitpick the English and/or the slow ones -- she does "Misty" as a bolero but it still sounds like a pretty ordinary "Misty" to me. Her "mystic Sephardic ballad" is appropriately dreamy, something called "Esta Montanya D'Enfrente." B

Libby York: Here With You (2007 [2008], Libby York Music): Singer, from Chicago but spent the 1980s in New York, studying with Abbey Lincoln and Judy Niemack. Started singing professionally at 35, and now had 3 albums in her mid-40s. Sings standards ("You Go to My Head," "But Beautiful," "Azure Te," "Flamingo"). Mid-range voice with precise intonation, able to wrap old chestnuts in fine leather or lace. Guitarist Howard Alden gets credit for arrangements, but yields to Russell Malone on three cuts. Renee Rosnes gets credit as Production Assistant ("the world's most overqualified"), but no piano, a clever omission which leaves plenty of room for Warren Vaché's delectable cornet -- much better than his duet on "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," which is sort of winning nonetheless. B+(***)

Wendy Luck: See You in Rio (2006, Wendy Luck Music): Singer, also plays flute. Third album. AMG classifies her as new age, which indicates the flute came first. Sort of a wispy blonde voice, attractive enough, unmannered and carefree on lightweight Brazilian fare. One long quasi-classical flute feature, "Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5" by Heitor Villa-Lobos, is neither here nore there. B-

Something for You: Eliane Elias Sings & Plays Bill Evans (2007 [2008], Blue Note): For starters, I still find Evans impenetrable, which isn't to say I'm immune to his charms, although he really has to be doing something special to overcome my resistance. Pianist Elias manages to evoke the same conflicted responses, so she must be doing something right. In general, she's a better pianist than singer. (Except when she's doing Jobim. Maybe Astrud Gilberto skewed the field so far that even Elias seems vibrant by comparison, or maybe she's just so much more at home there.) But the paleness in her voice suits the half-plus songs with vocals here, although only "Detour Ahead" really catches my ear. Bassist-husband Marc Johnson played with Evans, and managed to borrow Scott LaFaro's bass for a couple of songs, so he's beyond reproach. Joey Baron is exceptionally quiet, never reminiscent of Paul Motian. No idea whether Evans fans will like this or not. I find it charming, but can't claim I understand why. B+(***)

Katie Bull: The Story, So Far (2006 [2007], Corn Hole Indie): An adventurous jazz singer, citing Jay Clayton and Sheila Jordan as influences, working with mostly avant musicians like Michael Jefry Stevens and Joe Fonda. Fourth album, a very ambitious song suite, with a DVD (unviewed) documenting her performance art. You can use her cover of "Twisted" for calibration: it is looser and quirkier than Annie Ross (or Joni Mitchell, even), and those traits pop up every now and then in her originals. Problem is I don't find myself caring, even when she taunts Bush for not finding any WMD. B

Jamie Leonhart: The Truth About Suffering (2008, Sunnyside): Singer-songwriter, sharing some/most credits with pianist-husband Michael Leonhart. Born in New York, granddaughter of a cantor. Debut album, not counting a self-released EP that AMG lists first. Doesn't sound all that jazzy, but at least one jazz vocal niche is pure marketing accident: a few club dates, a jazz label, who knows? Sounds better when I listen closely, and I can't say that I gave it a fair hearing. Not something I'm much interested in. B

Patrick Arena: Night and Day (2008, Arenamusic): Singer, based in Western PA, maybe from there too, as his CV indicates he studied drama at Duquesne 1970-72, from which I also deduce he's over 50. Spent some time in NYC. Teaches voice. His strikes me as soft-toned, unmannered, with limited range, although he can modulate the volume. A couple of originals and some peculiar covers, like "I'm Always Drunk in San Francisco." C+

Elli Fordyce with Jim Malloy: Something Still Cool (1999-2006 [2007], EF Music): Fordyce is a singer based in NY, b. 1937, with her first album. (I saw one website that had her born in 1974 with 6 albums, but nothing else I see gives that any credence. Scott Yanow's liner notes ask: "How can the singer possibly be 70 when her voice can pass for 40?") She likes the cool jazz of the 1950s, explaining that she hired trumpeter James Magnarelli for his fondness for Chet Baker. Malloy is another singer; has an album of mostly 1950s bop standards called Jazz Vocalist. He appears in duets on 5 songs, and they make a nice pair. Two cuts with just David Epstein on piano. The rest, including all the duets, have Harry Whitaker's piano trio, some with Magnarelli and/or percussionist Samuel Torres added. Good liner notes; solid craftsmanship. B+(*)

Diane Schuur: Some Other Time (2008, Concord): Singer. Has about 20 albums since 1985, but this is the first I've heard. Arguably she's the most famous jazz singer I'd never heard before -- she's had a couple of Grammys and 12 albums on Billboard's Top Ten Jazz Albums lists, but popularity tends to be suspect in this niche and Penguin Guide doesn't acknowledge her at all. Standards, well worn ones at that, like "Nice Work If You Can Get It," "Blue Skies," "Taking a Chance on Love," "My Favorite Things." One cut is rather strangely pulled from a 1964 archive, at which point she would have been 11, and that segues into an apparently new "Danny Boy." Small group with piano (Schuur on two cuts, Randy Porter elsewhere), guitar (Dean Balmer), bass and drums. She's an articulate singer with a finely honed neutral voice, assured. Given surefire songs and sensible, swinging even, arrangements, she makes a strong impression. B+(**) [Feb. 26]

Keefe Jackson's Project Project: Just Like This (2007, Delmark): Jackson plays tenor sax and bass clarinet. He moved to Chicago from Fayetteville, AR in 2001. Has an earlier record I haven't heard by a small group called Keefe Jackson's Fast Citizens. Project Project is a large improv-oriented band: 5 brass, 5 reeds, bass and drums. Loose, rowdy, occasionally rapturous solos, nothing that stands out much from any number of similar configurations. B+(*)

Mike Walbridge's Chicago Footwarmers: Crazy Rhythm (1966-2007 [2007], Delmark): Born 1937 in Los Angeles, Walbridge moved from trumpet to sousaphone in his high school band, moved to Chicago after a stint in the military, joined the Original Salty Dogs, and founded the Chicago Footwarmers Hot Dance Orchestra in 1958, playing tuba. That trad jazz never changes is proven by the near-seamless pairing of a 1966-67 9-track LP with 8 new tracks from 40 years later. What holds it together is fellow Salty Dog Kim Cusack, who plays clarinet and alto sax on both sessions. He goes back even further, recording most frequently with James Dapogny, Ernie Carson, and Bob Schulz, although he also has a nice 1967-2007 pair of credits with Jim Kweskin and Maria Muldaur. While the 1967 sessions have extra piano, the most distinctly satisfying thing about this record is its elemental foursquare structure -- clarinet over tuba, banjo with drums -- as basic as trad jazz gets. A-

Sabertooth: Dr. Midnight (2007, Delmark): A quartet consisting of two saxophonists, Cameron Pfiffner and Pat Mallinger, with Pete Benson on organ and Ted Sirota on drums. Group formed in 1990 and has long held an after hours gig at Chicago's Green Mill Lounge. A previous self-released Live at the Green Mill album came out in 2001. The new one suggests they haven't gone anywhere. The two saxophonists can cut it, but Pfiffner likes to relax with his piccolo, Matlinger prefers a Native American flute, neither strong suits. Mostly originals by the saxophonists, but the best thing here is by "traditional," mostly because Sirota gets to shake a Latin beat. Strikes me as spotty, a problem with gigs: live you recall the good spots, on record you dread the rest. B-

Out to Lunch: Excuse Me While I Do the Boogaloo (2007, Accurate): Gratuitous AMG slam du jour: they label this group/record country. The hype sheet references Medeski Martin & Wood, Groove Collective, Club D'Elf, and others, summing up: "James Brown soul to dub influenced reggae, from jazz to house." I guess "acid jazz" doesn't buy you much these days. Actually, I find them a little soft and wobbly for any of those comparisons. The leader is Brooklyn saxophonist David Levy, who hails from Canada and passed through New England Conservatory. Levy's credit list here starts with bass clarinet and clarinet, which has something to do with the soft touch. Josiah Woodson plays trumpet and flute; Petr Cancura tenor/soprano sax and clarinet; Eric Lane keybs; two bassist alternate, and there are drums and electronics. Debut album, although AMG lists one from 2003 that probably doesn't belong here. B

Free Form Funky Freqs: Urban Mythology: Volume One (2007, Thirsty Ear): Guitar improv from Vernon Reid, with Jamaldeen Tacuma reverbing the funk bass and G. Calvin Weston on drums, with extra beeps, bonks and warps plugged in by Reid, but -- they swear -- no guitar, bass, or drum overdubs. Accept it for what little it is and you'll have a nice time. Don't hold your breath for Vol. 2. B+(*)

Steve Reid Ensemble: Daxaar (2007, Domino): Album cover claims "(recorded in africa)" in small bold print against an outline of the continent. The title is evidently an archaic spelling of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, where Reid picked up trumpet (Roger Ongolo), guitar (Jimi Mbaye), bass (Dembel Diop), kora (Isa Kouyate, also spelled Koyate, while kora is also spelled korah), and percussion (Khadim Badji), studio pros with Youssou N'Dour and Super Diamono and others on their resumes. Kouyate also provides a vocal on the first song, called "Welcome," which is the only thing here that is unmistakably Senegalese. The rest are seductive little groove pieces. While the Africans go with the flow and flesh them out admirably, the real interest is in the keyboards (Boris Netsvetaev) and electronics (Kieran Hebden, who also does business as Four Tet), light and fleeting details in a thick jungle tableau. Reid's a drummer with a Zelig-like list of credits -- Martha Reeves' "Dancing in the Streets," John Coltrane, James Brown, Ornette Coleman, Fela Kuti, Sun Ra, Miles Davis -- despite spending most of his life in obscurity as an exile, now snug in Switzerland. He got some notice in 2006 for The Exchange Session, two volumes of laptop-drums improvs with Hebden, and that paid for his ticket to Africa. Not the first time he's been back, but this time he brought something extra to the party. A-

Drew Gress: The Irrational Numbers (2006 [2008], Premonition): Flash-only website. For a while after I killed off Flash life was good, but I've run into a few of these things lately, and this one pushed me over the edge into complaining. Don't really need to do much research on Gress anyway. He's one of the top bassists in New York, showing up on 6-10 records per year since the early 1990s, including Fred Hersch, Dave Douglas, Tim Berne, John Hollenbeck (Claudia Quintet), Uri Caine, George Colligan, Marc Copland, Tony Malaby, Ellery Eskelin, Steve Lehman, Ralph Alessi, many more -- AMG lists about 130 albums. This is the fourth under his own name: his compositions, with an all-star quintet: Berne (alto sax), Alessi (trumpet), Craig Taborn (piano), Tom Rainey (drums). Not sure why I don't like it more: the free form passages are exciting, but most of it consists of intricate postbop layerings, possibly interesting on paper, but hard to follow or get into. B+(*) [Feb. 19]

Ben Allison & Man Size Safe: Little Things Run the World (2007 [2008], Palmetto): Another Flash-only website. An advance copy with little information; e.g., credits like "Michael Blake (sax on selected tracks)"; no recording date (AMG gives Aug. 17-18, 2007); no song list (AMG doesn't have one either, but I picked up one from Palmetto website; no catalog number (AMG has one but it looks wrong). Presumably Allison wrote all the pieces, since that's something he does. Also, like Gress, he's one of the major bassists of his generation -- not as much session work, but a stronger record as a composer. "Man Size Safe" is a song title as well as the first indication of a group name. Group includes Ron Horton on trumpet, Steve Cardenas on guitar, Michael Sarin on drums, and Blake more or less. Allison was part of a group that called itself the Jazz Composers Collective (along with Horton and Blake, Frank Kimbrough and Ted Nash). They all do sort of left-of-center postbop, but Allison seems to get more kick out of his melodies. This is interesting, thoughtful stuff, but I'll hold off until I know more. [B+(**)] [advance]

3 Cohens: Braid (2006 [2007], Anzic): Another Flash website, but this one at least has an HTML version (a tip of the hat to Dynamod Web Portals; I don't recommend non-free software or anything involving Flash, but at least they produce usable websites). The 3 Cohens are siblings Yuval (soprano sax), Anat (tenor sax, one cut on clarinet), and Avishai (trumpet), playing in front of Aaron Goldberg (piano), Omer Avital (bass), and Eric Harland (drums). All three provide originals (3 for Yuval, 2 Anat, 4 Avishai), plus there is a cover of "It Could Happen to You." The horns tend to wrap around each other, with the higher soprano sax/trumpet pair dominant -- the reference to braiding has some merit. The rhythm section is relatively anonymous, although the few occasions where they get an exotic rhythm to work with help a lot. B+(*) [advance]

Fabio Morgera: Need for Peace (2007, Smalls): Trumpeter, b. 1963 in Naples Italy, moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and on to New York in 1990. Has 7 or more albums under his own name, plus a parallel track since 1990 working with acid jazz group Groove Collective. The key fact here is that half of the 16 songs have vocals, but they are sung by four different singers (Morgera taking one song), none all that distinctive or attractive. The other half are instrumentals, although they are not staged much differently, with smokey cocktail bar piano and Morgera's deftly phrased, eloquent trumpet. I'd like to hear a more instrumental album, or a better singer. B+(*) [advance]

Richard Boulger: Blues Twilight (2005-06 [2008], City Hall): Trumpet player, originally from Massachusetts, then Connecticut. Studied with Jackie McLean and Freddie Hubbard, who penned the liner notes here. Released first album in 1999. Joined Gregg Allman and Friends in 2001. This is his second album, cut over two sessions, the first blessed by John Hicks on piano, the second helped out by Anthony Wonsey. Hard bop, pretty vigorous. One thing I don't like is having the sax (David Snitter or Kris Jensen) shadow the trumpet, and there's a lot of that here. On his own, Boulger cuts a fine figure. B

Thomas Marriott: Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson (2006 [2008], Origin): From Seattle, plays trumpet and flugelhorn, has 3 albums since 2005 (not counting his Xmas album, The Cool Season). Quintet with Mark Taylor on sax, Ryan Burns on Moog or Fender Rhodes, Geoff Harper on bass, Matt Jorgensen on drums. The process is similar to what Jewels & Binoculars has done with Bob Dylan, but the extra horn and keyboards generate a lot of excess filigree, complicating the melodies and camouflaging the improvisation. "Crazy" itself, of course, is indelible enough to hold up, and there are other sweet spots. B+(*)

Frederic Borey Group: Maria (2005 [2007], Fresh Sound New Talent): French saxophonist, plays tenor and soprano. Looks like his first album. Quartet includes guitar, bass, and drums. Don't know much about him. After some searching, I found a French website, implemented wholly in Flash, and for that matter possibly the most annoying Flash I've ever seen. Example: a bio page is cut up into four pieces which are perpetually animated, sliding around the window. I could probably glean some useful info even in French if only I could get it to hold still. Flash itself doesn't provide any controls for slowing or stopping animation, for turning off the sound, or anything else that would be useful -- killing the process and replacing it with a black window is at the top of my wish list. (Sorry to run on like this, but someone has to say it somewhere.) As for the record, it's soft-toned postbop, especially with the soprano, which tends to be cloyingly pretty. Borey's tenor is more substantial, and it's a pleasure to follow his logic. Much of the backdrop is due to guitarist Piere Perchaud, who does a particularly nice job of setting the sax up. B+(*)

The Paislies (2005 [2007], Fresh Sound New Talent): New York group, six members: Samir Zarif (soprano and tenor sax), Jesse Lewis (guitar), Eliot Cardinaux (nord electro 2 and organ), Miro Sprague (piano), Perry Wortman (bass), Paul Wiltgen (drums). Of these, only Sprague rings a faint bell -- has a couple of albums, but I haven't heard them. Sprague's website describes the Paislies as a cooperative group. Don't see any song credits to indicate otherwise. I'm fond of collectivism in politics and business, but one thing I'm attracted to in jazz is a strong sense of individuality. That's often a problem with larger groups, especially without a strong leader, and I don't hear anyone standing out here. Postbop, soft tones, not a lot of beat, the dual keyboards a bit unusual. Young guys as far as I can tell. Zarif comes from Houston via New Orleans. Lewis is from Boston via New Orleans. Cardinaux has a MySpace page with nothing on it. Sprague has trio and quintet albums, but not much of a biography. Wortman grew up in Tulsa and gigged in OKC. Wiltgen comes from Luxembourg, has his own group, is into Baha'i. Some (or maybe all) of them intersected at Manhattan School of Music. Most have MySpace pages, which I mostly ignore because they're mostly useless, but musicians like them because they can forcefeed you music -- annoying when you're trying to listen to something else. Group has a Flash page: flashier than average, but also not much help. Some of these guys may turn out to be good, but it's pretty early to tell. B-

Ila Cantor: Mother Nebula (2006 [2007], Fresh Sound New Talent): Guitarist. Website says she was raised in New York, but also says she moved there after high school. I figured her for Spanish, but website says she moved to Barcelona later, "to experience a new culture, language, and life." Two sources say she's the daughter of an author and filmmaker, but don't give a name. She has several groups/projects, both in Barcelona and in New York, including a cabaret group called The Lascivious Biddies. This is a New York group, a quartet with Frederik (or Frederick, on the front cover) Carlquist on tenor sax, Tom Warburton on bass, Joe Smith on drums. First cut starts with an agreeable funk groove, and Carlquist's sax stands up and comes out honking. That sets up the vibe for the rest of the album, even while it strays further afield. I'm most impressed with Carlquist, but can't find much -- a Fredrik Carlquist has two albums on Dragon, and I've also seen a Frederic Carlquist. [B+(**)]

Giulia Valle Group: Danze Imprevista (2006 [2007], Fresh Sound New Talent): Recorded Nov. 14-15, but doesn't say the year, so I'm guessing 2006. She has another Flash website, totally useless. From Tomajazz (as best I can hack the Italian) I gather she was born 1972 in Sanremo, Italy. Studied in Barcelona and seems to be based there. Plays bass. Wrote and arranged everything here except for a piece by Hermeto Pascoal and a theme from Hindemith she transfigured. Group is definitely Barcelona, with two saxes (Martí Serra and Miguel "Pintxo" Villar), Sergi Sirvent on piano, and David Xirgu on drums. Postbop, arty, but also swings some. I didn't care for the same two sax lineup on her previous Colorista, but this is more winning. B+(**)

José Alberto Medina/JAM Trio: In My Mind (2007, Fresh Sound New Talent): Medina is a pianist, originally from the Canary Islands, now in Barcelona. JAM is presumably just his initials. A previous album, First Portrait, with the same credit used different players at bass and drums. This time they are Paco Weht and Mariano Steimberg. Don't know either of them, but Steimberg has a MySpace page, says he's based in Barcelona, influenced by Miles Davis and Squarepusher, credits include programming as well as drums. One song here has a vocal by Oscar Aresi. Medina has a light touch and lovely tone, and this works nicely within the piano trio format. B+(**)

Hans Glawischnig: Panorama (2006 [2008], Sunnyside): Born 1970 in Graz, Austria; his father Dieter Glawischnig, a pianist and NDR Big Band director; his mother a US native. Plays bass. Moved to Boston to study at Berklee, then to New York for Manhattan School of Music. Second album as leader, following an easily overlooked Fresh Sound New Talent album from 2001, but he's played on more than two dozen albums since 1997, often under Latino leaders (Ray Barretto, Miguel Zenon, Luis Perdomo, Dafnis Prieto). This one will be noticed: he's got a name people have been noticing, and a label that will get him more visibility. It has the air of an overelaborate debut: it deploys nine musicians in groups of 3-5, calling in chits and adding to the star power (only 2 of 3 drummers aren't household names, at least chez moi). The small groups work well enough each on its own, but fit uncomfortably together, partly because shifts like alternating alto saxophonists Miguel Zenon and David Binney wind up sounding so much the same. Another example is piano: Chick Corea leads two trios cuts, while Luis Perdomo fills in the groups, a distinction that could be chalked up to different roles rather than different pianists (who all in all aren't all that different). The one cut with Rich Perry's tenor sax does stand in contrast to the six cuts with alto, but comes as an isolated surprise. The unifying thread is the bassist-composer, which is no doubt the plan. Advanced, interesting postbop, informed by Latin jazz but not really part of it. Bass presence but not much solo space. For various good and not so good reasons this is likely to show up in a lot of year-end lists. B+(**)

Yoko Miwa Trio: Canopy of Stars (2004 [2007], P.J.L): Pianist, from Japan, based in Boston since 1996, has a couple of previous albums. Her website quotes what I wrote about her 2004 album Fadeless Flower: "Young mainstream piano trio aim for clean sound, delicate balance, inconspicuous beauty." Trio this time includes Massimo Biolcati on bass, Scott Goulding on drums (repeating from last time). Not much more to add other than that she mixes it up a bit more, including a tango and a waltz. B+(*)

Matthew Shipp: Piano Vortex (2007, Thirsty Ear): I got this very late, well after the year-end lists were compiled. Not sure why. I get everything else from Thirsty Ear, and asked for and was promised this several times before it finally came through. I've written about Shipp at great length here and here, and two records back he scored a Pick Hit with his jazztronica triumph, Harmony and Abyss. This one turned out to be tough to get into. It's an old fashioned piano trio, with Joe Morris on bass and Whit Dickey on drums. It seemed to just amble quietly then finally detonate about six cuts in. Finally I kicked the volume up a notch, and with Gary Giddins' Jazz Times column as a guide, started paying attention. The ambling quiet title cut does indeed draw you into a vortex. The second and fourth pieces are choppy rhythm things a bit more deliberate than the sixth one ("Quivering With Speed") I've been noticing all along. The odd numbered pieces feature lines that go places you don expect. Morris, who started out as a guitarist, is turning into a sharp bassist, especially with the bow. Giddins writes about others writing about how this is more accessible than other Shipp records. I don't think so. But at least it pays back the attention it demands. A-

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin: Holon (2007 [2008], ECM): Don't have record date, so I'm guessing. ECM usually has those things, although the booklets have been getting more minimalist. Swiss pianist, b. 1971, into zen, funk, martial arts, green tea, most of which are combined here, although possibly misapplied. A ronin is an outcast samurai warrior, a loner. The five-piece band, however, has two albums now, and play tighter than ever. Electric bass, drums, and percussion chug out regular rhythms, similar to Nils Petter Molvaer, maybe more mechanistic, with minor shifts to keep from wearing down. Bärtsch played Fender Rhodes on the earlier Stoa, but goes with acoustic piano here, adding a layer that again shifts subtly. Someone who goes by the name Sha plays bass and contrabass clarinets and alto saxophone, but he blends in and is pretty inconspicuous. Six pieces are titled "Modul" followed by a number. They start simple and build a bit. It's not postbop and not avant-garde and it doesn't fuse anything obvious, but it's got more going for it than dance electronica or experimental rock. A-

Enrico Rava/Stefano Bollani: The Third Man (2006 [2008], ECM): It's hard to make duos work, harder still when the instruments meet like oil and water, although even for trumpet and piano I can think of an exception -- Warren Vaché and Bill Charlap's 2gether (2000, Nagel-Heyer), but in that case both artists go more than half way to meet the other. They are great listeners. Rava and Bollani are pretty good talkers. Despite their mutual admiration, their oratory sails right past each other, giving us interleaved halves of two solo albums. B

Little Annie & Paul Wallfisch: When Good Things Happen to Bad Pianos (2007 [2008], Dutro Jnana): Singer with piano accompaniment, and sometimes a little more. Wallfisch is the pianist, credited with "Steinway upright in a flooded basement, synthesizers, guitars, bass and percussion." Cover has photos of some pretty wrecked pianos. Wallfisch has a tattered list of rock credits: Love and Rockets, Congo Norvell, Firewater, Botanica, Gene Loves Jezebel, Sylvain Sylvain, Silos, Thomas Truax, as well as a previous Little Annie album called Songs From a Coalmine Canary. Little Annie is Annie Bandez, aka Annie Anxiety, or some combination thereof (e.g., Little Annie Anxiety Bandez). She started out in front of a group called Annie and the Asexuals. Don't know how old she is, but she has a long list of solo recordings going back to 1981. Cracked, strained voice, sometimes passing for character, sometimes falling into comedy, often depending on the song: "It Was a Very Good Year," "Song for You," "Private Dancer," "One for My Baby," "Yesterday When I Was Young," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," etc. One original. I'm amused, just not sure how far I'm willing to fall. [B+(**)]

Omer Klein: Introducing Omer Klein (2007 [2008], Smalls): Pianist, from Netanya, Israel, studied at New England Conservatory in Boston, moved to New York in 2006. Despite the title here, he has a previous album called Duet with bassist Haggai Cohen Milo on Fresh Sound New Talent -- a nice, quiet, intimate introduction to his style. This is a trio with Omer Avital on bass (and one track oud) and Ziv Ravitz on drums, plus extra percussion by Itamar Doari. One result is that this is much more upbeat. Klein even breaks out in a vocal at one point, not a highlight. Should give it some more time. [B+(**)]

Daniel Barry: Walk All Ways (2007, OA2): B. 1955 Erie, PA; studied at University of California Santa Barbara; now based in Seattle. Plays cornet. Also credited here with melodica and misc. percussion. First album under his own name, but has several more in a big band called the Jazz Police, including The Music of Daniel Barry. He also has a prominent role in the Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra, another big band. This record is also on the largish side, ranging from the delightful conga-powered "Mighty Urubamba" that leads off through some things that slide through classical territory leaning heavily on violin, cello, accordion, and James DeJoie's clarinets, flute, and bari sax. The cornet is always bright and welcome, the arrangements clever and classy. B+(**)

Rob Lockart: Parallel Lives (2006 [2007], Origin): Tenor saxophonist, based in Los Angeles. Looks like his first album, although he has a couple dozen side credits going back to 1989 -- mostly with folks I don't know, but Bob Sheppard returns the favor for a one cut sax duet here, and Larry Koonse drops in for another cut. Otherwise this is a quartet, with Bill Cunliffe on piano, Jeff DiAngelo on bass, Joe La Barbera on drums. They have a big, boisterous hard bop sound. It's fun for a while, but ultimately not all that interesting. B

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And these are final grades/notes on records I put back for further listening the first time around.

Stacey Kent: Breakfast on the Morning Tram (2007, Blue Note): An art singer, or perhaps a pop singer in an alternate universe, which may be the England and France that adopted this New Jersey native. Doesn't write, but four songs are originals, written by husband-saxophonist Jim Tomlinson and novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, an often impressive combination. The title track is a richly detailed recipe for putting heartbreak aside. She has an interesting knack for repertoire, taking "Hard Hearted Hannah" and "What a Wonderful World" slow enough to reveal details you missed before. Three songs in French: a samba and two by Serge Gainsbourg. B+(***)

Barbara Rosene and Her New Yorkers: It Was Only a Sun Shower (2007, Stomp Off): A specialist in pre-WWII pop songs, with tributes to Ruth Etting and Annette Hanshaw in her catalog, Rosene rescues "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" from Tiny Tim, and adds 22 more songs only specialists are likely to recognize. The musicians, including Jon-Erik Kellso on cornet and trumpet and Mike Hashim on soprano and alto sax dote on this stuff, and Rosene can brighten any sad day. B+(**)

Nanette Natal: I Must Be Dreaming (2005-07 [2007], Benyo Music): A jazz singer-songwriter who's remained obscure for decades reinvents herself as the new Odetta, as straightforward as any basic blues singer: "tv news makes my blood boil/the mission was to grab the oil"; "the jails are filled to capacity/in the land of the brave and the free"; "a city dies before our eyes/the bursted levees, the broken lies." The line about dreaming is her stab at irony: it's no dream when "living's hard when it doesn't come easy." B+(***)