My 17th Jazz Consumer Guide column is in the Village Voice's hands right now. I've finished my usual load of paperwork shuffling as I prepare to start a new column cycle. This is the first week of jazz prospecting for next column. The week started off with an effort to cut through the second-pass records leftover from last time, but by the end of the week I also listened to a few things I hadn't got to last time. I also kept writing, so I've expanded my initial seeds for the next column from roughly 600 to 900 words. Good start.

I expect the Voice will publish the just-finished column sometime mid-September. Will know more later, but probably not soon.

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Motel: Lost and Found (2007, MGM): All music by DC bassist Matt Grason, excepting a Herbie Hancock piece. Don't know much about him, but he's put together a jazz-hip-hop mash-up that stands on both legs. The Feat. rappers do business as: Priest Da Nomad, Cool Cee Brown, Sub Z, Kokayi, John Moon, Yu, and Hueman Prophets. Local DC talent, came out of Tony Blackman's Freestyle Union. The band are NYC jazzbos -- the two names I recognize are guitarist Jostein Gulbrandson and saxophonist Jon Irabagon, both stand up and out here, more than filling the breaks between the raps. Rhythmically, by hip-hop standards this seems lax -- even Nicholas Payton and Wallace Roney have employed turntablists and samplers. Sure, not very well, the point being that there's some precedent for exploring that angle. B+(**)

Bryan Beninghove: Organ Trio (2007 [2008], CDBaby): No hint he made any effort to think up a label name, but it's in the catalog at CDBaby. Tenor saxophonist (credit just: Saxophone), originally from suburban Baltimore, studied at William Paterson University (Wayne, NJ), now based in Jersey City. First record, didn't put much thought into the title either: just exactly what it claims, a trio with Kyle Koehler on Hammond B-3, Don Williams on drums. Wrote 4 of 9 songs; no obvious pattern to the covers. Everyone pumps hard, plays heavy. Reminds me of Willis Jackson. Evidently Beninghove has other projects, but he's pretty convincing in this one. B+(***)

Oleg Kireyev/Feng Shui Jazz Project: Mandala (2004 [2008], Jazzheads): Kireyev is a Russian saxophonist (tenor, soprano), from Bashkiria, which I take to be in the southern Urals ("near the European/Asian border"). Is interested in Bashkiri folk music, other Asian musics and culture (including the Feng Shui worked into the group name), and jazz, of course, which he played in Poland in the 1990s. Nowadays you're most likely to find him in Moscow. He has 8 albums since 1989, on Russian and Polish labels until this one got picked up. Group includes Russians on guitar, bass, and drums, plus Senegalese conga player Ndiaga Sambe ("joined the band in 2001"). He also plays a bit of keyboards and does a bit of throat singing. One song starts with the figure from "Message in a Bottle" and works it progressively into an Asian idiom, playing at Coltrane as his most oriental. Has a beat, especially when the guitar runs things. [A-]

Noah Preminger Group: Dry Bridge Road (2007 [2008], Nowt): Tenor saxophonist, based in Brooklyn, first album, fronting a postbop sextet with well established musicians: Russ Johnson (trumpet), Frank Kimbrough (piano), Ben Monder (guitar), John Hebert (bass), Ted Poor (drums). Not something I find all that interesting, but well done, superb group, closes strong with the drum-driven "Rhythm for Robert." B+(**)

Kenny Barron: The Traveler (2007 [2008], Sunnyside): First time through I was getting ready to slam this when a track with guitarist Lionel Loueke caught my ear -- reminded me that my favorite Barron record paired him with another guitarist, Mino Cinelu, Swamp Sally (1995, Verve). Loueke appears on three cuts here: one a duo with the pianist, two augmenting the trio, one of those with vocalist Gretchen Parlato. Another pass highlights some other points, but they remain scattered. Ann Hampton Callaway's vocal is nuanced, but Grady Tate's isn't. Parlato isn't a plus. Loueke fairs better with the trio than in the duo, which I score heavily for Barron. Soprano saxophonist Steve Wilson's three pieces improve on rehearing. I can't say whether I'd like Barron's trio better without the distractions, but here they come as a relief. And Barron closes with a fine solo on Eubie Blake's "Memories of You." B+(**)

Mike Reed's People, Places & Things: Proliferation (2007 [2008], 482 Music): Drummer, b. 1974 in Germany, raised in Evanston, IL, based in Chicago. Founded something called Emerging Improvisers Organization. Active in various groups, the best known being Exploding Star Orchestra. Four albums since 2006, including two this year. This one is a quartet, with two saxes (Greg Ward on alto sax and clarinet, Tim Haldeman on tenor sax), bass (Jason Roebke), and drums. Intended to invoke Chicago's jazz scene from 1954-60 -- John Jenkins and Sun Ra are tapped for two songs each among 9 non-original songs; Reed wrote 3 -- it sounds like freebop to me: racing horn movements, sometimes play gets a little rough, but mostly the horns stay within convention while the rhythm wanders. Impressive stuff. A-

Mike Reed's Loose Assembly: The Speed of Change (2007 [2008], 482 Music): Drummer Mike Reed's other record, along with People, Places & Things' Proliferation. Loose Assembly is indeed loose: a quintet, down to one horn (Greg Ward on alto sax), with cello (Tomeka Reid), vibes (Jason Adasiewicz), bass (Josh Abrams), and drums. Nicole Mitchell guests on two cuts, but doesn't make much of a splash. Indeed, the album has a light, trippy air, modern postbop pieces. B+(***)

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

ZMF Trio: Circle the Path (2005 [2007], Drip Audio): Stands for Jesse Zubot (violin), Jean Martin (drums), Joe Fonda (bass). Avant-garde, kind of a Revolutionary Ensemble for liberal Vancouver. B+(***)

Jacob Young: Sideways (2006 [2008], ECM): Continues to be an interesting guitarist although he's showing signs of being willing to settle down into ECM's file cabinet about midway between John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner. Group includes two horns -- Mathias Eick on trumpet, Vidar Johansen on tenor sax/bass clarinet -- but they work slow and mostly fill in. Previous album, Evening Falls, seemed more promising. B+(*)

Carlos "Zingaro"/Dominique Regef/Wilbert DeJoode String Trio: Spectrum (2004 [2008], Clean Feed): Regef's hurdy gurdy splits the spectrum between violin and bass, or something like that -- I'm not really sure how to follow it. In any case, the strings squeek, squirm, and squelch: this is not chamber music in any polite sense. It is difficult music, a challenge, but it is listenable, a chore perhaps, but not monotonous or gratuitously violent. Zingaro has a large discography. The few bits I've heard make him a subject for future research. B+(**)

Avery Sharpe: Legends & Mentors: The Music of McCoy Tyner, Archie Shepp and Yusef Lateef (2007 [2008], JKNM): Journeyman bassist with a few records under his own name, Sharpe has direct connections to each of his legends/mentors, including a credit on a very good joust between Shepp and Lateef. He writes a song for each, then covers two more, a nice balance. Joe Ford handles the horn duties, and Onaje Allan Gumbs does a passable Tyner. John Blake's violin is an interesting twist, and I like the occasional bass solo. Not quite a tour de force, but a very clever way to put an album together. B+(**)

Marcin Wasilewski Trio: January (2007 [2008], ECM): A piano trio, they originally appeared as veteran trumpeter Tomasz Stanko's "young Polish quartet," but here go by their own own names, with bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz joining pianist Wasilewski on the cover. They conjure up a near perfect quietstorm of ECM piano, every little detail locked snugly into place. You almost don't notice how artful it all is, because it almost slips by unnoticed. B+(***)

Brian Harnetty: American Winter (2007, Atavistic): Bits of radio news and advertisements, story, song, a little fiddle, from decades including WWII -- the ceremony launching the draft lottery is a centerpiece, matched with a snip of Arthur Godfrey singing "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" -- provide the human center for Harnetty's electronic soundtrack. Neither the music nor the samples are all that remarkable, but they merge into something deeply haunting. Seems like a highly repeatable formula, and Harnetty's discography lists 17 items since 2003, but this is the only one I've heard; for now that makes it unique. A-

David Murray/Mal Waldron: Silence (2001 [2008], Justin Time): Cut in Brussels a year before Waldron's death, this may now be seen as a remembrance of an all-time piano great, but Murray fills the room so prodigiously that you have to work to hear how skillfully Waldron ties it all together. He first gained fame as Billie Holiday's accompanist, and even decades later, with dozens of his own often brilliant albums, that was what he was best known for. He wrote three songs here, to one by Murray -- the three covers also favor Waldron. But Murray bowls over everyone, especially one on one, so this winds up being another referendum on him. A-

Dafnis Prieto: Taking the Soul for a Walk (2007 [2008], Dafnison): Unquestionably the hot young drummer from Cuba. Everyone but me seems to love him, and I don't doubt his chops or his ambition, but I don't much enjoy listening to him. He plays the herky-jerk Afro-Cuban switchback game almost too effortlessly, burying it in ornate orchestration, especially slick with the three front-line horns here (Peter Apfelbaum, Avishai Cohen, and Yosvany Terry). B

Walt Blanton: Monuments (2006 [2008], Origin): Trumpet player; front cover also names Tony Branco (piano) and John Nasshan (drums). All are based in Las Vegas, and play free jazz -- not real far out, but open enough to keep you off guard. B+(*)

Spring Heel Jack: Songs & Themes (2007 [2008], Thirsty Ear): More themes than songs, pastiches of mood with some jazz flourishes -- Roy Campbell trumpet, John Tchicai sax -- on top of a wide range of samples and textures. Took me a while to warm up to it. Never got a final copy. B+(*) [advance]

Armen Donelian Trio: Oasis (2007 [2008], Sunnyside): Nice piano trio. Donalian's basic trick is to repeat a rhythm figure and play off against it -- "Sunrise, Sunset" is a good example, but not the only one here. Doesn't move far or hard from that model, which is one reason this never takes off. B+(**)

Martial Solal Trio: Longitude (2007 [2008], CAM Jazz): I thought of Solal when I was writing about Paul Bley's 50+ year career -- both have records dating from 1953, although Solal is actually 5 years older. Bley probably has more records, but Solal has a much broader range of groups, everything from solos to big bands. The problem is that I know so little by Solal, and nothing that I have heard has knocked me out the way 3 or 4 Bley records have. The lack of study is partly because Solal is French and partly because he plays piano, an instrument I haven't pursued anywhere near as aggressively as I have the saxophones. But this new piano trio is as bright and complex and challenging as any I've heard lately. Don't have much more to say about it. He is an enigma for me, a SFFR. At age 80 I doubt that this is his peak, but I also doubt that anyone could guess his age in a blindfold test. B+(***)

Ketil Bjørnstad/Terje Rypdal: Life in Leipzig (2005 [2008], ECM): Duo, recorded live during the Leipziger Jazztage, which has some effect in pumping up the volume of the sound somewhat harshly. Rypdal's guitar sometimes sounds a little violinish. Bjørnstad's piano cuts through that, adds some rhythm, but never quite takes charge. B+(*)

Torben Waldorff: Afterburn (2008, ArtistShare): Played this an extra time just to try to focus on the leader's guitar, which remains indistinct and underwhelming, although it does fit in with the flow, and it does all flow. The standout, of course, is tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin, who dominates without pushing himself anywhere near his usual extremes. B+(***)

Lionel Loueke: Karibu (2007 [2008], Blue Note): Young guitarist from Benin, via Côte d'Ivoire, Paris, and Boston, developed a high profile as a sideman, and a very scattered major label debut. The occasional vocals aren't a plus. The African grooves are hard to pin down -- the attractive "Nonvignon" could be pennywhistle. Two pieces with Herbie Hancock are surprisingly abstract, especially "Light Dark," where Wayne Shorter joins in. Shorter also plays on "Naima." B+(*)

Andy Middleton: The European Quartet Live (2005 [2007], Q-rious Music): Three members of this European Quartet are, and this must mean something, Americans based in Europe, including the leader working out of Vienna. Lists Wayne Shorter at the head of a list of Influences who are mostly just great musicians, but of six or so tenor saxophonists Shorter's the best fit. Shows patience and poise on slow ones, poise and fierce resolve on the fast ones. Good pianist in Tino Derado, the only born European here. Very solid performance. B+(***)

Grace Kelly/Lee Konitz: GraceFulLee (2008, Pazz Productions): Two alto saxophonists, one 15 years old, the other 80. Konitz plays on 7 cuts, 6 with a really superb band -- Russell Malone on guitar, Rufus Reid on bass, Matt Wilson - drums -- and one a duo with Kelly. Kelly, née Chung, plays on all 10, including duos with Malone, Reid, and Wilson. The duos give you a chance to sort out the saxes. Kelly plays carefully -- the duos are all on the slow side, even those billed as free improvs -- but she does have a lovely tone and plots her way through difficult pieces smartly. The 6 band pieces are cool and comfortable, the group enjoying themselves, everyone playing delightfullee. B+(***)

Anne Mette Iversen: Best of the West + Many Places (2006-07 [2008], Bju'ecords, 2CD): Bassist-composer, expansive set of postbop chamber jazz, rounded out with a string quartet on the first disc. Not bad as such things go. Second disc is just quartet, which gives saxophonist John Ellis more elbow room. B+(**)

Kassaba: Dark Eye (2007, CDBaby): Cleveland group, sax-piano-bass-percussion, with two pianists and no full time percussionist -- just a collection of "25 exotic percussion instruments" that everyone, especially the odd pianist out, takes part in. They claim inspiration from jazz, classical, and world; classical shows up mostly in the piano, world in the percussion, perhaps a bit too obviously, but it comes together in the dark, complex, highly flavored groove pieces. B+(**)

Alon Yavnai: Travel Notes (2008, ObliqSound): Piano trio. One of those records that seems very neat and well ordered, not flashy, not in any big hurry, just calm and proper. I find it very pleasing, but otherwise don't have much to say about it. ECM would like this guy. The one cut that's stands out a bit is the one where bassist Omer Avital switches to oud. B+(***) [advance]

Eric Alexander Quartet: Prime Time: In Concert (2007 [2008], High Note, CD+DVD): After a stretch of three or four lousy records -- including his Temple of Olympic Zeus dud, and his part in David Hazeltine's The Inspiration Suite, a record that's only barely escaped my duds list -- this is a return to form. He's a powerful mainstream sax player, and he charges straight ahead through everything here. Hazeltine, John Webber, and Joe Farnsworth provide their usual solid support. The whole thing, and then some, is also on the DVD, if you're into that sort of thing. B+(**)

Houston Person/Ron Carter: Just Between Friends (2005 [2008], High Note): Too easy. You'd think that at least they would jack up the bass volume and let Carter expand a bit on such obvious standards, but he mostly just strums along -- could be any old bassist. And it's not like Person is driving him off the stage: every song is taken in a poke, with the sax volume toned down too. Still, from "How Deep Is the Ocean" to "Always" he's irresistible. B+(***)