Tenor giant Joe Henderson worked with Milestone Records for eight years. While he is best remembered for his Blue Note period, Henderson issued some truly great recordings for Milestone. His volume in the label's Milestone Profiles series is one of the best in the bunch. While fans can argue endlessly about what to include or leave off in a best-of series, it's difficult to argue Nick Phillips' choices.

Olivia Trummer (born 12 June 1985 in Stuttgart) is a German Jazz musician (pianist, vocalist, composer). Trummer was raised in a family of musicians and was honored five times at Jugend musiziert as a federal award winner. Since 2003 she studied jazz piano as well as classical piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. In 2008/2009 she completed a master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music. All courses she graduated with honors. During her studies in 2004 and 2006, she was commissioned to write compositions for stage and film music.

Pianist Gerald Clayton is set to release his Blue Note Records debut Happening: Live at the Village Vanguard on July 10. Recorded at the legendary NYC jazz club with a quintet of longtime collaborators—Logan Richardson on alto saxophone, Walter Smith III on tenor saxophone, Joe Sanders on bass, and Marcus Gilmore on drums—Happening spotlights Clayton’s layered identity as a leader.

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra continues the tradition of excellence that was the core ingredient when it began life as the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra during the 1960s. Now led by pianist/conductor/composer/arranger Jim McNeely, the band brings life to his stimulating charts with tight ensembles and strong solos throughout the session. The first track is a bit of a surprise, a breezy jazz setting of rocker Jimi Hendrix's "Up from the Skies" that is a good bit more harmonically adventurous than the original record.

Beck is back! A perfectionist, gifted with a sharp sense of self-criticism, Joe Beck (born on July 29, 1945, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia) was making good music (and a lot of money) when he disappeared from the NY music scene in 1971 to become a dairy farmer in Vermont. After his professional debut with Paul Winter’s group in 1964, he had played with such masters as Gary McFarland, Charles Lloyd, Chico Hamilton, and Gil Evans, on whose orchestra he was a member from 1967 to 1971. (One of his best albums with Evans, Where Flamingos Fly, only came out ten years later on the Artists House label).

"As full-bodied and comforting as home-baked apple pie" is one apt description of Houston Person's saxophone sound. Inasmuch as this simile attempts to convey the comforting, warm-hearted and accomplished nature of the tenorman's art, it is spot-on, but it must be remembered that Person's roots are in organ-centred R&B. So in addition to a velvety ballad technique Person also possesses an ability to imbue up-tempo material with an irresistible wailing intensity, so his crowd-pleasing bluesy numbers provide welcome variety to this judiciously balanced set.

The members of the original Joshua Redman Quartet—Redman (saxophone), Brad Mehldau (piano), Christian McBride (bass), and Brian Blade (drums)—reunite with the July 10, 2020 release of RoundAgain, the group’s first recording since 1994’s MoodSwing. The album features seven newly composed songs: three from Redman, two from Mehldau, and one each from McBride and Blade.

The title pretty much says it all. These 10 new compositions and well-chosen covers play like a scrapbook of pianist/composer Brown’s favorite sounds. There’s the daredevil, highly technical ensemble swinging that sometimes seems like the signature of his alma mater, Berklee School of Music. There’s the propulsive bounce of the Fender Rhodes electric piano that will always feel like a trapdoor to the 1970s, that decade when Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea and a few others nailed it and made it a permanent part of the jazz soundscape.

The dream of many international jazz musicians is to experience the jazz life of New York City. Saxophonist Tobias Meinhart had the same dream and made a move to the City from his native Germany a decade ago. Having lived in New York for ten years, he came to the realization that a young man from Bavaria can never be from Harlem and that his German roots are central to his musical identity.

Palle Mikkelborg is a fine trumpeter who is best-known stateside for his Aura suite, which Miles Davis recorded in 1984. Self-taught on trumpet, Mikkelborg started working professionally in 1960. He joined the Danish Radio Jazz Group in 1963 and led it during 1967-1972. Mikkelborg performed at the 1968 Newport Jazz Festival in a quintet and worked through the years with such players as Thomas Clausen, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Terje Rypdal, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jan Garbarek, George Russell, Dexter Gordon, Gil Evans, Karin Krog, and George Gruntz's Concert Jazz Band. He has recorded as a leader for Debut, Metronome, Sonet, Storyville, and ECM.

Whether at the helm of a record date or as a sideman, Clifford Jordan was known for giving his all. These studio recordings were originally made for Strata East, a label known for its adventurous spirit. The tenor saxophonist leads two separate groups. The sextet selections include trombonist Julian Priester, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassists Wilbur Ware and Richard Davis, drummer Albert Heath, and trumpeter Don Cherry. Jordan's pensive "Vienna" is given an extended workout, with Cherry's somewhat abstract playing fitting in rather well. The second piece, Jordan's "Doug's Prelude," is also a bit brooding, showcasing the leader, Priester, and Kelly.

Cyrus Chestnut covers a wide range of hymns, carols and spirituals on this outstanding solo piano CD. A very dramatic "Holy, Holy, Holy" would inspire any congregation, while the rich voicings in "We Three Kings" are subtle yet moving. "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" is the most compelling track, with a thought-provoking arrangement that makes great use of space.

Inspired by themes taken from the Judeo-Christian tradition with such titles as Creation, Chaos and Resurrection, the Chicago guitarist presents his interpretations in a suite of original sacred music. Along with his guests including Lawrence Hobgood, Paul Wertico and Paul McCandless, Moulder creates a work that is as adventurous and expansive as it is meditative and intimate.

The Manchester Craftsman's Guild in Pittsburgh offers another rousing live concert date in this varied program led by the eclectic saxophonist who is best known as one of the Yellowjackets – but whose early résumé also boasts everyone from Tito Puente to Thad Jones and the Mel Lewis Big Band. A dash here and a dollop there of each of these influences make this a varied date whose appeal extends beyond big-band fans and embraces those who love bebop, a touch of the avant-garde, the progressive spirit of the Yellowjackets (most notably Russell Ferrante, who contributes stunning percussive solos on pieces like the crazed, polyrhythmic "Mofongo"), and the great contemporary vocalist Kurt Elling.

The Grammy winner takes on and transcends the physical, creative, and conceptual challenges of Miles Davis-Gil Evans' milestone recording and makes a powerful musical statement of his own.