Ah, the light-swinging beauty of the great Johnny Hodges on alto saxophone. His tone and timbre helped fuel the greatest of Duke Ellington’s orchestras as well as his own small ensemble work. Known as Rabbit by his fellow musicians, Hodges would hop through the changes of a tune without missing a beat or breaking a sweat. Sweet, soulful and unforgettable is the only way to sum up his music — and saxophonist Owen Broder would agree. So much so, in fact, that Broder has dedicated his latest recording, Hodges: Front And Center, Vol. 1, to music made famous by Hodges. The recreation of nine Hodges-associated tunes stays true to the spirit of the originals, but with new arrangements for Broder’s smooth-as-silk alto and baritone saxophone work. The swing is impeccable on classics like “Royal Garden Blues,” “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter” and “Take The ‘A’ Train.” Joining Broder on this beautiful romp are trumpeter Riley Mulherkar, pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Barry Stephenson and drummer Bryan Carter. All play their roles with incredible grace. Mulherkar serves as a trusty front-line foil for Broder’s saxophone explorations, adding just the right amounts of sweetness mixed with growl. Staaf is an up-and-coming first-call accompanist on the New York scene. Stephenson knows just where to place those foundational notes. And Carter practically swings his ass right off of the drum throne. In all, Hodges: Front And Center, Vol. 1 serves as a heartwarming reminder of the beauty of Rabbit and the timeless art of swing.

Josh Sinton shares 20 years of “findings” on the baritone saxophone with the release of Steve Lacy’s Book Of Practitioners, Vol. 1 “H,” a solo recording of the late soprano saxophone master’s advanced etudes performed on the big pipe. Sinton extends Lacy’s intended use of the etudes as practice and study material to create an album that explores the outer reaches of what is possible on this flexible and complex instrument, which has long been a staple of both traditional and experimental jazz ensembles. In Sinton’s view, the ever-more-ubiquitous bari remains ripe for experimentation and under-explored in the vast realm of solo saxophone works, and he shows unwavering enthusiasm for new ideas on Steve Lacy’s Book Of Practitioners, Vol. 1 “H.” Each of the six etudes here follows a set format that provides ample room for Sinton to build nuggets of discovery into fully developed improvisations. Highlights include “Hubris,” with its staccato outbursts and r&b references; the minor-key “Hallmark,” where an extended meditation turns into a two-way internal dialog; and the all-organic centerpiece “Hustles,” which exhausts a huge range of sonic possibilities and abstractions in its profound comprehensiveness. This album is a heavy package that will appeal to serious players, deep listeners and fans of art created in absolute earnest. Sinton is on a roll this year, starting with the June release of Adumbrations, a free and lyrical documentation of the long friendship between Sinton, pianist Jed Wilson and drummer Tony Falco (who have known each other since their student days at New England Conservatory), followed by this first volume of Lacy’s etudes, and concluding with a late-October release by Sinton’s Predicate Quartet (with trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, cellist Christopher Hoffman and drummer Tom Rainey) titled 4 freedoms, which was funded by a grant from the Jazz Coalition to explore socially conscious themes.

Reissues can be frivolous, or essential. This one falls into the latter category. Canadian label We Are Busy Bodies has reissued the rare and sought-after 1973 Venezuelan jazz album Espejismo by Virgilio Armas Y Su Grupo, offering a snapshot of the thriving music scene in early-1970s Caracas, until now largely undocumented because of the musical dominance of Venezuela’s far-larger, southern neighbor Brazil. Pianist and bandleader Armas combines Latin jazz and post-bossa swing with homegrown variants, honed over years of playing in clubs in the Altamira and La Castellana districts of the capital.

And yet, We Are Busy Bodies did not stop there. It has also reissued the Virgilio Armas Trio’s album De Repente, previously only available from the tiny Discos A&B label — a one-off, self-financed project.

So, how is it all? Insanely beautiful. De Repente rips out of the gate with its title track, a tightly busy, piano-based composition, before Armas switches over to Fender Rhodes for “De Repente (2a. Parte),” deconstructing what he’s doing, as he does again and again on these two discs. His piano playing is so elegant, tremblingly so, on “I F” and “In Time.”

His take on “Aguas De Marzo” on De Repente is the highlight of both discs here. Armas starts it curiously on piano, then becomes more lively once his rhythm section joins. He sets up a central figure, both on piano and Fender Rhodes, but keeps hinting at a single, simple phrase way up right on the keyboard, which is eventually mimicked by an anonymous person playing a whistle, giving the track a street flair. It’s so charming it gets stuck in your head for days, and would seem to demonstrate Venezuela’s local influence on Armas’ sound.

Espejismo adds a flutist (Domingo Moret), and the band becomes more spaced out, making way for more percussion and more complicated arrangements. On “Indecision,” his electric piano work is such one almost thinks it’s a guitar. By “Sobre El Orinoco,” Moret has crowded Armas out, and he takes back over and reminds you why he’s here.

Overall, De Repente is better, but thankfully they’re both back.

John Escreet is not shy as a composer or improviser. His piano playing slaps bold, bombastic and beautiful, as witnessed on Seismic Shift, his new recording on the Whirlwind label. Escreet’s pianism drips with power, as witnessed on “Study No. 1,” the opening number on the new recording. The tune is a tour de force shot from a cannon. He rips through clusters of notes, rapid-fire, and pounds the keyboard with an aggressiveness that commands attention. Bandmates Eric Revis on bass and Damion Reid on drums spur on a call-and-response group dynamic that takes the music “out” but still keeps everything in the groove. This agility and interplay between the three, on what is Escreet’s first-ever trio recording, makes the entirety of Seismic Shift a joyful, “hell, yeah” listen. The album’s intensity pulls you in even when Escreet turns the burner down a notch, as he does on “Equipoise,” with cascades of notes flowing under his fingertips in a most unusual manner. But the majority of the program delivers jazz as a boxing match packed with jabs, uppercuts and haymakers. Throughout the program, as on “Perpetual Love,” Escreet delivers jaw-dropping technique and dexterity. For example, the title cut presents a true “Seismic Shift.” The tune’s ominous intro features Reid dancing on the cymbals and Revis droning arco while Escreet twists a dystopian melody that builds, explores and explodes. Seismic, indeed. To read more about Escreet and this new project, check out the November issue of DownBeat, coming out soon!

Several of Chicago’s most in-demand instrumentalists, improvisers and arrangers reside in Tim Fitzgerald’s Full House, a seven-year-old ensemble dedicated to interpreting and building upon the repertoire of Wes Montgomery (1923–’68). Long inspired by the DownBeat Hall of Fame guitarist and deeply conversant in the soul-stirring repertoire and smoothly stylized playing techniques the master innovated and popularized in the 1950s and ’60s, Fitzgerald is a Montgomery scholar and visionary who has long deserved wider recognition for his work. In 20-plus years of performing, bandleading, transcribing, researching and authoring, Fitzgerald has consistently shown a deep connection to and intimacy with the music of the jazz world’s smokin’-est self-taught guitarist. His septet’s eponymous debut (named for Montgomery’s hard-bopping 1962 live album Full House) uses Montgomery’s substantial and celebrated oeuvre as a jumping-off point for inventive adventures in bebop, swing, groovy smoothness, bluesy swagger and extended improvising. What makes this project truly remarkable, though, are the expertly voiced, rhythmically charged arrangements of Montgomery tunes that Fitzgerald and his bandmates bring to the party. Some of the more captivating moments on Tim Fitzgerald’s Full House occur when horn players Victor Garcia (trumpet), Greg Ward (alto) and Chris Madsen (tenor) join with the leader on extended soli passages into which Fitzgerald integrates Montgomery’s signature chord-melody playing technique. The resulting brass-and-guitar blend conjures up a complex timbre that’s as ear-catching as it is otherworldly sounding; it flares out at the listener with a wah-wah-like dynamic and subsides with a pleasing softness. Fitzgerald doesn’t emulate Montgomery’s playing per se, but the two guitarists have much in common: fleet-fingered dexterity, an affinity for rhythmically advanced material, total command of the harmonic elements inherent in straightahead jazz, impeccable touch on the fretboard, mastery of all things syncopated and a grounded reverence for the blues. Drummer George Fludas is a driving force throughout the program, never failing to generate sparks or sprinkle bits of sparkle and shimmer in just the right places. Pianist Tom Vaitsas and bassist Christian Dillingham round out this spectacular lineup, a deep well of talent and experience that Fitzgerald draws upon to sustain the type of feel-good flow that has given Montgomery’s contributions to the jazz canon such enduring appeal among jazz listeners and players alike.

Veteran East Coast tenor saxophonist George Garzone seldom has sounded more inventive and impassioned than on this new three-CD collection, recorded live in January at Los Angeles’ new jazz club Sam First over the course of three nights with drummer Peter Erskine, pianist Alan Pasqua and bassist Derek Oles. The group chemistry at work during these performances was equal parts sensitivity and combustibility, a balance of wide-open looseness and masterful precision. It all hinges on the group’s penchant to swing relentlessly while exploring a vast realm of expressive possibilities informed by each player’s considerable depth of experience.

The quartet stretches out on blowing vehicles like “Invitation,” “I’ll Remember April,” “Like Someone In Love,” “I Hear A Rhapsody” and, in three different takes, “Have You Met Miss Jones?” Other highlights include a creative reading of John Coltrane’s “Equinox,” five originals by Garzone and one tune apiece by Erskine, Pasqua and Oles (whose medium-tempo swinger “The Honeymoon” appears in two versions).

Garzone is in rare form, radiating minor-key modal lyricism, emotionally charged balladry, angular uptempo blues and straightahead bebop teeming with tenor toughness—as only he can. Erskine is a consistently refreshing catalyst for this most fortunate meeting of monsters; Oles is pitch-perfect and rock-steady throughout; and Pasqua’s less-is-more approach to the keys provides contemporary harmonic and melodic context while leaving adequate space for magic to unfold around him. This substantial offering of four jazz masters communicating in a highly evolved common language—and playing at the absolute top of their game—is one for the books.