Saxophonist Isaiah Collier and his quartet The Chosen Few with Julian Davis Reid, bassist Jeremiah Hunt and drummer Michael Shekwoaga Ode mark the end of their auspicious eight-year run with this new release reflecting on the tumultuous period from before the onset of the COVID pandemic to the present day. Like the group’s previous albums Parallel Universe (2018), Cosmic Transitions (2021) and The Almighty (2024), The World Is On Fire is ultimately more than just a collection of impelling original compositions; it’s a heartfelt requiem for lives lost and gross injustices gone unrectified, complete with audio of real-life news clips that starkly express the social and economic turmoil that continues to rack the world as the first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close. As Collier plainly puts it, “This project is a sonic exploration, blending sounds, consciousness and activism to raise awareness about the pressing issues of our time.” Collier’s tenor vibrates with boisterousness and burns with urgency over Reid’s focused keyboard strides on opening track “The Time is Now.” The vibe changes to a lament on the following track, “Trials And Tribulations,” with Reid’s anguished piano bolstering Collier’s sorrow-laden alto melody. Guest artist Kenthaney Redmond takes the helm on flute for “Amerikkka The Ugly,” playing reflective, arpeggiated lines that critique the gaping disparities between an idealized vision of America and the harsh reality of its (often-overlooked) cold and cruel history. Collier turns to soprano on the boiling-over “Ahmaud Arbery” and the appropriately cyclical jazz waltz “The Hate You Give Is The Love You Lose,” which finds all four band members transitioning between a rowdy “A” section and a more pensive “B” section. “Crash” begins with flowing drum rolls, bowed bass and rumbling piano that set Collier’s tenor on a collision course with convention as he bursts further into the “free” zone. Other highlights include “Metamorphosis,” inspired by Wayne Shorter’s famously telegraphic late-career quartet; title track “The World’s On Fire,” which Collier composed during his fellowship at the Brubeck Institute, a time when wildfires in the Amazon and protests following George Floyd’s death dominated news headlines; and closing track “We Don’t Even Know Where We’re Heading,” with lyrics by Kennedy Banks (Battle), which sings the collective uncertainty of the future and features an augmented ensemble consisting of Redmond and Meagan NcNeal on flutes, Corey Wilkes on trumpet, Ed Wilkerson Jr. on alto clarinet, Olula Negre on cello, and vocalists Manasseh Croft, Kiela Adira and Jessica Walton joining Collier — imbuing The Chosen Few’s final chapter with a glimmer of hope amid the chaos of life in 2024.

It’s hard to say what makes Planet Bluu so special. Perhaps it’s because, rather than the mix of newbies and veterans he usually uses, here saxophonist/flutist T.K. Blue surrounds himself with hungry young musicians. (At age 33, drummer Orion Turre is, after Blue, the old man of the core band.) If so, though, Blue holds their eagerness in check. These first and foremost are supportive players who seem content to draw on the leader’s wisdom and experience rather than inject him with fire and adrenaline.

That doesn’t just go for the youngsters (who also include trumpeter Wallace Roney Jr., pianist Davis Whitfield and bassist Dishan Harper). Steve Turre, by almost any measure a fearsome presence on trombone, guests on four tracks but solos only once, a typically brilliant submission on “Chessman’s Delight.” Otherwise he’s content to remain a background (“Valley Of The Bluu Rose,” on trombone) or contrapuntal voice (“Chrystal Lake Bluu,” on shells). Likewise, pianist David Kikoski’s sole appearance is in a duet with soprano-wielding Blue on the ballad “When It’s Time To Say Goodbye”: No pyrotechnics here.

These guests and this approach makes the whole album seem like a professorial lesson on the virtues of restraint and economization for developing musicians. If so, it’s an effective and enjoyable one. The diptych “Sky Bluu Parts 1 & 2” makes the point beautifully, the first part featuring delicate lines for Blue on kalimba and alto that require patience and great space for Whitfield, Harper (on bow) and Turre; the second takes on a polyrhythmic South African character, no doubt honed from Blue’s time spent collaborating with Abdullah Ibrahim — of whom Whitfield does a pretty good impression in the head out — but carefully allows no single player to become bigger than the whole brew (although Roney’s gorgeous trumpet solo comes close). Attenuation is a less appreciated nuance, but Blue has mastered it.

The music of John Hollenbeck is pumped with grand themes and intricacies that engage the mind and raise the spirit. Take, for example, his quirky work with The Claudia Quintet on such recordings as Evidence-Based (Flexatonic) or his terrific trio of albums with vocalists — Songs I Like Alot, Songs We Like Alot and Songs You Like Alot — where he shapes unexpected playlists of popular tunes into something completely new and truly wonderful. That’s just scratching the surface of this master percussionist/composer/bandleader’s recorded output. On his latest release, Colouring Hockets, Hollenbeck presents nine of his original tunes with the help of NDR Bigband, founded in 1945 by the German broadcasting company Norddeutscher Rundfunk. This recording finds one of the most inventive big bands in the world meeting one of jazz’s most gifted composers. The results are fantastic. In addition to the rhythmic blend of Hollenbeck and Marcio Doctor, NDR’s percussionist (who suggested this concept), we get even more rhythmic ingredients from two guests: vibraphonist Matt Moran (a long-time Hollenbeck collaborator) and Patricia Brennan on vibes and marimba. The concept of the quartet of percussionists in the midst of this larger organization allows for layers of satisfying, intricate rhythms. Highlights include the staccato articulations of “Cool Code” and the grand “Entitlement,” where the percussionists play off of each other and the horns. Solos become brief interludes, making the ensemble the star here. And for those who aren’t schooled in musical terminology, a hocket (as in the album’s title) is an effect where several instruments quickly alternate melodic phrases, like passing along a secret. There are two fantastic hockets here. “Marimba Hocket” features Moran and Brennan diving into a call-and-response with the horns that builds to a musical collapse of sorts before resolving quietly and beautifully. It’s really entertaining. “Drum Hocket,” of course, features Hollenbeck and Doctor, but also a fine guitar solo by Sandra Hempel and another by Fiete Felsch on flute. Every solo on this recording has a purpose, a place in the ensemble mix, each well-timed and enhancing the overall musical experience. As the album closes with the tune “Sum,” there’s a sense of peace, of wholesomeness, with horns rising and falling, a saxophone here, a whisper of piano there. Conducted with grace by JC Sanford, Mr. Hollenbeck and NDR Bigband deliver an extremely satisfying experience. Put the headphones on, lean back and enjoy. DB

Saxophonist Jeff Lederer and his marauding posse of aberrant musicians (called the Band Formerly Known as Swing n’ Dix) have decided to storm into this year’s election with “GUILTY”!!!, and, yep, you know who they’re talking about. With smiles on their faces and cutting political satire on their minds, the group slashes through 10 blistering songs that leave no doubt about how Lederer feels about this year’s presidential contest. Most of the tunes feature spoken-word intros by some unwitting collaborators, such as “Buzzsaw,” where the manipulated voice of conservative Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene repeats the title. From there Bob Stewart’s tuba kicks off the rhythmic, comical bass line before Lederer and trumpeter Kirk Knuffke drop the bombs of off-kilter unison work. Lederer, on tenor, delivers a slamming solo that, at times, sounds almost like a hyena laughing. Knuffke wails on muted trumpet while long-time Lederer cohort Matt Wilson attacks the drums and Curtis Hasselbring drops in electronics. All of it sonically creates a sense of chaos reflecting what many folks in this country are feeling right now. That sense intensifies throughout the album. “Buttigieg vs Sanders” features soundbytes from the two overlaid on top of each other because ain’t nobody listening, just talking. “Cheapening The Process” is a relief, a sweet bossa nova about former Rep. George Santos, a convicted felon, of course. Mary DeRose delivers some cynically delicious wordless vocalization that’s just fantastic. “Piccolo Buster” lampoons the filibuster with Lederer playing, yep, the piccolo. At the end of the tune, Wilson delivers an award-worthy solo on … the gavel. The title track, written by Hasselbring and Wilson, features Rep. Adam Schiff repeating “guilty” 34 times (in honor of you know what) with Lederer, Knuffke and Hasselbring playing along with each repetition. The album concludes with two of the finest politically charged works in jazz history: Charles Mingus’ “Fables Of Faubus” and Albert Ayler’s “Truth Is Marching In.” Both are killer sendups. And, anyone who’s heard Lederer play can attest to his love for Ayler’s sound. As a whole, “Guilty”!!! is tremendously thoughtful, and absurdly funny, stirring and racous. If you’re a staunch fan of the MAGA movement, ya might want to skip this one. But if you’ve got a sense of humor and a love of the absurd, check out this “GUILTY”!!! pleasure. As an added bonus, listeners can livestream or attend a special event. On Nov. 4, election night, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. EST, local musicians in St. Louis, New York City, Washington, D.C, Chicago and Milwaukee with join in to perform “Truth Is Marching In” together.

This haunting, profound, astonishing record is this reviewer’s pick for the year’s best — and it isn’t even close. Indeed, few albums released in any year achieve alto saxophonist/composer Wilkins’ improbable balance of ethereal and earthy, of searching and grounded, of virtuosic and plainspokenly lyrical. The afore-used “astonishing” doesn’t do it justice — but there’s no better word, either.

Blues Blood is Wilkins’ meditation on his own heritage in its many flavors and nuances. It’s also his first album to use vocals; while his core bandmates — pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Rick Rosato, drummer Kweku Sumbry — are each at their best (as are guest drummer Chris Dave and guitarist Marvin Sewell, the latter with particularly gorgeous, and appropriately spectral, work on “Apparition”), the singers stamp the album with its identity. The beauty of male vocalist Yaw Agyeman’s performance on “If That Blood Runs East,” attenuated but informed by gospel and R&B, is exquisite. So is Cécile McLorin Salvant, doing her some of her subtlest work on “Dark Eyes Smile” (with magnificent accompaniment by Thomas, and solos by Rosato and Wilkins, offsetting her), and Carnatic singer Ganavya’s soft croon on “Everything.” The variety of artistic perspectives that these vocalists represent is as sublime in itself as their performances are.

Undoubtedly, though, the linchpin of this recording is folk singer-songwriter June McDoom, the album’s featured vocalist. Her soft, breathy, insinuative delivery irradiates Blues Blood from the opening ballad “Matte Glaze” through the closing whispers of the epic title-track finale. She’s especially suited to the weightless glide of “Motion.” However, it’s her call-and-response performance with McLorin Salvant on the album’s other epic, the stately but kinetic “Afterlife Residence Time,” that most resounds. Each delivers evocative, achingly poetic lines and images capped with “These are my dreams,” with an otherworldly authority that will no doubt linger in yours.

Trombonist Ed Neumeister, a veteran improviser and bandleader known to spearhead brave feats of experimentalism, gets deep inside the rock music of his youth — five familiar tunes by the Beatles, two by Led Zeppelin, one made famous by Otis Redding and another hatched only a few years ago by Taylor Swift — on his latest outing. A collection of other artists’ popular tunes that serve as fresh fodder for his quartet, augmented on select tracks by a three-piece woodwind section, Covers represents an entirely fresh tack for Neumeister, who has been operating at the forefront of creative music for more than 40 years and has released over a dozen albums under his own name. In addition, he has collaborated as a player and composer with virtually everyone under the jazz sun, and he’s been a member of classic ensembles like the Buddy Rich Big Band, the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and Lionel Hampton’s groups. The core band on Covers includes Gary Versace on piano, organ and accordion, bassists Drew Gress (on seven tracks) and Cameron Brown (on three), and Tom Rainey on drums. Billy Drewes, Caroline Davis and Ingrid Laubrock join the fray on three neatly arranged tracks, providing supplemental saxophones, flutes and clarinets as needed. Covers amounts to a deeply personal expression from Neumeister, a reflection on at time in his life when he was barely familiar with the jazz world he would soon inhabit with all its creative potential. It’s the sound of top-level jazz players making music for the sheer enjoyment of it, with just enough planning to keep form intact and synchronize the brilliant reharmonizations dreamed up by Neumeister and Versace. Neumeister puts his own idiosyncratic personal touches on the melodies of these memorable songs, while Versace holds the reins on the harmony, sometimes asserting bold and bright chord substitutions, and at other moments setting free any notion of “changes” whatsoever. The entire recording comes across as a chill hang where the free spirits frequently venture into whimsical territory while still showing tremendous respect for the source material and investing absolute trust in their leader’s modern-nostalgic vision.