Interesting Albums from the Past Few Months

Here are five worthwhile jazz albums released in the past few months.

Billy Mohler
The Eternal
Contagious Music
2025

Bassist Billy Mohler leads a fiery quartet on this album rooted in the sound of his authoritative bass mixing with Jeff Parker's guitar and Devin Daniels' alto saxophone. The music, built on simple vamps, dances and throbs easily with alto and guitar soulfully flying over the rumbling power of the bass and drums. Parker rolls up twisty psychedelic licks on "Hawk Wind" while Daniels soars over the funky groove of "Destroyer." "Reflection" is a dreamy ballad, "Sooner" is a strolling shuffle groove, and "Adaptation" sees drummer Damion Reid execute rolls on the drums as boisterously as Elvin Jones. Mohler also throws a few solo bass interludes into the mix as well that have the same gravity as the group work. This album creates very heavy sounds out of simple elements.

Blow Globe
John Sturino
Self Produced
2025

This ambitious effort by composer John Sturino uses a ten-piece ensemble that takes ideas from pop, rock and classical music and weaves them into a sound as expansive as a full orchestra. "Bonafides" is a charged-up blast of busy horns over an angular, funky rhythm that features exuberant turns by trumpeter Summer Camargo and baritone saxophonist Garrett Wingfield. "Slug" is a brooding, complex melody in the Bob Brookmeyer style, highlighted by the haunting cries of Wingfield's bass clarinet. "Renewal" has a more upbeat but formal sound and features intricate reed and brass passages, bubbly soprano sax from Abdias Armenteros and a dramatic bit of classical piano from Chris McCarthy. Besides its lengthy instrumental works, the album also contains two vocal selections, "Only In Dreams" and "Morning Sun." Mar Vilaseca sings these songs with a whispery sense of wonder that complements the optimistic music soaring behind her.

Patrick Zimmerli
Songs of Innocence
Emergence Music Productions
2025

Here soprano saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli leads a trio with Kevin Hays on piano and Satoshi Takeishi on percussion. Hays usually sets the rhythmic tone of this music while Takeishi accents him with his drumming and Zimmerli dances and swoops in the front. The three create really giddy moods on "60 Morningside" and "Wedding Song" with the leader's soprano wildly flying, while "Dreamscape" has Hays going into a darker, more dramatic mood. Zimmerli tones down his sound appropriately and sounds more graceful and subdued. The closing "Torison" ends things on a more joyful note with Zimmerli spinning and soaring frantically as Hays pounds his piano like Chick Corea.

Transcendence
Music of Pat Metheny
FMR Records
2025

Pianist Bob Gluck leads this trio in exploring the compositions of Pat Metheny alongside one tune each by Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock also part of the set. Working in the piano-bass-drums format, this group explores Metheny with the same restless curiosity he has shown throughout his own career. "Question and Answer" is a loosely rolling romp where Gluck's rambling piano and Christopher Dean Sullivan's heavy electric bass both sound frisky. "Afternoon" has more form and sense of romance as Karl Latham's rustling drum work paces the warm piano sounds. "Offramp" and "Road Dogs" have Gluck playing the Roll Seaboard, a keyboard instrument he uses to approximate the freakish delirium of Metheny's guitar synthesizer work, Sullivan and Latham keep pace with his wild sounds. Hancock's "Dolphin Dance" is deconstructed through lush piano surges and percussive chatter while Jarrett's "Everything That Lives Laments" is elaborately stretched out with emotional piano playing and decorative drumming.

Zack Lober
So We Could Live
ZenneZ Records
2025

Bassist Zack Lober leads this quartet album featuring the boisterous horn interplay of Jasper Blom on tenor saxophone and Suzan Veneman on trumpet. The two horns duck and dive around each other expertly, firing up rhythms like the calypso groove of "Joe Type Tune," the laid-back cool of "The Loose End," and the bluesy soft shoe of "Landscape." They also take several excellent solo spots such as Blom's scorching tenor and Veneman's cooler response on "Feathered Head." Leader Lober and drummer Sun-Mi Hong set up driving rhythm support throughout. Lober also takes an eloquent solo bass turn on "Dad," a piece written for his late father that turns into "Besame Mucho" which served as the wedding song for his father and stepmother.

Tracks and Personnel

The Eternal

Tracks: Those Who Know; Reflection; Eternal 1; Hawk Wind; Adaptation; Eternal 2; Destroyer; Sooner; Eternal 3; No Age; Eternal 4; Tsunami; Eternal 5.

Personnel: Billy Mohler: bass; Jeff Parker: guitar; Damion Reid: drums; Devin Daniels; alto saxophone.

Blow Globe

Tracks: Year of the Globe; Renewal; Only in Dreams; Slug; Bonafides; Morning Sun; PLG (Prophets Lefferts Gardens).

Personnel: John Sturino: drum set, arrangement, compositions, shaker (6), caxixi (6); Nathan Reising: alto saxophone, flute; Abdias Armenteros: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone; Garrett Wingfield: bass clarinet, baritone saxophone; Kazundri Tanaka: French horn; Summer Camargo: trumpet, flugelhorn; Jasim Perales: trombone; Max Light: guitar; Chris McCarthy: piano; Raul Reyes: double bass; Mar Vilaseca: vocal (3, 6); Jonathan Beshay: flute, alto flute; Roy Ben-Bashat: guitar.

Songs of Innocence

Tracks: 60 Morningside; Crow or Dove; Wedding Song; Dreamscape; Torison.

Personnel: Patrick Zimmerli: soprano saxophone; Kevin Hays: piano; Satoshi Takeishi: percussion.

Music of Pat Metheny

Tracks: Question & Answer; Afternoon; The Bat; Offramp; Dolphin Dance; Everything that Lives Laments; Road Dogs.

Personnel: Bob Gluck: keyboards; Christopher Dean Sullivan: electric bass; Karl Latham; drums.

So We Could Live

Tracks: Joe Type Tune; Behind A Myth; The Loose End; Vignette; Dad / Besame Mucho; Landscape; Feathered Head; So We Could Live.

Personnel: Zack Lober: bass; Jasper Blom: tenor saxophone; Suzan Veneman: trumpet; Sun-Mi Hong: drums.

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