New Jazz Releases – 10/26/2026
By Russell Perry
Willie Morris
It’s a short week for this listener due to another remarkable year for the Virginia Film Festival, which we at WTJU are proud to sponsor. Among the highlights of the music I heard this week are a reissue of Clifford Jordan from 1975, the debut of the Clarence Hines Jazz Orchestra, Jane Ira Bloom integrates her soprano into a trio, the compositions of Douglas J Cuomo performed by tenorist Joe Lovano & The Overlook, and a straight-up quartet date from tenor saxophonist Willie Morris. We’ll catch up next week.
UVa Jazz Ensemble (with pianist Richard Johnson) will be bringing us A Swingin’ Halloween on Friday 10/30 at 7:30 in Old Cabell Hall with guest artist trumpeter Carol Morgan. Sharel Cassity, the Director of the Jazz Ensemble will be joining Steve Harris on Tuesday morning (10/27) on Jazz at 100 Now! to discuss the upcoming performance.
Clifford Jordan – Night of the Mark VII (Time Traveler Recordings / Muse Records, release 10/23/2026). Clifford Jordan – tenor saxophone, Cedar Walton – piano, Sam Jones – bass, Billy Higgins – drums.
Chicago tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan began recording in the latter half of the 50s and twenty years later was one of the few tenor players who were still more influenced by Ben Webster and Lester Young than by John Coltrane. This 1975 live recording, originally on Muse and now reissued on Time Traveller, documents Jordan’s day-to-day quartet with Cedar Walton on piano, Sam Jones on bass and Billy Higgins on drums – legendary players all. Jones, Walton and Jordan each contribute a composition with the two other tracks by Monk and Bill Lee. Recommended.
Fumi Tomita – Yokai: Songs Of The Japanese Supernatural (OA2, release 10/23/2026). Carl Clements – saxophones / flute, Jason Ennis – guitars, Fumi Tomita – bass, Gary Fieldman – drums.
New York bassist Fumi Tomita, ably supported by multi-reedist Carl Clements (Retrospective, previewed 03/02/2026) has found inspiration in the Japanese supernatural and produced a solid set of modern jazz.
Review: Paris Move, AllAboutJazz, Jazz Weekly
Clarence Hines Jazz Orchestra – Along the Way (OA2, release 10/23/2026). Mark Filsinger – trumpet / flugelhorn, Dave Hart – trumpet / flugelhorn, Ray Callender – trumpet / flugelhorn, Bijon Watson – trumpet / flugelhorn, Gina Benalcazar – bass trombone, Todd DelGiudice – alto saxophone / soprano saxophone / flute, Michael Emmert – alto saxophone / flute, Doug Stone – tenor saxophone / clarinet, Fernando Cruz – tenor saxophone / clarinet, Karli Bunn – baritone saxophone / bass clarinet, Joshua Bowlus – piano, Emiliano Lasansky – bass, Jared Schonig – drums with Lenard Simpson – alto saxophone, Clay Jenkins – trumpet.
In his debut trombonist / composer / bandleader Clarence Hines leads a nimble big band through a set of six originals and one each by Lynne Arriale and Bunky Green. This is a spacious affair with room to breathe prioritized over muscle. We hear more solos with delicate fills from the reeds or brass than we do massed trumpets pushing forward. Among the soloists, alto saxophonist Todd DelGiudice, who just brought us a first rate debut himself (Mas Alto, previewed 09/28/2026), is a standout. Recommended.
Review: Jazz Weekly, Paris Move
Jon De Lucia – The Brubeck Octet Strikes Again! (Musæum Clausum Recordings, release 10/23/2026). Brandon Lee – trumpet, Becca Patterson – trombone, Jon De Lucia – alto saxophone, Scott Robinson – tenor saxophone, Jay Rattman – baritone saxophone / clarinet, Glenn Zaleski – piano, Daniel Duke – bass, Keith Balla – drums.
In 2024, alto saxophonist Jon De Lucia assembled an octet to record the repertoire of Dave Brubeck’s almost forgotten 1948 – 1953 octet that paralleled the Miles Davis nonet that recorded the 1949 tracks that became The Birth of the Cool. Now, De Luca has reassembled the same players to record a set of charts intended for Brubeck’s octet, but never recorded. The arrangements are a product of their time and bring to mind Gerry Mulligan’s writing for Miles’s group and his own in the early fifties. Cool and contrapuntal.
Caleb Wheeler Curtis & Jason Moran – Incantation (Imani Records, release 10/23/2026). Caleb Wheeler Curtis – stretch / soprano saxophone / trumpet, Jason Moran – piano.
Pianist Jason Moran was the Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz for 14 years until he stepped down last year when … well, you know. Moran has recorded a duo set with multi-instrumentalist Caleb Wheeler Curtis (Ritual, previewed 04/13/2026) with pieces composed by both players and several improvised pieces. Curtis is an adventurous player and is one of the few regular players of the stritch – a straight alto championed by Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
Review: AllAboutJazz
Jane Ira Bloom – Light From A Person (Outline, release 10/22/2026). Jane Ira Bloom – soprano saxophone, David Friedman – vibes, Ken Filiano – bass.
Soprano sax giant Jane Ira Bloom (Once Like A Spark, previewed 12/01/2025) is recognized as one of the great soprano saxophonists of the age. One more time, she shows us why in this beautiful trio with vibraphonist David Friedman and bassist Ken Filiano. This is an ensemble that understands how to use the space of music to maximum effect with many solo and duo passages, punctuated with wonderful ensemble parts. Quick tempo romps alternate with hypnotic meditations in this set of ten Bloom originals. Recommended.
Daggerboard & Erik Jekabson Orchestra – The AXES Volume IV: Winter Solstice (Wide Hive Records, release 10/19/2026). Erik Jekabson – trumpet / flugelhorn, Max Miller-Loran – trumpet, Jeff Cressman – trombone, Wayne Van Lieu – French horn, Harvey Wainapel – clarinet / saxophone, Mary Fettig – flute, Dana Bauer – oboe, Paul Hanson – bassoon, Matt Clark – piano, Jordan Samuels – guitar, Anthony Blea – violin, Alisa Rose – violin, Darcy Rindt – viola, Charith Premawardhana – viola, Ben Davis – cello, Dan Feiszli – bass, James Beauton – drums, Kjall Nordeson – percussion with Gregory Howe – vocals, Katrina Vila – vocals.
Daggerboard is a project of Bay Area trumpeter Erik Jekabson and multi-instrumentalist Gregory Howe. They have now released the second of four seasonal orchestral projects under the title The Axes. Curiously, this is Volume IV: Winter Solstice and the previous release in the series was Volume II: Summer Solstice (previewed 04/07/2025). These projects feature cinematic orchestra writing over which there are some improvisatory moments.
Mali Obomsawin – Automatic (Out Of Your Head Records, release 10/16/2026). Adam O’Farrill – trumpet, Taylor Ho Bynum – cornet, Allison Burik – bass clarinet, Yuma Uesaka – tenor saxophone, Noah Campbell – tenor saxophone, Andrew Broder – turntables / electronics, Magdalena Abrego – electric guitar, Mali Obomsawin – upright bass / electric bass / vocals, Zack O’Farrill – drums.
Brooklyn-based Quebecois bassist Mali Obomsawin is a citizen of the First Nations Odanak community, whose historic recordings in the Abenaki language populate this release. Obomsawin has formed a recording ensemble with avant jazz players including trumpeter Adam O’Farrill (Elephant, previewed 10/19/2026) and his brother drummer Zach O’Farrill.
Review: Louder than War
Jonah Parzen-Johnson & Lau Nau – Live In Italy (We Jazz, release 10/16/2026). Jonah Parzen-Johnson – baritone saxophone, Lau Nau (Laura Naukkarinen) – modular synthesizer, small instruments.
Jonah Parzen-Johnson and Lau Nau (Laura Naukkarinen) have released a live recording of five of the eight selections from their debut of last year (A Few We Remember, previewed 11/10/2025). Each selection follows a narrative score from which baritone sax / synth improvisation emerges, so there aren’t always parallels between the studio and live versions.
Douglas J Cuomo featuring Joe Lovano & The Overlook – Seven Limbs (Sunnyside Records, release 10/16/2026. Joe Lovano – tenor saxophone / tárogató, Monica Davis – violin, Yezu Wood – violin, Angela Pickett – viola, Laura Metcalf – cello.
Composer Douglas J Cuomo wrote this piece for string quartet plus guitarist Nels Cline who performed it in concert at which one of our greatest saxophonists – Joe Lovano – was in attendance. He asked Cuomo if he would adapt the piece for tenor sax. The result is a notated work for string quartet over which Lovano improvises. In this regard, it brings to mind perhaps the greatest collaboration between tenor and strings, Stan Getz with Eddie Sauter’s Focus (1961). This recording is full of terrific moments. Recommended.
Russell Gunn & Blackhawk – Afrikan-Amerikan Book of the Dead (Vanglorious Arts, release 10/16/2026). Russell Gunn – trumpet, Andre Hayward – trombone / piano, Kendrick Smith – saxophone, Kevin Bales – piano, Kevin “Raw Dog” Smith – bass, Jeremy “Bean” Clemons – drums with Sean Falyon – turntables, Larry Wilson – Hammond B3 organ, Rod Harris Jr – guitar, Mino Cinelu -percussion, Ali Barr – percussion, Jamel Mitchell – baritone saxophone, Carlos Brown Jr – saxophone, Ken “K Solo 007” Wells – spoken word.
Trumpeter Russell Gunn has taken the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead and turned it into a musical meditation on history, memory and the African American experience, producing an Afro-futurist epic in the process.
Review: Paris Move
Willie Morris – To Accept Oneself… (Post-Tone, release 10/09/2026). Willie Morris – tenor saxophone, Jon Davis – piano, Boris Kozlov – bass, Rudy Royston – drums with Adi Meyerson – bass, EJ Strickland – drums.
St. Louis-born, New York-based tenor saxophonist Willie Morris is part of the ensemble on several Posi-Tone releases in the past four years and has issued his own discs once a year over the same period (Conversation Starter – 2023, Attentive Listening – 2024, Unbound Inner – 2025). On his fourth release as a leader, he continues to grow as a player, bring emotional depth to his flawlessly executed playing. The program consists of five originals, two by Wayne Shorter, one by pianist Jon Davis and Eden Ahbez’s Nature Boy. Straight ahead and recommended.
Diego Figueiredo – Horse Blues (Arbors Records, release 10/09/2026). Diego Figueiredo – electric guitar / acoustic guitar, Tacio Figueiredo – electric bass, Anderson Matos – drums with Uira Cabral – harmonica, Giu Reis – keyboard.
Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo switches it up this time out, mostly trading his acoustic guitar for electric and delivering a set of blues or bluesy jazz, even down to the inclusion of Uira Cabral on blues harp. Rocking.
Yosef Gutman & Yonathan Avishai – Perfect Traveler (Soul Song Records, release 07/31/2026). Gilad Ronen – woodwinds, Yonathan Avishai – piano, Yosef-Gutman Levitt – five-string acoustic bass guitar / contrabass, Daniel Dor – drums.
I was not aware of Israeli bassist Yosef Gutman (Unity, previewed 09/16/2024) until four years ago when we started to receive a disc or two every year. This time out, Gutman is paired with pianist Yonathan Avishai a frequent collaborator with bassist Avishai Cohen. This release is a very personal statement of faith punctuated with recitations by Gutman and colored by the lovely woodwinds of Gilad Ronen.
I’ll be back next week.
Russell Perry
Jazz at 100 Now!
If your music isn’t changing your life, you’ve simply picked the wrong songs. – Ted Gioia
