The art of the improvisers beyond all borders. Preaching equality for all the idioms, anticipating the gathering wave of “world music”, drawing on traditions from all the continents, Codona was like no other band. Its sound: simultaneously poetic and powerfully evocative and stamped, in every second, with character. Summoned into being by Collin Walcott in 1978, the trio provided an utterly original context for Don Cherry’s starkly melodic trumpet and for the multi-instrumentalism of all three players.

A plaintive, leisurely journey from Collin Walcott, North American pioneer in the art of the jazz sitar and ECM visionary whose life ended all too soon at the age 39. To anyone put off by this summary, I cannot stress enough the soulfulness of his playing. Walcott, who studied with the inimitable Ravi Shankar, does not treat his instrument as a mere substitute. Rather, he awakens the sitar to a whole new method of understanding, constructing a viable world around it rather than simply tossing it into the mix as a gimmick or afterthought.

Fragile was formed in Japan in 1992, featuring Koichi YABORI on guitar, Masatoshi MIZUNO on bass, Kozo SUGANUMA on drums, Hatsuho FURUKAWA on keyboards and Hiroyuki YAGI on sax. The began by playing in venues aroud Tokyo, but by 1993 they were touring as a trio including YABORI, MIZUNO and SUGANAMA. In the years since, Fragile has released at leat 10 albums, all with the same core trio, playing their high intensity brand of fusion.

Guitarist and composer, Mike De Souza, is making waves on the London jazz scene and his debut album entitled Slow Burn, is a testament to his talents. Previously having released an EP, Road Fork with the same band, this is a much broader representation of his compositions and influences.

Pianist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White have teamed up once again to revisit their common roots in the seminal fusion band Return to Forever. On June 7, 2011, Concord Jazz released Forever, a two-CD set of 18 tunes that include updated RTF classics as well as jazz trio standards. In support of the release, a tour is planned for next summer.

Eventyr means “adventure.” Classical listeners may also recognize it as the name of Frederick Delius’s lovely 1917 tone poem, which is often translated as “Once Upon A Time” to underscore its origins in the folk tale collections of Norwegian scholar Peter Christen Asbjørnsen. Here, the name adorns one of Jan Garbarek’s most recondite efforts to date and, like its own “Once Upon A Time,” houses a world of lessons and signs for those willing enough to interpret them. Joined by John Abercrombie and Nana Vasconcelos, he spins a string of seven improvisations, rounded out by a standard, “East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon” (Brooks Bowman), that doesn’t so much end the album as open us to its nebulous center.

Jean-Luc Ponty has been extremely satisfied with his international touring quintet, which not only excels in performances of his latest compositions, but also brings new life to older works. Earlier in his career, the violinist became enamored with the use of banks of synthesizers plus digital delay for special effects on his instrument, as well as the prominent presence of an electric guitarist. But this quintet, heard in a brilliant 1999 concert in Warsaw, is considerably stripped down, featuring keyboardist William Lecomte, electric bassist Guy Nsangue Akwa, drummer Thierry Arpino, and percussionist Moustapha Cisse. A perfect example is "Rhythms of Hope," first recorded for Ponty's album Mystical Adventures; Ponty's dazzling solo is followed by Akwa's intricate, yet never excessively flashy bass solo.

Cosmic Messenger is more elegant, European-flavored jazz-rock from the French virtuoso Jean-Luc Ponty, and pretty much in the same mold as his previous Atlantic albums but with gradually tightening control over every parameter of performance. Ponty's analog-delay special effects on the title track are spectacular, and the album is loaded more than ever with revolving electronic arpeggios as Ponty's own involvement with the ARP synthesizer grows. But there is still plenty of his fluid, slippery electric violin soloing to be heard within the tight structures of these pieces, and the tunes themselves are often pretty good.

Gulgoleth is the brainchild of composer Sam Eastmond, leader of the eclectic jazz/rock/Radical Jewish Culture big band Spike Orchestra and frequent collaborator with musical mastermind John Zorn. The album features the engine room of the Spike Orchestra stripped back to a quartet setting to highlight the virtuosic skill of the players and this outrageous set of compositions. Drawing inspiration from the work of underground filmmaker Jack Smith and the process of creating arrangements of music from Zorn’s Masada songbook, this highly personal and intense album is a journey through a free-jazz, surf, rock, cartoon, Radical Jewish Culture and Downtown film noir dreamscape. Featuring the heavyweight talents of Moss Freed (guitar), Elliot Galvin (piano), Otto Willberg (bass) and Will Glaser (drums).

A Winter Journey is a response to, or reflection upon, the narrative in Schubert's song cycle Winterreise. A man walks out into the winter night and we slowly gain glimpses into the reasons, his state of mind, and the hazardous scene that surrounds him.

Diego Urcola's new record, Viva, features the Grammy nominated trumpeter leading an all-star lineup. "I wanted to put together my dream band," said Urcola. The core group of Edward Simon, Avishai Cohen, Antonio Sanchez, and Pernel Saturnino are joined by guests, Paquito d'Rivera, Jimmy Heath, Dave Samuels and Conrad Herwig. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Paquito," Urcola says. "He gave me my first big break, and I got to meet a lot of people through him, including Dave, with whom I've been working in the Caribbean Jazz Project for the last three years.

Private Time Machine is a riff based groovy rock/jazz/funk/blues power band. The 11 piece band with horns, poetry and vocals blends an exciting mix of 70's rock, funk, blues, jazz and soul. Elements of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Sly & The Family, Urban Dance Squad, Charles Mingus, Yes, Pink Floyd, etc. But most of all it sound like the music of Eric van der Westen whose signature is clear on every composition.

Heart Beats,’ an inspired collection of original solo piano compositions steeped in North African, Middle Eastern and American jazz. The solitude of ‘Heart Beats’ allows its odd meters and unbounded, wordly melodies sound more casual, like one natural pulse.

Tigran Hamasyan was born in Gyumri, Armenia, in 1987. Ely the age of 7 he was listening to jazz melodies and improvising on piano all day long. He began to study the art of Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, Miles Davis and others, comprehending everything so fast and so deeply that he soon reached a high technique and unique jazz thinking. The First International Jazz Festival of Yerevan (held in 1998) opened a new stage in his creative life; the jazz community looked at him as a real discovery and he received invitations to play concerts and sessions. At the 2000 Festival, he became acquainted with jazz stars Chick Corea, Avishai Cohen, Jeff Ballard and An Roland; the following year he took part several festivals in France, where he played with Philip and Christophe Le Van and was introduced to Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin. Joe Zawinul, Danillo Perez and John Patitucci.

The young, Armenian-born pianist Tigran Hamasyan possesses an almost intimidating virtuosity, a style that owes as much to Art Tatum's two-handed volubility and the sweeping refinement of Impressionist composers as it does to the spiraling, East-meets-West melodies of his homeland. Winner of the 2006 Thelonious Monk Institute's piano competition, New Era (2008, Nocturne) found Hamasyan settling into a familiar, if impressive trio aesthetic, mining the angular vernacular of modern jazz piano on now-standard vehicles like "Well, You Needn't" or "Solar," as well as on some of his own lovely compositions. So it is a welcome surprise to hear the dreamlike, tinkling sustain of the minute-long "Rain Shadow" that opens this new disc almost like a lullaby, an otherworldly state that A Fable, by and large, maintains across its length.