Rec­om­mended record­ings, new and old:

Jerome Sab­bagh, Plugged In, on the Bee Jazz label, is packed full of great think­ing and play­ing, it touches on many styles but sub­verts them all into the Sabbagh’s over­all con­cep­tion, which has grown in both focus and expan­sive­ness. Jozef Dumoulin’s key­board work, from both the hard-bop tra­di­tion and Joe Zawinul’s legacy, is an enor­mous asset. One of the most sat­is­fy­ing jazz discs so far this year (more album info here).

Beethoven: Com­plete Sym­phonies, Daniel Baren­boim, Staatskapelle Berlin

Billy Bragg and Wilco, Mer­maid Avenue: The Com­plete Sessions

Simeon ten Holt: Canto Osti­nato, Jeroen van Veen, San­dra van Veen

Elvis Costello, The Return of the Spec­tac­u­lar Spin­ning Songbook

Ysaye: 6 Sonatas Op. 27, Tai Mur­ray, a pow­er­ful, involv­ing disc. These are great and unusual pieces, bravura and thus extro­verted but built of of Ysaye’s very per­sonal mem­o­ries and sen­sa­tions of vio­lin­ists he knew and frag­ments of music they played and he loved. Mur­ray han­dles to the tech­ni­cal demands with seem­ing ease, and plays with a gor­geously full, woody sound. What makes the play­ing spe­cial, though, is that she trusts the sonic beauty of her instru­ment to reach the audi­ence as she digs deep down into the inte­rior of the music, and her­self. She seems to dis­ap­pear, leav­ing a direct path to the music. As good as it gets.