"Phonetics" from Paris-based pianist and composer Benoît Delbecq presents an artist at the height of his imaginative and synthesizing powers. Recorded with an international quintet and featuring prepared piano on several tracks, this album showcases Delbecq's broad and deep vision of music, burnished by the audiophile recording. Phonetics was named one of the 12 best records of 2004 ("Choc de l’année") by Jazzman, the leading jazz magazine in France.

Stefano Bollani is an artist of ebullient virtuosity, with uncommon sensitivity and range. The Italian pianist has proved to be at home on ECM improvising solo or leading a trio, as well as engaging in duos with Enrico Rava, Chick Corea and Brazilian bandolim player Hamilton de Holanda. With "Joy in Spite of Everything" – an album of new compositions by the pianist for a trans-Atlantic quintet - Bollani has made his most beautifully textured and infectiously lyrical statement yet. He recorded these nine pieces at New York City’s Avatar Studios with the Danish rhythm section from his Stone in the Water trio – bassist Jesper Bodilsen and drummer Morten Lund - plus two prominent American players and ECM intimates: guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Mark Turner. As its title reflects, Joy in Spite of Everything brims with an indefatigable lightness of spirit despite the inevitable shadows of life.

Lee Konitz's Chesky Records debut, now available in this Multi-Channel SACD format, demonstrates in full surround sound that Konitz continues to maintain his role as a true icon and legend of innovation within the Jazz community. Lee proves once again his unique improvisational ability by infusing his alto sax lines into the solid framework constructed by his quintet. This recording marks the manifestation of Lee's desire to represent the "possibilities to be creative" in the organic, improvisational nature of Jazz by combining it with the parallel basis of Chesky's recording philosophy - recreating a live, spontaneous event with the greatest accuracy possible, now dramatically improved via the SACD format.

Tenor saxophonist Mark Turner makes his ECM debut as leader on this session featuring Avishai Cohen on trumpet, double bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore. The quartet of kindred spirits, often entwining in serpentine fashion, plays long, introspective lines of hypnotic grace; the lithe rhythm section providing subtle volatility. With no chordal instrument in the band, the music opens up and takes on an attractive spaciousness. The songs display the long-breathed essence characteristic of Turner’s work, where melody takes priority. There is also mystery to the album, a quality of patient storytelling to the compositions.

New all-star quintet session features trumpeter Enrico Rava, the greatest Italian jazz musician, and his prot 'g', pianist Stefano Bollani, together with three leading American jazzmen: master drummer Paul Motian, bassist Larry Grenadier, and saxophonist Mark Turner. The CD is both a transatlantic project and a kind of 'homecoming'. Rava found his musical direction while living in New York in the late 60s/early 70s. Since then an increasingly 'Italian' lyricism has also made itself felt in his playing. Rava's soulful trumpet is strongly contrasted with the lean, analytical playing of Mark Turner. Bollani's playful harmonic imagination shapes bridges between them. Larry Grenadier is "present and focused in every moment" as Rava says, and Paul Motian is as idiosyncratically creative as ever.

The second ECM album by the Billy Hart Quartet is a major musical statement, and one of the outstanding jazz albums of the season. Strong compositions – by leader-drummer Hart, tenorist Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson – reflect upon a wide swathe of the music’s history, and are distinguished by vivid and imaginative solos and wonderful interplay. A basic premise, that this should be a band in which the vastly-experienced Billy Hart gets to play everything he wants to play, has led to a sense of almost unlimited possibility for all participants. There is freedom and joy in this music, and tenderness, too, not least in the set’s sole standard, a beautifully played version of “Some Enchanted Evening”.

On its second ECM album, recorded in New York last year, Fly continues to overturn the conventions of the sax/bass/drums trio. Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard share freedom and responsibilities in a democratically-constituted band of equals, which is never about soloist-and-accompaniment. More often coolheaded and thoughtful than incantatory, the trio’s music subtly interweaves improvisation and composition; there are some deep conversations, and reflections on jazz history, taking place inside it.

Ibrahim Maalouf, born in Beirut and now residing in Paris, is a virtuoso of the quarter-tone trumpet, which enables him to work with the maqam, or system of melodic modes, in traditional Arabic music. He and his carefully selected powerhouse band pay tribute to one of the greatest Arabic divas of all time, Oum Kalthoum.

Pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff defines radiance as "a state of happiness or confidence when everything around you is shining". On her 2014's album, "A Touch of Radiance", she explores that idea from 10 different perspectives, drawing rich inspiration from memories, emotions, and dreams, and the inner world where all three intersect. Her quintet here's Mark Turner, Joe Locke, George Mraz & Billy Hart. These four gifted artists respond gorgeously to Eckemoff's music, wringing bold colors and deep feeling from pieces that are both airy and intricate.

"This Just In", Gilad Hekselman's fourth album, is by far his most exciting. It plays out like a news broadcast, peppered with short, improvised news breaks that highlight his compositions and their openness to a multitude of influences. Jazz, rock, folk, African, Israeli and North Indian classical music are dispersed throughout the album where Hekselman's harmonic creativity and rhythmic mastery prove to be natural elements of the melodic virtuosity that has become his trademark. Leading his powerful trio with Joe Martin on bass, Marcus Gilmore on drums and guest saxophonist Mark Turner on two tracks, Gilad Hekselman's deliciously dynamic music truly shines.