On Sundays I try to at least quickly note some of my favorite listening from the week prior — things I would later regret having not written about in more depth, so better to share here briefly than not at all.
▰ This is one track, “Alignments, Orbits,” off a fantastic new collection, At Source, of collaborations between Caterina Barbieri (synthesizer) and Bendik Giske (saxophone). Giske’s lively paralleling of Barbieri’s pattern cascades is pure delight. The spirit of Philip Glass is deep in this pairing.
▰ Ambrose Akinmusire’s maturity and strength as a band leader can be measured here in how slowly yet easily he paces his playing, and how much room he leaves for his fellow players. He’s heard with guitarist Charles Altura, drummer Justin Brown, pianist Sam Harris, and bassist Harish Raghavan. This was just uploaded to YouTube, and is part of a longer set at qwest.tv, but it appears to date from 2014.
▰ A full-length concert from John Medeski (organ, keyboards), Billy Martin (drums, percussion), and Chris Wood (double bass, electric bass), aka Medeski, Martin, and Wood, plus some occasional guests, including saxophonist Skerik, trumpeter Eric “Benny” Bloom, and, for one piece, singer Datrian Johnson. The trio has exhibited a lot of range in its 35 years together, and for them this is a particularly straight-ahead and funky gig. It was recorded February 10, 2026, on the Jam Cruise.