By: Dave Rogers, WTJU 91.1FM
Jordan Pettay – First Fruit (Outside In Music): Alto and soprano saxophonist Jordan Pettay offers her first release, featuring three original compositions and spanning from John Coltrane’s “Straight Street” and Thom Bell and Linda Creed’s “You Make Me Feel Brand New” to several religious songs which are offered with similar intent. Pettay is a terrific player and she is supported by Christian Sands (piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3), Luke Sellick (bass) and Jimmy MacBride (drums) with the addition of May Jodrell (trumpet) and Joe McDonough (trombone) on two songs. The music swings with delight throughout this release. Click here and scroll down to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Jake Leckie – The Abode (Outside In Music): Bassist/composer Jake Leckie began 
building a group including Kenny Warren (trumpet, flugelhorn), Nathan Ellman-Bell (drums) and Sebastien Ammann (piano) to perform on this project, but having completed it, he realized this was a group with great potential as a full-time unit. The band is augmented by guests Caroline Davis (sax), Alexis Morrast (vocal), Daniel Prim (percussion), Andrei Matorin and Tomoko Omura (violins), Ivey Paige (organ) and Brenda Trotter-Workman (tambourine) and they do indeed give a great deal of versatility to the unit. All of the compositions are Leckie’s, but the blend of musicians adds a lot of variety and is quite effective. Click here and scroll down to listen to the songs on this disc.