Vocalist Hilary Gardner is a terrific singer in the tradition of Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald, with a storytelling style that’s equal parts wise, sensual and sophisticated. Gardner’s star is as bright as can be on The Great City, a sizzling debut with chill musical accompaniment (virtuosic pianist Ehud Asherie’s solos recall Hank Jones’ urbane swing) that gives an aura of wonderment to her poetic collection of songs about New York. She effortlessly charms and swings on tunes like “Chelsea Morning,” but her magnetism is obvious on “Manhattan Avenue”—it’s a little black dress of a tune that fits Gardner in all the best ways. (11 tracks; 38 minutes)

Floating marks a triumphant return to the studio for pianist Fred Hersch and his trio, and the album’s title is a perfect expression for the record’s feeling and his interaction with bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson. The format is a good one: Hersch programs the date to mirror his typical set list in a club setting, and it’s one that grabs you at the outset with a bewitching “You And The Night and The Music,” an arrangement that skips along to a percussive beat, and closes with a Monk tune (“Let’s Cool One”), both tracks a primer for appreciating what Hersch refers to as “intelligent melody.” But in between it’s the original tunes that make this album click at an elite level. Hersch says “a good tune inhabits its own world” and cuts like the title track, which deftly pulls and stretches one musical motif in purposeful directions, or the Louisiana Bayou-flavored “Home Fries,” dedicated to Hébert, usher you into a zone that is sonically satisfying, yet also ripe with emotional pleasures. Now 59, Hersch’s recordings seem to get better and better, a remarkable achievement for a master pianist and leader whose rhapsodic style and rhythmic language imbues Floating with a quality that whispers “classic.” (10 tracks; 59 minutes)  

Speaking of melodic intelligence, an emerging artist like guitarist Rotem Sivan is one reason why listening to jazz is so rewarding. Affable in the extreme, this Israeli-born, New York-based musician evokes the better balladry of Pat Metheny and relaxed swing of Kenny Burrell, two obvious inspirations, yet his confident playing style and refreshing compositions marry that astute sense of swing with unabashed romanticism. Sivan sees his songs as musical photographs and—like a series of happy memories—the tunes unfold like turning pages in an album, radiating with color and interest. New to me as well are his marvelous trio mates, bassist Haggai Cohen Milo (dig his walking line on “Pass It On”) and a master on brushes and rhythmic textures, drummer Mark McLean. Both provide lush support throughout, but on two covers in particular—Jobim’s “Useless Landscape” and a rarely heard “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (from Cinderella)—Sivan’s lines and affecting style transport us into a realm of musical bliss. Without a doubt, For Emotional Use Only is one of the great guitar albums in recent memory. (10 tracks; 45 minutes)

Sometimes jazz has to open doors to invite new fans and listeners in, an idea that visionary pianist Jason Moran approaches squarely and adroitly on All Rise. It’s an album unlike anything else he has produced. Earthy backbeats, breathless vocals by bassist and co-producer Meshell Ndegeocello and Lisa E. Harris, along with Moran’s own gutsy use of electric keyboards help fuel the hyper-modern re-imagining of the music of Fats Waller. Originally conceived and produced as a Harlem stage project called the Fats Waller Dance Party, this studio recording evolves out of the historical perspective that jazz once was and can still be “dance music.” Calling Waller “a special kind of provocateur” who sang and MC’d as well as played piano, and who also maintained a running commentary on what was going on around him, Moran and company (including his Bandwagon trio, bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits) transform a well known Waller repertoire into groove-based gems that still give the leader space to expand the music creatively (he kisses his solo stride piano with a synthesized rush on “Handful Of Keys,” for instance). The most arresting tracks give Moran and Ndegeocello a shining platform—the irresistible pop and snap on “The Joint Is Jumpin’,” the chilled out vocals behind “Honeysuckle Rose” and the righteous bass and beats with a gospel spin on “Jitterbug Waltz.” Much like Terri Lynn Carrington’s career-defining Money Jungle: Provocative In Blue, All Rise proves you can be boldly crowd-pleasing while slyly giving us a valuable music history lesson we can also dance to. (12 tracks; 42 minutes)