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Donny came to Chicago earlier this year with Jason, Tim, and Mark for a run at Green Mill previewing music they were getting ready to record. Needless to say, we were dumbfounded and extremely excited at what we heard and saw. What we heard was all this new music that was, at the time, dubbed "Stadium Jazz" by Tim. It was big, bigger than anything we'd heard before. Donny flexing his herculean horn, Mark breaking beats and blowing minds, Tim towering in the back muscling his fuzz pedals, and Jason synthing it all to the outer limits. What we saw was more head bobbing than you'd expect at a jazz show. The young kids trying their hardest to record video on their phones on-the-sly all lapping up every note by everyone on the stage. Maybe it was the Old Fashioneds we were drinking, but this was one of the best shows we've ever seen at the Mill.

The saxophonist Donny McCaslin has been steadily adding to a body of work that is firmly establishing him as a powerful voice in modern creative music. As a in-demand sideman on such interesting recent efforts like Ryan Truesdale's Gil Evans Project Centennial , a valued member of trumpeter Dave Douglas's Quintet and Maria Schneider's Orchestra, or on his own recent impressive efforts as a leader on albums like Recommended Tools, Declaration and Perpetual Motion, watching McCaslin mature is like watching a seedling develop into a mighty oak. As with any artist who is pushing his boundaries, there are moments of brilliance and moments of disappointment, but for the most part McCaslin has consistently moved the bar higher and higher.

Dave Douglas and Donny McCaslin each say down with Grammy.com for an interview after the Detroit Jazz Festival earlier this summer. Each are celebrating new albums this month: Dave's "Be Still" is available now (at Greenleaf and iTunes, and Donny's "Casting For Gravity"hits October 2nd (preorder at Greenleaf and iTunes)

Where Donny's previous album Perpetual Motion was a blistering electro-acoustic hybrid, Casting for Gravity soars past fusion into alchemy, forging a visionary voice from eclectic influences.

Konceptions Music Series at Korzo, Brooklyn | Tuesday, August 28th, $10 | 10:30pm Shane Endsley – Trumpet, Curtis Macdonald – Sax, Jason Nazary – Drums, Chris Tordini – Bass | 9pm Jeff Lederer – Reeds, Matt Wilson – Drums, Kirk Knuffke – Cornet, Bob Stewart – Tuba

The UPS man arrived early at the Greenleaf office this morning. And we ask, is there any better way to wake up than to 12 boxes of a new title?

Grammy-winning saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano and two-time Grammy nominated trumpeter Dave Douglas are current masters on their respective instruments within the pantheon of modern jazz. From their collaborations on acclaimed recordings such as Trio Fascination: Edition Two and more recently John Zorn’s Stolas, Lovano and Douglas have shown that their distinct and robust voices can lead, blend and push the idiom forward both in composition and improvisation, while embracing the front-line masters of previous generations. In 2008, when Lovano and Douglas were co-leaders of the renowned SFJAZZ Collective, the group paid tribute to living icon Wayne Shorter showcasing arrangements of Shorter originals alongside newly composed pieces influenced by Shorter’s compositional voice. The experience was a catalyst that lead the two instrumentalists to conceive the Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas Quintet, Sound Prints; an all-star ensemble including up and coming pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Linda Oh, and drummer Joey Baron. Performing new repertoire as well as brand new Shorter compositions in direct collaboration with Shorter, the quintet is less an homage to Wayne Shorter and more of a unique convergence of three unparalleled trajectories.

On his fourth release as a leader, the double-disc By a Little Light, Ulery seamlessly brings together those wide-ranging experiences and influences – among others – into a rich body of compositions that moves beyond notions of jazz-classical fusion to speak with a distinctive individual voice unburdened by genre limitations. Working with members of the iconoclastic contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird, Ulery creates a unified ensemble rather than simply supplementing a jazz group with classical trappings.

Video of Figmentum I performed by Curtis Macdonald Group 1/23/12 at The Breeding Ground, NYC.

With her debut CD, Entry, bassist/composer Linda Oh asserted herself as a unique new voice on the modern jazz scene. On her follow-up, Initial Here, Oh draws deeply upon her rich cultural heritage and broad range of inspirations to further define her musical autobiography.