James touches all his bases on a new album

Bob JAMES has a secret life. Well, not secret to those who know the music of the pianist’s adventurous early career, but one that is not especially visible to the fans who know James as a Grammy-winning, high-visibility star of the smooth jazz/contemporary jazz/fusion movement.

He was far less known in the early ‘60s, when his initial recordings, “Bold Conceptions” (1962) and “Explosions” (1965), were envelope-stretching efforts strongly tinged with avant-garde qualities. A lengthy engagement as Sarah Vaughan’s music director followed, along with diverse studio activities and recordings displaying his solid, mainstream talents. And in 1980 he began his breakout into the pop instrumental world via his own recordings as well as his work with the group Fourplay. Still, James was always something more than a purveyor of tone, melody and easily accessible rhythms.

In 1996, he displayed his roots in impressive fashion in the trio album “Straight Up.” His new release, “Take It From the Top,” once again reveals that his many years of dedication to smooth sounds and rhythms have not diminished his inventiveness or his sense of swing as an impressive mainstream jazz artist.

The title is a whimsical description of the programming, for which James has selected a group of songs associated with artists he admires -- material “from the top.” Each is a prime choice, from “Billy Boy” (Red Garland) and “Tenderly” (Oscar Peterson) to “Nardis” (Bill Evans) and “Django” (John Lewis). James is careful not to simulate the playing of his musical heroes, but he doesn’t hesitate to recall their individual qualities -- Garland’s brisk, upbeat swing, Erroll Garner’s rich chording (on “Caravan”), the punchy rhythmic propulsion of “Poinciana” (Ahmad Jamal), the precise classicisms of Lewis.

James’ playing, superbly supported by bassist James Genus and drummer Billy Kilson, distills the rich experiences of his long career. Neither avant-garde nor smooth jazz, the CD is a pleasurable collection of mostly familiar classics, delightfully played, revealing an aspect of James’ artistry that deserves to be heard more frequently than once every decade.

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More than mere faces in a crowd

In a busy schedule of new arrivals, here are a few diverse but equally worthwhile jazz CDs.

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Jason Lindner

“Live/UK” (Sunnyside)

It’s hard to understand why it’s taken three years for this compelling recording to be released. Recorded in London in February 2001, it is the first CD from the talented young pianist-composer since his 2000 album, the large-ensemble “Premonition.” This time out, he leads his own quartet (with saxophonist Jimmy Greene, bassist Omer Avital and drummer Marlon Browden), and the playing is filled with passionate musical gems. Lindner is powerful and rhythmic within the 5/4, Latin-esque rhythms of “The Five Elements & the Natural Trinity, Part I,” pensive but no less brawny on “Meditation on Two Chords,” thick-textured and busy on the wildly expressive “Suheir,” and down-home and gospel-driven on “Take It to Church.” Still in his 20s, he is a performer to watch. (Lindner performs this week at the Jazz Bakery as music director for singer Claudia Acuna.

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Bill Bruford’s Earthworks

“Random Acts of Kindness” (Summerfold)

You’d never know that Bruford was a pioneer of the British art-rock movement, as a vital participant in the bands Yes and King Crimson -- at least not from the drummer’s concerts and recordings with Earthworks. The music performed for this live album (at Yoshi’s in Oakland) occasionally resonates with the energy of those groups, but it is far more focused on out-of-the-box exploration than on dramatic aural display. Earthworks also features the reeds playing of Tim Garland, the perfect associate for the meter-crossing rhythms of the tunes, most of them written by Garland and Bruford. The soloing by Garland and pianist Steve Hamilton sails with extraordinary ease through the roiling percussion, occasionally settling into a rare, placid moment. But this is an ensemble with an irrepressible heartbeat, and there’s not a moment that doesn’t pulsate with the throb of fascinating rhythms.

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Bennie Wallace

“The Nearness of You” (Enja/Justin Time)

In an era of jazz saxophone sound-alikes, Wallace is that great rarity: a player with a distinct musical identity. Although he did not arrive on the scene until he was 20, in the mid-’60s, that identity embraces styles ranging from Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster to Eric Dolphy and Sonny Rollins. In his new release, he is heard in a particularly felicitous setting, accompanied by pianist Kenny Barron and bassist Eddie Gomez, playing a collection of evergreens from the Great American Songbook. Without drums in the mix, the mood is intimate and embracing, enhanced by Wallace’s slow-drag, in-your-ear renderings of numbers such as “Willow Weep for Me” and “Crazy He Calls Me” and his jaunty takes on “I’m Old Fashioned” and “Come Rain or Come Shine.” Barron and Gomez, predictably, provide masterful backing.

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Enrico Rava

“Easy Living” (ECM)

The first keening notes on “Cromosomi,” Italian trumpeter Rava’s first recording for ECM since 1986, instantly recall Miles Davis. At 65, this veteran of gigs and recordings with (among many others) Lee Konitz, Cecil Taylor, Roswell Rudd and Steve Lacy is considered a pioneer of contemporary Italian jazz. And despite the obvious Davis references, he has used them to forge a gripping musical voice of his own. Much of the album, especially the title track and the declamatory “Biancasnow,” showcases Rava’s gently floating, lyrically musical phrases. The exceptions are the freely roving “Traveling Night,” the Ornette Coleman-inspired “Hornette and the Drum Thing” and “Algir Dalbughi,” a boogie-based line featuring his smoothly companionable partnership with trombonist Gianluca Petrella. All of it is easy to listen to without the taint of easy listening, beautifully performed by a player whose only handicap has been that he is an Italian from Genoa rather than Manhattan’s Mulberry Street.

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Roy Haynes

“Fountain of Youth” (Dreyfus Jazz)

The title is right on target. Haynes turned 77 Saturday but he plays with the same sort of brisk vitality that characterized his work with Charlie Parker more than 50 years ago. Like Art Blakey and Ray Brown, he surrounds himself with young players, feeding off their energy and new ideas while musically mentoring them into meaningful creative directions. His twentysomething associates here include saxophonist Marcus Strickland, pianist Martin Bejerano and bassist John Sullivan, and the program ranges from the traditional (“Greensleeves”) to jazz classics (Thelonious Monk’s “Trinkle Tinkle,” “Ask Me Now” and “Green Chimneys”) and more contemporary pieces (Pat Metheny’s “Question & Answer”). Recorded at New York City’s Birdland, the playing is concise, lively and articulate, very much the product of youthful musicians honing their skills under the guidance of a masterful veteran.