Welcome to Father’s Day Weekend, Flag Day in the United States, protest weekend and more. You’ll want New In Music This Week: June 13th to balance out all the outside stimulation. I have seven new releases to lift your spirits and quiet your soul.
Here is my top pick for New In Music This Week: June 13th:
JAZZ: ABOUT GHOSTS – Mary Halvorson– Nonesuch Records
Guitarist/composer Halvorson has made one of the best and most interesting albums of 2025. About Ghosts features eight now compositions that she wrote for her sextet Amaryllis. But she wanted to write for saxophones as well.
Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles join for five of the eight tracks.
The end result is a richly challenging album that features stellar improvisations, fascinating rhythms (thanks Ira!) and music that makes you feel, laugh and think. About Ghosts is in a category of its own.
In a world where listening to music is something done while doing something else, I challenge anyone to even start to listen to About Ghosts and try to concentrate on anything else. This is music that demands and deserves full attention. And if you won’t start listening to it that way, you’ll succumb to the richness of the writing and performing and find you have no other choice.
The excellent five musicians who make up Halvorson’s sextet Amaryllis are Patricia Brennan on vibraphone; Nick Dunston on bass; Tomas Fujiwara on drums; Jacob Garchik on trombone and Adam O’Farrill on trumpet.
Simply put, I’m blown away by this album.
Here are the other final recordings on New In Music This Week: June 13th
CLASSICAL: PHILIP GLASS: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1 – Anne Akiko Meyers/Los Angeles Philharmonic/Gustavo Dudamel – Platoon
Violinist Paul Zukofsky gave the world premiere of Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in 1987 with the American Composers Orchestra. It’s a shame he never recorded it. Prior to this excellent new recording, six violinists have tackled Glass’s challenging work: Gidon Kremer, Robert McDuffie, Adele Anthony, Renaud Capuçon and David Nebel.
As a long-time fan of Glass and his music, I can comfortably say this is my favorite recording of this work. There are equal parts precision and emotion in this concerto which Glass composed in honor of his father. Anyone who thinks Glass doesn’t write emotive music should listen to the second movement. Meyers plays so expressively that being unmoved seems impossible.
The recording also includes Glass’s Echorus which finds Meyers joined by violinist Aubreee Oliverson and the Academy Virtuosi from the Colburn School in Los Angeles.
The final track is the world premiere recording of New Chacone (first performed in 2024) which features the LA Phil’s harpist Emmanuel Ceysson performing with Meyers.
All in all, this is a superb record.
CLASSICAL: SKY OF MY HEART – New York Polyphony – BIS Records
Early music and contemporary composers find themselves living side-by-side beautifully on this new album by vocal ensemble New York Polyphony.
Tenor Andrew Fuchs, bass-baritone Craig Phillips, countertenor Geoffrey D. Williams and tenor Steven Caldicott Wilson are the four members of this group. Their harmony and pitch-perfect singing make Sky of My Heart yet another remarkable album.
They are on their own for all but three tracks. LeStrange Viols joins them for the Angus Dei from William Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices; Nico Muhly’s My Days and Orlando Gibbons’ The Silver Swan (Song 44).
Byrd’s Ecce quam bonum opens the album. Instantly any listener will find their heartbeat slowing down, their mind getting more restful and their body releasing the stress of the day. This is stunningly beautiful music.
It’s that way for the whole album. Even Muhly’s My Days, which, at 16 minutes in length, is one of the most challenging pieces on the record. But it, too, is beautiful.
CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: OBSOLETE MUSIC – Juri Seo/Latitude 49 – New Amsterdam Records
If you want music that is easily described as fitting into one genre, this album isn’t for you. But, if like many of us, no one genre of music appeals to you, Obsolete Music is just the album for you.
Composer/pianist Seo opens the album with Ostinato. It’s a composition that would be called jazz by some, classical by others, rock music by even others. The second track, Rondeau, features a harpsichord, as does the third, Fantasia.
Fugue is the most traditionally classical until it switches into a time signature that is more commonly found in jazz music. Cantus Firmus seems like it is going to also be a more straightforward composition with a pipe organ feature prominently. Then a total embrace of dissonance comes in and we’re suddenly in a different place.
The playful Canon that closes this recording brings us to a more joyful conclusion. Yet the instrumentation is far from typical, yet not so far outside the norm to not be immediately accessible.
If you’re a fan of Seo’s 2024 album Toy Store, this is a very different type of music. Both share a certain euphoria in the compositional style and performance that make for great listening. Bravo to Latitude 49, a chamber sextet, for performing this music so brilliantly.
JAZZ: ELEMENTAL – Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap – Mack Avenue Records
I knew this album was going to be great. I’ve seen vocalist Bridgewater and pianist Charlap perform together several times. Each and every show was a total delight and a wonder of musical partnerships.
Elemental is no exception. The friendship these two share in making music is evident from the very first track (Beginning to See the Light) through to the end (The More I See You). They are both masters of improvisation.
Bridgewater’s vocals range from sounding almost blissfully childlike to scatting effortlessly. Charlap’s improvisations aren’t just the perfect accompaniment to Bridgewater’s vocals but contain references galore. Mood Indigo, for instance, contains a repeated phrase from George Gershwin’s Prelude No. 2.
In a couple of their concerts, I’ve heard them perform Billy Strayhorn’s Lush Life. It’s extraordinary. I so wish they had included that song on this album. But perhaps the upside is that can be part of their next album.
Elemental can be defined as primary or basic. But it can also be discussed in terms of nature or embodying the powers of nature. Bridgewater and Charlap are certainly not primary or basic. They are forces of nature who have made a nearly 48-minute album of absolutely delightful music.
JAZZ: MAGPIE: THE MUSIC OF JOE CLARK – Entre Amigos – Entre Amigos Records
Musician/composer Joe Clark is not a household name. But much of his work has been heard around the world through recordings and performances by a wide range of artists from Randy Brecker to Renée Fleming to Yo-Yo Ma.
In Chicago he’s considered one of its finest. He certainly is by Chicago-based Entre Amigos. When they recorded their debut album last year, they also recorded the six tracks on this album that should make Clark’s name more prominent in the world.
Each of the songs they’ve selected have personal meanings and inspirations for Clark. He takes his wife’s tattoos, the big easy, his daughter and more as subjects for exploration through his music.
All of which are performed very well by Entre Amigos.
Entre Amigos is comprised of drummer Gustavo Cortiñas, pianist Hana Fujisaki, bassist Kitt Lyles and saxophonist Roy McGrath.
JAZZ: SOLO BE-BOP! – Pasquale Grasso – Sony Masterworks
In 2022, guitarist Grasso released in album called Be-Bop! Which found him performing with drummer Keith Balla and bassist Ari Roland.
Grasso is alone on this follow-up album. He plays music by Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Rogers & Hart and more.
No pun intended, but his performance of Gillespie’s Salt Peanuts is dizzying. Manhattan is sublime.
All 12 songs here showcase Grasso as one of our finest jazz guitarists.
One suggestion for him: Now that we have Be-Bop in a trio format and solo Be-Bop, can the next album in the series be Big Band Be Bop! with the guitar front and center?
That’s all for New In Music This Week: June 13th.
Enjoy your weekend! Enjoy the music!
Main Photo: Part of the album art of Mary Halvorson’s About Ghosts (Courtesy Nonesuch Records)