The 53 year-old New York drummer Nasheet Waits (raised by a famous percussionist father, Freddie Waits, and mentored by Max Roach) has been making himself an indispensable presence at the cutting-edge of American jazz since the turn of the millennium. He has led his own Tarbaby trio since the 1990s (the name comes from the 19th century Uncle Remus collection of African-American folktales), and contributed to a raft of classy recordings by high-calibre leaders of many persuasions, including Andrew Hill, Geri Allen, and Jason Moran.

Now comes a pair of engrossingly different recordings with Waits at the helm, both hosted by the artist-centred Giant Step Arts, the non-profit operation founded by acclaimed jazz-photography partnership Jimmy and Dena Katz.

Tarbaby’s You Think This America mixes Ornette Coleman, some improv-unleashing Orrin Evans originals, even the indestructible ‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out’. Ornette’s jaunty ‘Dee Dee’ (from 1965’s classic trio recordings Live At The Golden Circle) gets a perkily joyous Monkish clang and a free-flow stream from Evans, and on the pianist’s groove-juggling ‘Blues (When It Comes)’ Waits’ eventual cymbal tingle and Revis’ walk makes you want to jump from your seat. There’s a hypnotically reverential sway over the leader’s brushes (his brushwork is astonishing throughout the set, from whispers to frenzy) on the Stylistics’ ‘Betcha By Golly Wow’, and the slinky ‘Nobody Knows You’ is an exquisite exercise in doing more with less.

The quartet set New York Love Letter (Bitter Sweet) was recorded live in two New York locations, and Waits’ autobiography as a black New York musician is central to its narrative. Jason Moran’s ‘Snake Stance’ and Andrew Hill’s ‘Snake Hip Waltz’ are two close relatives not just in their titles but in their tantalising melodic twists, and in the inventiveness of Waits’ ability to swing both at full stretch and at a kind of hectic dawdle.

The drummer’s own awed and dreamy ‘Moon Child’ draws obliquely delicate solos from both Nelson and Turner, and his brittle, jarring ‘The Hard Way’ stretches both the saxophonist’s symmetrical lyricism and the expressive extremes of his tonal range. ‘Liberia’ (inspired by Marcus Garvey) is a piece of darkly ambient impressionism, and Coltrane’s ‘Central Park West’ closes the set on a riveting free-swinger that encapsulates this fine band’s empathic command of today’s jazz and just about everything unplugged that led to it.

Two cracking sets, both 2024 jazz-poll contenders.