Adopting a unique marketing strategy, first put into effect in 2015, Newvelle Records, co-founded by Elan Mehler and Jean-Christophe Morisseau, annually releases a box set of six specially curated jazz recordings on distinctive 180gm translucent vinyl. The label presents a very personal commentary on jazz away from the American mainstream to a fanbase that has come to love and trust their vision. By squaring the circle between individual taste preferences, which are not immutable, and behavioural economics – you get a good buzz from the first season, you come back for the second, and so on – they've developed a business model where fans willingly part with $400 each season for the box set or, alternatively, subscribe to the current season and receive one record of never-before-heard music every two months. Newvelle's fourth season includes an impressive showing by pianists. Kenny Werner is widely regarded as the pianist's pianist, and his collaboration with saxophonist's saxophonist Dave Liebman plus James Genus on bass and Terri Lyn Carrington on drums makes Church on Mars arguably the finest release on Newvelle yet. As the baton is passed between pianist and saxophonist in occasional inside/outside, sometimes polytonal dialogue, interest never flags in what is as good a definition of effortless mastery as any. Pianist Billy Lester, on the other hand, is something of an acquired taste, but for many it's a taste worth acquiring. A post-Tristano improviser – his teacher was Sal Mosca, once mentored by Tristano – it's not sufficient for him to play something original, he has to play something entirely new, every time he plays. Backed by Rufus Reid (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums) on From Scratch, his style is lean, lumpy and a bit odd, but jazz has always loved its eccentrics.

A Downbeat Rising Star winner, saxophonist Noah Preminger impressed on Newvelle's first season and three years on with Preminger Plays Preminger, he provides evidence of artistic growth. With the highly regarded Jason Moran on piano plus Kim Cass on bass and Roy Haynes' grandson, Marcus Gilmore, on drums, he displays his musical wares with the authority of a young master. A melodically based improviser, he and Moran work together well, the pianist playing no small part in the album's success. Reid Anderson and Dave King have long comprised two thirds of The Bad Plus, but on Broken Shadows they distance themselves from 88 keys by hooking up with saxophonists Tim Berne and Chris Cheek that, while not quite manifesting epiphanies, does convey conviction on six Ornette Coleman compositions (plus two by Berne's mentor Julius Hemphill and one each from Dewey Redman and Charlie Haden). Hank Roberts was once featured in groups led by Tim Berne in the downtown days of the 1980s/early 1990s, and on Congeries of Ethereal Phenomena shows he has lost none of his youthful zeal. Accompanied by pianist Jacob Sacks and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza, Roberts still battles with the eternal task of making the cello in jazz sound endearing, despite his obvious technical acuity. Roberts was also once a member of Bill Frisell's groups, who returns on Newvelle with More Than Enough with saxophonist Greg Tardy. Together the pair provides a respite from percussive pianos and turbulent, maddening drums, on what seems a minor classic; Tardy is graceful and intimate, while the guitarist, capable of creating the elegant and the profound, settles for the latter.