One of the fascinations of listening to new jazz recordings comes when a spotlight is turned on artists and tunes that were somehow missed or overlooked the first time around. New Standards Volume 1 does just that. It’s very smartly curated by the esteemed drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and was conceived in her educational role heading Berklee’s wokeist Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice after a student project in which only one lead sheet written by a woman was found in the jazz jammer’s bible The Real Book. Carrington, in response, wrote a Real Book of her own featuring 101 songs written solely by women and was published by Hal Leonard. Vol. 1 is that book's audio equivalent and contains the first 11; she intends to record them in total so we can expect maybe eight volumes more.

Carrington fields a core quintet and adds star-studded extras ranging from hip young vocal and instrumental talents through to established names. The classy vocalist Dianne Reeves, to my ears, doesn’t make enough connection with Elias Elias’ ‘Moments’ as she sounds less her soulful self. Young Michael Mayo’s neo-soul-inflected croon on Gretchen Parlato’s ‘Circling’ might not have Parlato’s expressive range of vocal quirks, but it’s on the attractive end of honey-toned singing approaches nonetheless. The vocalist Somi with African-inflected ensemble support does well on a heartfelt rendition of Abbey Lincoln’s poignant hard-to-better ‘Throw it Away’. Flautist Elena Pinderhughes, from Christian Scott’s band, and guitarist Julian Lage are among the standout guest performers, especially on the graceful minor blues ‘Wind Flower’ written by lesser-known hard bop-era African-American composer Sara Cassey. Rising star Samara Joy’s silky neo-soul flutter on Carrington’s vocalese version of Carla Bley’s ‘Two Hearts (Lawn)' – the most likely female contributor to the original Real Book – has a monotonous cool about it and Ravi Coltrane’s sumptuous tenor solo is an instant charmer.

The core band – including Carrington’s always crisp and groovesome kitwork - stretches out into more abstract territory on Patricia Perez’ ‘Continental Cliff’ with Nicholas Payton and Kris Davis both creating an edgy excitement, and there’s compelling interplay all round throughout a free jazz-fuelled live version of Marilyn Crispell’s ‘Rounds’. Slick sounding yet diversely stimulating, it’s that rare instance of a guest-star-heavy recording that succeeds in hitting most of the high notes.