The 200th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn's birth in 2009 raised the popularity of his music to new heights. This new recording of his beloved Piano Trios is a rarity, performed on period instruments. The Benvenue Fortepiano Trio is lead by the enterprising violinist Monica Huggett, whose numerous recordings for Avie have consistently resulted in critical acclaim and sales success. Her partners here are two of America's foremost period instrument practitioners, cellist Tanya Tomkins (making her second appearance on Avie) and Eric Zivian playing on an 1841 Viennese fortepiano.

1. 900 Miles 3:23 2. East Virginia 3:12 3. Linin' Track 3:29 4. The Swallow 4:252 5. St. James Infirmary 3:46 6. Isn't That So 3:56 7. If I Had My Way 3:47 8. No More Songs 4:46 9. Forgiveness 3:12 10. Asturiana 4:24

Betty Carter titled this album It's Not About the Melody not because she doesn't care about the melody but because she knows that the success of a jazz vocal depends on something deeper than tunefulness. Her new recording, in fact, is full of melody, for Carter exults not only in the opening themes of the 11 jazz standards and originals she tackles but also in the brand new, equally memorable strains she creates through her improvisations and variations. She's nonetheless correct; the triumph of this album derives not from the shape of the songs but from the intense emotional commitment behind the songs. —Geoffrey Himes

That Bill Evans ventured into overdubbed pianos for this session was in 1963 a historic occasion. Overdubs were seldom in the age of Rudy Van Gelder- and Orrin Keepnews-produced sessions, which were sacrosanct in their on-the-spot nature. But by 1963 it was clear that very, very few people could play the way Evans did. Once he had himself to play along with, it was abundantly clear why he was so singular a musical mind. The melodies here fit together like two sets of fingers making a cradle, and Evans dances the lines, flows them irregularly, and entangles them so as to paint himself into constant binds. Then he escapes the binds, as artfully as he had done on Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby with the legendary trio of himself, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian. This is rightly one of jazz piano's most enchanted recordings. —Andrew Bartlett