GENRE: Jazz/Violin COMPOSER: Carl Saunders Vol. 6 also serves to reintroduce violinist Ben Powell, a player whose budding reputation as a world-class jazz artist has been eclipsed in recent years by his status as a first-call studio musician and muse for heavyweight Hollywood composers such as Alexandre Desplat, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri and Hans Zimmer (he did all of the violin work on the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack). While the jazz scene could certainly use a virtuosic violinist with his expansive toolkit, Powell isn't looking to get back into the jazz fray. This project is more a neon-lit marquee on a road not taken than a preview of Powell's coming attractions. Saunders however is still in the early stages of excavating fruitful decades of composing. Summit Records launched the ongoing New Jazz Standards project in 2014 with an acclaimed album showcasing the nonpareil jazz flute pioneer Sam Most. In what turned out to be his final recording, the 82-year-old Most delivered a bravura performance gracefully navigating the intricate harmonic settings. Each new New Jazz Standards edition has followed a similar template, with a prodigiously gifted artist choosing from Saunders' Songbook. Trombone great Scott Whitfield, piano legend Roger Kellaway, guitarist Larry Koonse, and sparkling pianist Christian Jacob have all plunged into Saunders' music. Taken together, the series makes an incontrovertible case for his seemingly indefatigable gift for musical invention. Ben does an overwhelmingly beautiful job playing all the string parts. His ability to balance jazz and legit is incomparable. His time is impeccable, his solos are imaginative and his phrasing of the string parts is so naturally conceived and played. Ben Powell is the real deal. -Carl Saunders NJS Volume 6 is the combination of one of the world's greatest rhythm sections, a selection of Hollywood's most formidable musical arrangers and two years of recording... -Ben Powell