2015 is half over, and so far it’s been a pretty impressive year for jazz. Here are 20 titles released between January and June that are worth listeners’ attention. Most of them venture closer to classic hard bop and post-bop sounds than to the fringes of the avant-garde (two of them, Terell Stafford‘s Brotherlee Love and Tim Warfield‘s Spherical, are explicit tributes to figures from jazz’s past, albeit ones that avoid the usual pitfalls of the “[Young(ish) Guy] Plays The Music Of [Dead Guy]” album), but nothing here is boring or rote. And of course, there are lots of other worthwhile releases out there right now. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Jazz ain’t goin’ nowhere.

—Phil Freeman

JD Allen, Graffiti (HighNote) Buy it from Amazon
David Chesky/Jazz in the New Harmonic, Primal Scream (Chesky) Buy it from Amazon
Duane Eubanks, Things of That Particular Nature (Sunnyside) Buy it from Amazon
Ghost Train Orchestra, Hot Town (Accurate) Buy it from Amazon
Stephen Haynes, Pomegranate (New Atlantis) Buy it from Amazon
Albert “Tootie” Heath, Philadelphia Beat (Sunnyside) Buy it from Amazon
Eddie Henderson, Collective Portrait (Smoke Sessions) Buy it from Amazon
Jeremy Pelt, Tales, Musings and Other Reveries (HighNote) Buy it from Amazon
Chris Potter Underground Orchestra, Imaginary Cities (ECM) Buy it from Amazon
Nate Radley, Morphoses (Fresh Sound New Talent) Buy it from Amazon
John Raymond, Foreign Territory (Fresh Sound New Talent) Buy it from Amazon
Matana Roberts, always. (Relative Pitch) Buy it from Amazon
Matthew Shipp Chamber Ensemble, The Gospel According to Matthew and Michael (Relative Pitch) Buy it from Amazon
Alex Sipiagin, Balance 38-58 (Criss Cross) Buy it from Amazon
Jim Snidero, Main Street (Savant) Buy it from Amazon
Terell Stafford, Brotherlee Love (Capri) Buy it from Amazon
Dayna Stephens, Reminiscent (Criss Cross) Buy it from Amazon
Tom Tallitsch, All Together Now (Posi-Tone) Buy it from Amazon
Tim Warfield, Spherical (Criss Cross) Buy it from Amazon
Doug Webb, Triple Play (Posi-Tone) Buy it from Amazon