Wide as the Sky [CD]

Pianist and composer Lynne Arriale returns with Wide as the Sky, nine originals inspired by the openness and possibility of a vast sky. It's her 18th album as a leader and fifth for Challenge Records, with bassist Alon Near and drummer Lukasz Zyta forming the kind of closely listening, conversational trio that has long defined her work.

The moods range from the reflective "An Open Heart" and uplifting "Turn and Face the Sun" to the rhapsodic "Mysteries", the soulful "Kindness" and the free-flowing closer "Radiance" — lyrical, melodic jazz that reaches past genre lines.