JAZZ : NEW RELEASES

*** RANDY WESTON “The Spirit of Our Ancestors” Antilles

Weston’s enthusiasm for the music of Africa, where he has lived intermittently since the late ‘60s, mainly in Morocco, sparks this two-CD set--the Brooklyn-born pianist’s first sessions with horns in more than a decade.

The pieces here are either African-based, such as the moody “Blue Moses,” an adaptation of a Moroccan spiritual, or evocative of the continent’s music, such as “The Call,” which is infused with a Yoruban rhythm.

Still, this isn’t world-beat music. Weston, who has enhanced the jazz lore through such richly melodic and rhythmic compositions as the classic “Hi Fly,” is a blues man at heart, and many of these pieces, such as “African Cookbook,” have a strong blues flavor. The leader is also a pianist out of the Monk-Ellington school, and his glorious, resounding tone permeates these proceedings.

Melba Liston, a longtime Weston collaborator, wrote several snappy arrangements, and there are plenty of gritty solos, particularly from reed men Billy Harper, Dewey Redman and Pharaoh Sanders, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie--in a single cameo--and trombonist Benny Powell.

In Brief

** 1/2 Gerald Albright, “Live at Birdland West,” Atlantic. Five tracks on this successful album, which is in the Top 10 of the Billboard jazz chart, were recorded at the Long Beach club of the album title; the five others are studio sessions. Los Angeles-based Albright shines on the slow tunes, such as “Too Cool,” in which his blend of mainstream jazz, funk and blues results in seductive, emotional statements. But his up-tempo, straight-ahead stuff, such as “Impressions,” is a tad sloppy and aimless. “Bubblehead McDaddy” is a dandy, moody waltz featuring tenor man Eddie Harris, and Bobby Lyle rips out an ace organ solo on “Melodius Thunk.”

*** Rickey Woodard, “California Cooking!” Candid. The Los Angeles-based saxophonist’s debut is rooted in the mainstream style of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Woodard invests that genre with a robust, chewy tone--on tenor sax, he sounds like a cross between the weighty darkness of Gene Ammons and the sparkle of John Coltrane--and generally invigorating improvisations. Pianist Dwight Dickerson, bassist Tony Dumas and drummer Harold Mason are essential elements in the album’s success.

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent). A rating of five stars is reserved for classic reissues or retrospectives.