They’re widening the global fraternity

Jazz has been reaching out globally at least since World War I, when the appropriately named Lt. James Reese Europe and his 369th Infantry “Harlem Hellfighters” brought the rhythms of ragtime to battle-scarred France.

Although the musical flow initially moved outward from the U.S., high-quality international jazz players began to arrive on the scene in the ‘20s. Since then, the romance with jazz has expanded to every corner of the world.

In more recent years, with few American icons around to create new, pervasive stylistic genres, jazz has blossomed in boundary-less fashion, a panoramic garden blending the essential elements of improvisation and swing with sounds and rhythms from every part of the planet.

“Red Moon” (Sunnyside Records) by the Moutin Reunion Quartet is a superb example of this cross-pollination. The group’s leaders are French bassist Francois Moutin and his twin brother, drummer Louis Moutin. The brothers were heard most recently in the Southland as members of a trio led by the innovative pianist Martial Solal. Their ability to move gracefully with the sudden twists and turns of Solal’s improvisational inventiveness stamped the pair as potentially significant artists in their own right.

In the opening track of “Red Moon,” the twins duet adventurously through Charles Trenet’s “La Mer,” transforming the classic melody into a joyous, hard-swinging romp underpinned by an irresistible rhythmic groove. The album closes with a harmonically off-kilter rendering of “Stompin’ at the Savoy” featuring the quartet’s other members, French pianist Baptiste Trotignon and American saxophonist Rick Margitza.

In between are eight originals, four by each of the Moutin brothers. The moods range from the lyrical, inner atmospheres of “Soraya” and the roaring, groove-driven surge of “Jazz Married” to the disjunct rhythms of “Taking Off,” the layered textures of “Sailing Through the Clouds” and the contemporary bop of “New-York Silly.”

Margitza, a far too under-recognized player, swings with Coltrane-inspired energies throughout. Trotignon, 29, is a real find -- a casually virtuosic technician with a subtle touch, a rich melodic imagination and a propulsive sense of rhythm.

But it is the playing of the Moutin twins that takes the music from the level of eminently listenable to the lofty plane of prime, world-class jazz.

There are other rhythm section brother teams in jazz -- Percy and Albert “Tootie” Heath, Victor and Roy Wooten. But no identical twins that come immediately to mind.

And the remarkable interplay between Francois and Louis -- intuitive, enmeshed, symbiotic -- is a convincing aural manifestation of the belief that identical twins are connected in remarkable, inexplicable fashion.

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More international aggregations

Some other CDs with world jazz connections of one sort or another are equally fascinating.

Miguel Zenon

“Ceremonial” (Marsalis Music)

The Puerto Rico-born alto saxophonist has been most visible in his brief career (he is 26) as the front-line partner in the David Sanchez band. “Ceremonial,” his second CD as a leader, displays his warm, engaging tone and passionate articulation in mostly original settings, accompanied by the solid rhythm section of pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Antonio Sanchez, with vocalist Luciana Souza and percussionist Hector “Tito” Matos appearing on several tracks. Zenon’s pieces are rich with mood and drama, often tinged with musical poignancy, showcasing his soaring sound above texturally rich accompaniments. Still in the process of establishing his own creative voice, he is clearly a potentially vital new talent on the international jazz horizon.

Alan Broadbent

“You and the Night and the Music” (A440)

The New Zealand-born pianist has been a busy arranger-conductor for more than three decades, winning several Grammy nominations and awards. But his successes in support of everyone from Mel Torme to Diana Krall have tended to obscure his stunning work as a pianist. In this collection of standards, accompanied by bassist Brian Bromberg and drummer Joe La Barbera, his lyrical skills are fully in the spotlight. Broadbent has not eluded the Bill Evans comparisons that circle around any pianist with a lush harmonic sensitivity. But his real forte is the compositional sense of spontaneous organization that he brings to his solos -- his capacity to invent countermelodies, then combine their lines and phrases into uniquely compelling paraphrases. His renderings of songs such as “What’s New?,” “You and the Night and the Music” and “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” don’t have anything to do with Maori rhythms, but they are brilliant illustrations of a jazz talent that has easily leaped across the vast breadth of the Pacific Ocean.

Mark-Anthony Turnage

and John Scofield

“Scorched”

(Deutsche Grammophon)

English classical composer Turnage is reportedly a serious fan of American jazz and funk. In “Scorched” -- a kind of pun combining letters from the words “Scofield orchestrated” -- he has arranged a group of Scofield compositions for the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the HR Big Band and the Scofield Trio (with bassist John Pattitucci and drummer Peter Erskine). The results are reminiscent of the Third Stream efforts of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s -- combinations of disparate genres that proceed side by side, without ever quite coming together into a homogenous whole. But Turnage deserves credit for having reached deeply into the essence of some of the Scofield pieces, often illuminating their relatively sparse lines in unexpected fashion.

Oscar Castro-Neves

“Playful Heart” (Mack Avenue)

Castro-Neves was around at the birth of bossa nova in Rio in the late ‘50s. And his guitar playing remains one of the genre’s most authentic expressions. But after years of providing solid accompaniment for others, he steps out here with vocals of his own, bringing a musician’s phrasing and sensitivity to songs such as “The Waters of March,” “My Foolish Heart,” “Everything Happens to Me” and “Caruso” (in which his rendering is strikingly reminiscent of Italian singer Paolo Conte). Other high points feature his guitar in a combination of “Manha de Carnaval” with Villa-Lobos’ Prelude No. 3 and an airy reading of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Wave.” Less intriguing, in an album that oddly juxtaposes two distinctly different musical personalities, are a few instrumental tracks that seem clearly aimed at smooth-jazz airplay. But it is Castro-Neves’ musical storytelling that gives the CD character and life.

Marcus Miller, Michel Petrucciani, Bireli Lagrene, Lenny White, Kenny Garrett

“Dreyfus Night in Paris” (Dreyfus Jazz)

In 1994, label founder Francis Dreyfus assembled an all-star ensemble at the Montreux Jazz Festival to draw attention to his new label. It’s no exaggeration to say that what he got was an unexpected dream band, playing in what was an essentially jam session format. The album contains only three extended tunes, each more than 16 minutes in length: Miller’s “Tutu” (originally written for Miles Davis), his “The Sun Don’t Lie” and Petrucciani’s samba-tinged “Looking Up.” The performances are occasionally tentative, more often galvanizing, always fascinating, with the disparate styles of Lagrene, Garrett and Petrucciani constantly probing in search of creative compatibility.