The vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson is my favorite living jazz musician; his over 40 albums as a leader and another 70 or 80 as a sideman amount to an incredible body of music that is remarkable for its consistently high quality. In light of that, I wanted to flag Hutch's first new studio album in eight years, For Sentimental Reasons, which will be officially released Tuesday on the Kind of Blue label.

  As the title suggests, this is mostly an album of ballads, with Hutch leading a quartet joined by Renee Rosnes on piano, Dwayne Burno on bass, and Al Foster on drums. Hutch's style has gone through many changes over time, and in this recording he made an effort to play in a very pretty and simple style. It's a successful effort; Hutcherson offers some beautiful playing, and his tone is particularly melodic and pure. The vibraphone isn't for everyone, but if you like the vibes it's definitely worth checking out.

  If you're interested in an introduction to Hutcherson's work more broadly, I recommend starting with two of his earlier quartet recordings: Happenings, his classic 1966 Blue Note album with Herbie Hancock, Bob Cranshaw, and Joe Chambers, and In the Vanguard, his 1986 live recording at the Village Vanguard with Kenny Barron, Buster Williams, and Al Foster (originally on the Landmark label, now reissued by 32Jazz). They are two of my very favorite jazz CDs; highly recommended.

  Finally, although there is surprisingly little Bobby Hutcherson on YouTube, there is at least some: check out him playing live recently with his frequent collaborator McCoy Tyner here (with part 2 here).