As the 1970s came to a close, guitarist Pat Metheny was riding high on a wave of well-received albums, from his self-named Group and Trio and as a contributor to works by vibraphonist Gary Burton, bassist Jaco Pastorius and others.
Guitarist Rez Abbasi is part of a generation of jazz musicians who came of age after the conservative backlash of the 1980s.
Alejandro Florez's Tibagui exists to explore and expand upon the Andean music of the guitarist's native Colombia. Neither cumbia nor chichi, Florez's quartet use traditional folk melodies as starting points for very modern, sophisticated and engaging improvisations.
Brazilian music is tricky. It must be approached carefully as its mellow understatement can be vulnerable to sterility in production and blandness in execution. Brasil, by Israeli guitarist Yotam Silberstein (now known solely as "Yotam") is plagued by both attributes.