NEW RELEASES : In Brief

*** 1/2, David Murray, “Shakill’s Warrior,” DIW. The prolific Murray has been emphasizing his traditionalist side lately and here places his explosive tenor sax in the groove-oriented context of an organ combo. Murray’s playing is fiery and focused on an all-originals assortment of blues, ballads and Latin-rooted pieces, while Don Pullen provides the quartet with a strong second solo voice on organ. He also wrote four compositions. This is an accessible introduction to Murray (another new DIW album with his big band shows his more exploratory bent).

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.