Highway Rider by Brad Mehldau

Over the past few years Mehldau has played a major role in redefining jazz piano. Here he sets out to combine small-band jazz with his own orchestrations, and the results, as one might expect, are impressive. The improvisations, notably by saxophonist Joshua Redman and Mehldau himself, are so cunningly intertwined with the orchestral parts that they seem to grow out of one another. To sustain this variety of texture and clarity of detail over the length of a double CD is a remarkable achievement for anyone. For a first-time orchestral composer it's phenomenal.