Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet (CD release)

Crack guitarist Carl Michel and woodwind magician Alex Coke go way back in Austin jazz with the Creative Opportunity Orchestra and the Worthy Constituents, among others. Originally germinated during the pandemic to keep the musical wheels greased, their sextet recruited enough top-shelf locals to qualify as a veritable supergroup: steel guitarist Bob Hoffnar, harpist Elaine Barber, bassist James Suter, and vibraphonist Carolyn Trowbridge. The drumless sixsome’s distinctive avant-jazz has already graced 2021’s superb debut disk, The Emissary. Now the band celebrates the release of album No. 2, the equally strange and beautiful Emergence. – Doug Freeman