Chris Brooks Picking

A Nashville mainstay, Phil Madeira was Americana before it was a thing. His venerable pedigree as a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and arranger is assured, backed by Grammy-winning credits and a lengthy discography boasting collaborations with Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris, The Civil Wars, Elvis Costello, Alison Krauss, Toby Keith, Amy Grant, Mavis Staples, Keb Mo’, Bruce Hornsby and Vanessa Williams. Yet when this musician’s musician sits at the piano backstage or at home, it’s jazz-blues riffs that he noodles. On April 26, Mercyland Records will release Madeira’s first instrumental album, “Crickets,” comprised of ten new songs that he wrote and produced for a jazz quintet.

This double CD gathers together three former LPs that are unrelated except that they feature swing-era trumpeters in the 1950s. The most consistent date is the largely predictable Harry Edison Swings Buck Clayton and Vice Versa. The two complementary trumpeters Edison and Clayton are joined by tenorman Jimmy Forrest (in excellent form) and a supportive rhythm section.