Album: Adam Baldych/The Baltic Gang, Imaginary Room (Act)

Jazz violinists are routinely compared with Stephane Grappelli, but young Polish fiddler Adam Baldych seems less concerned with lightness and charm than in creating a thick, heavy line that can function like that of a tenor sax.

He also writes gutsy themes for himself and his "gang" to blow the hell out of. And it's quite a band, with sax wunderkind Marius Neset, trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and bassist Lars Danielsson among the sextet.