Daily Download: "Homecoming," Ellis Marsalis

ESP, the lately revived experimental music label, isn't just rereleasing its back catalog, but is also starting to release newly recorded material. The first of the new records, rather surprisingly for a label that has in the past never ventured close to the jazz mainstream, is by 70-year-old Ellis Marsalis, father of Wynton and Branford, legendary jazz educator and respected pianist. It may seem a not particularly adventurous choice for a first new release, but it's certainly an intriguing one, and it has resulted in one of the nicest records of solo jazz piano I've heard in quite some time. "Ruminations in New York" (get it here) is a collection of 12 amiable, melodic originals, played with fluid grace and resonant with an air of deep satisfaction and content contemplation.