This 2015 debut recording of the new Metropolitan Jazz Octet brims with original compositions from its two principal arrangers, trumpeter Doug Scharf and another from guest pianist Andy Cohen. Some were conceived for smaller bands, yet they nonetheless bloom in the hothouse atmosphere of the octet. 

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The octet is a strange animal – it is exactly half the size of the standard jazz orchestra, which makes it neither a big nor small band, and it comes in a variety of species; even in its most common configuration of five horns and a rhythm section, it affords all sorts of instrumental combinations.