After years of guesting with the likes of funk-fusion leader Randy Brecker, pop-jazz diva Norah Jones and downtown wild man John Zorn, guitarist Adam Rogers finally released his own debut last year. This year's just-released "Allegory" is even better. The debut showed a tight mastery of bop quartet form; his sophomore outing moves to a higher plane of complex compositions and intense soloing altogether. With the addition of Chris Potter on sax, Rogers has more space to add crisply chorded accents and vibrant tandem lead lines. Rogers' 10 originals all display a mastery of jazz form, but push the envelope with tricky shifts in meter and Coltrane-inspired explorations (the blasting, modal "Phrygia"). The pretty, sauntering "Angle of Repose" and the 10-minute centerpiece "Orpheus" further reveal Rogers' skill at tapping the mythic energy of musical allegory to create one of the most sophisticated jazz releases of the year.
